Winter 2003
Dear Friends:
This is a longer newsletter than usual because we have so much to tell you. We’ll cover:
- Seasonal Tips
- Our Beautiful, Serene Space for SPAyurveda™
- New Ayurvedic Physician on Staff
- Our First Private Label Product
- Class News
- SPAyurveda™ Specials and Expanded Hours
- Medical Practice Info
- The New Detoxification/Rejuvenation Program
It was a cold January in Northern VA. Frozen ponds and creeks, more snow than usual, and you could forget cleaning the salt off the car because in a day or two there would be more. White’s Ferry, our little 18-car ferry that crosses the scenic Potomac just a few minutes from here, was shut down because of ice on the river. Even the Pittas were complaining!
February’s begun and with all the cold and moisture, it couldn’t be more Kapha-like. That means, in general, go light on the things that can create a lot of mucous in the body: homogenized cold milk, other types of dairy, cheese, yogurt, frozen yogurt, ice cream, and ripe bananas. Time for warming foods and spices, warm drinks, long underwear (natural fibers like silk next to the skin, please.) To keep Kapha in harmony, get up by 6 am. Start that exercise program and get the body moving during the 6-10 am Kapha cycle. No excuses. You’ll help everything stay in balance in this Kapha aggravating season. (And besides, we’re sure that any day now, the sun will be peeping out by 6 so for those of you who don’t like to do your Yoga in the dark, help is on the way.) Keep the head and ears covered when outside.
SPAYURVEDA GROWS UP
Even though it’s cold outside, we’re hot on Loudoun ST as the SPAyurveda expansion upstairs nears completion. (SPAyurveda is booking for the 3rd week in Feb.) Read on for an e-tour:
Enter the softly lit reception area where muted colors, natural materials and uncluttered design soothe your senses. Move to the simple cedar bench where you’ll remove your shoes and put on a pair of soft slippers to wear throughout your stay. Our receptionist will offer you a welcoming herbal tea and invite you to sit on the comfortable shawl-draped sofa as you await your balancing therapy.
You’ll then be escorted through the 15-pane translucent glass door past the conference nook and into the first treatment room. With natural light and peaceful silence (or quiet music if you prefer) this is the setting for Abhyanga, our wonderful balancing oil massage, given by one or two therapists, and for Swedana, our gently detoxifying and rejuvenating herbal steam cabinet therapy.
Move from the first treatment room to the second and experience what many have called the most blissful therapy of all time, Shirodhara. A steady stream of warm oil runs slowly and smoothly from a gleaming copper vessel across your forehead, dissolving all stress and tension and taking you to deep relaxation and peace.
From the second treatment room, move on to the well-appointed spa-like bathroom where you’ll find premier natural products for your use. After a refreshing, restorative shower, you’ll exit through another glass paned door to the gallery where the area’s most extensive collection of Ayurvedic products awaits you: the best herbs, oils, teas, spices, books, music, yoga and meditation supplies available. Linger a bit for more tea in the reception area before leaving de-stressed and renewed. Sounds great, huh? Operators are standing by.
For those of you who haven’t yet experienced these luxurious health enhancing treatments (click here for more info), now is the time. As of February 24, SPAyurveda hours are 8-5 Monday-Friday and 9-1 Saturday. To celebrate our opening, the treatments will be 20% off for our first month.
NEW AYURVEDIC PHYSICIAN ON STAFF
We are delighted to announce that Dr. Rucha Kelkar, BAMS, a classically trained Ayurvedic Physician from India, has joined our staff. Dr. Rucha, who grew up in Bombay, graduated with honors from the prestigious Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya Nashik, University of Pune and will be overseeing our herbal department, SPAyurveda treatments and our new Panchakarma program. . For those of you who’ve already been through the intake protocol, she will also be available for consultations.
Having an Indian educated Ayurvedic Physician on staff at Integrative Medicine of Northern Virginia has been our goal for many years. The added insight, experience and training Dr. Rucha brings will deepen our own knowledge and will be of profound benefit to our patients and their families. We thank the abundance of the universe for helping our dream manifest.
Our first private label product
It is with pleasure that we present our first private label product, Sarasvati. Based on a classic herbal combination which we’ve used in the practice for several years, it’s terrific for Vata imbalances like anxiety, mental stress, memory problems, scattered thinking, insomnia, ADD/ADHD, and certain neuroses. If you’re in our area, we hope you’ll soon be able to pick it up at selected health food stores. It’s always available at ayurvedicMD.com
Class news
Baby Massage on Saturday, February 15 from 9-10 am. Find out why moms and dads are calling this the best parenting technique ever! Baby shower coming up? Pair a gift certificate for the class with some Bindi Baby Massage Oil for a thoughtful present. Call Pam for more information.
SPAYURVEDA SPECIALS and EXPANDED HOURS
To celebrate our expansion, all treatments (including Panchakarma) are 20% off for our first month. (Feb. 24 Mar. 21), and all products, herbs oils, etc are 10 % off, so call to schedule one of our health-enhancing therapies. (Remember, our new SPAyurveda hours are 8-5 Mon-Fri and 9-1 on Sat.) Or stop by to see what’s new and stock up on your favorites.
Gift Certificates are a great idea for Valentine’s Day. So are gift baskets, books, and great Bindi products.
MEDICAL PRACTICE INFO
(This is Debbie talking) Did you know that David was just voted Best Alternative Medical Practitioner for the second year in a row in Leesburg Today. And that as of 2002, he is now Board Certified in Holistic Medicine? He won’t toot his own horn so I’ll do it.
As David’s reputation for “Alternative Medicine” grows, it seems there may be a few folks who think he no longer practices Family Medicine. Nothing could be farther from the truth. David is still a Board Certified Family Physician, and still an Associate Professor of Primary Care Medicine at GW. He still has privileges at Loudoun Hospital Center and continues to offer the excellent, compassionate medical care you’ve come to expect from him. David has not replaced western medicine with Ayurveda. He has combined the two in the most unique medical practice in the US. Please read our mission statement:
to restore balance in chronic conditions
by addressing cause rather than symptom,
and to provide excellent, appropriate Western
and Ayurvedic medical care.
We are still accepting new patients (via the intake protocol of lab, physical and consultation). And since our terrific Physician Assistant Amy Spangler has expanded our scheduling possibilities, we are able to provide same day appointments for acute visits.
THE NEW DETOXIFICATION PROGRAM
As we age, our bodies accumulate toxins from poor diet and lifestyle choices, medications, difficult sensory experiences, unprocessed emotions and environmental pollutants. Ayurvedic Medicine calls this toxic load “ama” and sees it as a major factor in the deterioration of health.
Regular removal of ama (detoxification) through the classic Ayurvedic healthcare program called Panchakarma, slows aging, improves vitality and stamina and helps address chronic conditions and disease in a positive, often dramatic way.
Your SPAyurveda™ Panchakarma experience begins the week prior to your appointment with a preparatory diet of nutritious, easily digested food. This is an important component of the program because detoxification places an added load on the digestive system. An easily digested diet allows the GI tract to work in harmony with the body during Panchakarma. Toward the end of the week, a little ghee (unsalted clarified butter) is added to the diet to facilitate the removal of toxins. You will receive complete written and verbal instruction for this phase of the program.
Once at SPAyurveda™, you’ll meet with Dr. Mathis who takes your pulse, examines your tongue, evaluates medical history and sets up your Panchakarma regimen for the next five days. Included each day are: a two-therapist oil massage, a gentle nasal application of appropriate herbalized oil, herbal steam cabinet therapy, and application of herbs to the skin to remove surface impurities.
These daily treatments conclude with Shirodhara, the most well known and luxurious of the therapies. While you relax on a massage table, a warm, steady stream of oil runs continuously across your forehead for 20 –30 minutes, disarming the nervous system and providing deep and profound rest.
All of the treatments are restful and enjoyable in their own right. But their real value is in their ability to loosen toxins as well as excess Vata, Pitta, and Kapha and return them to the point of origin in the GI tract so they can be easily eliminated with one of three cleansing techniques.
Depending on mind body type and imbalances, patients are instructed in self-administered herbal oil enema, herbal purgation or therapeutic vomiting. Though least common, vomiting is overseen by a staff member, necessitating a small additional fee.
Throughout the week, we provide you with a light diet of Kitchari, as well as detoxifying teas and spring water. For patients whose accommodations might not include cooking facilities, extra Kitchari can be taken for the evening and morning meals. To facilitate the detox process, we highly recommend you avoid all other foods, including dairy, meat, caffeine, white sugar, white flour, cold foods and cold beverages, diet supplements, vitamins or herbs and any recreation drugs, alcohol and tobacco, both during the week of Panchakarma, the week prior to Panchakarma and for some time after Panchakarma has been completed.
Keeping a lighter schedule with adequate time for rest and reflection will support the body as it cleanses, as will staying warm and out of drafts, avoiding vigorous exercise, loud music, TV, movies, late nights and sexual activities.
Before Panchakarma ends, you’ll receive diet and lifestyle counseling and herbal recommendations to support rejuvenation and reduce toxic accumulation in the future.
Because traditional western medicine does not really understand how chronic conditions and disease arise, its therapies are limited to suppression of symptoms through bio-chemical manipulation with medicines or surgical removal/replacements of diseases organs or joints. Detoxification and rejuvenation are largely concepts “outside the box’ for most western physicians.
At Integrative Medicine of Northern Virginia, while we acknowledge the best of western medicine and use it when necessary, we find that Ayurveda gives us a valuable model for understanding the disease process and in Panchakarma, a unique tool to reverse or retard its progress.
We recommend Panchakarma to patients who are interested in enjoying good health as they age, as well as to those with specific conditions.
Contraindications for Panchakarma: Pregnancy, lactation, menses, hypertension, lympho-sarcoma, cancer of the lungs or testicles, melanoma, congestive heart failure, angina, HIV or AIDS, dehydration, obesity or any infectious disease.
Call us for more information or visit us on line at ayurvedicMD.com
Thanks for taking the time to read this longer letter. We appreciate, as ever, the chance to be of service to you and your loved ones.
Namaste,
David and Debbie Mathis
“ ‘Heart’ is merely another name for the Supreme Spirit, because He is in all hearts.” --- Sri Ramana Maharishi
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