Ayurveda Approaches in Autoimmune Diseases

The therapeutic focus of Ayurveda approaches in autoimmune diseases differs considerably from the Western medical one. From a Western view, the body’s immune response produces abnormal antibodies that attack its own tissues. To calm this attack, medications are prescribed to suppress the immune system. There are more than 100 different autoimmune diseases currently diagnosed, including MS (multiple sclerosis), SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus), RA (rheumatoid arthritis), psoriasis, fibromyalgia, Crohn’s disease, and Hashimoto’s thyroid disease.

Ayurveda looks at autoimmune diseases in a different way. Practitioners see the root cause as an accumulation of toxic waste, ama, within the body. If it isn’t cleared, this debris can begin to gather in key weak spots in the body. As debris accumulates, inflammation can occur. (Think of the exasperation you feel as junk emails build up.)

Antibodies (apara ojas) try to address the problem yet are blocked by the stagnation. (Ayurvedic physician Dr. Smita Naram calls them restless soldiers.) From the perspective of the dhatus, ama around the joints can precipitate rheumatoid arthritis, while ama in the colon can eventually contribute to inflammatory bowel disease. This is a slow-rolling disaster that can develop over many years.

The initiating insult could be an infection, like Lymes, EBV, or Covid-19, compounded by a digestive system not working well, exposure to environmental toxins, imbalanced metabolism, and/or stress, all of which can speed the buildup of ama. Dr. Akil Palanisamy, Harvard-trained Integrative Medicine specialist, an MD with a passion for Ayurveda, likens it to having the gas pedal to the floor. The body is in full out push, and the immune system is out of control. Ayurveda takes the foot off the gas pedal by removing the triggers for autoimmune activity. Very simply, if the ama isn’t there, the immune system can start to calm down.

Ayurveda Approaches in Autoimmune Recovery

The initial autoimmune process can look like 1) infection 2) chronic tiredness 3) and over time, mental depression, though each disorder has its unique ways of manifesting. The Ayurveda approach in autoimmune diseases maximizes digestive health with foods and herbs, employs deep cleaning like Pancha Karma and seeks to remove the root causes of whatever disorder the individual is facing. Key Ayurveda herbs to eliminate ama are common ones, like triphala, guduchi, hing, turmeric, tulsi, and neem. Cumin, coriander, fennel, ginger, and lemon or lime are also often part of the plan.

Naram, the Ayurvedic physician specializing in reversing autoimmune disorders, says that systematically removing the blocks – ama,low agni (digestive fire), and environmental toxins – opens the pathway for apara ojas to function well again. In her experience, it typically can take 3 – 5 years to be free of symptoms. Yet at that point, people are free of autoimmune diseases for ten years or more.

Ayurvedic physician and pioneer Dr. Vasant Lad sees immunity as a totally individual path. Each person is different, and will need different foods, herbs, and treatments. Agni supports immunity and also reduces the accumulation of ama. He gives a short description of agni and immune health here.

As an MD, Palanisamy points out that the Western approach of medications to suppress immune function leaves the gas pedal still pressed down to the floor, with the underlying disease process still active. In Ayurveda one must remove the triggers for the illness, for the immune system to recover.

Some current Western research supports Ayurveda’s view of autoimmune disorders as slow in development

Autoantibodies are the hallmark of Western diagnosis of autoimmune disorders. When one shows up in a blood test, Western physicians are immediately on the alert. Yet interestingly, autoantibodies may be present years before clinical manifestations develop. This supports the Ayurveda perspective of slowly cascading imbalances that can and need to be addressed.

Ironically, AMA is also a Western abbreviation for anti-mitochondrial antibodies associated with autoimmune liver disorders yet also non-hepatic ones including Sjogrens Syndrome.

The view of the authors of the 2021 study quoted above (Colapietro, Lleo, and Generali ) maintain that The immune system scrupulously controls reactivity against self-antigens, and AID are relatively rare. Yet the Ayurveda Institute UK states that the incidence of autoimmune disorders in the UK can be as high as one in ten. There is an undeniable rise in the incidence of autoimmune diseases globally.

Money, Power and Toxic Waste

Environmental activists Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben have described in detail how the world’s most powerful companies already own huge untapped reserves of fossil fuels. Companies would need to keep those reserves buried underground, in the process forfeiting approximately twenty trillion dollars in assets, (points out Astra Taylor, in Democracy May Not Exist, But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone, p. 295) Considering capitalism’s short-term view of the bottom line, profoundly out of sync with environmental realities and democracy itself, she concludes, it lacks the attention span required for survival, let alone . . . democracy.

It’s been clearly established that living downwind of a fossil fuel installation is dangerous to one’s health.

Industrial civilization is a lot for one individual to counter.

A different way of looking at this

One thousand years ago, a radical Tibetan teacher, Machik Labdron, came up with a process not to thwart petroleum barons but rather to wake up (Machik’s Complete Explanation: Clarifying the Meaning of Chod, translated and edited by Sarah Harding). A mother and a renegade, she called herself a beggar woman. Among the many remarkable observations she made to her children and followers was, It is more important to meditate with a loving mind on a single being who demonstrates hostility and anger toward you than it is to meditate with love on a hundred beings who are affectionate and thoughtful of you. (p 112)

Relax in Essence

I’ve been lucky enough to be at two lively and deep retreats this month, including one about Machik and her method. Retreating isn’t always peaceful, as fellow retreatants know well. I came back home a little stirred up after this last one. My partner Gordon Bruen looked at me and said, Remember what Namkhai Norbu said, after the last day of a retreat: “Relax in essence.” Just relax in essence.

With that, I stumbled on to this quote from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin:

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

And with that, I opened to our good friend Donna Thomson’s explore, which invites us, her readers, to rest in the natural process of this radiant life, nature, spirit, energy all there. Wow, thank you.

Image: thanks to Iza Bruen – Morningstar. This picture is ice, a different kind of slowed down metabolic process. Yet the erratic accumulation of debris felt like a good visual approximation of ama in the tissues. If you wish to be more true to the biological reality, imagine a tinge of red inflammation around the edges.

Bio: I’m an Ayurveda health educator and Polarity Therapist practicing in Santa Fe, NM. There’s quite a bit more info about the dhatus in my book Ayurvedic Guide to Polarity Therapy available for purchase here. My most recent seasonal cookbook Easy Healing Drinks from the Wisdom of Ayurveda is on special now.