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Ayurveda and Children's Health - Learning Ability

At school - the Ayurvedic view of learning ability

Children starting back at school are ready for fresh achievement and enjoyment. Or are they? School is a major part of a child’s life, so how can parents make sure their children are well prepared to get  maximum enjoyment and benefit from the hours they spend there? One way is to enhance learning ability by applying the knowledge of Ayurveda.

Ayurveda describe three aspects of mental ability: dhi (acquisition or learning), dhriti, (retention), and smriti (recall ability). When these three mental functions are balanced, a child's mind is quick and bright. When not balanced, either individually or in their coordination with each another, learning difficulties can occur.

Learning disorders and their effects—ADHD, socialising and self-esteem

Children with learning difficulties often feel like failures at school, which can lead to frustration, low self-esteem and related behavioural problems. There is already concern about a range of problem behaviours associated with poor attention span. These may include impulsiveness, restlessness and hyperactivity, as well as inattentiveness. Such behaviours often prevent children from learning and socialising well and are called ADHD or hyperkinetic disorder.

Conventional medicine considers the causes to be the child’s temperament, heredity, brain injuries at or before birth, family stress and educational difficulties, and recommends supplements such as Omega 3 fish oils. Ayurveda approaches this problem from a different perspective and offers a range of procedures to improve mental functioning.

‘Intelligence’ in food—Diet is most important

Ayurveda points out that digestive impurities can obstruct the channels of communication between the three mental functions of acquisition, attention and recall and therefore gives prime importance to diet.

According to Ayurveda the quality of food has a profound influence on the mind and this is especially evident in the sensitive minds of children.

Most learning problems are caused by eating food lacking in intelligence

Non-organic food containing chemical additives, highly processed ‘junk’ food, and food not fresh or freshly cooked are all lacking in intelligence.

Food lacking in intelligence disrupts the intellectual rhythm between dhi, dhriti, and smriti. Modern researchers are discovering the link between learning disorders and harmful food additives such as chemical food preservatives, colourings, flavourings and emulsifiers.

Food additives and preservatives are found in most pre-cooked foods. The average US citizen consumes 3-4 kg of additives a year. Because children are in the critical developmental years, the harmful effects of these additives are magnified many times.

Modern researchers have confirmed the Ayurvedic principle that nutritional deficiencies can result in diminished mental function, alerting parents to the extra importance of organic food, which contains more vitamins and minerals in their natural proportions.

Learning factors, imbalances, dietary advice, sleep

Ayurvedic factors associated with learning:

Ayurveda identifies three primary factors (called subdoshas) that need to be kept in balance to support easy learning. These are:

• Prana Vata, - governs the brain, sensory perception, and the mind;
• Sadhaka Pitta, - governs the emotions and their effect on the functions of the heart;
• Tarpaka Kapha, - governs the spinal fluids, sinus cavities, and sensory organs.

Three corresponding types of imbalance:

• Diminished learning ability combined with a hyperactive mind is associated with imbalance in Prana Vata.
• Disturbance in Sadhaka Pitta is associated with a learning imbalance that carries over from childhood into adolescence and young adulthood - the Pitta time of life. (Impulsiveness).
• Imbalances in Tarpaka Kapha correlate with problems with learning that occur without hyperactivity involved. (inattentiveness)

Dietary advice to balance Vata Pitta and Kapha

To support balance in all three subdoshas Maharishi Ayurveda recommends fresh, organic foods that are prepared using cooking methods so that do not destroy nature's intelligence, and which create a feeling of bliss after eating. It offers 4 recommendations:

1. Take the main meal of the day and heaviest foods at midday when digestion is strongest.
   Cook the foods freshly and do not store cooked leftovers.

2. Use spices such as ginger, turmeric, black pepper, cumin, coriander, fennel – they are full of ‘intelligence’.

3. Cook the food enough to make it easily digestible but not more.

4. The quality of awareness of the cook affects the food – maintain balance, cook with love.
   Adopt an appropriate diet and lifestyle to pacify and balance Prana Vata, Sadhaka pitta and Tarpaka Kapha.

For more details see: Dietary Guidelines

Timeliness of sleep and evening activity is also important

An important cause of learning difficulties in children is not getting enough sleep. Not getting to bed on time, watching violent TV shows, reading frightening comics or playing over-exciting computer games before bed can all disrupt sleep and cause physical imbalances, which can then be expressed as poor memory and recall when at school.

The timeliness, or otherwise of sleep also affects the evening digestive process. This is why Ayurveda recommends eating lightly in the evening, preferably at least three hours before bedtime.

But diet is still most important, because diet also affects the quality of sleep. Diet is the primary focus for enhancing mental ability. If the child is eating unintelligent, low quality food, even the Ayurvedic herbal compounds designed to support learning ability won’t work as well.

Balancing the senses—touch, smell; herbal compounds, antioxidants

Better than a bedtime story? – Oil massage and aroma oils

Daily Ayurvedic oil massage is also a powerful way to balance the doshas and help enhance learning ability. It helps to support natural immunity, improve sleep, and gives the parents a wonderful opportunity to express affection and love.

For children, you can use a blend of 20% Rejuvenation Massage Oil and Sesame, Olive or Coconut Oils.  If time does not permit a daily massage, doing it regularly every weekend will help.

At night Peace at Night aroma oil can help provide a deeper, more balanced night's sleep. Diffuse the oil for half an hour before bed time. Wall plug diffusers are available from Maharishi Ayurveda Products.

Medhya rasayanas - Ayurvedic herbal compounds for the mind

A fundamental theme of Ayurveda is to develop ones full mental potential and it is a treasure trove of Medhya Rasayanas, herbs that provide powerful nourishment for the mind. Medhya Rasayanas enhance dhi, dhriti, and smriti individually, and they enhance the coordination between these three mental factors.

Maharishi Ayurveda balanced formulas  for children and students

Using these Medhya Rasayanas as a base, Maharishi Ayurveda Products has developed several safe and effective products to help enhance learning and memory. For instance, the Study Power Syrup (MA3674) formula is ideal not just for children but students of all ages, because it helps enhance attention span, focus, and the ability to acquire new information and to apply it later. (From age four or five, start your child on one teaspoon twice a day).

Both of the super anti-oxidant formulas Maharishi Amrit Kalash Nectar (MA4 or MA7)) and Ambrosia (MA5) are recommended for children. The brain uses 20% of the body’s energy and in the process produces a lot of free radicals. Brain function is therefore sensitive to the efficiency of the body’s ability to mop up free radicals.

(MA4: 4-15 years – ½ adult dose; MA5: 2-4 years ½ adult dose, 5+ years adult dose).

Rasayana for Children (MA230) is designed to give general support for the appetite and physical and mental development of children from about age three through to 15.

These products are useful for people of all ages who use their minds at school or on the job, and want to feel fresh, creative, and fatigue-free. Mental performance can be expanded to its full potential. All it requires is going back to the basics -- proper nutrition, quality sleep and the balanced wisdom of herbs that can help nourish the mind in a natural, safe way.

Carrying nutrients to the brain

Fats perform some essential functions in the body, including the brain. Ayurveda recommends Ghee, which is valued for its ability to transport the benefits of herbs and spices to the brain and to other parts of the body.

Effortless thinking, daily routine, behavioural rasayanas

Effortless thinking  - anyone can do it

Research in schools shows that the practice of Transcendental Meditation leads to greater creativity, more orderliness in thinking, more receptivity in the classroom and greater calmness and self-confidence. And pupils experience positive results right away.

Ayurveda daily routine  - better health 24 hours a day

From bedtime to bedtime there is a full day of simple Ayurvedic activities that promote health and wellbeing. Introduce a child to these at an early age and they can become habits for life.

Behavioural rasayanas  - health-promoting behaviour

These simple every day codes of conduct promote easy, natural behaviour and positive social outcomes:

• Regular Transcendental Meditation  - developed consciousness leads to developed thinking and action for achievement and fulfilment.
• Be sweet spoken  - words have a powerful effect, and sweet speech attracts friendship and removes obstacles to progress.
• Be kind and giving  - when everyone gives, everyone receives and kindness multiplies itself many times in all directions.
• Be truthful - the sweet truth has a nourishing quality and maintains a good connection between the mind and experience.
• Be gentle and calm  - in calmness comes illumination, in gentleness strength.
• Respect parents, teachers and elders  - respect is a building block of social harmony, and parents, teachers and elders ensure continuity of culture and the welfare of the child.
• Be loving and compassionate  - this is a natural quality which children can express in many different ways and which has an integrating effect on their lives.
• Be polite and well mannered  - considerate behaviour which transmits orderliness into the environment.
• Be positive in outlook  - children have very flexible nervous systems and can quickly see the bright side once it is shown to them. Positivity and dynamism go together.
• Always follow your daily routine  - Ayurvedic routines can be learned and used for a whole lifetime, leading behaviour in the direction of more health, happiness and precise thinking.
  Observe cleanliness  - purity of thinking, purity of the body, purity of speech and action and purity of the environment4 are all outcomes of observing cleanliness.
• Be persevering  - success in school, or life, is guaranteed with steadfastness of purpose.
  Be uncomplicated  - simplicity of thinking uses less brain energy.
• Keep the company of elders  - The elders are the custodians of knowledge, wisdom and experience in every society.