India study site provides high-volume Ayurveda training for Bastyr students

Rajiv Gandhi College

From Bastyr University

Bastyr University students of ayurvedic medicine will study near India’s snow-capped Himalayas this December as the University establishes its first training site in ayurveda’s native land.

Ayurvedic medicine is a comprehensive, time-tested system of medical therapies, combining nutritional counseling, herbal medicine, massage therapy and bodywork, internal cleansing and immune-system support. Based on the 5,000-year-old medical traditions of India, ayurveda (“the science of life”) is quickly gaining popularity in the United States and the need for skillful practitioners trained at accredited institutions is on the rise.  

Students in the Master of Science in Ayurvedic Sciences program will spend two weeks at a busy ayurvedic clinic and college in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh. They will earn credits attending morning lectures and afternoon observation shifts in a clinic that often sees 1,000 patients a day.

The externship will take place at Rajiv Gandhi Government Post Graduate Ayurvedic College, a government-supported college and clinic in the town of Paprola. Students will stay at the retreat center of Shailinder Sodhi, ND (‘93), a Bastyr alumnus and instructor who will lead the trip.

Dr. Sodhi, who runs the ayurvedic products company Ayush Herbs with several family members, played a key role in arranging the externship program. As a native of Himachal Pradesh and a longtime instructor at Bastyr, he understood how the setting could show students how ayurveda is integrated into everyday health care.

“We are very excited about this program, as it allows Bastyr students to get training in ayurvedic medicine in real situations in India, where ayurveda is a long practiced and recognized medicine,” he said in a news release.