Advent of a Link between Ayurveda and Modern Health Science: The Proceedings of the First International Congress on Ayurveda, "Ayurveda: The Meaning of Life-Awareness, Environment, and Health" March 21-22, 2009, Milan, Italy.

The First International Congress on Ayurveda was held in Milan, Italy in March 2009 and it has been the first scientific event of this kind in western world. This groundbreaking international congress was devoted to human being as the product of interactions between Awareness, Environment and Health, subjects that the West tends to consider separate and independent, but that are believed deeply connected in Ayurveda, whose interdependence defines "The Meaning of Life". The Congress established a bridge between indian and western philosophy, scientific and biomedical thinking in order to expand knowledge and healthcare. Main attention and address of the invited speakers was on the concept of "relationships" that, connecting living beings with environment, shape Nature itself. This concept is central in Ayurveda but is also common to other western scientific disciplines such as quantum physics and epigenetics that, in the four Sessions of the Congress, were represented by eminent experts. The importance of this event was underlined by the attendance of more than 400 participants and by noteworthy institutional endorsements, that added a significative political dimension of high social impact due to the topical period for CAM acceptance and integration in Europe.

Salutogenesis and Ayurveda: indications for public health management.

Ayurveda, the ancient traditional medicine of India, defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and spiritual well-being. The focus of Ayurveda is on a predictive, preventive and personalized medicine. This is obtained through a low-cost personalized counseling about lifestyle measures (diet, activities, etc.), trying to involve the patient directly in the process of healing, increasing his self-awareness and good relationships with other people and nature. The approach of Ayurveda toward positive health shares its features with that of salutogenesis as described by Antonovsky. Prevention strategies pragmatically suggested by Ayurveda - including factors such as promotion of health education, individual awareness, integration of spirituality and ethics in healthcare system- may be applied in public health management, in order to improve perceived and objective life quality, promote healthy aging, limit drugs use (avoiding expensive side-effects) and reduce chronic diseases social costs. Ayurveda has a universal-coverage, being person-centered and consequently intercultural.