Amrita Shirvastava says, “My goal is to connect modern science with Maharishi Vedic Science and change the health care system from being disease-care to being preventative and holistic.”

Validating Ayurveda through modern science
by Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa, USA, Achievements
15 October 2015

Although Amrita Shrivastava grew up in India, she never studied Ayurveda, nor did she believe in its efficacy. Instead, she studied medical science. First she received a bachelor’s degree in medical biotechnology, then a master’s in molecular biology and human genetics.

Amrita comes from a line of teachers of the Transcendental Meditation technique, including her grandfather, father, uncle, a sister, and a cousin. She learned the TM technique as a child and the TM-Sidhi program at 18. After completing her studies, it came as a natural step to follow the family tradition. She attended the Transcendental Meditation Teacher Training Course, then taught the TM technique in India for a year and a half.

In 2014 she decided to continue her studies and apply for a PhD program. But instead of staying in India, she enrolled at MUM. “This university is very different,” she said. “You get to express yourself and be creative. Here you can directly apply the knowledge you learn and see the changes within yourself. At the Maharishi Self-Pulse Reading course I experienced these changes.”

Amrita became so fascinated with the preventative and diagnostic abilities of Maharishi AyurVeda that she decided to focus her doctoral research on finding the physiological correlates of the three Ayurvedic principles, the Doshas, in the brain. With the use of EEG, she plans to map the signature brain patterns of each Dosha. She hopes that her study will add to the increasing body of research validating the principles of Maharishi AyurVeda.

Amrita’s long-term goal is to reinstate the prestige of Ayurveda in India and integrate it into modern health care along with the Transcendental Meditation technique. “My goal is to connect modern science with Maharishi Vedic Science and change the health care system from being disease-care to being preventative and holistic,” she said.

In her free time, Amrita enjoys sketching and writing. “The closer I am to this meditation bubble, the more creative I get,” she said.

© Copyright 2015 Maharishi University of Management