Ayurveda: The Divine Science of Life

[Guest guest]

Hello Friends,

 

I am please to forward you some recent reviews of my book, "Ayurveda:

The Divine Science of Life". Enjoy!

 

 

Caldecott, T., Ayurveda, Science of Life, Mosby, St. Louis, 2006, 376

pp., hardcover

 

I find most of the books from India on the topic of Ayurveda

confusing, disappointing, or both. I spoke to my friend Alan

Tillotson, PhD, RH (AHG) who is an Ayurvedic scholar about my

impressions and he agreed. According to Alan, the practice of

Ayurveda in India was severely suppressed during British rule

(1776-1947) and most of what is practiced today is a reconstituted

and simpler form of the once complex and ancient system of medicine.

Since Alan was trained in Nepal where the traditional practice of

medicine was never intercepted or suppressed, I suspect he knows what

he is talking about! There have been several good introductions to

Ayurveda by American practitioners (David Frawley, Robert Svoboda),

but it has been left to a Canadian clinical herbalist, Todd

Caldecott, RH (AHG) to pen the most comprehensive and authoritative

text to date on the practice of Ayurveda. Todd starts with an in-

depth introduction to the theory and practice of Ayurveda, including

the use of diet, yoga, herbs, meditation, exercise, and massage as

therapies. He discusses the treatment of disease, diagnosis,

pathology, Ayurvedic pharmacy, common formulas, and includes

monographs of 50 essential Indian herbs. Todd has spent many years

learning, practicing, and mastering what many scholars believe is the

oldest system of medicine in the world. When he mentions the uses for

an herb it is not the usual list of 30 diseases it cures. Here one

finds a combination of traditional use, along with clinical

experience that makes this book both unique and a treasure.

 

David Winston, Herbalist and Ethnobotanist

President, Herbalist & Alchemist, Inc.

http://www.herbaltherapeutics.net

 

 

 

Ayurveda: The Divine Science of Life. Todd Caldecott Cl.H., RH(AHG).

New York: Elsevier, 2006. ISBN. Hardcover. ISBN-13 978-0-7234-3410-8

 

Ayurveda and its principles have been gradually becoming more

accessible to Westerners over the last thirty years. During this

time, a few books have appeared by Westerners on the topic offering

an overview of the field, a few have described materia medica in

Ayurvedic terms, and a few texts from India may be available. To

date, however, there has not been a single comprehensive textbook on

the topic written for the Westerner, by a Western clinical

practitioner. Todd Caldecott's book now fills that gap, and also

corrects some common misconceptions about Ayurveda. Ayurveda was a

dying medical system in India by the turn of the twentieth century,

preserved in a few family lineages in South Asia, but largely

supplanted by British colonial medicine and, in parts of India, by

Unani Tibb. After Indian independence in 1948, there was a resurgence

of interest in this traditional national system. The resurgence

unfortunately was not based on the extant thin lineages of clinical

practice, but on books, and filtered through the lens of a sometimes-

fundamentalist approach of twentieth-century Hinduism. Two aspects of

the resurrected Ayurveda as taught in North America are at odds with

the authentic tradition. First, original Ayurveda was not a

vegetarian system, contrary to common contemporary practice in North

America. Second, the pulse diagnosis system in Ayurveda does not

differ essentially from the Chinese system. Caldecott, who practices

in Canada, and supervised a teaching clinic there for some years at

the Wild Rose College in Calgary, has corrected these distortions.

This is not just a philosophical consideration. Fewer than 3% of the

North American population adhere to a strict vegetarian diet, and

insisting on this as the ideal diet, besides contradicting core

Ayurvedic literature, essentially rules out any benefit to much of

the other 97%. Caldecott's text shows how the broad principles of

Ayurveda can be applied in the social and dietary realities of 21st

century North America. The book has everything you would expect in a

textbook of humoral medicine: theory, constitutional considerations,

dietary and lifestyle considerations, pharmacology and pharmacy,

pathology and disease, clinical methodology for assessment,

therapeutic methods, a materia medica of the fifty most important

Ayurvedic herbs, and a formulary.

 

Paul Bergner

North American Institute of Medical Herbalism http://naimh.com

Medical Herbalism Journal http://medherb.com

 

Caldecott, Dip. Cl.H, RH(AHG)

Ayurvedic practitioner, Clinical Herbalist

203 - 1750 East 10th Ave

Vancouver, BC CANADA

web: http//:www.toddcaldecott.com

email: todd (AT) toddcaldecott (DOT) com

tel: 778.896.8894

fax: 415-376-6736

[Guest guest]

I would like to add that it is very readable and user friendly (not a small

consideration, as my time is limited). I liked all the different names you

gave for the herbs not just the Western or Eastern names. Also, I thought it

filled that what to read after one has read a lot of beginner stuff but not

ready for the all out Sanskrit texts niche very well. I liked its clarity. I

am an English teacher who reads constantly and am very picky about quality,

and I liked your book very well. Also I like that it is complex enough that

I can pick it up again and again and find things I didn't necessarily notice

the first time I read it, yet simple enough that amateurs like me can

understand the concepts. It was worth every penny.

Darla

 

On 1/30/07, Todd Caldecott <todd (AT) toddcaldecott (DOT) com> wrote:

"Ayurveda:

> The Divine Science of Life". Enjoy!

>

> Caldecott, T., Ayurveda, Science of Life, Mosby, St. Louis, 2006, 376

> pp., hardcover