Cancer and Ayurveda

According to Upanishads, "As is a man's will, so is his action; as is his action, so he becomes".

The cause and the cure of all disease are born with the body within itself. Ayurveda focuses on finding and treating the root cause of the disease. Interestingly, there are some similarities between Ayurvedic principles and the latest findings on the growth of cancerous cells in the body.

Each type of cancer is specific in the way it begins and develops, it?s modes of spreading, the way it affects one?s body and the symptoms experienced. According to Sir Paul Nurse, who received the Nobel Prize for medicine in the year 2007, cancer is caused when certain genes gets deranged in the body and as a result, is unable to check a proliferation of its own cells. Why and how these genes become deranged is still a mystery to Modern science.

Ayurveda describes that each person has individual physical and mental constitution and is born with a unique nature or personality. For maintaining health it is important to maintain this ?original PRAKRITI or nature in balance?. This is done by wiser food choices and performing activities that are in harmony with our nature. Thus a state of balance is maintained at physical, psychological and spiritual level. This balance maintains a certain harmony and consistency, but remains flexible and responds to challenges of the moment. However, a disturbance in the state of natural balance leads to derangement in the natural set of the body even at minute levels including genes.

Cancer may develop slowly, over a period of ten years or more, and can arise from a single factor or a combination of pre-disposing factors. Ayurveda promotes principles of natural living which includes proper diet, healthy living environment and harmonious lifestyle. Modern living often violates these principles by exposure to artificial diet like consumption of processed and preserved food, polluted environment, ingestion of chemicals, overworking physically and mentally, indulging in negative emotions, stress inducing factors which are incongruent with Ayurvedic principles leading to derangement of health. Inventing new chemicals or drugs may actually increase the problem or create new problems on the cancer front. It is now appropriate to become aware of the root cause of the problem and make suitable changes in our diet, lifestyle and environment.

Ayurveda describes cancer as "Vriddhi" or "Arbuda". In this situation, blood becomes impure due to aggravation of one or more Dosha(Vatha, Pitta and Kapha Energies). This impurity is actually related to subtle part of blood (Rakta Dhatu), and is not detected by physical tests. The Dosha may get aggravated due to a number of factors including smoking, alcohol, breathing in of chemical fumes, consumption processed food. Ayurveda says that this impure blood along with aggravated Dosha circulates in the whole body and relocates in a region that has impaired immunity. Cancerous cells filter through tissue and reach different parts of the body resulting in disruption of normal function in the affected region (organ/system) because one of the main functions of blood is transport PRANA (life energy) to each cell, the smallest functional unit of the body.

Prana according to Ayurveda, is not only oxygen but also contains a subtle force or vital energy, which empowers the cell to perform it?s normal functions including cell division. Due to impurity of Rakta Dhatu, Prana reaching the cells of that particular region also becomes impure which leads to improper cell division termed as cancer. If this is not detected at an early stage, the impurity spreads to other areas having reduced immunity facilitating spread of cancer cells.

The simple, yet powerful prevention-based approach is non-invasive, non-traumatic and generally do not interfere with other form of treatment. It can be summarized as follows:

Diet and digestion: Consume diet that is rich in natural cancer-fighting ingredients. Focus on building a stronger physiology. Keep digestion working properly to enhance immunity and reduce toxin accumulation.
Avoid smoking, alcohol, and environmental pollutants.
Modify lifestyle by sleeping at right time, reducing stress and emphasizing positive emotions.
Bring harmony and peace into your life through meditation and Yoga.

Rejuvenative herbs, when given together with other drugs increase the bioavailability of the drug that is being administered as the main therapy. The herbs used to treat such conditions have shown anti-cancerous activity to a certain degree. Some of them are as follows: