Dr. Sugeeta Mutreja Speaks About Her Ayurveda Journey
Dr. Sugeeta Mutreja is a pure Ayurveda practitioner who has spent a significant number of years practicing Ayurveda. She is passionate about the preventive approach of this traditional medicine system. Nirogstreet talked to her about her Ayurveda journey so far, key learnings, experiences, and insights. A dawn person who doesn't miss her morning walks, Dr. Mutreja is an inspiration for many young students of Ayurveda. She works from her Dwarka (New Delhi) based clinic named diet and nutrition. Read her interview below:
Dr. Mutreja, please tell us about your educational background and professional qualification briefly.
I completed my B.A.M.S. in the year 2001 from SSMD Ayurvedic College, Moga (Punjab). Thereafter, being in the medical profession, I found lifestyle disorders getting very common. So, I thought of entering into preventive healthcare. After spending 6 years with this approach, I realized the need for additional business requirements that the medical profession demands, and hence I did my M.B.A. in hospital administration in 2010. Later on, choosing diets & nutrition as my ultimate goal, I opted for a diploma in nutrition and health education which I completed in 2016.
That is a great diversification of your skill sets and expertise. Tell us, why did you choose Ayurvedic practices, after all?
Ayurveda lays emphasis on prevention rather than the cure of disease and hinges on nature’s rich botanical heritage, which really fascinated me towards itself. I am very much proud to be associated with Ayurveda which is now adopted in the mainstream of India. This unique system of medicine is not interested in suppressing symptoms.
The whole approach here is different. Ayurveda not only treats people, but it also seeks to find and cure the root cause of disease. It promotes a healthy life for becoming a healthy individual. Ayurveda is the science of life. Since I wanted to work on lifestyle disorders, Ayurveda could be the only possible choice for its management.
What is your experience when it comes to treating patients? Do they trust the treatment?
While treating patients through Ayurveda, I find them getting curious as well as relieved that they’re in a comfortable zone, as they very well realize that they are in the safe ecosystem of nature’s treatment. People obviously trust the treatment, that’s why the count of people adopting Ayurveda is increasing significantly. It is easy to trust this system as it is the oldest therapy system and most of the Indians have experienced this in their lives starting from their homes, more or less.
It is great to hear that people are believing in Ayurveda more and more. Any challenge that you face as a practitioner?
Sometimes I face the challenge when people compare the pace of the treatment with that of Allopathy. Also, I often find that people come to us as the last resort when the condition has really worsened and other pathies have been null and void in their cure.
Any out of an ordinary situation that you have faced while treating a patient?
Yeah, I remember it very well. Once I cured the hiccups of one of my patients in just an hour while before he was suffering from the issue for the last 3 days. I would also highlight the case of a patient, wherein he was suffering from high cholesterol levels for 17 years and was on Allopathic medication. His cholesterol levels came to the normal stats as I suggested he maintain a healthy diet and prescribed some herbs.
How effective is traditional medicine as a cure?
As I said earlier, the focus in Ayurveda is upon curing the individual person, not just treating the symptoms through the lifetime use of chemical drugs. It is truly a logical system that one can actually call scientific as it is based primarily on observing nature in all its forms.
Ayurvedic treatment consists of the use of herbal preparations, diet, yoga, meditation, etc. Many Ayurvedic preparations used by Ayurvedic practitioners show great results when treating various chronic disorders like Arthritis, Skin Disorders, Chronic fever, Infertility, Hormonal Imbalances, etc. Yoga, an integral part of Ayurveda, has been very utile to patients with heart diseases and hypertension. Ayurveda promotes well being and improves the quality of life.
What do you think of Ayurveda’s future and its role in integrated medicine?
We very well know that the whole world including India is spending billions of currencies every year on using methods to prevent diseases or to maintain the existing state of health of the society-at-large. Whereas this is the basic principle of Ayurveda on the other hand. Ayurveda lays the foundation for the prevention of diseases. So clearly, the future of Ayurveda is very much bright.
One must note that the Ayurvedic system of medicine promotes “Swasthashya Swasthya Rakshanam “, which means to maintain the health of the healthy, rather than Aturashya Vikara Prashamanancha, which means to cure the diseases of the diseased. For this purpose, the Dinacharya (Daily Regimen) and Ritucharya ( seasonal regimen ) have been mentioned in the classic texts of Ayurveda, which is a unique feature of this healing system. Ayurveda is very safe and very economical too. People nowadays are very educated, so they can clearly see the benefits of a safe system, i.e., our Ayurveda.
Do you think Nirogstreet is making a great difference by striving to connect the mainstream society exclusively to Ayurveda practitioners through dedicated technology platforms?
Of course, yes. They have created a platform whereby Ayurveda practitioners are meeting other practitioners as well as the patients directly online, thereby enhancing their own reputation as well as spreading Ayurveda knowledge. By virtue of all this, Ayurveda has become at par with other streams of the medical profession.
Any hobbies or activities you engage in, outside your professional life?
Sure, as everybody needs to relax in one or the other way. I enjoy morning walks a lot with my friends. I am a freak-out person by nature.
What message would you like to convey to the people on Wellbeing?
People need to be aware of their food intake in moderate quantity, daily physical exercises, and very importantly a sound sleep. So, people just need to make sure that three Doshas of the body i.e. Vata, Pitta, and Kapha are balanced most of the time.
