Kiev, Ukraine

Ayurveda: Where Science Meets Consciousness

Saturday morning:

Schedule: 10-1

Ayurveda: Where Science Meets Consciousness (co-taught by Dr. Welch & Dr. Robert Svoboda)

All medical systems are models of reality. Modern medical science has benefited humanity greatly, particularly in the realm of the management of medical crises via intensive, invasive interventions. Since modern medical science attempts to evaluate & explain living organisms with theories and techniques more applicable to non-living systems, we may find that Eastern medicine better assists us to address chronic conditions and degenerative diseases. It explores and explains the many ways in which our interactions with our environment influence our state of being, including particularly the rhythms of life addressed in a new branch of Western science called, “Circadian Medicine.”

Circadian medicine is however not at all new. It has been elaborated in great detail in Ayurveda, India’s ancient system of health and healing. Ayurveda teaches that the foundation for good health is a lifestyle that maintains harmony with nature’s cycles, internal and external, and that the foundation of this harmony is an appropriate application of individual awareness to our current condition and how we may improve it.

This presentation will introduce Ayurveda and its  darśana, its way of “seeing” life that suggests both how to avoid disease and how to proactively develop and maintain a healthy state of being. We will focus on all sorts of patterns in life, including how to understand our natural circadian rhythms as well as other rhythms that influence us, and how to make best use of food, exercise, meditation, and other healthful habits to encourage optimal health and purposeful, supported progress through life.

Sunday:

Schedule: 10-1

Refining the Senses: The Transformational Potential of the Indriyas (co-taught by Dr. Welch & Dr. Robert Svoboda)

In this presentation, Dr. Welch & Dr. Robert Svoboda will explore how our senses, known in Sanskrit as indriyas, relate in Ayurveda to the five mahābhūtas (elements), the seasons, and dinacaryā (our daily routines), and how to use the natural qualities of the seasons to refine the indriyas so that they can work for us to enhance both our health and the positive effects we may have on others and our surroundings. Exploring subtle theory and experiencing that theory in practice, we will examine:

• How to use subtle aspects of the indriyas to allow us to perceive reality more accurately
• Daily practices to support refining of the indriyas
• How the indriyas figure in a health-promoting daily routine
• How appropriate dinacaryā can enhance emotional, mental and physical health
• How to best align with seasons to support healthy transformation

We look forward to exploring subtle theory and experiencing theory in practice, first hand, together.