The world seems to have very quickly become a much smaller place, with technology easily allowing information and ideas to be instantly shared throughout the world. This has been especially useful in allowing eastern approaches to health and healing, such as Ayurvedic medicine, to reach the West to a greater degree than it ever has before, broadening valuable medical knowledge and the pool of options for treating illness and maintaining health.

While sources differ on just how far back into time and history Ayurvedic medicine goes, for the most part it is agreed that this form of medicine has been practiced in India for thousands of years. Ayurveda is an accepted part of medical treatment in India, relied upon for generations. It is not unusual for a city to have a hospital practicing Ayurvedic medicine and another that offers Western-style Allopathic concepts of health care and maintenance.

In the highly industrialized nations of the west, Ayurvedic medicine tends to be placed in the categories of alternative medicine and complementary care. Many describe it as being a holistic form of medicine, because in addition to using knowledge of herbs and other substances to create preparations for the treatment of illness and disease, Ayurvedic medicine is also concerned with over all or holistic well-being and balance as a means of healing, health maintenance and sickness prevention.

Bits and pieces of India’s Ayurvedic knowledge trickled into the West with travelers and tradesmen, and then later on, via those westerners that participated in the British occupation of the nation. In the 20th century, the flow of Ayurvedic knowledge reaching the West increased with immigration and the ease of international travel. During the counterculture era of 1960’s and 1970’s, fascination with the east and Indian culture blossomed, setting the stage for its dramatic increase in popularity during the late part of the 20thcentury. While, in part, that increase was driven by well-known personalities, such as Deepak Chopra, it was also helped along by the Internet making world knowledge readily available across the globe.

The interest that the remarkable potentials of Ayurvedic medicine has garnered in recent years can be illustrated by a fascinating legal case, in which the University of Mississippi Medical Center made an attempt to patent one of the common, ancient ingredients used in many Ayurvedic preparations for thousands of years: the common cooking spice turmeric. After a long court battle, the university’s patent was denied, a well-deserved and important victory for the people of India and their Ayurvedic practitioners.

As we progress through the 21st century, it can truly be said that Ayurvedic medicine has gone global, gaining international interest and respect as an alternative means of caring for physical and mental health. Many of the Ayurvedic medicinal preparations that have made it into Western clinical trials have provided promising results. This will ensure that these traditional Eastern treatments will continue to engage researchers in the West for years to come.