The article entitled “Ayurvedic Patients in Germany” is about the result of ayurveda medication through the ayurvedic patients. Ayurveda is a kind of treatment that is more in the maintenance of well-balanaced health. It was obtained through the sets of universal qualities of life – vata, pitta, and kappha. These three concepts are called the three doshas. According to the studies, any disturbance of these doshas will result in mental or physical suffering. In this case, it is important to have a balanced nutrition in all aspects of human life in order to avoid the disturbance of doshas.
This concept is called as the Ayurveda. But there are further modes of therapy in Ayurveda: remedies based on herbal or mineral ingredients and panchakarma (the five treatments). The latter is based on rather drastic treatments, like induced vomiting, purging, sweating, bloodletting, and nose clearing, which are eventually complimented by oil- massage. (223-224) The idea of ayurvedic medicine started in 1980s. After its introduction, media had its own way to inform the public about the newfound treatment that were taken account in different magazines, articles, and news reports.
Because of these scenarios, many doctors and healers used ayurvedic treatment in Germany where it evolves and developed. Ayurvedic treatment I also became known after sometime as the heterodox medicine. As it gains it popularity, medical institutions have known that heterodox medicine can treat “non-life-threatening chronic diseases. This treatment becomes the same as the biomedicine when it comes to popularity. However, there are times when biomedical treatment produced side effects rather than healing the people’s health problems.
That is why more and more people went through heterodox medicine. This value of empirical material is particularly instructive in demonstrating the socio-demographic and epidemiological variables of heterodox patients. However, quantitative studies in this field provide only few insights into the process of becoming heterodox patients. (225) Many heterodox patients rely on this treatment because they find more hope from this rather than biomedicine due to its successful results.
More patients became satisfied to what heterodox treatment would offer because hey have seen that it gives probable solution to their health problems rather than using other treatments like ‘earnest seekers’. However, many have thought that it was just a part of the phenomena where new technologies are good at the moment but not as forever depending on its capabilities and results to the public. In this case, people perceived that these kinds of issues merely stand for business-customer purposes and not a physician-patient relationship.
Nevertheless, its popularity is still remarkable and made its way to a profitable treatment but still imposing a connection between the physician and the patients. The main reason why heterodox medication is better than the other forms of medication is the personal relationship between the physician and the patient. Studies show that having a personal connection with a physician will give further acknowledgement to the patient not as individual but someone who should be taken care of.
This factor is very different from other medications where only technical and brief consultations are often done without communication between the physician and the patient. In order to accumulate the “pathways to Ayurveda”, learners and the public needs to undergo different stages such as building trust, confirming trust and ayurvedic legitimacy, and lastly, navigating the health care system. In building trust, the public will undergo different lectures and information about the difference of Ayurveda from other medications like biomedicine.
It is important especially for the potential patients so that they may not need to be ashamed of this new treatment. Through this, the public would b informed of the possible solutions that Ayurveda could offer that other medications could not. In confirming trust and ayurvedic legitimacy, the public would be informed about the Ayurveda itself – its compatibility, methods, and results. It will also discuss the physician-patient interaction in ayurvedic medication, which is the most significant factor of this treatment. Lastly, navigating the health care system will be the action towards the medication.
It would be the point of justification of all the information because here is where ayurvedic treatment would be done. The article entitled “Shiatsu in Britain and Japan: Personhood, Holism, and Embodied Aesthetics” on the other hand discussed about the evolution and development of Shiatsu from Japan to Britain and different parts of the world. It will also show how did Britain established their shiatsu school that specializes shiatsu that is similar from Japan, which Japan have said that Britain made some transformation in their shiatsu that is different from the original shiatsu of Japan.
A touch-based therapy called Shiatsu was originally from Japan, but today, many other countries like Britain used this as one of their best offer in their country. Shiatsu evolved in Japan centuries ago but it started in Britain during 1983. It was taught in the British School of Shiatsu-Do, the oldest shiatsu school in Britain. Britain school of shiatsu did not forget where shiatsu came from. Its introduction to its students about the history of shiatsu merely stated from Japan.
The growth in number of shiatsu schools in Britain and number of registered practitioners in Japan suggests the existence of an emergent, globalised plane of therapeutic practice. Given these differences, however, it would appear naive to presume that in differing context, shiatsu is practiced in identical ways, and yet during the course of my own training in London, this represented an often encountered matters, I also encountered the belief that British shiatsu is ‘holistic’ whilst contemporary Japanese shiatsu is physical, symptomatic, and reductionist. (247)
It was said that Globalization and industrialization pushed Britain to have their own British shiatsu in their country. Because Japan is also a rich country, Britain perceived that their use of shiatsu as their way of gaining more economic stability is a good idea. Therefore, they transformed the Japanese shiatsu into a more simple and radical shiatsu that would fit all its followers. Shiatsu in Britain in Japan are different in many aspects though both used the original concept of shiatsu, Britain used shiatsu on a humane aspect while Japan used shiatsu as a form of living – a business.
Shiatsu in Japan was needed because normally, Japanese are often sick due to hereditary factors. They need to have a shiatsu message in order to lighten their sickness that sometimes, incurable. According to the studies and researches, in view of the socio-centric constitution of selfhood, both the origins and potential for the resolution of certain aspects of illness experience arguably lie within the fabric of relationships through which one’s sense of self or selves unfolds each day. Holism is one of the reasons why both Britain and Japan needed shiatsu.
They need therapy to ease their sickness and pain because we all know that massage therapy is one of the best ways of releasing stress, pains, and burdens. Britain and Japan have different interpretation of shiatsu because they have different perspective on how to use it to people. However, both of the have the same purpose of teaching and sharing the information of shiatsu – because people needs to have therapy whatever happens because it is the best way of releasing the past and composing for the future. These two articles showed alternative medical practices aside from the traditional treatments.
Ayurveda was seemed to be the possible solution to health problems that are simple but terrible. On the other hand, shiatsu was used to connect with the body and the society. Shiatsu proves that therapy helps a person to be nurtured despite of his or her age. Today, alternative medicine are more popular than the traditional because the public wants to try new products and treatment that will help their problems to be solved or to at least minimize. Despite of the fact that technology today is very important when it comes to medical practices, these two alternative medications focused more on the relationship of the physician and the patient.
Chinese medical institution offered a wide variety of medicines and medications as an alternative to the needs of the public. It encompasses the alternative of medication from the traditional ones. Through these two articles, it can be seen that there are different kinds of alternative medicines and medical treatment that would manage the public’s health problems. In this case, it was perceived as something that is important to the needs of the people and not on a business matter, which is also actually part of the scenario but should be hidden in order to serve the patients in a good condition and results.
The two articles opened the doors of hopeless patients. It also opens the door for medical institutions to find a greater solution to medical problems especially today where different sickness from different parts of the world emerges because of unsafe environment and lack of medical facilities, procedures, and institutions that would provide the needs of the public. As a whole, alternative medicines and medications were invented to lessen the probable cause of death especially in countries where death rates are too high while their birth rate are too low.
However, these alternatives should always base on the needs of the people and not on personal agendas of the medical institutions because once a patient went to their hospitals, they hold their patients’ lives as if they were the determiner whether a patient could live or not. Therefore, alternative medicines and treatments should be thoroughly studied and researched to find its weaknesses and strengths because we all know that nothing is perfect even the greatest medical treatment has its flaws.
That is why some people died because of malpractice and technology problem. That is why these alternatives are better than depending on the development of technology.
Works Cited
Adams, Glyn. “Shiatsu in Britain and Japan: Personhood, Holism, and Embodied Aesthetics”. Anthropology and Medicine. Vol. 9, No. 3, 2002. Frank Robert and Stollberg, Gunnar. “Ayurvedic Patients in Germany”. Anthropology and Medicine. Vol. 9, No. 3, 2002