Ayurvedic therapy training

The core essence of Ayurvedic therapy training has never been to learn standardized massage techniques or fixed herbal formulas, but to master "the matching logic of individual life energy and natural rhythms." Currently, the training on the market is mainly divided into three categories: Indian traditional school, Western practical improvement school, and domestic Chinese and Western medicine fusion school. There is no absolute "optimal choice", and the adaptability depends entirely on whether the core purpose of your study is self-regulation, professional practice, or academic research.

The first time I came into contact with this type of training was three years ago at a small residence in Dali. I signed up for a seven-day introductory course. I originally thought it was an upgraded version of high-end SPA teaching, but the teacher poured cold water on it on the first day. In class, we don’t learn the technique first. Everyone gathers together to feel the pulse of their wrists - it is not the Cun Guan ruler of traditional Chinese medicine, but three fingers are lightly placed on the radial artery, and the weight, speed and pause of the pulse are counted to determine whether one’s body is dominated by Vata, Pitta or Kapha. That day, I calculated on the form for half an hour before confirming that I had a typical Vata constitution: thin, prone to anxiety, and always constipated when the seasons change. The teacher casually gave me a spoonful of warm turmeric oil and asked me to drink it on an empty stomach. That afternoon, I felt the urge to defecate for the first time in a long time. It was the first time I truly felt the effect of this system.

The training available to everyone now is actually much different than you think. Training in traditional Indian schools is mostly offered by official Ayurveda colleges in Kerala, ranging from one month to three years, and many require students to study in India. This type of course has extremely strict requirements. Before learning massage, you must practice cleansing techniques for a month: nasal cleansing with salt water, regular fasting, gargling with oil every morning, and memorizing the original Sanskrit versions of "Jalaka Samhita" and "Collection of Wonderful Information". Traditional practitioners generally believe that "Ayurveda is a complete life science, not a commercial healing project. Without more than three years of systematic study, you are not qualified to treat others." I once met an Indian student studying abroad, whose family has been an Ayurveda doctor for generations. He said that he followed his father in practicing herbal medicine when he was 14 years old. He didn’t dare to independently prescribe conditioning plans for customers until he was 22 years old. The threshold is so high that it discourages 90% of practitioners who want to make quick money.

But what ordinary consumers are most exposed to is actually the Western reformist training passed over from Europe and the United States. This type of course simplifies the core logic of Ayurveda and combines it with modern nutrition and aromatherapy. The training cycle can be as short as 3 days or as long as 2 weeks. After completing the course, you can obtain the therapist certificate issued by the institution. The main focus is that it can be copied and easily implemented. In class, you will find a complete physical test form. You can measure your physical type with 20 questions. The corresponding essential oil formulas, dietary taboos, and massage techniques are all standardized. Even if you have no foundation in healing before, you can still provide a complete oil therapy program for customers by following the process. Traditionalists often criticize this type of training as "fast-food Ayurveda" and completely lose the core of "thousands of people try their best". However, reformist lecturers also have their own reasons: "Most ordinary people do not need to become Ayurveda doctors at all. They can learn to use it to adjust their work and rest and relax their families." Oil therapy is enough, but raising the bar so high will make this thing out of the public. "A friend of mine who runs a health center first signed up for a 3-day reform course for 1,980 yuan. In the first month after returning, he earned back his tuition with the newly added Ayurveda oil therapy program. The price-performance ratio is really good.

There is also a type of fusion training that has become popular in China in recent years. Most of them are offered by traditional Chinese medicine clinics or local healing institutions. They will combine Ayurvedic oil therapy with traditional Chinese medicine’s meridian massage, moxibustion and even Taoist Daoyin techniques. For example, they will teach you to avoid the governor channel when giving oil therapy to customers with pitta constitutions (easy to get angry and have a short temper) and focus on the liver and gallbladder meridian. The logic of constitution differentiation will also correspond to the deficiency and excess of cold, heat and excess of traditional Chinese medicine. The evaluation of this type of course is the most polarizing. Some people think that this is the best direction for localization. After all, Chinese people are more familiar with the logic of traditional Chinese medicine and it will be easier to use after modification; others think that it is a random modification, forcing two completely different systems together, and finally making them look different.

If you ask me how to choose training, I will never give a recommendation directly. I will always ask the person first, "What do you want to learn this for?" If you just want to adjust your allergic constitution and improve your problem of not sleeping well all year round, it is enough to sign up for an online introductory course worth a thousand yuan. You can just learn how to distinguish your body constitution and what foods to eat in each season. There is no need to spend tens of thousands of yuan to sign up for some advanced tutoring class. If you want to work as a healer, it’s best to take two experience classes that cost a few hundred yuan to get a feel for whether you believe in the logic of the traditional school or the reform school. Don’t spend money to sign up for a long-term course. After all, there are many institutions on the market. You can listen to the propaganda of “Become an internationally certified Ayurveda healer in 7 days and earn 100,000 yuan a month.” It’s not such a good thing. By the way, I would like to mention that there is currently no officially recognized Ayurveda practitioner qualification certificate in China. The "international certifications" mentioned by all institutions are basically issued by industry associations or institutions themselves. Don't waste money on a certificate.

I haven’t taken any qualifications as a healer. I just use the knowledge I learned to cook some herbal tea for myself when the seasons change. When it’s dry in winter, I use warm sesame oil to moisturize my whole body. The last time my mother suffered from frozen shoulder, I used Sesame Oil with ginger essential oil to rub her for half an hour. She felt comfortable for three days. For me, this is enough. After all, no matter what kind of therapy or training, the ultimate goal is to make people live more comfortably.