What are the Vedic Sciences?

The classical culture of ancient India was an extraordinary tradition, and some of its riches extend into our present era. We are most familiar with yoga and its postures, used by many for health purposes. This is but the tip of the iceberg. Classical Indian culture integrated spirituality, meditation, yoga, mantra, devotion (bhakti yoga), medicine, Vedic astrology, cooking, and vastu, the Indian version of feng shui, into an interrelated array of Vedic sciences. Mantra is a scientific study of sound and how specific sounds shape and call forth specific energies of our universe. Spirituality in the Vedic tradition is subject to scientific-like observation. As Swami Vivekananda advised, we should not leave it up to others to tell us what the spiritual realities of our universe are: we should follow the rules laid out in the Yoga Sutras, discover, and know in our own heart and mind what they are. Thereby we confirm through our own experience what the spiritual giants tell us.

Those who study yoga will have a sense of how profound this tradition is, but it is difficult to understand what this ancient civilization had without accessing multiple Vedic disciplines at once. A goal of Holistic Solutions MD is to bring you the main elements of this system as part of your integrated health program. Those practicing yoga will have the easiest access to the tradition, yet everyone can benefit.

Perhaps most profound is the close relationship between spirituality and health in the Vedic tradition. In Western society we make a strong distinction between the health of the physical body (medicine) and our spiritual life. This clean separation does not exist in the Vedic sciences. The same terms used in medicine will appear in the Vedic spiritual tradition as well as in Vedic astrology, which directly connects to the spiritual tradition. Mantra, for example, is used not only in a devotional way, but as an aid in to heal mind and body. Bhakti yoga, or the yoga of devotion, is used to help heal the heart. In many instances, for lasting healing at the physical level to occur, we must address the spiritual and emotional issues that underlie the illness. Please note that the Vedic tradition is accessible to those of all faiths, not just the traditional Indian Hindu.

Dr Branch believes that medicine and spiritual practice go hand-in-hand. This means it is important for the practitioner to pay attention to his spiritual, emotional, and physical health all at once. For years now, he has had a personal spiritual practice and given readings in Vedic astrology for adjunct information on health and well-being.

Great medicine cannot stand separate from spiritual Truth. The best integrative medicine gives you access to therapeutic techniques in the context of a larger spiritual reality. No other tradition has the scope of the Vedic sciences and its medicine, Ayurveda. This is what Holistic Solutions MD brings to you. Allow us to guide you into this amazing tradition!