Monday, December 19, 2016

How I Helped a Loved One Heal with Ayurveda


The Wheel of Healing with Ayurveda
In 2005, I was deep into my study of Ayurveda. It wasn’t formal training at that time, but I was reading everything I could about health, wellness, and this deeply detailed medical system. I had seen the results in my life and wondered if there was a way I could help others who might be fed up and frustrated with the current medical system. 

My opportunity to help wasn’t far off. My husband (at the time) came to me with a plea. His father had been diagnosed with almost certain kidney failure. His creatinine levels were high and the doctors feared he would be on kidney dialysis within a short amount of time. My husband asked me if I would put together a program and talk to his father to help him change his lifestyle.

I was a bit embarrassed and bothered, firstly because I didn’t have a really close relationship with my father-in-law and secondly, because I didn’t have any degrees or certifications, at the time, in Ayurveda or alternative health. Still, I agreed to help. I made a booklet, over the course of a few days, outlining his new lifestyle plan based on the principles of Ayurveda. 

We met and I sat with him for a couple of hours explaining how he could start to heal naturally. The amazing part was that he actually sat and listened. (I think the possibility of being handed a life sentence was a motivating factor.) The next amazing part is that for the next 30 days, he followed the plan. 

In those 30 days, he lost 30 pounds due to the mostly plant-based diet I had suggested he start. I also had him drinking a ton of water at room temperature to help flush out his kidneys. He began walking for 10-15 minutes after every meal. I had him replace coffee with some herbal and green teas. The best part of all is that in 30 days his creatinine levels had gone down, something the doctors had said was impossible for his health condition. 

Once he got the good news, my father-in-law fell back into his old patterns, which of course worsened his condition. But the proof was in the pudding. 30-days on an Ayurvedic lifestyle diet worked to start reversing a condition that the doctors said was irreversible. 

It was that family experiment that got me on my path to teaching others about Ayurveda. I was convinced that it does work and not just for myself but for others too. 

And it can and will work for you and your loved ones. 

As a healer, we are not about prescribing pills or doling out herbal remedies. We’re about investing in people and getting to the bottom of why they are sick in the first place. Through this investment, I felt my father-in-law and I got closer. We had this little bond we never had had before. 

Ultimately, my father-in-law passed away in January of 2015. It had been several years since I had seen him after my divorce and living across the Atlantic. But after he passed, I had a dream about him, where he was visiting me and I saw Angel come and take him to heaven. I felt, in a strange way, that was God’s way of saying that he was O.K. after all those years and that vision was my thank you for helping him. 


Michelle 

Michelle S. Fondin is the author of The Wheel of Healing with Ayurveda: An Easy Guide to a Healthy Lifestyle (New World Library, 2015) and Help! I Think My Loved One Is an Alcoholic: A Survival Guide for Lovers, Family & Friends and upcoming book Enlightened Medicine: Get & Stay Well for Good This Time. 

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