"Health is not everything, but without health everything is nothing." This is an important thesis of the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. And with this opinion he is in line with the ancient texts of Ayurvedic medicine. There it says that it is impossible to create a fulfilled, successful life without complete health. Only when we are healthy do we have the strength to effectively take care of our life goals and our social environment.

The way to get there is through our 5 pillars of health. They are simple signposts in the jungle of health measures. In today's information society, we suffer from too much information, making it difficult to distinguish essential guidelines for good health from disinformation.

Our 5 pillars include the 2 pairs of opposites "Nourish / Purify" and "Relax / Move" together with a focus on "Life Goals".

Nourish

Our bodies are constantly absorbing substances and information from the environment. This includes not only the food we eat, but also the water we drink, the air we breathe, the many things we perceive consciously or unconsciously. Everything we take in has to be processed.

The energy we need for this processing is called Agni in Ayurveda. Agni is our life energy that breaks down everything we take in into its smallest parts, distributes it in the body and reassembles it there.

Complex task of Agni

An example: You drink milk. The complicated milk protein is broken down into individual amino acids, absorbed into the body and there assembled into human protein. In a similar way, all other sensory impressions are processed, regardless of whether they are visual, acoustic or other perceptions. In this way we nourish body and mind.

Processing takes time

This process is very sensitive and prone to disruption. If it is interrupted or overloaded, the body does not produce the substances and information we need for health and well-being. The assimilation of food and information must follow an important law of nature: the law of rest and activity. If we do not follow this law, disorders and diseases will result. In the area of nutrition, disturbances lead to toxin exposure as a precursor to physical disease; in other sensory perceptions, they lead to fatigue, exhaustion and mental illness.

Modern nutritional medicine

Modern nutritional medicine only shows which substances the food should contain in order to supply the body with vital substances. Ayurveda goes much further here. Not only the supply, but above all the processing of the food in the body is decisive for the health value of the food we eat. So not only what we eat, but above all when and how we eat is decisive.

The intake of high-quality food is a logical prerequisite for health. But when the digestive system is overloaded, even the best raw materials become toxins in the body. The many cases of food intolerance we encounter today confirm this theory.

Ayurvedic nutrition

Ayurvedic nutritional teachings can be broken down into four important points:

• Use high quality (organic) foods.
• Season well, chew well.
• Eat only when the previous meal has been digested and a strong feeling of hunger is felt.
• Follow the biorhythm of the digestive fire Agni and enjoy the main meal at noon.

Those who observe these four simple points will almost certainly suffer neither deficiencies nor typical civilisation diseases such as obesity, high blood lipids, adult-onset diabetes, gout, etc.

If these points are ignored, ingested food cannot be completely digested and processed. This leads to fermentation and putrefaction processes in the intestine, which result in further metabolic disorders. The incompletely processed foods act like toxins in the body and burden the health.

These burdens can be eliminated by 2 measures: correct eating habits and regular purification.

Purification

The ability to purify is innate. In Ayurveda and other natural healing methods, this process has been described and used for thousands of years. Modern medicine doubts the usefulness and possibility of purging. Nevertheless, most of today's diseases are caused by exactly those substances that are reduced by Ayurvedic purification: Uric acid, high blood lipids, environmental toxins....

Biology of purification

For a long time, the biological process of purification was unclear. In 2016, that changed dramatically. Prof. Dr. Ohsumi from Japan received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his findings on "autophagy". "Autophagy" means "(to) eat itself" and describes the biochemical process by which the body eliminates harmful substances from the metabolism. As a result, normal metabolic processes are restored and disease and ageing processes are prevented.

Effective detoxification = Pancha Karma

With this realisation, all doubts about the meaningfulness and effectiveness of detox processes should actually be removed. Ayurveda has known and used effective processes to stimulate autophagy for thousands of years. These processes are called "Pancha Karma - cleansing cures". These are the world's most effective procedures for preventive health care and treatment of chronic diseases.

In soma we do not only offer classical stationary Pancha Karma cures. Our webinars are everyday variations of the classical Ayurvedic purification cures, available to everyone at any time and at favourable financial conditions.