Ayurveda in the Public Library

My friend Lindsay works at an Aveda salon. She is really focused on creating a balanced and happy life. We talked about Ayurveda recently and turns out she has a friend who is an Ayurvedic practitioner near Milwaukee. Her friend suggested Deepak Chopra's book Perfect Health. So when I mentioned that I was interested in researching more about Ayurveda, of course, Lindsay suggested this book. knowing that I would want to write in it an mark it up, I bought a copy and dropped by my local library. There really isn't a lot in the library about Ayurveda. I ended up with three books. One is more of a cookbook- Anjum Anand is a British chef on the BBC and the Food Channel and she has a book Anjum's Eat Right for your Body Type about Ayurvedic diet for your dosha. Vasant Lad is a leader in Ayurveda in the Us. His school in Albuquerque is renowned for it's Ayurvedic curriculum. His book is Ayurveda the Science of Self-Healing. (http://ayurveda.com/)  . The third book I checked out I can't remember, but I will get it again and write a little review.

Eat Right for Your Body Type is a beautiful book. The first third is all about Ayurveda and the rest is a cookbook. The recipes look great and she has suggestions on modifications based on your dosha. I bought a copy of this one.

Self-healing was interesting, but not in depth enough for me. Dr. Lad has a number of textbooks and other books. I will research more of these.

Here are some things I realized right away-
1) I have to figure out my dosha.
2) Yoga is the spiritual practice of Ayurveda.
3) Everything else rises from your dosha and your imbalances.

These books give a good history of Ayurveda and a basic understanding of the practices. There are Ayurvedic practitioners who can diagnose your ailments and your dosha and imbalances immediately by taking your pulse. Lindsay recently traveled to India and met with one of these guys. I'll let her explain it but she did tell me that they take a full medical history, just like a Western medical office, and then don't usually even read it before diagnosing and prescribing.

Where do I find one of these? As I mentioned Lindsay's friend is a practitioner, but she's younger than I am and has been studying Ayurveda for 7 years or so. I want someone raised in an Ayurvedic household, who's 70 years old and can touch my wrist and tell me what's up with my dosha.  So back to the internet. So far, I've found only western practitioners of Ayurveda in Milwaukee and Chicago. I am pretty sure the community on Devon Street knows where to find the right doc, I just have to keep searching. We have a great little grocery- East Indian Emporium. I asked the owner and she is researching someone for me too. Meanwhile, I'll keep reading.

Next time, my Dosha.