The biggest oak tree starts out as an acorn and then slowly but surely one leaf at a time it grows into a magnificent expression of what an oak tree is. This is a magical journey through this world of nature.
We as humans have the same potential – that is to embrace life and become a Human Being through a journey of discovery of ‘myself’. This is an extraordinary journey that each of us can travel and share with family and friends and while doing so, experience the wonder of nature in maybe simple things like the colours of the autumn leaves or the crunching of the snow under our feet as we walk to the office. In reality, that is for each of use to personally find out in our own way. Such an extraordinary journey our life can be – the discovery of our true self.
As we go through life we deal with many circumstances (both good and not so good) and it is through these that we get an opportunity to find out a little bit more about ourselves. There are also the day to day challenges of life that we have to deal with and overcome in our own way. We always do the best we can for the right reasons.
Where are you the reader now? Well each of us is at a different place and facing different circumstances. That is the beauty of life, where we all have different experiences and can share these to help others, like a very big family.
Modern day life’s circumstances are very much different than those of our parents and grandparents – and we all know the good and not so good of this. Maybe we have more stress in our life and not as much time as we would like to have for our family. Most of us can relate to the experience of feeling the need to have time for oneself, to find a moment of quietness amid the sometimes stressful day of work, parenting or caring for a relative or friend.
Many of the support structures/organisations that we depended on in the past are now not as readily available to us or are losing their effectiveness for many reasons. In a strange way we are naturally looking elsewhere for support. For example we have seen the growing awareness of health food shops, meditation groups, wellness workshops of various types and so on. This is a natural response of a society that is experiencing change in so many ways.
As a society over the years many of us have travelled and lived abroad, and have been exposed to other influences that we bring back home and we adapt them to our own cultural norms. In many cases we start to become aware that we have our own traditional approach that is waiting to be rediscovered by us. A simple example of this is the growing awareness of people that our natural plants such as nettles, dandelion, yarrow etc have been used in the past by our ancestors to heal and prevent many illnesses.
This is an extraordinary journey for our society where we are rediscovering our traditions including the medicinal use of plants. Nature always provides for us and it is up to us to listen to nature through our senses to hear what that message is.
One Leaf Ayurveda is one such means where you can start to explore your world, lifestyle, the state of health and wellness of your body and mind under the guidance of our Practitioners. They undertake a very extensive consultation with you that is designed to explore where you are in terms of your health and takes into account your Dosha or Type and many other factors. This consultation is the foundation upon which a program of treatments, herbal supports, small lifestyle changes and supportive habits etc. is designed by our Ayurvedic Practitioners to assist you in bringing your life back into harmony. In effect, helping your body to return to its natural state of health and wellness. This journey can also be seen as a journey of self exploration that will empower you to take charge of your health and your body. The role of the Ayurvedic Practitioner is to guide and support you along this exciting journey of returning to your natural state of health, whilst taking into account the modern society that we live in.
By: David Humphries – Ayurvedic Practitioner