Dr. Anapoorni Ramasubramanian
Dr. Anapoorni Ramasubramanian studied Ayurvedic medicine at the K.G.M.P. Ayurved Mahavidyalaya in Mumbai, India, achieving a Bachelors and Doctorate degree in Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery. She also has six years of teaching experience with the California College of Ayurveda and is a positive and inspirational Ayurveda practitioner. She strives to help others find balance and inner peace for lifelong physical, mental and spiritual health.
Presently, Dr. Ramasubramanian is working with Saybrook University as an Ayurveda teacher in the College of Integrative Medicine and Health Sciences. Her students know her as “Dr. Anu.” Her newest Ayurveda course will focus on Ayurvedic nutritional principles, and will be available beginning in Fall 2016 for students in the mind-body medicine degree programs as well as for students in Saybrook’s new master’s degree in integrative and functional nutrition.
Dr. Anu reports that Ayurvedic Medicine revolves around three pillars:
1) removing the root cause of a health problem,
2) assisting the patient to improve diet and nutrition, and
3) modifying personal lifestyle.
She reports that the first step involves a lengthy assessment to identify and then remove the cause of the ailment. It is crucial that the patient comes to understand how and why a sickness or disease began. Ayurvedic Medicine seeks to educate individuals on how to remove the cause, or source, of the disease. The second pillar of Ayurveda focuses on how and what to eat in order to nourish the mind, body, and soul. The third pillar centers around lifestyle, more specifically, how one should structure daily life. After these three pillars have been attended to, practitioners also provide dietary supplements and other therapies (e.g., yoga, meditation).
Dr. Anu comments that there are many types of modern diseases, and all of them center on poor “body circulation.” Why does this happen? Dr. Anu directs our attention to nutrition. She remarks, “We must look at our food. Food circulates through the body, and when we eat processed foods it dampens our prana.” In Ayurveda, prana is defined as the life-giving force. Dr. Anu emphasizes the importance of re-evaluating our modern (Western) lifestyle, a lifestyle that is plagued by processed food.
Dr. Anu strives to educate and inform the community about the importance of becoming self-reliant when it comes to cooking. We must take time to sit down, enjoy our food, and be thankful. She comments, “It’s all about going back to the basics. What do we really need to nourish our bodies?”