In the United States, Ayurveda is considered a ‘complementary health approach’ by the National Institute of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH).
Ayurveda is not currently licensed in any of the 50 states. However the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA) is working on changing that. NAMA represents the Ayurvedic profession in the USA.
To find out where licensure of Ayurveda stands in the USA, we reached out to NAMA president Gwen Nagano who directed us to Standards Committee Chair Hilary Garivaltis.
Here’s her reply.
Is Ayurveda A Licensed Profession?
Ayurveda is not currently licensed in any of the 50 states.
This is a state by state process. The National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA) has been working on establishing the profession in such a way that we will be able to apply for licensure in any of the states.
Licensure is a big process. The profession needs to establish its own standards first of all and set the Scope of Practice, competency guidelines to follow and finally a National credentialing exam.
It has taken NAMA over 10 years to get the first two pieces done and we are currently in the process of creating a National Exam.
Most likely California will be the first state to approach its legislature in the effort to get Ayurveda licensed. The California Association of Ayurvedic Medicine is working toward that goal and NAMA is in support of their efforts.
There are many states that have passed Health Freedom or Safe Harbor laws that allow practitioners of unlicensed professions such as Ayurveda, Herbalists, Aromatherapists, Yoga Therapists, Homeopaths to name a few to practice within the law and not be prosecuted unfairly.
There are currently 8 states that provide this law and more that are working on legislation right now. This is a good option for Ayurveda while we work toward licensure.
Hilary Garivaltis
Standards Committee Chair, National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA)
Photo: Logan Adermatt, Unsplash.com
While I applaud these efforts of moving towards licensure, i feel quite uncertain about the unintended outcome that this taking Ayurveda to. I cant help but ponder upon the paradox- How can a holistic, consciousness based, energy body, subtle and gross body assessment ancient wisdom based, transmission based 5000+ year old intuitive orally transmitted body of wisdom which is an Upaveda be ‘standardized or ‘licensed’ without corrupting it to conform to a western allopathic model that is based on a Cartesian approach of analyzing and addressing individual parts and symptoms? I have had the privilege and honor to have observed and experienced treatment and clinics with Vaidyas who spent decades in apprenticeship with their Gurus and mentors and have treated 10s and thousands of people and wonder how they would pass such a board certifying process.
Namaste
I am Vaidya Falguni Trivedi