India Herbs

Publication: INDOlink.com

Author: Francis C. Assisi

Date: November 23 2006

USA:  For 28 years the Mount Madonna Center at Watsonville, host of The Mount Madonna Institute, has been known for its excellent Yoga and Ayurveda programs, inspired by the silent yogi Baba Hari Dass.

Now, beginning January 2007, the Institute plans to open the College of Ayurveda - formed to meet the increasing demand for trained practitioners of alternative and complementary healthcare in the U.S., specifically Certified Ayurvedic Practitioners. Classes are expected to start January 18th with an introductory weekend taught by Dr. Vasant Lad of the Ayurveda Institute in New Mexico.

Cynthia Copple, newly appointed Dean of the Mount Madonna Institute College of Ayurveda informed Indolink that the institute “is approved by the state of California to offer Diplomas, Certificates and a Masters of Arts - Ayurveda degrees.” Copple, who has been an Ayurvedic Practitioner for 23 years and is a former President of NAMA (National Ayurvedic Medical Association), predicts that, like Yoga, Ayurveda too will be a force for continuing the great cultural exchange between India and America. Besides Dr. Lad, the college faculty includes Dr. R.H. Singh (former Dean of the College of Ayurveda at Varanasi) and Dr. P.H. Kulkarni (former Dean of the College of Ayurveda in Pune) which “makes it possibly the best new Ayurveda school in the US and one of very few offering MA degrees.”

Its program is 7 months (Diploma), 21 months (Certificate - Ayurvedic Practitioner) and 30 months (MA degree). Classes are one three-day weekend a month at the residential Mount Madonna Center in the scenic mountains overlooking the Monterey Bay. An excerpt from a letter Copple wrote as President of NAMA which was printed in the Program for the 2006 National Ayurvedic Medical Association Conference in New York City in Sept. 2006, states: “I expect the number of Ayurvedic schools to continue to increase, as more and more people seek the help of Ayurvedic Practitioners. NAMA is continuing to refine and increase standards for Practitioner Training and Ayurvedic schools.”

As for the future of Ayurveda in America, says Copple, “This is an exciting time in the history of Ayurveda in the United States. It is a different world from 23 years ago when I started to practice Ayurveda. Today, the Ayurvedic wisdom of 5,000 years ago is being rediscovered as the impact of diet, exercise and stress is emphasized more and more, in allopathic scientific studies, prevention and treatment. The interest in alternative health and Ayurveda is growing most rapidly among the fitness and weight-oriented young, and those reaching 55 plus years of age (Baby Boomers) who are looking for ways to avoid what is assumed to be an inevitable part of aging-the decline in health and increase in illness. The Ayurvedic approach to longevity and geriatrics may well be its ticket to licensure.

Copple predicts that the next ten years is sure to be the biggest market ever for Ayurvedic rejuvenation therapies and herbal restorative formulas as the Baby Boomers discover that Ayurveda works. “I believe we are near the tipping point for the process of licensing of Ayurveda to begin. To attain state licensure, I believe we need to find one area in which Ayurvedic treatment can be scientifically proven to work, put our focus, our money and our intention behind it, and, like Chinese Medicine and its emphasis on scientific studies of acupuncture and pain, enlist western scientists, doctors and state politicians in the cause of the licensure of Ayurveda.”

The college brochure says: ‘Our instructors are classically trained in India and/or have many years of clinical and teaching experience. Students will have opportunities for personal experience in intuitive and spiritual aspects of Ayurveda and will write papers and research projects. We specialize in integrating Ayurveda and Western Medicine. Classes will meet one three-day weekend per month, starting Thursday nights and ending Sunday afternoons, and will include experiential practica as well as academic sessions.”

Details can be found at the website: www.mountmadonnainstitute.org

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