Whenever someone speaks of something like an alternative system of medicine, such as Ayurveda, most people think of the physical aspects of health. Most people don’t associate things like emotional development, psychology, and anxiety medication to a system like Ayurveda. This is a reasonable assumption to make, mainly because systems like Ayurveda have always focused more on a combination of the physical and spiritual. Matters of the mind were viewed as outside the physical realm and, in a Western context, were seen as affairs to be handled by religious authorities. Other problems, such as anxiety and depression, may not have been recognized and, thus, were not studied under the purview of medicinal systems. Some doctors, most notably neurologist Dr. David Simon of the Chopra Center, believes that Ayurveda might be a legitimate alternative to anxiety medication and treatment.
Anxiety, in the context of Ayurveda, is rooted in movements of things within a person’s perception of what he is and what is in his domain. In theory, things that enter into a person’s sphere of influence by force, such as a critical comment or pressures from work, can cause an...