UMLAC is the only university in the Caribbean and Latin American regions offering Maharishi AyurVeda – a comprehensive, prevention-oriented approach to health care based on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s revival of ancient Ayurvedic knowledge, the traditional system of natural medicine of India. Ayurveda or “Science of Life” is a complete science of natural health care addressing mind, body, and environment.
The goals of the programs offered by the Department of the Physiology and Health are:
- to train individuals interested in providing healthy life-style education and natural health care service rooted in the knowledge and application of the clinically-effective, side-effect-free diagnostic and therapeutic modalities available in Maharishi AyurVeda,
- to provide an introduction to major systems of natural medicine,
- to provide an introduction to the applications of integrative health care in a scientific, evidence-based framework.
The foundational courses of Maharishi AyurVeda prepare students to care for their own health through regular practice of Maharishi’s technologies of consciousness – Transcendental Meditation technique and TM-Sidhi program – ideal daily and seasonal routine, balanced diet and lifestyle choices, and mutually enriching social behavior. More advanced courses provide training and practical experience in how to guide clients towards healthier lifestyle choices helping them to maintain or restore good health. Courses in all degree programs offered by the department further aim to build a strong scientific understanding of health from the modern and Vedic science perspectives.
As part of this discipline of health, students will study how human physiology is an expression of the deepest intelligence of nature and how to enliven nature’s intelligence – the inner intelligence of the body – through the Transcendental Meditation technique and other approaches of Maharishi AyurVeda.
Students will study how to assess the level of balance and imbalance in the mind and physiology through the technique of pulse reading, which is one of the most effective means of gauging the degree of balance and imbalance that simultaneously enlivens the inner intelligence of the body. They will also learn how the proper use of diet, herbal food supplements and essential oils, daily and seasonal routine attuned with the rhythms of nature, regular physical activity, and traditional purification techniques from the ancient tradition of Ayurveda can be used for maintaining or restoring balance in the body.
Each program offers theoretical understanding of the main principles of Maharishi AyurVeda as well as extensive practical experience consulting with clients in a clinical setting. On the graduate level students will probe deeper into the knowledge, focusing on how to treat specific organ systems and health concerns.
The foundational part of this program contains five specially developed courses:
- Self-Pulse Reading: Measuring the impulses of the body’s intelligence and restoring balance in the physiology through the touch of three fingertips (PH 260)
- Diet, Digestion, and Nutrition: Imbibing intelligence from food and the environment (PH 262)
- Maharishi YogaSM Asanas: Vedic exercise to enliven mind-body coordination to support pure awareness, the state of yoga (PH 263)
- Maharishi AyurVeda Wellness Consultant Training: Learning how to guide clients to wellness and health (PH 350)
- Maharishi AyurVeda Wellness Consultant Practicum: Practicing how to guide clients to wellness and health (PH 351)