Ayurveda for the heart

At the heart of Ayurvedic wisdom lays a natural world where herbs heal the heart, meditation mends it, and deeper remedies take root every day.

Except for the firm cursive Sanskrit hand and modern terms, an Ayurvedic "prescription" has changed little in the past thousand years. How did the ancient Ayurvedic physician, unequipped with titanium-plated tools and ready-made medical textbooks, get to the root of cardiac healing?

"Precisely because he was unequipped," smiles Dr. R.K. Mishra, renowned Ayurvedic vaidya. "Plants were his entire pharmacopoeia. He had to know every plant, leaf, root, and fiber by heart. The Ayurvedic vaidya was really two people rolled into one--a physician and a herbal pharmacologist. Studying plants gave him insight into the incredible intelligence of the living cell. And instead of extracting a single active ingredient, he used the whole herb, with all its built-in checks and balances, to heal. For instance, the leaf of a certain plant could carry a potent antiviral, but its root could nullify all the harmful reactions or side effects."

Once the vaidya had found the root cause of heart disease, he set about trying to identify the healing herbs. He picked out the herbs that worked for the heart.

* Guggul--the resin that could lower cholesterol and triglycerides.

* Arjuna--the tonic that could regulate blood pressure and fine-tune heart rhythm.

* Ashwagandha--the restorative kin of ginseng in Ayurvedic healing, and scores of others.

Over thousands of years, the vaidya extracted these herbs, combined them in the right proportions, and put them to the test. Modern scientists, bent over their high-power microscopes, are discovering the powers of these herbs today. A 1997 clinical study showed that ashwagandha reduces levels of plasma cortisol, which contributes to heart disease. The herb is also reported to slow down the circulation of adrenaline, the stress hormone that can literally tear heart muscle fibers under pressure.

Harold Bloomfield, best-selling author, psychiatrist and physician, has seen these herbs turn lives around. For instance, Paul, a hard-working, pushy lawyer, hit the peak of his career early in life. So did his blood pressure. At 35, soon after becoming a partner in a large San Diego firm, he had his first heart attack. Paul's cardiologist put him on blood pressure medication and referred him to Bloomfield to help assess his lifestyle and control stress.

Paul was also taking coumadin--a blood-thinning drug. "I put him on an herbal Ayurvedic formulation called Amrit--which literally means 'the golden cup of longevity'," says Bloomfield. "It's a potent and precise combination of 44 herbs and fruits, known to rejuvenate the heart. I also started him on Transcendental Meditation, the relaxation technique that forms a vital part of Ayurvedic healing. Eight months later, Paul discontinued his antihypertensive medicine. He no longer needed valium to sleep. He also stopped coumadin--and all of this with the full cooperation of his cardiologist."

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