In the early 1980s, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation® program and Maharishi International University, organized a systematic effort to revive the full authenticity and scope of Ayurveda. 

Ayurveda is recognized by the World Health Organization as the world’s oldest continuously-practiced system of medicine — a natural, comprehensive, prevention-oriented approach to healthcare, without harmful side- effects.

Over the course of more than a century — during British rule of India — Ayurveda fell into relative decline. Western medicine became the dominant system in India, and generations were educated to view traditional knowledge as outdated. As a result, much of the practical application of this vast science became less accessible, and this living tradition risked being fragmented, or lost.

Initiating a massive effort to restore Ayurveda to its full integrity and effectiveness, Maharishi gathered many of India’s most highly respected vaidyas (traditional Ayurvedic physicians), whose families had preserved this knowledge for generations, and brought them together with leading Sanskrit scholars.

Because the classical Ayurvedic texts had been written down more than 6000 years ago, in the language of Sanskrit — a precise language with an unbroken scholarly tradition — it was possible to return to the original source texts and carefully re-establish the authentic curative herbal formulations; the full Panchakarma purification therapies; the comprehensive means to address the root cause of chronic disorders; and the prevention-oriented lifestyle principles that support long-term health and vitality.

Through years of collaborative review and restoration — a complete, holistic and systematic approach emerged. This revived and organized body of knowledge came to be known as Maharishi Ayurveda™.

With this restoration, Ayurveda once again became available in a coherent, authentic, teachable, and clinically applicable form — not only for India, but for the wider world.