In A Woman’s Best Medicine, two physicians and a research psychologist trained in Maharishi Ayur-Veda medicine apply this ancient wisdom to women’s health concerns. Among other topics they discuss are: the benefits of the menstrual cycle; practical ways to enjoy a comfortable pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause; the important contribution of nurturing relationships to wellness; and an introduction to daily and seasonal eating, sleep, and exercise routines. Through questionnaires that assess personal temperament, body-mind type, emotions, and habits, A Woman’s Best Medicine offers an in-depth, preventive, self-care program that fully develops and uses a woman’s self-knowledge. The result is a joyous return to a natural state of radiant health, happiness, and long life. “God bless this book. Its grounding in a meditative perspective and its appreciation of the feminine lead us to the river to drink of knowledge of the totality of life—the definition of Ayur-Veda.”—Yoga International “This book is a valuable introduction to Ayur-Vedic principles, in clear, down-to-earth language.”—Larry Dossey, M. D., author of Healing Words “This is the best book on women’s health I have ever read. It is the revolutionary health book that every woman deserves to read.”—Claudine Schneider, former U.S. congresswoman and co-chair of Women’s Health Initiative, Rhode Island

First Published in 2017. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an Informa company.

The rich Indian medical tradition is usually traced back to Sanskrit sources, the earliest of which cannot much antedate the common era. In this book Kenneth Zysk shows that Buddhist scriptures some centuries older than this contain abundant information about medical practice, and are our earliest evidence for a rational approach to medicine in India. He argues that Buddhism and the medical tradition were mutually supportive: that Buddhist monks and people associated with them contributed to the development of medicine, while their skills as physical as well as spiritual healers enhanced their reputation and popular support. Drawing on a wide range of textual, archaeological, and secondary sources, Zysk first presents an overview of the history of Indian Medicine in its religious context. He then examines primary literature from the Pali Buddhist Canon and from the Sanskrit treatises of Bhela, Caraka, and susruta. By close comparison of these two bodies of literature Zysk convincingly shows how the theories delineated in the medical classics actually became practice.

Study based on the Vedic literature.

Alternative medicine.