Vaidya Atreya Smith, BSc – Director of the European Institute of Vedic Studies, teacher
Author of six books on the healing arts of India and three text books for Western students of Ayurveda Atreya brings over 23 years of clinical experience to his school, teaching and, of course, his patients.
There is a great need to adapt Ayurveda to our individual environments and situations while remaining true to the system. The failure to adapt Ayurveda to your local culture will result in mediocre, mixed results, or even failure. If you live in a desert environment like Arizona or North Africa then the same advise you read will need to be adapted differently in Montana or Northern Europe. The primary lesson that I am learning from years of practicing Ayurveda is to use intelligence in understanding the reasons behind any therapy or treatment. It is now more than 23 years since I began to work professionally with people in the healing arts.
My teaching of Ayurveda professionally in Europe since 1996 has been based on my experience as a practitioner. Of course I read the Ayurvedic classics, and of course I have been introduced to Ayurveda through the writings of Dr Lad, Dr Svoboda and David Frawley. However, I was lucky enough to be living in India when their books came out and I was already using Ayurvedic medicines to treat problems without really knowing anything about the system. Thus, my whole approach to teaching is practical and based on personal experience – you do not get much second hand information from me. I have my current practice side by side with my school and I remain faithful to the traditional application of Ayurveda in both my practice and with my students.
If you want an experienced teacher that has thousands of clinical cases in their memory while answering your questions, look no further. Why students choose to study with people who only have theoretical knowledge is really beyond me. Ayurveda is first and foremost a practical system.
Alex Duncan, PhD – Teacher & educational development for the European Institute of Vedic Studies
Alex Duncan is the author of a number of technical publications on the effects of sound-waves on the brain. He graduated in 2001 from the University of Glasgow, Scotland with a PhD in EEG Pattern Classification for the Brain Computer Musical Interface. A multi-instrumentalist, Alex composes and records music in his spare time.
Alex began his study of Ayurveda with Dr Donn Brenan of the UK. Since his installation in France in 2001 he has worked with Vaidya Atreya Smith, Dr Sunil V. Joshi, Dr Robert Svoboda and David Frawley. He has been teaching Ayurveda since 2002 with Atreya Smith and has written a beginners course on Ayurveda. He is currently the primary teacher for the European Institute of Vedic Studies in France.
Alex Duncan practices Yoga regularly since 1991 and has studied with a number of internationally known yoga and mantra teachers such as: Muz Murray (UK), David Svenson (USA), Peter Sterios (USA) and John Evans (UK).
Alix is responsible for educational development for the European Institute of Vedic Studies. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the development of modern teaching methods including; interactive student based learning, curriculum management, work groups, and most recently the development of the EIVS E-Learning teaching platform. With his doctorate in engineering he is highly qualified to find new and innovative methods of teaching. He is highly regarded as an exceptional teacher due to his nine years of undergraduate work and teaching at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. He is married and has two young daughters.
