Features
Janelle De Souza
FOR generations, Caribbean households have turned to “bush medicine” as their first line of defence against illness.
From aloe vera for burns to neem for skin conditions, these natural remedies have been passed down as cultural inheritance, long before modern hospitals and pharmaceuticals became the norm.
Today, however, the conversation is shifting. With chronic illnesses on the rise and global health authorities paying closer attention, doctors, researchers and policy makers are recognising the importance of integrating traditional and modern medicine – not as competing systems, but as a complementary approach.
That theme will take centre stage at the Ayurveda and Traditional Medicine: An Integrative Approach to Health conference, hosted by the Maharishi Institute of Science and Technology TT, the High Commission of India and the Maharishi University of Latin America and Caribbean (UMLAC) on October 4-5 at the Radisson Hotel, Port of Spain.
The two-day event will bring together more than ten speakers, including herbalists, PhDs, vaidyas (practitioners of Ayurvedic medicine), naturopathic doctors, and medical doctors. Topics range from perimenopause to alternative medicine, integrated cancer treatments, and the efficacy and dosage of medicinal herbs.
This as the World Health Organization recently released its Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025-2034, calling for traditional, complementary and integrative medicine to become part of global health planning. It reflects a shift already visible in the Caribbean, where people have long relied on natural remedies but where scientific validation, and structured integration into health care, is lacking.
Newsday spoke to three of the speakers via Zoom interviews on September 3.
Building Bridges
Dr David Lee Sheng Tin, board-certified health and strategic intervention coach, lifestyle consultant, author and adjunct associate professor of physiology and health at Maharishi International University (MIU) in Iowa, a US state, said natural medicine has been deeply rooted in the Caribbean for centuries.
“This has become quite a problem for the medical fraternity in a lot of countries, especially in the Caribbean, because many of these people who dispense herbs are not trained in physiology and anatomy and diagnostic skills. This is why many other doctors are wary about traditional medicine or natural medicine, because they end up having to deal with problems when people are misdiagnosed and given the wrong thing.”
Still, he pointed out, traditions such as Ayurveda, India’s ancient system of medicine, are not folklore. Ayurveda, literally meaning “the study of life,” takes a holistic approach, balancing the mind, body and spirit. It includes everything from diet and lifestyle to meditation, aromatherapy and herbal prescriptions, many of which modern science is now validating.
“Ayurveda had been around for thousands of years in India. It deals with all forms of natural medicine including herbs and spices – there have been clinical studies on effects, exact dosage and who should use it is well-researched and documented.”
Lee Sheng Tin said the upcoming conference is designed to shed light on how traditional and modern medicine can work together.
“Having so many natural herbs in TT, and because of our Indian population, we thought Ayurveda makes a nice fit in helping local and regional people to understand the benefits and effects of the different plants and how they can be used as a complementary approach, or integrated into the health care system.”
Dr Carl Camelia, co-founder and vice president of Academic Affairs at UMLAC in Curacao, explained that both medical systems once existed in isolation. But now, integration is not just a theory. It is already happening.
“In the past, those who practised modern medicine and natural or traditional medicine wanted nothing to do with each other. But we have integrated the curriculum to train the doctors in Ayurveda with the curriculum to train doctors in modern medicine. It is quite unique. No one else has done it in the world.”
Research is another priority. He said UMLAC uses Western scientific methodology to study traditional practices.
“The integrative approach with Ayurvedic is very important, because Ayurvedic has a complete body of knowledge explaining how herbal medicine works on the body, and it has a theoretical framework that explains the whole impact of it on the body.”
The university also hopes to conduct comparative studies on herbs across the Caribbean, analysing why different islands rely on particular plants, and how their effects align with Ayurvedic knowledge.
Giving a few examples Lee Sheng Tin said, “People in TT use aloe vera for gynaecological issues, neem helped with skin conditions, turmeric has anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic properties and tulsi was used to reduce blood pressure. But people did not know why they worked, how or how much should be used or who should use it.”
He said that lack of precision is exactly where integration with scientific research can make a difference. It would help doctors recommend herbs in place of pharmaceuticals where possible, making medication more affordable, reducing side effects and offering holistic care.
Ayurveda, he added, also extends beyond physical remedies.
“For a long time, in traditional Ayurvedic, people just focussed on diet and nutrition but Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who founded the transcendental meditation (TM) programme, realised that there was much more to Ayurveda than just traditional use of pulse, diagnosis, herbs, and diet and nutrition. So he expanded it to include the whole range of human physiology – the mental, physical, emotional, etc – and revitalising ancient systems that had been used but were forgotten.”
Today, therapies such as aromatherapy, light therapy, and meditation, once dismissed as alternative, are backed by modern science and used in clinical practice.
Cardiologist Dr Robert Schneider, director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention and dean at the Maharshi College of Perfect Health at MIU, underscored how far research has come.
He said there is a lot of discussion about what is scientifically supported but there is a “fair amount” of scientific research on traditional medicine, and there are many traditions so it is broad. They include diet, meditation and herbal medicine.
Meditation, in particular, has been widely studied. Schneider said the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, with US government support, has conducted randomised control trials on TM for decades, focussing on cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
In August, the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology and American Medical Association issued new guidelines for managing hypertension, recommending TM as a lifestyle intervention.
“This traditional medicine practice, which has been brought into modern times in a contemporary framework that’s easily learned and practised by anyone, now has national recommendations, and these US guidelines are actually a model for guidelines in other countries.”
TM has also shown strong results in managing PTSD, anxiety and other stress-related disorders. Meanwhile, Ayurveda’s emphasis on plant-based, organic diets aligns with modern findings linking such diets to longevity and reduced risks of heart disease and dementia.
“So what I see in the world today is a convergence of modern medical understanding with these ancient principles, which makes these traditional principles even more relevant for contemporary times. And the modern medical establishment is actually returning to these traditional lifestyle practices.”
The Next Step
Despite this progress, challenges remain.
Schneider said while many modern medicines were originally derived from plants some people were still suspicious of herbal medicines. He believed that was mainly because people did not know of the research gone into it over the decades, and there are many forms and brands but there was little to no standardisation.
“I think the area of herbal medicine is a next frontier to develop, standardise, validate and scientifically organise according to the modern scientific age that we’re in.”
He added that, in Ayurvedic textbooks, there were well-defined classical formulas and systems that have been clinically practised and proven continuously for millennia. They generally have fewer side effects and a more holistic effect.
“There are these standardised formulas and many of them have been tested scientifically but that research hasn’t really gotten out to the popular media a lot yet, but it is there. One can see antioxidant effects, one can see effects on inflammation, one can see effects on the microbiome, which is very hot these days. So I think that is a next area, as I said, to really organise a scientific framework.”
Resistance within the medical community is also easing, according to Camelia. He believed this reluctance stemmed from education systems that trained professionals in only one way of thinking.
“So now, we have a very old system of traditional medicine, that also has its own merits and its own impact, but the modern experts are not trained in it. So of course, they will say, ‘What is this?’ And I must say that in the past, there was even a kind of animosity against it.
Now, when he gives lectures, he gets positive responses as medical professionals realise natural medicine is worthwhile and beneficial for any nation’s health care system.
For Camelia, the key lies in communication.
“The main thing is we should speak the language of the Western doctors in order to convince them of what we are doing. If I go to you and I try to convince you of something but I speak Chinese, then of course I cannot convince you because you don’t understand what I’m talking about.
“That’s the same thing. Traditional medicine is a completely different approach. It does not speak the language of modern science, and that’s why they were two different worlds apart. But now we have brought them together, and this we are presenting amongst others at this conference.”