A common misconception about Ayurveda is that it is merely a system for diet and lifestyle, or that it solely focuses on treating disease.

The true goal of Ayurveda is to unleash the full potential for vitality, energy, and fulfillment that lies dormant within us. 

Many people feel like they're healthy enough, but don't realize the heights of health and vitality they could achieve. Ayurveda is a system that can take us there.

To do this, Ayurveda fundamentally transforms our physical bodies at a cellular level. It transforms us into a new person.

A vivid example of Ayurvedic transformation is the detoxification of built-up toxins inside our cells

To understand the depth of Ayurvedic transformation, it’s useful to first dive into one powerful example.

Research has found that we all accumulate toxins inside our cells from pesticides, industrial chemicals, and other sources. They're known as lipid-soluble toxins. Many of these toxins have been banned from agriculture and industry for decades. However, because they've contaminated the environment, we're still exposed to them. 

The human body is bad at breaking down these artificial toxins. As a result, they get stored inside our fatty tissue, and keep accumulating over time.

As you can imagine, having a build-up of these toxins inside our body is linked to a number of negative outcomes. Toxin load has been linked to chronic disease, fertility issues, cancer, and neurocognitive impairment.  

Ayurveda contains a detoxification method that is able to remove these toxins from the body. It does this through ingestion of medicated fats (ghee and oils). These medicated fats are able to go into the fat cells of the body and force the built up waste to be ejected. This method has been used for thousands of years in Ayurveda, reproduced both in practice and more recently in the scientific literature. 

This is quite notable. There's no other known method capable of eliminating these toxins once they've been deposited inside the cells of the body. Other methods that we know of can only eliminate them from the bloodstream. 

Studies on this detoxification method found:

• Enhanced cognitive function - improving intelligence, memory, alertness, and brain wave coherence
• Increased physical well-being, including energy, strength, and appetite
• Reduced cardiovascular risk factors, including cholesterol and lipid peroxide levels
• Reduced overall anxiety levels

One study found that overall levels of lipophilic toxins decreased by 46-58% after detoxification. The study believes this detoxification is responsible for many of the positive effects, particularly on cognition, as “neurological function can be a sensitive indicator of toxicant load.” 

This is transformation on a cellular level - removal of deeply embedded toxins fundamentally alters the way in which our body works, as shown by studies on the results of this detoxification. This particular process is just one example of the larger transformation that Ayurveda creates.

Ayurveda is a transformational process with well-defined phases of progress

While it’s a striking example, Ayurvedic work is much larger than just this specific detoxification procedure. This procedure is part of a longer, staged process that takes you from ground zero to a fully transformed state of health. 

I’m going to walk you through each of these phases in detail, so that you can gain an understanding of the depth of transformation that takes place during this process. For a quick overview of the phases, before we dive into detail:

1. Foundations Phase - bringing the body to a stable place to prepare it for deeper treatment
2. Transformation Phase Part I: Detoxification - drawing out stored toxins from throughout the body and eliminating them
3. Transformation Phase Part II: Revitalization - using compounds to build the body’s physical and mental strength following detoxification

Radiance is the first company that’s bringing this process to the West with a rigorous, scientific methodology. As we guide people through this process, we see enormous changes. People routinely report: 

• higher energy levels than ever before in their lives
• increased focus and motivation 
• greater physical capacity and stamina
• resolution of long-standing health issues

For safety reasons, it’s important to be guided through this process by a qualified Ayurvedic Physician. They will personalize this process to your current state of health, which takes into account any current medical conditions or drugs you may be using. Thousands of years of observation have created a deep understanding of these therapies' safety profiles for each individual.

Our programs are guided by a highly trained Ayurvedic Physician, Jessica Vellela. She graduated from the 5.5-year full-time Ayurvedic medical program required of all Ayurvedic Physicians in India and has been in clinical practice for the past decade. This program has joint training in classical Ayurveda and modern biomedicine. This expertise allows us to bridge the gap between Ayurveda and modern science.  

If you're interested in experiencing this for yourself, feel free to visit our programs page to learn more about our offerings.

Foundations Phase: establishing the prerequisites for deeper treatment

To understand the overall process, we’ll start with the first step: the Foundations Phase. While the goal of the Foundations Phase is simply to prepare you for the Transformation Phase, in and of itself it causes strong improvements in many peoples’ health and energy.  

The goal of the Foundations Phase is to turn your body into a clean science experiment. We do this by controlling for all variability from your diet and lifestyle. As a result, the powerful treatments to follow will have predictable and visible effects.

This doesn’t mean that your life is controlled. Rather, we’ll hone in on the precise nutrition and lifestyle rhythms that are optimal for you. Ayurveda has a complete system for determining these optimal habits. It analyzes your body constitution, current state of health, and response to different changes to come to this. 

As a result of this stability, you’ll:

• wake up every day with consistent energy
• no longer have fluctuations in your health caused by your diet or lifestyle. 
• less-severe underlying issues, such as digestive or skin conditions, are often resolved

If this already describes you, you’ll move through the Foundations Phase quickly!

The Foundations Phase normally takes 1-4 weeks, depending on the individual. Once you’re stabilized in this way, you’re ready for the deeper treatments of the Transformation Phase. 

The Transformation Phase is where the promise of Ayurveda, to elevate us to peak states of health, is fulfilled. Through a variety of mechanisms, we enter deep into the body and fundamentally change the way it functions, by first detoxifying and then nourishing. I’ll walk you through these mechanisms in depth in the following sections. 

Transformation Phase Part I: removing years of accumulated toxins from the body

We’re all building up toxins in our body over time. This buildup has hugely detrimental effects, both on our current state of health and our eventual susceptibility to chronic diseases like cancer. Without intentionally clearing these toxins out, they’ll just keep accumulating. 

Ayurveda’s transformational potential comes in part from its ability to flush out these toxins from their deepest hiding places, and remove them from the body. 

We use specific, personalized Ayurvedic medicinal formulations to conduct this detoxification. Ayurveda has a pharmacopeia of thousands of medicinal compounds. Ayurvedic Physicians are experts in applying these compounds in precise, staged treatment plans based on the unique needs of every individual.

We touched one mechanism above, where medicated fats are used to force lipid-soluble toxins to be eliminated from cells. In addition to this mechanism, the herbal compounds used in Ayurveda have their own specific detoxifying actions. 

These two mechanisms are the tip of the iceberg. Scientific research has been limited, but these two uncovered mechanisms alone point to a deeply powerful underlying process that is occurring. 

Ayurvedic herbs protect the body from environmentally pervasive toxins

Ayurvedic herbs can not only remove toxins that have been stored inside our bodies, but also protect us against the negative effects of exposure to toxins that are impossible to avoid in our environment.

For one example, a Japanese study looked at the effects of Ashwagandha, a common Ayurvedic herb, on methoxyacetic acid (MAA) toxicity. MAA is the result of exposure to ester phthalates, a class of common industrial chemicals. Ester phthalates are ubiquitous - we’re all exposed to them. They're found in sources as widespread as children's toys, building materials, and medical devices. 

The Japanese study found that Ashwagandha was able to effectively protect cells from MAA toxicity. One way it did this was by activating cellular defense mechanisms against toxins. 

This one example is likely generalizable to a wide variety of toxins that we’re exposed to, as the Ayurvedic herb is activating the underlying cellular defense mechanism against toxins, rather than acting as an antidote to one specific toxin. 

Along with physical detoxification, Ayurvedic formulations create emotional detoxification and processing

This detoxification isn’t limited to the physical plane. We now understand that unprocessed emotions can be stored inside the body. Once stored in the body, these negative emotions cause recurring patterns of behavior.*

There are particular Ayurvedic formulations that aim to increase psychological stability. Studies have found that these formulations effectively reduce OCD symptoms as well as cognitive deficits in children. 

When using these formulations, our clients experience long-forgotten memories resurfacing for emotional processing. There hasn’t been scientific research on the mechanism of these formulations. However, it seems likely that they’re directly acting on the physical substrate of unprocessed emotions.

These compounds seem semi-psychedelic in nature. They allow for the reconsolidation of memories without the intensity and risk profile of psychedelics. It’s worth saying - while these compounds are not yet understood scientifically, there is a precise understanding within the millenia-long Ayurvedic tradition of practice of how to use these compounds effectively and safely.

This ability to create emotional detoxification points to Ayurveda’s role as a truly holistic system. It aims not only at physical flourishing, but also mental and emotional wellbeing. 

The effects of detoxification alone are profound

Toxic load negatively impacts many parts of the system, from immune function to neurocognitive ability. As mentioned above, studies show:

• Increased physical well-being, from energy to mood to digestion
• Increased cognitive performance, including memory, attention, and intelligence
• Reduced cardiovascular disease risk

Despite the deeply powerful effects of detoxification on overall health, we’ve just begun. The primary goal of detoxification is to prepare the body for rejuvenation. Once toxins have been eliminated, the body is primed to take in highly nourishing substances that are used to build the detoxified body up to a peak state of health.

Transformation Phase Part II: revitalization and rejuvenation

We’ve spent a few decades in the West trying to understand how to create longevity and vitality. 

Imagine if there were a well-developed field of science that had spent thousands of years understanding these questions in depth. What if it had developed highly complex and sophisticated methods to slow down the aging process and increase the amount of vitality and energy we have, day-to-day?

The reality is, this field exists. It’s Rasayana, a branch of Ayurveda that's developed over the course of thousands of years. Rasayana has the following goals:

• Lengthening lifespan and slowing/reversing aging
• Increasing cognitive power - amplifying memory, intelligence, and attention
• Increasing physical vitality and stamina

It’s developed hundreds of different methods, applicable for each individual scenario, to achieve these goals. Modern science is now validating the efficacy of these methods.

We’ve spent a few decades in the West focused on these questions, and Ayurveda has spent a few thousand. In my own journey, I spent years, both scientifically and personally, exploring longevity and vitality from a Western point of view. I came to believe that there’s much more potential in Ayurveda, which has a fully developed system that has been fine-tuned over millennia, than in the current scientific understanding. 

Rasayana functions by bringing the cells and organ systems of the body to peak efficacy

Rasayana is the final phase of the Ayurvedic process. The aim of this phase is to transform the physiological state of the body to a higher level. It uses highly nutritive compounds, fine-tuned over the course of millenia for their efficacy, as raw material for this process. 

To give you a sense of the sophistication and complexity of these methods and compounds, we can look at their processing methods - which are designed to amplify the potency and bioavailability of the raw materials. There’s an entire field of Ayurveda dedicated to creating the most potent final product, with highly complex processing methods.

An example is Kshirabala 101, an oil-based Ayurvedic formulation. This formulation takes an Ayurvedic herb, bala, known to be a strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, and repeatedly boils it down in a solution of milk 101 times. This highly concentrates and amplifies its medicinal properties. There are hundreds of other formulations, each with its own uniquely complex extraction method. 

Scientific research is now uncovering the powerful effects of Rasayana therapies

These therapies have been used effectively for thousands of years. Scientific research is now validating their power. Studies are starting to be conducted on the simplest Ayurvedic Rasayana therapies, like Ashwagandha. These early studies are already showing powerful effects.

The evidence shows a wide range of powerful effects, from rejuvenating stem cells to anti-aging effects:

• Stem cell and tissue regeneration: Rasayana drugs have been found to rejuvenate damaged stem cells and cause regeneration of brain tissue
• Cancer protection: Rasayana drugs have several effects that protect against the development of cancer. They've been found to inhibit tumor growth, activate immune defenses against cancer, and protect against carcinogens by activating detoxifying enzymes

• Cognitive enhancement: Brahmi, a Rasayana drug, significantly increased retention of new information in memory  

Rasayana therapies are quite different from pharmaceuticals and supplements. Instead of acting in a single pathway, they act on multiple systems at once. These diverse actions have synergistic effects. This makes it difficult to capture their effect in a research paradigm that looks primarily at individual variables. 

Indicators of overall vitality, like cognitive performance or reproductive health, do point to the systemic effects of Rasayana drugs in creating peak states of health. 

There’s one other place we can look to see the systemic effects of Rasayana drugs – longevity. We’d expect these diverse positive effects to have an impact on the aging process. 

Indeed, they do - Rasayana therapy increased lifespan in fruit flies by 51-55%, and reduced biological aging scores by 24% in elderly adults. Animal research often doesn’t cross over to humans, and research on longevity is in its infancy, so these results are indicative but not definite. 

It’s important to note that there are strong limitations to existing Rasayana research, particularly in the West:

• Many of the more powerful Rasayana drugs that we use ourselves are inaccessible to Western science due to a lack of Ayurvedic expertise, and thus have not been tested for benefits
• Rasayana drugs, like Ashwagandha, are studied out of context, and not placed properly following detoxification procedures
• Individual effects are studied rather than overall improvements in physiological well-being, which is what Rasayanas are intended to do

As a result, we’re getting a highly limited picture of the true power of Rasayana drugs and methods, which we hope to fix in the upcoming years. 

The goal of Rasayana is to bring your entire system to a higher physiological state

We do this by nourishing your body with powerful substances that have been developed over millennia of careful experimentation and observation. 

We see the effects of this on ourselves and our clients. For example, people’s spouses tell them they look visibly younger after going through this process. We are planning on conducting research on our cohorts, where we'll look at markers like biological age and inflammation. I suspect we’ll see significant results.

* Note: a previous version of this article claimed that Ayurveda argues that these negative emotional states are specifically stored in fatty tissue. The source for this information was poor quality and follow up examination found that claim to not be repeated in more reputable sources.