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SINGAPORE: Creams and lotions are great for your skin and hair, but if you want to look good day after day and year after year, you have to work on it from the inside out.
In Ayurveda, Asian Secrets of Wellness, Beauty and Balance (Tuttle Publishing) you get a complete look at holistic healing, ancient beauty procedures and body exercises.
Author Kim Inglis who takes a break from earlier works on architecture and design does a credible job in taking readers through the history and practices of Ayurveda while also delivering an insight into other health practises of the Indian subcontinent.
Readers will be introduced to other branches of traditional medicine such as Unani which was introduced by the Arabs, Siddha popular in the south among Tamil practitioners which shares common stems with Ayurveda and Tibetan medicine known as Soba Rig-pa which is mainly herbal and close to Traditional Chinese Medicine.
This is an insightful book, yet it is easy to digest with the contents categorized into three sections makes it easy for any reader to delve into areas of particular interest.
There is no lack of illustrations to help explain the various methods of therapies available from head to toe, whether they be a massage, the use of hot stones, herbal oils, or scrubs.
Photographer Luca Invernizzi Tettoni who has lived and worked in Asia since 1973 and specializes in books on Asian culture, history and geography staged some shots in the book beautifully, especially in the chapter on meditation.
He also captured well the essence of the health practices that come across serene, sensous and soothing.
After a few pages into the book, you’d feel every nerve and muscle in your body demanding some of the pampering reflected through Tettoni’s lens.
Fortunately, the back of the book carries a helpful list of consultants, spas and treatment centres that you can look up.
Of course, to know what to ask for, it’s best to read the rest of Ayurveda, Asian Secrets of Wellness, Beauty and Balance.
In the chapter on wellness, you discover a range of therapeutic massages, heat and steam therapies, as well as more obscure treatments such as the Netra Tarpanam, a therapy for the eyes using ghee, a type of clarified butter that is more often found in Indian cuisine.
Even more of an eye-opener (no pun intended) is the mention of medicated ghee which to most is unheard of.
While the Ayurvedic recipes listed for their healing ingredients may be in hand, you won’t be able to follow the ancient beauty secrets that are revealed in the essays on hair, facial, hand and foot care.
You will however understand why some are used, for instance honey helps retain moisture while mashed apples are high in antioxidants which when combined and applied, re-hydrate and revitalize facial complexion.
In the third chapter, the book touches on the practice of meditation, yoga, breathing, physical/mental exercises.
If you think you know yoga, the positions illustrated by yoga masters at a school in Mysore will amaze you, as will the model who a few pages later, shows off some extra gravity-defying poses, muscle-challenging poses.
There’s even what’s known as “lazy man’s yoga” which the book introduces as a de-stressing experience even as the person is pulled and twisted by a therapist for a full body workover.
The 160-page book is a colourful and comprehensive look at Ayurveda that is just right if you need to rejuvenate your body and feel adventurous to discover a new realm of ancient wisdom.
Ayurveda, Wellness, Beauty, Balance is available at leading bookstores at S$38 (before GST). - CNA/sh
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