Can Catholics practice eastern medicine such as Ayurveda?

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sgomez8194

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Hello Everyone,

This is my first time posting on CA Forum and I am very glad to have found such an active Catholic community on the web. I would be very grateful if anyone with previous experience in eastern medicine and catholic theology could provide their opinion to the matter.

My fiancee and I are both born and raised Catholic and will be getting married later this year. A couple of months ago she began studying what is called Ayurveda:

en.wikipedia.org

Ayurveda - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

or ancient eastern holistic/naturopathic medicine in order to help people heal in natural ways when conventional medicine doesn’t work. According to what she has told me, this type of medicine is not related in any way to Hinduism and it is not its own religion. As part of the course she is taking I noticed that it is some sort of energy healing that involved balancing of the “doshas” or energies of the body in order to help the body heal itself.

I also see that part of the course delves into astrology and they utilize a software that allows her to provide some sort of diagnosis based on the calculations/alignments of the stars at the time of a persons birth. I have spoken to her about astrology being prohibited by the church but her opinion is that the church considers everything that is “woo-woo”, “satanic” or “New Age”, and feels like Christians can miss out on other types of medicine due to a lack of understanding from the churches side on what eastern medicine can provide for people.

I do believe that she wants to genuinely help others with her health coaching business by learning all of these alternative treatments but I fear that in the future it may lead her away from the church and put her soul in a state of mortal sin.

Here are my questions:
  1. Is it wrong to study this type of medicine if her end goal is to helping people who have not found solutions with western medicine?
  2. What other resources can you recommend to study this topic?
  3. Are there any concrete documents from the church or Magisterium condemning the use of Ayurveda in particular?
God bless,

Sebastian 🙂
 
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You can practice Ayurveda as a Catholic.

However, after your done, try Western Medicine, it’s works.

BTW, I got into Ayurveda when Deepak Chopra first wrote about it. Tried the teas he recommended based on my body type. Gave it up after they found insect body parts in the teas.

It’s basically, useless and all you have to do is look at the health in India compared to the West.

Same with Chinese Medicine. People have gotten anaphylactic shock from some of those methods.
 
It’s strange, this interest in Eastern naturopathic medicine. The available information shows that great caution is needed. Astrology is out. The “energies of the body” concept has no scientific basis. There may be a placebo effect in some people.
 
Astrology isn’t the same

But I agree

In fact I watched Frontline where a man from China, was suffering from asthma attacks, while living here in the USA

He decided to go to China and try Chinese herbal medicine

He ended up with anaphylactic shock and died.

Jim
 
My concern would be that she would be putting her skills to better use studying some kind of evidence-based medicine.
 
edwest said:
It’s strange, this interest in Eastern naturopathic medicine.
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I guess the reason she wants to practice alternative treatments is due to the fact that sometimes western medicine can give a person more side effects and only focus on blocking the symptoms rather than actually getting to the root cause of a condition. Whether Ayurveda works or not is debatable and would probably take up an entirely new post, but I was more concerned with some of the practices that it requires such as learning about astrology,meditation, believing in some sort of “life force energy” that they claim comes from God.
 
Londoner said:
My concern would be that she would be putting her skills to better use studying some kind of evidence-based medicine.
Click to expand...
from what she tells me her professor studied both western medicine and eastern medicine but only teaches them what he believes are the “evidence-based” treatments for healing patients, and they only study cases of patients who have been previously healed by this type of medicine which some sources say date back to more than 5000 years ago.
 
I forgot to mention that she is also taking up Reiki as part of the type of treatment to help her clients, but from my understanding Reiki practitioners are taught that God is an energy, and that this “loving” energy can be channeled by laying of hands to help people heal from mental or physical disease. This is not something I was taught as a Catholic which is why I am concerned.
 
Sure, you may practice Ayurveda as a Catholic. However, while some Ayurvedic remedies may be beneficial for one’s health, others are not-and surely so. Don’t forget that Ayurvedics include mercury, which is toxic, in some medicines, to name only one of many poisonous ingredients they work with. If you are suffering from any disease (God forbid), please consult a Western doctor.
Christ’s peace.
 
It is good to be concerned about Reiki. Reiki practitioners call upon the “energies of the universe”.
Catholic healing with the laying on of hands calls upon the Lord to do the healing.
That is the big difference.
Of course, the knowledge of good doctors is very helpful.
Good nutrition is a big plus!
 
A good book is “Ransomed from Darkness” by Moira Noonan. It is probably available by used booksellers.

The author describes her interest in new age practices, which she said eroded her Catholic faith.

A search on google should turn up information about that book and and how the author came out of that. It was Our Blessed Mother who led her out of those practices.
 
I think healing as a Buisness venture, compared to the Healing in the Bible kind of says it all. The Deciples of Jesus healed in his name and as doing so spread the Gospel and not a single one of them asked to payed for doing that. Kind of says it all Brother.

I have come to the thought that quality of life in health in exchange for a monetary price is the opposite to what is integral to our beliefs, aswell as the whole concept of Charity if you think it through. I suppose you could say the same with the Health Service in America and such placwa requiring people to need health Insurance. But the one really interested in healing people is listening to our prayers, and he certainly listened to mine recently when I was struggling with my health.

Peace be with you both.
 
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I am a cradle Catholic and I became aware of energy healing through the Eucharist and the Rosary. I was not aware of what I was experiencing until I met a group of people who worked with energy therapies. Within the last few years I learned to engineer and grow my own crystals and how to influence energy for healing. Energy technology is very complex. Ayurveda is another form of energy healing. Different philosophies have different ways of expressing this knowledge.

I have used energy influence to deepen my faith through knowledge of healing and the creative process. When you enter the body field as practitioner you become aware of self through healing the iniquities of others. The dangers of knowing the truth can be navigated ,carefully, with the gift of discernment of spirits.

It is important to maintain the hierarchy of truth involving the act of creativity. God made us co creators. We receive information from God through divine inspiration and nature.
The highest truth is divine revelation- the bible and tradition of the church. Everything we do serves divine revelation. Below divine revelation follows theology. Philosophy serves theology. Science serves philosophy. The lower disciplines should support the others in an ascending structure. When working and exploring subtle energy therapies one should keep in mind that it serves God by helping others. It does not replace the Catholic faith. Knowledge and awareness of these realities can be a powerful experience, but, don’t give up mother church. We know we have the fullness of truth who is Jesus we receive in the Eucharist.

Much of the energy healing is not established by mainstream science. The healing science of energy medicine is gaining a foundation in mainstream science and the medical profession. The study of cymatics is the focal point for understanding the energy healing sciences. When your doctor gives you a pill, in reality, he is giving you a frequency. The same is true with food, water, proximity, emf, magnetism, etc… All of these vibrations can cause the doshas to become out of balance. Cymatics is involved with health.

There are people who are aware of the existence of subtle energies and auras. When you become aware of the existence of subtle energies your perception of the world changes. Truth does not change but it becomes more differentiated and defined. A weak faith it could cause you to fall. I think that is why the church may discourage working in energy healing. Some people who gain awareness fall away from their faith.

Father Pacwa taught about the dangers of working with crystals. It can lead to bad spirits. I agree that it has some dangers. I know people who may have caused themselves some trouble. Unfortunately, most people who are knowledgeable about crystal therapies don’t have faith in the one true God and they attribute the energy to lower beings, themselves, and negative forces. The Catholic church uses water and salt as a sacramental. Both water and salt have mysterious energy properties being explored by science.
 
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