I doubt that there is another book written by a male that understands women so well. In fact, I thought that the writer was a woman as I mistook his pen name "Atreya" from the cover of the book for the name of the publisher.
As I was reading the book, I felt that Atreya is genuinely concerned about women and compassionate towards their suffering. I found in his person a respect and understanding for women that is rare in men. He strives to empower women and make them responsible for their own health.
Atreya writes with spiritual undertones however the reader will not encounter any pseudo-spiritual nonsense that characterizes the writings of many Westerners infatuated with the culture of the Orient. By this I mean not smuggling into the text any unspecified poetical rambling, often with a nute of obsessiveness. Atreya does quote scripture but the way he does it makes perfect sense for me in that it "belongs" to the text.
The writer is a critical thinker that does not yield to any extremes of thought or ideology, by the virtue of which the book is well-balanced and agreeable to any reader. In other words, you do not have to be "...-ist" to read it and nod in agreement. Also, he does express his disssatisfaction with conventional invasive treatments but he does not spitefully attack modern medicine. Rather, he writes with a nute of irony, and humor accompanies the reader throughtout the pages so it is an amusing and easy read.
This well-written book is very informative and fosters in the reader a fascination with the medicinal system of Ayurveda. In the experience of Atreya, it is this system of medicine that gives the best results when dealing with women health issues.
The writer skillfully explains the concept of individuality in Ayurveda as the basis of the dosha system, the three constitutional body types of people, also explaining the difference between prakruti and vikruti, the former being the original, inborn arrangement of doshas in the body, while the latter is how the doshas are affecting the person in his present health complaint. He proceeds to describe the characteristics of the types to help the reader discover his constitution. Not only the singular types are described but also the dual and triple types.
No less proficiently is the Ayurvedic anatomy presented, with the doshas divided into further five subdoshas, as well as dhatus and other elements. Here he makes the important point about the deficiency of the final reproductive tissue (shukra dhatu) being the cause of most hormonal imbalances in women.
Still on the subject of doshas, the humors of Ayurveda, the writer stresses the importance of the humoral theory in medicine that has been abandoned in Western medicine but has thrived in Ayurveda ever since. The humoral theory of the doshas is the very root of Ayurveda and it applies to the understanding of both the human's anatomy and the actions of the herbs.
Atreya ironically points out the male sex's lack of understanding of women psychology, emotions and health. He himself wishes to transcend the rigid social stereotype of man as an unfeeling creature.
The chapter on the endocrine system describes the hormonal glands in detail: the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, the pineal gland, the thyroid, the parathyroid, the thymus, the adrenal gland, the pancreas and the ovaries. Here he makes clear that herbs are not hormones even if a herb is said to have, for example, and estrogenic function on the body; what herbs do is support the function of the endocrine system.
Next, Atreya underlines the importance of digestion, explaining why is it such a central concept to Ayurveda.The medicine has to be properly digested and assimilated first in order for it to have any effect on the body.
Explaining how the medicines work, Atreya confronts the reductionistic mechanical model of allopathic medicine with the holistic model. Here is contained a healthy critique of the modern medicine and post-industrial revolution environmental pollution problems. Quoting Dr. Subhuti Dharmananda, one of the the two main reasons for disease are insufficient sanitation and poor diet. What modern pharmaceuticals do is simply mask the symptoms of bad lifestyle and diet. In this chapter, Atreya also describes how allopathic medicines work in the body and how modern scientific studies are performed. The writer warns us that the continued use of synthetic substances deranges the vata dosha, vata dosha imbalance being seen as the main cause of disease.
In opposition to the above stands the holistic viewpoint of Ayurveda which treats the body as a whole. It is concerned with the causes and not the symptoms. We have to take responsibility for our health, because herbal medicine is not going to work if bad diet and lifestyle do not support it - it would be like undoing at night the work you did during the day. In Ayurveda, the root of all disease is the imbalance of doshas in the body, the humors that comprise it.
There are many ways of taking herbs. The writer's approach in the present book is to ingest them as powders. He states that powders are more potent than teas, and enable us to mix different parts of the plants (roots, seeds, flowers, leaves) in a single remedy. Powders work best for chronic digestive, endocrine and nervous system issues. The advantages and drawbacks of taking herbs as a tea, tablets and tinctures are also discussed. According to Atreya, herbal powder is the most natural way for us to ingest herbs, and this has its confirmation in the systems of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda.
Individual herbs are not discussed in this book. The reader is directed to the works "Yoga of Herbs" by Dr. Frawley and Dr. Lad and "Planterary Herbology" by Michael Tierra. Atreya does however explain how he compounds the formulas. His formula has to have several actions: primary action, supporting action, eliminating action, protective or harmonizing action, digestive action and stimulant action. So it is much more than just ingesting a single herb.
In the next part of the book individual health complaints are discussed. Case histories from the practice of the writer and charts with the ingredients of the formula used in that respective case are provided for each disease, making a great practical resource for the reader.
In the chapter on depression, Atreya explains how it is the result of repetitive thinking of the same thoughts that trigger the unwanted emotional states and how to remedy this behavior.
Wise psychological advice is in fact a very prominent part of the book. Discussing premenopause, Atreya explains how the woman should prepare herself mentally for this period, which is a time of reflection. He dismantles the common misconceptions about the premenopausal period and warns about the hazards of the Hormone Replacement Therapy, which are devastating to the body and unnecessary. After all, the diseases that the HRT is designed to prevent - osteoporosis and heart disease - do not occur after 20 or 30 years from menopause. Atreya assures the woman that menopause is a natural metabolic change in the organism. Fears of osteoporosis can be appeased by having a healthy diet and avoiding coffee, smoking, carbonated water and other harmful substances, not taking calcium supplements. Excercise also helps to reverse the premenopausal symptoms, as do
herbs that rejuvenate the reproductive tissue (shukra dhatu), some of which are shatavari, ashwagandha, licorice root, ginseng and comfrey root. Cleansing the colon is also a preventive measure - in Ayurveda, the colon is responsible for calcium absorption. The cleansing is done by the formula triphala, which is a miraculous remedy in itself.
The next challenge for a woman is the time of meno- and postmenopause. It is the vata period of life, which is characterized by communication, social relations, creativity and insights into life which result in wisdom - Atreya tells you how to prepare for that.
Fibroids, cysts and tumors are problems with which many women struggle as they age. In fact having a fibroid is so common in the U.S. that it is considered normal. The cause of fibroids might be the pollution of the food chain with estrogenic chemicals combined with bad diet and junk food. This is good news as the main focus of Ayurveda is having a healthy diet and cleansing the body from unwanted substances. Atreya explains how to treat fibroids, cysts and tumors naturally by diet, herbs, exercise, massage and the use of triphala - instead of harmful invasive treatments such as taking birth control pills to remedy cysts or having a hysterectomy.
Other issues that are discussed are cystitis, vulvodynia, endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, cancers, headaches, cramps, amenorrhea (absence of menstruation), dysmenorrhea (difficult menstruation), menorrhagia (irregular or excess menstruation), leukorrhea (abnormal discharge) and vaginitis.
The closing chapter on nutrition deals with the subject of diet from a vegetarian perspective. In Ayurvedic nutrition the most important thing is to eat according to your innate body constitution and making sure that your digestion is good. Thus overeating should be avoided. Dietary charts are provided for each body type. Ayurvedic taste theory is also discussed, as well as liver detox formulas.
The subjects covered in the appendix are getting off pharmaceutical medication, pregnancy and childbirth and fertility. At the end of the book a herb glossary with the names in English, Latin and traditional Indian names is provided.
By this point the reader can see that this book is not a simple description of herbs but an explanation of the Ayurvedic model in a rational and convincing way. This work is not only for women but for any serious Ayurveda students. In my personal impression, Atreya provides the reader with a wise, complete and humble understanding of the workings of the human body.
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