Indian priest promotes Ayurveda healing for Filipinos

Posted at 4:46 pm November 17, 2011

Tags: Physical Wellness, Spiritual Wellness

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By Anna Valmero

MANDALUYONG CITY, METRO MANILA – When Reverend Father Jacob Gnalian came to the Philippines in 1984 to serve in Catholic parishes of remote provinces, he saw another calling: teaching Filipinos Ayurvedic medicine or the “science of life.”

Fr. Gnalian, a Catholic priest of the Missionaries of the East, pioneered the teachings and practice of Ayurveda in the Philippines in 1984, the year he came to the country as part of a Carmelite mission.

Years later, Fr. Gnalian established the Sandhi Ayurveda Clinic wherein he teaches the basic principles of Ayurveda to interested students.

Ayurveda is an ancient form of medicine, which, according to him, is also the oldest since it originated in India over 5,000 years ago.

“Ayurveda is the mother of all health care systems. It advocates holistic healing, which means caring for the body, mind and spirit. It not only studies the person because it also has roots in the pursuit of the divine because you study both the physical and spiritual,” said Fr. Gnalian.

Coming from a family of Ayurvedic healers in Keral in India, Fr. Gnalian was inspired to become a doctor as a lifelong mission especially when he saw his parents cure people bitten by snakes or those with diabetes using secret herbs.

In the Philippines, Fr. Gnalian has cured over 3,000 Filipino patients of arthritis and diabetes mostly those in remote areas who cannot afford to go to the hospital or buy medicine. The payment he receives from city clients he uses to support treatment of those who cannot afford to pay a doctor.

The clinic uses the Pnchakarma therapy in the Kerala style. Kerala is a town in India dubbed as the center of Ayurveda studies and also the hometown of Fr. Gnalian.

“In essence, Ayurveda is both preventive and curative because Ayurveda does not treat the symptoms of a disease as practiced in Western medicine but it focuses on healing man as a whole and the prevention of illnesses,” Fr. Gnalian explained.

Unlike in Western medical practice, Ayurvedic medicines are custom-formulated for each person depending on their needs. For example, a medicine for headache to a woman with dysmenorrhea is different from the one to be given to a man stressed with his financial burdens, explained Fr. Gnalian.

By fully understanding a person’s condition and going back to nature, Ayurvedic doctors are able to prescribe and develop medicine without side effects, he said. Up until now, Indians practice Ayurvedic medicine and drugs made from concoctions of herbs are in use until today, versus a list of Western drugs that are taken off the shelves due to their bad side effects.

The Ayurvedic medicine dispensed at Fr. Gnalian’s clinic are imported from Indian producers, with approval from the local Food and Drugs Administration.

By raising awareness about the benefits of maintaining good health, he said more Filipinos will be saved from lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension and the public health system would not be burdened by curing those with such diseases.

Based on his practice and studies he read, Fr. Gnalian said that half of Filipinos get sick because they do not know what to do or are taking the wrong medicine. The other half are sick because they are predisposed to the disease and due to unhealthy lifestyle.

“Eating habits is a key factor why many Filipinos today are sick. It does not matter if you eat at a carinderia or a five-star hotel, if you have an unhealthy diet and a sedentary lifestyle, chances are that you will get sick.”

For example, fast-food restaurants serve food high in preservatives and monosodium glutamate (MSG), which are bad for the body. The Ayurveda doctor also noted the use of antibiotics and hormones to fatten up animals and sustain the growing demand for meat. Organically-grown poultry or grass-fed cattle are better options that those raised on hormones.

In the US alone, 70 percent of antibiotics are injected on poultry and cattle, according to this report. The heavy use of antibiotics on poultry and cattle to prevent diseases leads to more virulent viruses and bacteria so people have to spend more for hospital bills and medicine.

Meanwhile, the use of hormones to grow poultry and cattle faster have lead to the earlier onset of menstruation among women, which in turn is associated with the rising incidence of breast and cervical cancer in women, wrote blogger Mark Bittman on New York Times.

Fr. Gnalian urges Filipinos to live a healthy lifestyle by taking note of what they eat and take medicines that come from nature instead of those made up of synthetic chemicals. He also urges yoga enthusiasts to do practice one of the cornerstones of Ayurveda medicine to exercise the mind and body to experience the immortal nature of man (spirit).

Doing the poses alone is not yoga, said Fr. Gnalian, because there are eight steps that one must do to fully experience the benefits of yoga. “Yoga is the discipline of the body and mind,” he added.

Stress is also a major factor in aging so Fr. Gnalian advises Filipinos to identify the cause of the stress and manage it from there.

He also urges the Department of Health to pour funds on research of and educating Filipinos about the medicinal uses of local herbs instead of buying over-the-counter medicines.

To learn more about Ayurveda, Fr. Gnalian will be at the 2nd International Ayurveda, Yoga & Wellness Convention & Expo Philippines 2011 which will be held on November 26 and 27 at the Alberione Auditorium in Pasay City. For more information, visit Ayuveda Manila.