Kochi: Nisha Manikantan is a Bangalore-based practicing Ayurveda doctor. The Thiruvananthapuram-native has earned a name for herself through international workshops on Ayurveda. Associated with the art of living movement for the past 20 years, the founder-director of Bangalore-based hospital Sri Sri Ayurveda and the International faculty of the Art of Living Foundation, is taking her profession a step further. She combines Ayurveda along with a holistic approach as a method to heal her patients.
Her fascination towards yoga, pranayam and meditation began after she began being associated with the Art of Living movement. According to her, other therapies used to heal the body’s pressure points through touch like Meru Chikitsa, Cranio Sacral therapy and Myo Fascial therapy are also part of this approach.
Nisha says her goal is to promote wellness. “Usually, by wellness, one means physical wellness. But I focus on wellness of the body as well as that of the mind. It is here that the alternative type of medicine and healing comes to play. While Ayurveda helps in preventing and curing, 50 per cent of the result comes from holistic therapies, which works to heal the mind. For instance, meditation not just gives you peace but also makes your mind laser-sharp.”
Nisha started exploring the possibilities of meditation and pranayama as part of healing, while treating her patients suffering from cancer. “Most of the patients come in with a lower metabolic activity, which we term as ‘Agni’. Since medicines have a limit in normalising it, I started thinking of other ways of healing. Along with mental health, these offer physical benefits as well.”
Having conducted workshops in many countries across Europe and Asia, Nisha has recieved many an overwhelming response to her sessions. “I conduct silent retreat sessions in all the countries which I visit. No matter which place I go, be it Muscat or Siberia, there will always be a large crowd who attend the programmes. Meditation has become something which everyone loves to do. I get a good feedback at the end of each of these sessions.”
Though she focuses on Ayurveda and its holistic part, she does not completely disregard any other method. Stating that she has always embraced what is good from all branches of medicine, the doctor says, “I have doctors practising naturopathy, homeopathy, Ayurveda and even allopathy in my team. Each of the sciences have their plus points and so I have never ignored any.Our mission is to offer the best of every medical sciences to the world.”
While ayurveda, the medicinal science of Indian origin is becoming popular across the world, sadly it is yet to be accepted by many back home. Nisha too feels the same. “Somewhere down the line, people have lost the faith in their own science. However, the situation is already changing.”
Concluding the conversation, she says, “Ayurveda and yoga, which play a major role in my health workshops, are the science of India. Being Indians, I feel we should all learn it and spread our knowledge across the world.”
Courtesy: The New Indian Express
