ACTIVITIES
- Clinics
- Integrating systems of medicine
- Integral Health
- Empowering individuals
- Developing new paradigms in health research
- Bringing people together
In consonance with the aim and objectives of the Institute, the following activities are currently being undertaken or have been done so far (2008). The details of the research projects are available at the Institute.
1. Creating an awareness about Integral Health in individuals and groups through lectures, seminars and self- healing.
2. Organisation of seminars, conferences, workshops on healing through various methods, discussion forums on topics like death, continuing medical education, etc.
3.Setting up a library of authentic books, journals and manuscripts on various systems of medicines.
4. NAMAH
The publication of a quarterly New Approaches to Medicine And Health (NAMAH) since 1991, which acts as a channel of communication between people working on similar lines all over the world. (Website: http://www.namahjournal.com)
5. Publication of books
Integral Health by Dr. Soumitra Basu; Stoma Care and Mother and Me by Dr. D.B. Bisht; Seminar proceedings on Death, Dying and Beyond and Healing through Knowledge by Dr. Vandana Gupta. This is an ongoing work.
6. Flower remedies
A way by which people can be helped to heal is flowers. The Mother has given significances to more than 800 flowers. The Institute has been working on the preparation and study of Flower Remedies based on the spiritual significance given to flowers by the Mother. It is a continuing work.
7. Literature Survey on ‘Outlines of Ayurveda’
The late Dr. K.H. Krishnamurthy, a UGC Emeritus Scholar and former professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry, had undertaken the study of ancient manuscripts on Ayurveda for understanding and delineating its basic percept in view of future work. Dr Krishnamurthy who was on the Editorial Board of NAMAH, was a botanist by qualification and an Ayurvedic and Sanskrit scholar by tradition and interest. A paper from this work, History of Ayurveda has been published in the August 1993 issue of NAMAH.
8. Literature Survey for ‘Linguistics in Medicine’
Another study was started by Dr. Krishnamurthy when he began questioning the basis of language. Some of the questions asked and for which answers were sought are: when and where did language originate; what was its structure then; was it mono or polyphyletic; how is it related to human pre-history and history; can we propose for its innumerable types and families a satisfactory and ‘natural’ classification analogous to what exists in biology; what is its physiology; when does a neural event become psychological; what is the molecular basis of thought, if it has one, etc.? Based on introspection of this kind, Dr. Krishnamurthy formulated a framework for study of linguistics through cybernetics.
9. Mapping medicinal flora in Puducherry
When the SAIIIHR team began to plan its work on medicinal plants, we realised that the flora of Puducherry had been last studied in 1961. So we started mapping the wild flora within the city’s precincts and found many important Ayurvedic herbs. It was interesting to find that a 20 sq.cm of land had at least 25 different medicinal herbs and which continued to flourish despite being cleared away by the municipality.
10. Unconventional Non-Invasive Diagnostic Techniques
Five unconventional, non-invasive diagnostic methods were studied in order to find ways of diagnosing a human difficulty from many angles.
• Iridology : the science of observing the pathology of different organs in the iris of the eye
• Graphology: understanding problems in the body by observing changes in handwriting
• Pranic Diagnosis : using changes in the human energy fields to diagnose illnesses in the body
• Astrological Diagnosis: using planetary positions to predict which organs are weak or will be affected by disease
• Nadi Diagnosis: changes in the pulse to diagnose not only cardiovascular status but changes in the whole body
11. Spiritual dimension of health
a) As a result of series of discussions and deliberations and efforts put in by Dr. D.B. Bisht, Chairman of SAIIIHR, that the world body realised the importance of spirit over mind and matter. In the 37th World Health Assembly held in 1984, a resolution was adopted notifying member countries that understanding the spiritual dimension was an integral part of human evolutionary development and inviting them to include the spiritual dimension in their strategies for health.
b) Compilation of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s writings on health
This is the first basic work done at the Institute. Excerpts are selected from their writings as comprehensively as possible. Passages were selected from Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s work on various aspects of health and the body’s transformation and awakening of a new cellular consciousness. These formed the base material to guide us in our work on health and healing. Data was gathered from The Collected Works of the Mother, The Mother’s Agenda and Sri Aurobindo’s Letters on Yoga.
c) Development of a questionnaire on effects of ‘The Spiritual Dimension of Health’ on the quality of life The collaboration of SAIIIHR, under the leadership of Dr. D.B.Bisht, in the formulation of a questionnaire on the effect of ‘Spiritual Dimension on the Quality of Life’, was acknowledged by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The basic questionnaire was prepared according to WHO guidelines and has been translated into four Indian languages: Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Gujarati, by SAIIIHR.