kayachikitsa

Kaya means body and Chikitsa means treatment procedures. As it can be inferred from the disintegration of the word, Kayachikitsa means the treatment of physical and psychological diseases. Most physical diseases are due to deformity in agni. It can be called as internal medicine.

Kaya Chikitsa mainly deals with the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of general diseases, such as skin disorders, diabetes, tuberculosis, rheumatoid arthritis and many other disorders. Charaka Samhita is the most important scripture on kayachikitsa. It discussed the basic principles of treatment, various types of therapies and purification or detoxification methods. According to this natural treatment, the body of a person is product of the constant psychosomatic interactions and diseases caused are due to the imbalance caused in the trishods of the body. This imbalance caused in the three doshas of vata-pitta-kapha is sometimes, caused by the mind and occasionally by the body’s dhatu (tissues) and mala (toxin deposits).

Treatment of diseases is done with herbs, minerals and metallic oxides. Similarly substances from animal origins are used.

The entire Ayurvedic therapeutics is based on the concept of Agni. The concept of Kaya (Agni) is unique and is responsible for bio- transformation. As it is known that energy can neither be created nor can it be destroyed. In human body, Kaya provides the necessary energy for all bodily activities. The energy provided is derived from the food we eat and the air we breathe. The biological system of the body transforms this energy to one, which is utilized by the cells.