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- Latin: Terminalia arjuna
- Sanskrit: Arjuna
- Hindi: Arjun
- English: Arjuna Myrobalans
Parts Used:
Bark (inner bark is the potent part, but many companies include the dry inactive outer portion to increase profits. MAPI uses only the inner portion and protects the tree by harvesting amounts that the tree can repair.)
Traditional Ayurvedic Uses:
- Arjuna is a very large tree. The bark is used in certain herbal combinations as a powerful, soothing tonic for the heart. It is good for both the physical heart as a muscle, as well as for the emotions associated with the heart.
- Arjuna is used for loneliness, sadness and frustration. It strengthens the emotions to decrease excessive response to stress and trauma.
- It helps strengthen the body's natural rejuvenative processes, hastening the replacement of dead or weak cells with fresh, vital ones.
- In proper combinations, Arjuna helps stabilize an erratic heart beat.
- Arjuna helps balance all three doshas at once (Vata, Pitta, Kapha), a rare and very valuable property.
- This tree herb bears the same name as Arjuna, son of Pandu -- a great hero of the Bhagavad-Gita. The Gita is a treasured poem from the Vedic epic called the Mahabharata.
Combinations are Best
The ayurvedic physicians of Maharishi Ayurveda do not recommend the use of single herbs for self-care due to several important reasons.
One of the specialties of ayurveda is the science of herb combining that has been perfected over thousands of years of clinical practice. From this ayurvedic perspective, the study of herbs from scientific research which is based on single ingredient formulas is not very practical. This is because an herb can give a number of different effects depending on the other herbs it is combined with as well as a number of other factors such as dosage, how the herb was processed, etc. If one focuses just on the results of a study based on one ingredient, while it may be interesting, it does not give the full insight into the complete range of effects available from that particular herb. |
