Ayurvedic medicine, or Ayurveda, is a traditional medical system with a 3,000-year history native to the Himalayan region. Even today, it is regarded as part of alternative medicine in such countries as India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Especially in Sri Lanka, it is protected and encouraged as a national industry by the Department of Ayurveda, the world’s only administrative ministry dedicated to it.

There is a Sri Lankan-style Ayurvedic clinic in Japan that I’ve visited monthly for almost half a year. Sunil Nishimura, a Sri Lankan Ayurvedic practitioner, has been running this clinic in Kawagoe, Saitama, since 1996. He first came to Japan in 1994, and soon after, he became ill due to the stress of his life there. He asked his family to send him Ayurvedic herbs. He took them, imported from his home country, and changed his eating habits to Sri Lankan ones. He soon recovered his health after he changed his life. That was why he opened an Ayurvedic clinic for Japanese people suffering from diseases of civilization.

His treatment began with consultation and pulse diagnosis, which were the basics of Ayurvedic diagnosis. At a glance, he said I might have some troubles in my heart and liver. I was surprised at that because it was what medical checkup doctors told me in different hospitals for years. A cup of special herb tea was served. After drinking it, I was taken to bed to lie on my stomach. The practitioner patted my back with a hot oil-covered cloth, like a ball, and then he massaged the whole of my body, from head to legs. When the massage was complete, I was taken to a big wooden capsule and told to get inside. I did it: the capsule was closed, and herbs were boiled underneath, filling the capsule with hot herbal vapor to help me sweat and eliminate toxic body waste. I went to the shower room, washed the sweat off, and then everything was over.

This treatment costs 13,000 Yen. It looks a little expensive, but every time I take this, I feel refreshed. A specially-made herbal curry and rice set is served upon request. Some kinds of good-for-health herb tea, liqueur, and suspicious-looking pills are sold for an additional charge. I don’t know how they would be effective, but one thing I can say is that people say I look slimmer than I did half a year ago, and that I’ve never caught a cold for this half a year, though coworkers around me often do.

This kind of alternative medicine is often opposed to modern Western medicine. I don’t intend to renounce Western medicine. It is very effective in the immediate treatment of acute symptoms. On the other hand, Ayurveda or other kinds of Eastern medicine are aimed at keeping track of (or restoring) your body status from an internal approach so that you can be in normal working conditions, while Western medicine cures diseases from an external approach. I believe that using different kinds of medicine at the same time will help maintain your health.