Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution | Robert Svoboda | One of the most rewarding and useful...

Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution | Robert Svoboda | I liked this book and would recommend it

books:

Prakriti: Your Ayu...

	Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution Robert Svoboda Lotus Press, 1998 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Dr. Svoboda's original work on the constitutional types in Ayurveda has been considered a classic for many years. His new revision and expansion of the subject comes after much further research and practical experience. Dr. Vasant Lad points out: "The healing science of Ayurveda is based totally upon the knowledge of "prakriti", the individual constitution. If every individual knows his own constitution, then one can understand, for instance, what is a good diet and style of life for oneself. One man's food is another man's poison. Therefore, to make one's life healthy, happy and balanced, the knowledge of constitution is absolutely necessary." (Dr. Vasant Lad is the author of Ayurveda: The Science of Self-Healing, and co-author of The Yoga of Herbs.)

for more information click here

One of the most rewarding and useful books I have ever read

One of the most rewarding and useful books I have ever read

I first read "Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution" by Robert Svoboda eight years ago, and it was in fact the first book on the subject that I had ever read. It is an engagingly written, perfectly organized introduction to a discipline that I call "data dense." That is to say, ayurveda is an extraordinarily complex study of the forces and forms, events and processes, that govern the structure and functioning of the human body in health and disease. Because of Dr. Svoboda's clear and logical elucidation of that study, it is made understandable to the reader willing to invest the time and thought in surveying its breadth and plumbing its depth.

Dr. Robert Svoboda is an American author and an ayurvedic physician who is one of the luminaries of the field: a teacher, writer and practitioner who alone has done more to raise public awareness of the ancient healing art than any other Westerner and one of the dozen leading ayurvedic educators in the world today. He is the author of a dozen books on the subject and countless professional and popular articles. Svoboda graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1972 and in 1973 moved to India to study at the prestigious Tilak Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya (an ayuvedic medical college) in Pune. In 1980, he graduated from the University of Pune with the degree of Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) and was awarded the distinction of "Ayurvedacharya." Svoboda is the first Westerner to graduate from a college of ayurvedic medicine and to be licensed to practice ayurveda in India.

For the individual new to ayurveda, this book is the best introduction available. The author communicates his deep knowledge of ayurvedic science extremely effectively, probing beneath the superficialities and illustrating clearly the reasons that it makes sense scientifically and philosophically.

Dr. Svoboda's work on the role of the "prakriti," the constitutional psychobiological types postulated by ayurveda's theory comes after much research and clinical experience. Prakriti, the individual `s constitution, is the basis of ayurvedic medicine; ayurvedic theory asserts that if an individual (or his physician) comprehends the nature of their own constitution, they can extrapolate with precision what comprises a good diet and lifestyle specifically for them. This emphasis on the unique needs of each individual in maintaining or restoring a state of health is the "crown jewel" of ayurveda and is what makes it distinctive from all other healing arts.

In addition to explaining the theory underlying "prakriti," this valuable work illustrates how best to bring each constitutional type into healthy balance, addressing some of the most commonly encountered health challenges such as obesity and malnutrition, asthma, allergies, rheumatic diseases, tuberculosis and cancer.

Dr. Svoboda does not stop at the fundamentals: he generously gives his readers a small taste of some of the more rarified realms of ayurvedic practice in the concluding chapters of the book on Indian alchemy (rasa shastra) and on the metaphysics that lie behind and beyond the workings of this ancient science. That taste of what ayurveda has to offer leaves the reader hungry for more (and of course, there is very much more).

I unhesitatingly recommend "Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution" for anyone curious as to what ayurveda is all about: the person considering consulting an ayurvedic practitioner, the Western-trained health professional interested in or wishing to augment his or her effectiveness using ayurveda's principles, the student of yoga curious about yoga's "sister science," or anyone inquiring into ancient India's vast contribution to world science.

Dr. Svoboda has done wonderful work in writing this book, and deserves much gratitude for his effort. This is one of the most rewarding books I have ever read, and one that inspired me to continue my study of ayurveda.

for more information click here

I liked this book and would recommend it

I've read several books on ayurveda, done a couple of the self analysis charts and even had an ayurvedic consult but the concepts have remained elusive. I had rejected ayurveda as a system of self knowledge and potential healing for myself. However, when I picked up this book and started to leaf through it I could instantly relate to the descriptions of the doshas, how they express in people, including myself. This is the first book I've come across that spells it out so simply and therefore makes the knowledge applicable. In regards to how food relates to and affects the doshas this book again, quite simply, lays out the information. From the westerners point of view it is a little hard to fully appreciate the aspects of food (taste) and how that affects our doshas but with a little faith you can kind of see how foods do affect us.
The book is a quick read, well written to keep you moving through the subjects and understandable.
I would recommend this book to someone who wants to learn about ayurveda.

for more information click here

Excellent!

As a Yoga Instructor that I am, this book helps me talk about the exact muscles being stretched/strenghtened.
The "Obstacles and Notes" are a great addition.

brand new

This item came on time and was brand new...thanks. i would use this seller again.

Prakriti