Before you teach Ayurveda to kids, remember 3 things

A healthy person smiles and laughs, is cheerful and happy.
Health is a gift from Mother Nature, the power behind life.
Health is your birthright, not disease.
It is as natural to be well as it is to be born.

– Swami Sivananda

Ayurveda — often translated as the science of life — is yoga’s sister science. It looks to nature for insight on how to achieve radiant holistic health. Rather than solely addressing the wellbeing of the physical body (as in conventional/Western medicine), the mental body (as in psychology), or the spiritual body (as in many world religions), Ayurveda seeks to heal and balance all layers of prana (life force energy).

Ayurveda comes from the Indian subcontinent and intersects with various philosophies and faiths that share a common geography and language (Sanskrit). If you are interested in teaching Ayurveda to kids, there are three things you must remember:

1. Act Ethically
The practice of Ayurveda is considered pseudoscientific, so it must be presented truthfully and without unsubstantiated or anecdotal claims (this is also the standard for conventional/Western medicine!) It is truthful to say that Ayurveda has been practiced for thousands of years — and that some conventional/Western medical practitioners have moved toward an integrative model of healthcare that combines scientific knowledge with complementary practices, as modeled in Ayurveda. It is not truthful to say that Ayurvedic practices are always safe and effective. Lead, arsenic, and mercury (potent neurotoxins that can cause irreversible brain damage) have been found in commercially available Ayurvedic preparations and a 2008 study found these heavy metals in nearly 21% of patent Ayurvedic medicines sold online.

Secondly, if you are a Yoga Alliance member, remember the commitment you made when you consented to the Code of Conduct and Scope of Practice:

Unless the Member is both competent and properly credentialed in the specific field in which they seek to provide services, advice, or products, the Member must (1) gain competence and proper credentials, (2) engage the services of or refer the Student to a competent and properly credentialed professional, or (3) decline to provide such service or advice.

2. Don’t Appropriate
Name and credit the origins of Ayurveda: its geographical origins, its people, and its language. Make sure you are aware of the teachers and lineages you are teaching — Ayurveda has many strains and giving proper credit is basic respect. Even though conventional/Western medicine may not recognize Ayurveda as a legitimate practice, that doesn’t mean it has no value. To the contrary, it has withstood thousands of years of practice and only continues to become more popular and commonplace as a facet of integrative medicine. In order to become a fully certified practitioner of Ayurvedic medicine, one must be fluent in Sanskrit and undergo 5+ years of intensive medical theory and application at institutions only available in India. If you have not done this, cite your own credentials properly, i.e. Graduate of [Program Name]’s 20-Hour Ayurveda Course NOT “Certified Doctor of Ayurveda.”

3. Begin with Nature
When you’re ready to teach kids about Ayurveda, remember that they are much closer to nature (and thus closer to wellbeing) and therefore have intuitive Ayurvedic wisdom. So, instead of taking a prescriptive approach — for instance, labeling kids with different Ayurvedic constitutions and recommending specific health directives — take an exploratory approach. Begin by inviting kids to consider nature: ask them to notice, name, and describe some objects in nature. Draw the connection between these descriptors and the 20 gunas — the descriptors of nature as delineated in Ayurvedic philosophy. From there, teach them the 5 elements: ether, air, earth, fire, and water. Heck, teach a whole class series simply exploring these elements and how they show up in human constitutions, temperaments, and humors! If you want to inch a little closer to Ayurvedic philosophy, move on to the three dosha: Vata (air + ether), Pitta (fire + water), and Kapha (earth + water). These are energies present in the body and mind. From here, you can go deeper — but be aware that (see #1), educators must act ethically in representing Ayurveda and also must honor each family’s right to choose the path of wellbeing for their child.

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