Physician dispels notion that East and West shall never meet

Local physician dispels notion that East and West shall never meet
"There are no incompatibilities with Western medicine.... One complements the other." - John Peterson.		From The Muncie Evening Press Life/Style Wednesday, February 4, 1987 By Pat Mills Evening Press Reporter

  When Rudyard Kipling wrote, "East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet," he didn't know that holistic medicine would eventually bring them closer together.
  Ayurveda, a Sanscrit term meaning "science or knowledge of life" is an ancient system of natural medicine that originated in India and is now being taught in the U.S. According to Muncie's John Peterson, M.D., who uses some Ayurveda techniques in his practice, "there are no incompatibilities with Western medicine. I am incorporating everything I know. One complements the other.
   "I'm really a Western doctor," Peterson goes on. "I take the boards every six years and score in the top 5 percent of doctors in the country." But he believes his training in the Eastern tradition gives him an additional tool to individualize diagnosis and treatment for his patients.
  Ayurveda, he explains, is based on individual body-personality types. There are three doshas, or constitutional factors - Vata, Pitta and Kapha - which are inherited as "pure" types or in combination. Each type has its strengths and weaknesses. The goal of Ayurveda is "to bring balance to these governing factors in the physiology," Peterson says.
  One's combination of inherited genetic factors is know as prakriti and the imbalances caused by stress are called vikriti. Ayurvedic medicine aims to restore a person's doshas to the balance they had when he or she was born. This promotes a disease-free individual, prolongs life, improves society and brings the world closer to peace, its practitioners claim.
  The Vata-type person has a light, thin build and a mental outlook concerned with quickness, movement and creativity. Stress-induced changes in a Vata type may cause a tendency toward fear and worry and light, interrupted sleep, according to an outline of the basic constitutional types prepared by Peterson.
  Pitta persons have a moderate build, strong immunity, good digestion and a strong ego. If these tendencies are out of balance, the person may become chronically angry and irritable and prone to develop peptic ulcers, migraines, and eye or skin problems, the pamphlet goes on.

  Kapha types have a solid, heavier build, "like a healthy, young football player," Peterson says. Kapha means structure. Such persons have strong, well-knit joints and hearty constitutions, as well as tranquil, steady personalities. If unbalanced, however, they can become "fat and lazy and go into hibernation," Peterson says. (He adds that the interviewer is a classic example of Kapha-Pitta type.)
  Clinicians trained in the art can assess a patient's type be observing such clues as the pulse rate and the shape of the eyes, nose and teeth.
  Indian physicians who are masters of Ayurveda can even read the entire medical history of a patient and make recommendations based on pulse reading, says Peterson, who worked with such an expert, Dr. S.B. Triguna. He has been called a "human CAT scan machine" by fellow physicians.
  Peterson says he looked at each patient's medical chart while Triguna, who had not seen the records, took the person's pulse (nadi, in Sanscrit.) He was able to tell with great accuracy what diseases and illnesses the patient had in the past, and even how long ago. Triguna also assessed the current state of health and prescribed treatment, Peterson recounts.
  More than 900 studies document the effectiveness of the physical approach of Ayurveda. Physical recommendations include diet, purification therapy, herbal nutritional supplements and sensory treatments using sound, music, color and aroma with mental approaches such as Transcendental Meditation ™ and its advanced program, TM-Sidhi, developed by the founder of the TM movement, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Peterson says.
Meditation induces a state of deep rest that lessens the effects of stress on the body. Studies show it can lower blood pressure, reduce the use of alcohol and tobacco and have beneficial effects on general health.
  Ayurveda clinicians also may recommend specific daily and seasonal routines based on the individual's mind-body type, Peterson adds. And there are environmental and societal practices which claim to have a positive effect on world consciousness. But a person need not undertake the entire spectrum to benefit from parts of it, he says.

  Peterson and his wife, Victoria, have lived in Muncie since 1977. She is a teacher of TM. Both long-time meditators, the couple are parents of three children.
  He holds a bachelor of arts degree in biology from Grinnell College and an M.D. degree from the University of Iowa College of Medicine and completed the family practice residency program at Ball Hospital in 1977. He earned board certification in family practice specialty in 1977 and 1983 and is a diplomate of the American Board of Family Practice, 1983 through 1990. He received the Physician's Recognition Aware in 1980, 1983 and 1986.
  In addition to private practice, the 39-year-old Peterson serves as medical director of Planned Parenthood of East Central Indiana and Cambridge House, and is a medical educator of nurse practitioners and resident physicians. A guest lecturer at the Ball State University branch of the Indiana University Medical School, he is a member of the department of Obstetrics/Gynecology and the infection committee at Ball Hospital.
  Other memberships include county, state and national medical societies, the American Academy of Family Practice, State Board of Health Commission on Educational Resources and Physicians for Social Responsibility. He also serves on the international advisory council of the World Medical Association for Perfect Health.
  He started the Ayurveda Prevention Center here in 1985, which is one of 50 in the country, after training in the Eastern medical techniques at Maharishi International University, Fairfield, Iowa.
  The Muncie center offers introductory sessions, appointments with visiting Indian Ayurvedic specialists (vaidyas), packages for specific symptoms, such as insomnia or cardiovascular problems, and a telex system which provides consultations with world-famous physicians for stubborn or persistent health problems.