synonymous with various cultural
practices such as avoiding strenuous
physical work taking rest avoiding
certain types of whole not going to the
temple and so on the most common reason
has somehow percolated a society is of
women being impure during menstruation
nothing could be further from the truth
about three years ago my team and I’d
began a search into what might be the
origin of these practices and what was
the purpose our search took us to nine
states across India and we spoke to
people from different indigenous
communities different faiths and belief
systems and even different scientific
backgrounds this is what we learned
none of the practices were meant to
suppress women in fact none of them have
anything to do with purity or impurity
and unlike popular perception these
practices are not rooted in religion
although they may feature in religious
sects we found that the cultural
practices pertaining to menstruation
came into being as a measure to prevent
menstrual and reproductive health issues
we also learnt that most of these
practices are rooted in English in
Sciences in our case Iraida now when we
think of aya whether the picture in mind
is of this ancient stage busy grinding
away all sorts of herbs with a mortar
and pestle and then we think of modern
medicine and there is the image of this
well-dressed doctor with the stethoscope
surrounded by technologically advanced
diagnostic machinery
but how modern is modern medicine really
modern medicine is based on the
principles of classical science
therefore the active is considered as
the basic building block from where you
have molecules which come together to
form the cells which group again to form
tissues which come together again to
form organs and then we have the various
systems that we know of digestive
but wait a minute why is modern medicine
still talking in terms of classical
science when other fields have adopted
the quantum approach to science what is
the quantum approach the quantum theory
talks of things I could subatomic level
saying that everything here behaves both
as a wave and as a particle Heisenberg
the father of the architect of quantum
mechanics said this underlying all
physical matter is an intrinsically
interconnected dynamic network of energy
leaving nothing isolated in the universe
essentially this means that all of us
and everything around us is made up of
waves of energy and they are constantly
interacting with and influencing each
other so what would it look like if
medicine were based on quantum science
and not classical science it would look
a lot like IEL radar and in that sense I
Andre that is more modern than modern
today I’d like to give you a glimpse
into the deep science behind iarriba
because it is only through the knowledge
of the basics of Ayurveda that we can
even begin to interpret the cultural
practices around menstruation correctly
since Iraida works at the quantum level
it goes beyond the atoms and the
molecules and ice deeper to the legend
of the biological forces the conscious
disease and are responsible for the
atoms and molecules to behave as they do
let me give you a simple example let’s
take the case of heavy menstrual
bleeding on Maharajah one of the reasons
for women to bleed profusely is a
hormonal imbalance so the common
treatment in modern medicine is called a
hormone therapy wherein artificial or
synthetic hormones are given to the
patient to reduce the menstrual flow as
most of you know there are side effects
there is an Iowa that the treatment is
not directed at the hormones but instead
it is directed at the biological forces
that cause the hormones to become
imbalance in the first place as these
forces return to the natural equilibrium
state the hormone secretion is regulated
naturally the body’s natural rhythm and
balance returns and menstruation – here
comes normal so you see unlike what most
of us think Iowa tha is not about
replacing chemical drugs with
plant-based drugs no in its purest form
I realize about the body’s ability to
heal itself and how you can play a role
in facilitating this process so what are
these biological forces that Iowa that
talks about there are three primary
forces recognized by Ayurveda they are
called the
OSHA’s the first I will tell you about
is the Vata dosha vaunted OSHA regulates
all the movements in the body then we
have a pit that OSHA which oversees all
metabolic and transformatory processes
then there’s the covered OSHA which is
responsible for maintaining strength
stability and structure within the body
the three doshas occur in different
combinations in all of us and they are
responsible for our personalities for
our health and in women our menstrual
cycles during the first week of the
menstrual cycle which is just after your
period there is a dominance of kapha
dosha now since Kappa represents
strength and stability this is the time
when most women feel very energetic have
more stamina and we can actually
accomplish more physical work in the
entire menstrual cycle this is the most
stable time for women because it is
marked by cava after that comes over
Alecia during ovulation and the week
after that there is a dominance of the
transformative energy of lipid OSHA just
a few days before the period many women
may feel that there is an excess body
heat and the skin erupts into acne this
is because of the increased fit that at
this time the process of the blood flow
itself when situation is marked by
dominance of the water OSHA but the
regulates all movement including the
movement of the menstrual blood it is in
fact wathah that sends the signals to
secrete the hormones which initiate
menstruation
so this any disruption in Vata it could
result in a hormonal imbalance and
consequently menstrual disorders
similarly if there is any aggravation of
picked up that too could impact vada so
this is the basis of most of the
cultural practices around menstruation
preventing the vada and the picked-up
from becoming disrupted for example we
are told to take rest during the period
and this is because the Vardar which
regulates a movement can easily get
aggravated if women are into sports or
travel excessively during their period
similarly food that is very cold or very
dry aggravates whathe food that is very
oily or spicy or non-vegetarian food can
aggravate picked up and that’s why you
don’t throw avoid these there is one
more point we need to understand in
order to understand another set of
cultural practices what the dosha has
five subtypes each one regulates
different functions in different parts
of the body the subtype of vaartha which
regulates the reproductive functions in
the lower part of the body is called the
Aparna Varga Giovanna bata is what is
responsible for the movement of waste
out of the body during childbirth it is
apana which helps to push the fetus out
it is the same upon Avada that’s
responsible for the downward and outward
movement of menstrual blood it is
something like the gravitational force
within the body which makes sure that
the direction is always down and the
functions associated with it happen
smoothly if during menstruation women
engaged in activities that somehow
change the direction of apana or blocked
its natural course it could result in
menstrual problems for example inverted
yoga asanas or gymnastics practice by
menstruating women could invert apana or
having food that is difficult to digest
and ends up blocking the Aparna would
force the opponent to find another path
changing its course and not visiting
temples just as the Indian medical
medicine is rooted in quantum science so
is our architecture especially
temple architecture the ancient temples
were places where when people went in
their own bodily forces would turn
upwards by the forces in the temple
that’s why we are told to go to a temple
on an empty stomach then after having
relieved ourselves so that it does not
interfere with the biological forces
that are involved in digestion or waste
elimination but if you look at a
menstruating woman for whom the Aparna
vadas always meant to be downwards now
as she entered a temple the forces in
the temple are likely to turn the
direction of the Aparna the immediate
impact will be that she will experience
severe menstrual cramps because of the
Aparna being pulled in an opposite
direction and that’s the reason why
traditionally women are told not to go
to the temples during menstruation some
of you might be thinking I’ve done these
things during my delayed and nothing
much happened well the right way of
putting it would be nothing much
happened which I noticed and mind is so
used to everything being loud that they
often miss subtle changes that happen in
the body but if we continue to put
ourselves in spaces or undertake
activities that repeatedly invert the
Aparna or block it then the long-term
it is said that repeated in version of
the apana vodka would cause the
menstrual life self to change its
direction and flow upwards as bizarre as
this may sound it is very similar to a
condition recognized in modern medicine
and called endometriosis the endometrium
is nothing but the lining of the uterus
which normally sheds when women men’s to
it although modern medicine is not sure
the exact cause of endometriosis one of
the theories called retrograde
menstruation sales that in women
affected by endometriosis during
menstruation a portion of the
endometrial tissue and the menstrual
blood backs up and flows into the
fallopian tube implants and stays in the
abdomen and grows there as with all
cases of apana inversion endometriosis
too is an excruciatingly painful
condition but this condition may have
been prevented have you understood the
science behind menstruation more deeply
try not to intellectualize what you just
heard instead try and experience it
having the body of a woman means that
you have the tools to experience a deep
science which modern medicine does not
yet have a language for next time when
you bleed observe what your body is
telling you be still be silent so you
can listen to the message that your
period is can be your menstrual cycle is
the proof of the existence of a deep
science it would be ashamed to
did go by unnoticed thankee [Applause]