AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH FOR WELLNESS: AN ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL OF AYURVEDA DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

ABSTRACT

The integrative approach for wellness has become an arena where integrating the indigenous practice with the dominant bio-medical system has activated a transformation process.Further, a debate characterized by fundamental dichotomies of health/wellness is there to find an approach in agreement with holistic wellness. The limitations of protocol-driven medical science and avoiding the patient behind the patient have again compelled us during this pandemic to explore holistic health. This paper presents an analysis and explores the feasibility of Ayurveda as an integrative system to wellness and tests the Ayurveda concept of holistic wellness against three such dichotomies 'health' vs wellness, 'body' vs 'mind,' and 'curative vs. preventive,' where the current medical model can be said to represent the first elements in the three dichotomies. Keeping the current Covid-19 pandemic as a critical incident, researchers tried to justify that the synergistic confluence will act as a complementary/supportive knowledge in humanity's struggle against the pandemic. For synergistic confluence of Ayurveda and medical Science, the scientist's temperament and evidence-based medical science approach should be applied to validate the principles and therapies of Ayurveda.