Charaka School of Ayurveda (CSA)

We offer two principal courses at CSA

Course I

It is the basic course called
Junior Ayurveda Assistant (JAA)
offered in India and in Germany, as well as through distant learning programme.

This course includes
Fundamentals of Ayurveda and training in the living tradition of Ayurveda.

Theoretical and practical aspects of this course are taught in three blocks with total of 300 hours.

Course I - Syllabus

This course is designed to impart the fundamentals of Ayurveda along with its practical aspects in day-to-day life. It is meant to prepare students to become consultants in Ayurveda lifestyle and nutrition, to enable them to do different kinds of massages and benefiting from therapeutic Ayurvedic yoga. There will be an examination at the end of each semester and a certificate will be awarded to successful candidates.

Following is the teaching programme for JAA, along with practical training:

  • History of Ayurveda along with its evolution through 5000 years
  • Ayurveda and its practice in our times
  • Ayurvedic principles of cosmic unity and oneness of the body with the cosmos
  • The seven dimensions of being-vata, pitta, kapha, rajas, sattva, tamas and the principal energy or the cause of being
  • Fundamental human constitution or prakriti
  • Ayurvedic diagnostic methods: stool, urine, body temperature, pulse, skin and so on.
  • Outer and inner cleaning practices of the body (panchakarma)
  • Detoxification of the body
  • Ayurvedic multidimensional therapy
  • Rasa theory and its application in nutrition and drug
  • Ayurvedic principles of nutrition
  • Ayurvedic cooking
  • Ayurvedic therapeutic yoga
  • Ayurvedic abdominal massage as diagnosis and therapy
  • Ayurvedic whole body massage and marma therapy
  • Pain-relieving therapeutic external measures
  • Preparation of some Ayurvedic remedies
  • Ayurvedic psychology and its application in healing
  • Ayurvedic spiritual therapy and its application in healing

Specific details about JAA

This course is meant to enable you to imbibe all practical aspects of Ayurveda in your life, experience them and enhance your living quality. Unlike the other courses offered these days in Europe, the present course is not cluttered with theoretical details and big Sanskrit names of Ayurvedic preparations, but is meant to teach you the very simple and practical side of Ayurveda for putting in practice in daily life to maintain health and harmony. Each day of teaching will inspire you to experience diverse dimensions of Ayurveda. By the end of the course, you are trained in such a way that you will be able to help others with what we call in India, the grandmother’s tradition of Ayurveda.




Education in three major blocks

  • The education for JAA is imparted in three major half yearly blocks of eight days each.
  • Each block is followed by Internet monthly sessions.
  • You are supposed to submit the monthly progress report of your homework that includes various Ayurvedic practices, as well as your questions regarding the difficulties you encounter during this time.
  • All the questions and answers from every student will be sent to all of you to enhance the understanding of various Ayurvedic concepts.
  • Each month you are given homework and you are asked questions that you are supposed to respond the following month.

Timings

The courses take place in spring (May-June) and autumn (September to October) in Europe and In November and March in our Himalayan Centre.

Examinations

There are total three examinations.

  • The first examination takes place in the beginning of the second block.
  • The second examination takes place at the beginning of the third block.
  • The third examination takes place at the end of the third block. It includes also a dissertation that is submitted within three months of this block.

The first two examinations require one hour each and you are supposed to give short answers to 15 questions. The third examination is an oral examination and it needs 15 minutes for each student. Dissertation is a part of the third examination.

Certificate

Successful students will be awarded a certificate of Junior Ayurveda Assistant (JAA) from Charaka School of Ayurveda (CSA).

Teacher: Doctor Vinod Verma will teach the entire course herself. The education is based upon traditional methods of Guru-shishya. It is not a commercial, class room style education.
Language: English, German or French

Books:There are 27 books written by Dr. Verma and they are also available in German language. Some of these books serve as textbooks for CSA courses.

For the first and second semesters, you need the following textbooks:

  1. Ayurveda, A Way of Life
  2. Ayurveda for Inner Harmony: Nutrition, Sexual Energy and Healing
  3. Ayurvedic Food Culture and Recipes
  4. Yoga: A Natural Way of Being
  5. Programming Your Life with Ayurveda

For the third semester:

  1. Stress Free Work with Yoga and Ayurveda
  2. Patanjali and Ayurvedic Yoga
  3. Prakriti and Pulse: The two Mysteries of Ayurveda
  4. Healing Hands: An Ayurvedic Massage Work Book.

Course II

Advanced Course is called
Senior Ayurveda Assistant (SAA)
offered exclusively in India in Our Himalayan Centre.

This course will include
Ayurvedic pharmacology,
Preparation of the remedies,
Practice of Saptakarma and an integral way of healing minor ailments.

Course I is mandatory for doing this course. This has also a total of 300 hours.

It requires four weeks of stay in our Himalayan Centre and a written assignment should be done after that.

Course II - Syllabus

This course is meant to enable you to imbibe all practical aspects of Ayurveda in your life, experience them and enhance your living quality. Unlike the other courses offered these days in Europe, the present course is not cluttered with theoretical details and big Sanskrit names of Ayurvedic preparations, but is meant to teach you the very simple and practical side of Ayurveda for putting in practice in daily life to maintain health and harmony. Each day of teaching will inspire you to experience diverse dimensions of Ayurveda. By the end of the course, you are trained in such a way that you will be able to help others with what we call in India, the grandmother’s tradition of Ayurveda.

Junior Ayurveda Assistant (JAA) through our Distant Learning Programme with Internet

CSA offers distant learning programme through Internet for doing Junior Ayurveda Assistant (JAA).
The syllabus and other details for JAA is the same as mentioned in course I Syllabus, Charaka School.

The total time for all the three blocks with distant education is three hundred hours, done in in three different blocks of one month each within a period of about 16 months.

Timings

July-August and December-January

The education for JAA takes 13 months for completion and you will be given examinations in the beginning of II and III semesters. The third and the final examination is given at the end of the third session. You are required to write an essay in the end for which you are given 3 months after the third semester. Successful candidates will be awarded the certificates thereafter.

Essential Features for Studying with Distant Learning Programme:

  • You need to have a computer with an Internet access to get emails.
  • You need a printer so that you can print the material for studying as well as for printing the examination questions papers if needed.
  • You need at least basic school education up to Gymnasium.
  • You require an adequate knowledge of the English language. The students can communicate in German or French as well, but they will get the lessons and replies to their questions in English.
  • During the semester months, you are supposed to devote time to study intensively, as well as do some practical training according to the given instructions.
  • You are supposed to study for about at least 6 hours a week and do some practical programmes during the time between the two semesters.
  • You are supposed to note down all the practical difficulties and ask questions during the following semester.


Professional Courses after JAA

CSA offers the following academic programmes after the study of JAA or for the students who have similar qualifications from other schools.


Note: JAA education is not essential for this course.
1. Ayurvedic massage 90 hours
2. Ayurvedic treatment for women's ailments 90 hours
3. Ayurvedic beauty treatments 70 hours
4. Ayurvedic therapeutic yoga 80 hours
5. Ayurvedic nutrition 150 hours
6. Companionship and Sexuality 60 hours
7. Sexual Education for Children 60 hours
8. Patanjali Yoga Sutras: A scientific study 300 hours [ *JAA education is not essential for this course.]

Certificate:

A valid certificate will be given to the successful students for each specialisation.

Special benefits of CSA

You have the following advantages to choose CSA for your education in Ayurveda:

  • CSA teaches in a traditional Guru-Shishya style, in smaller groups and you have a single guru or a professor who makes sure that each one of you learns infallibly and is able to put in practice the basic wisdom of life.
  • Theory and practice are intermixed and students cook, eat, experience the true meaning of rasa in Ayurvedic pharmacology, go out to find people for learning about prakriti. Learning is fun for CSA students!
  • You learn Ayurvedic cooking and use of Ayurvedic cuisine as a little apothecary in a very scientific way. You are taught to cook food from any part of the world with Ayurvedic principles. According to our survey, either simply mogul unhealthy cooking is taught under the name of Ayurveda or else Mediterranean cooking with a bit of masala is marketed as Ayurvedic cooking by some schools in Europe.
  • Our teaching is not complete until you have put it in practice in your own life. That is why we teach in three major parts for the first year for the training of Junior Ayurveda Assistant (JAA).
  • Our examination system is unique. For the final of the three examinations, you go through a practical exam of helping others with Ayurveda wisdom.

Sexual Education

In Ayurveda and the Hindu tradition, knowledge and versatility about sexual interaction is extremely essential for a happy and fulfilled life. It is important that for healthy and harmonious living and for the future of mankind, the humanity learns to accept that sensuality (Kama) should be experienced and explored with wisdom and not made a taboo. Lack of knowledge and incompatibility can ruin the relationships amongst couples and a lack of sexual education to children can lead them to exploitation and mental disorders. Sexual incompatibility should be treated with aphrodisiacs or by removing the an-aphrodisiacs and with consultation from the wise persons in this field. It should never be suppressed or covered up because that gives rise to ultimate suffering.

Please see our three publications on this theme in our book list. At the moment, we are preparing programmes for sexual education for children.

Please write to us for holding lectures and seminars on these themes.

Private Sessions, Lectures, Seminars and Workshops

We inseminate fundamental wisdom of Ayurveda for health and longevity and for curing minor ailments with home remedies through lectures, seminars and workshops. Ayurvedic home remedies and prevention of ailments are linked to the lifestyle of a person. Thus, in all our workshops, the principal emphasis is to teach people according to time and space. You are taught the techniques to coordinate with nature and to be in harmony with the cosmic orchestra.

Ayurveda is the science of life and our programme for lectures is on diverse subjects that are related to life and that knowledge which can enhance the quality of life and its pleasures. It also includes all that which can lessen and remove sufferings and pains, as well as mental and physical ailments and disorders.

Please approach us for any theme that belongs to life or any other which make blockades in the flow of life. We take individual consultations, group lectures, workshops, etc., as well as consultation and work efficiency programmes for companies.

Education through Books

Please see the book list for diverse themes about living well and enhancing the quality of life. There are also the practical manuals on Ayurvedic lifestyle and Food Culture. We suggest that you educate yourself with books and our distant learning programme, and learn to invest in your health every day.

Our books are written for self-education. However, you need tremendous self-discipline to learn from books. You need to be regular and attentive, as if you are going to a class. Learn in a very systematic manner in small steps. Always read the instructions carefully, whether these are for massage or cooking or making a yoga posture.

Our Centres of Activities

We have two principle centres to carry out our educational and Health promoting activities.

Noida Centre

Noida is a suburb of New Delhi. It is located 16 Km from the New Delhi Railway Station. Noida Centre is also our headquarters, and houses our principal office and library. This building is constructed with the symbolism of seven dimensions of being, with AUM representing the eternal energy and the cause of being.

This is our central location, where we have groups for half-day workshops and for individual private sessions for Ayurveda Health Organisation (A Charitable Trust). In winter, sometimes we have to have other educational activities here, because of the extreme cold weather in our Himalayan Centre.

Himalayan Centre

Our Himalayan centre is located 400 Km in north-east of New Delhi in the state of Uttarakhanda, in district Uttarkashi. It is 14 Km before the holy town of Uttarkashi on Delhi-Uttarkashi highway. We are located on the bank of the Bhagirathi (upper Ganga) and are only 132 Km downstream from the Ganga’s glacier, which is at the height of 4000 meters.

We are located in the Bhagirathi Valley at the height of only 1000 meter. We are surrounded by high Himalayan Mountains. We chose this height for growing plants from the planes, as well as from the upper Himalayas. We have moderate weather conditions. Minimum on a winter night is minus 3 o C but days are generally sunny with a temperature of 19o C. In summer, the maximum temperature is 35 o C, but does not stay too long.


Aerial view of the Himalayan Centre



West side of Himalayan Centre



Garden of Food and Medicine



Student House and Meditation Hall



Meeting Hall in our Himalayan Centre



Students



Teaching School children



Wild Amala Fruits (the king of medicinal plants) in our Himalayan Centre