Absolute Beauty: Radiant Skin and Inner Harmony Through the Ancient Secrets of Ayurveda

My Ayurvedic skin care Bible! My first copy I purchased the year that it came out, and unfortunately, I lost it in a fire. So I had to replace it. I've read it more than once and it is so full of invaluable information that I cannot, not have it in my library. I am a student working towards my doctorate in Ayurvedic medicine, and this book is a must-have.

This is an extensive guide not only to naturally obtaining physical beauty, but also to living a beautiful life. It is thoughtfully written, clearly organized, and delightful to read. It's prescriptions are not extreme; Raichur advocates balance in all things, self-awareness and awareness of your world, and living according to your own personal physical and emotional attributes. The book encompasses advice on beauty (most of the "treatments" she recommends are comprised of things you probably already have in your kitchen), food, and emotional well-being. It's a lovely guide for all aspects of life, and one well worth having.

This book is everything I was looking for in an ayurvedic skincare guide, plus SO much more.I'm certainly no expert in ayurveda, I would consider myself more of a hobbyist, and I was profoundly delighted at the wealth of information that is available in this book that I've never come across before in my years of exploration into ayurveda. Pratima first lays the groundwork for a general understanding of Ayurvedic theory (and a pretty comprehensive one at that), explains how to determine underlying imbalances of existing skin issues, and follows that up with several chapters of different mediums to approach those imbalances. Some of the approaches are expected (such as essential oils and skincare recipes, as well as diet tips) others were pleasantly unexpected, on topics such as color therapy, meditation, and lifestyle advice. I feel like I got much more value than what I paid for with this book.

Anyone interested in Ayurveda should read this book. More than anything, this gives a beautiful explanation of some of the fundamentals of Ayurveda and gives some easy to follow guidelines for following a more Ayurvedic lifestyle. It goes way beyond skin and invites readers to look at their entire lifestyle. The skin is just one organ but it is a powerful communicator of the state of your health. Whether you're just hoping to rid yourself of acne or slow down the aging process, this book will help you learn that your skin is an outward expression of what's going on within and will give you easy to follow tips to heal from the inside out. I know it sounds like a cliche but before even reading this book I was able to heal my stubborn hormonal acne not with any cream or antibiotic but by changing my diet. I've incorporated many of the lifestyle changes from this book and feel much more balanced and look more rested.

I'm not even all the way through this book and already have completely changed my skincare routines. My skin shows it!! I agree, if you can't eat it (although I wouldn't eat some of the essential oils even if I could), don't put it on your skin. Your skin is the largest organ and absorbs everything you put on it!

I love Ayurvedic medicine, and she did a great job of introducing Ayurveda as a whole before getting into the specifics of skin care. I still haven't finished the book, and I think a lot of it is more about prevention rather than treatment for those of us who have been careless and need serious remedies.

Absolutely LOVE this book! (& actually I haven't yet finished reading it!) haha... I'm already experimenting with coconut oil on my face, tho, and FEELING the supple difference!It's a very thorough read for anyone sincerely searching for a natural solution to their skin problems. There's no way that it could be harmful, only helpful.Love the theory that everything you put on your skin is 'food for your skin'! So if you can't imagine eating it, you shouldn't be putting it on your skin! :-O ^_^I really like the profiles of the different doshas and I love that it explains the common temperaments, etc. It really is about learning to de-stress in order to de-wrinkle! I really really could go on forever about how much I love this book :)It's just been the answers to so many questions I had been searching for in terms of clearing my face and also gives me such great incentive to work towards clearing my worrying thoughts whenever they do creep up ^_^Not only for the sake of facial beauty but for entire body and mind health!Oh, I would love to be this woman's apprentice. She has obviously really done her research and there is a LOT of amazing facts from modern studies there to back up all the ancient wisdoms.

This weekend at the urging of my sister, who has been using this book for several months and has FABULOUS skin (even though she's stopped using commercial products and going for facials) I followed Pratima's advice for 2 nights. First I should say i use expensive cleansers and have expensive facials. And I could not believe how my skin looked when i went to bed, just from following her advice. It looked like it did in my early 20's on the 2nd night - no joke (I'm 36)! The lines on my forehead had become barely noticeable, even to me, and my makeup went on very smoothly. Just want to say for the reviewers who complain that her commercial products have additives and chemicals - many of those chemicals might have been extracted from the foods you're using at home. Second, if she didn't add preservatives, they wouldn't last more than a few days and would have to be kept in the refrigerator, not on the shelf. It's unfortunate that if you want convenience you have to put up with the additives. If you have the time, and this book, you don't have to.

This book explains in a simple matter the basic principles of Ayurveda and gives you pointers on how to act accordingly. It even has a DIY section that is wonderful.Buy it, It will become like a little secret cookbook for your cosmetics and skincare, that will help you go organic and will be your little secret.

This book is simply amanzing. I have studied ayurveda in the past two years and I have several books on the subject and considerer this book one of the best. It is well written and gives you all the knowledge necessary to change your routines (dinacharya) for better health and for happiness. I highly recommend it.

Wonderful book full of tried and true ancient beauty tips and advice. Great service and delivery from Amazon.

I need to start of by saying that I've been making my own body care products using ingredients such as rosehip oil, olive oil, shea butter, and so on for years. I even make my own soaps! Making my own stuff with natural ingredients is therefore nothing new to me.I got this book because I wanted to learn how I can apply Ayurveda to my DIY skincare routine.Here are my pros and cons:Pros:- The book goes into detail about the different doshas and how they manifest themselves inside and outside. I am definitely predominately vata, and have a pitta face (oily and dry skin). For this reason I made the pitta dosha recipes for my face, and followed the vata dosha recipes for the rest of my body.- Tons of useful recipes that are easy to make- She is not adverting her products and merely mentions them for those of us who don't find making things enjoyable.- It's very easy to read and most of the recipes are fairly easy to follow- I made the herbal cleanser (my absolute favorite!), face oil, body oil, and moisturizer - although I had been making my own beauty products I did need to buy most of the ingredients as I didn't have them at home. I bought my bottles at the pharmacy, chickpea flour and tumeric at my local drug store and the rest on Amazon. Depending on where you live, you should be able to find most of the ingredients fairy easily (be it online or offline).- Although she does mention her products this book is definitely for people who are into DIY beauty. If you are not into DIY beauty then I am not sure how useful this book would be. While tons of sections would be of interest, I am sure, you definitely get the most out of it if you are into all things DIY.- Here's a list of everything I needed to buy: chickpea flour, kurkuma, cocoa butter, almond oil, essential oils (rose + sandalwood), 1x bottle for body oil, 1x bottle for face oilCons:- While recipes such as the body and face oil make enough to last for a while, some of the recipes (such as the gum oil) only make one batch for one use. I would have appreciated if all the recipes throughout the book would perhaps say "This recipe makes XX ml" and " This recipe makes enough for one use". Of course I can do the math and make a bigger batch but it complicates things and could've been avoided by making the recipe in a way that makes a bigger batch and not barely enough for 1 use.- The moisturizer recipe calls for rose tea and doesn't use an emulsifier. In order for this recipe to work you need an emulsifier. Without an emulsifier it's not gonna be a cream that's going to last. This is something that should have been mentioned. I went into this knowingly and omitted the rose tea from the moisturizer because I did not want to risk messing it up.- I knew that this wasn't a book on vegan skincare and so I didn't expect all the recipes to be vegan. Some of the recipes call for ingredients that aren't vegan and no substitutes were mentioned. I would have appreciated a small note on substitutes for those of us who are vegan.- There is a section that mentioned using essential oils in baths. I could remember this incorrectly, but I don't remember reading the mention of needing to mix essential oils with a carrier oil prior to putting it into a bath. Not doing that could result in burns and other accidents!All in all I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in ayurvedic DIY skincare! It's one of my favorite books and I know that I'll go back to it over and over again!PS: I bought the ebook and for this reason I can't comment on the physical book! :)

This book is really amazing. I don’t usually write reviews but this time I had to do it. It is a really comprehensive approach of ayurveda, focusing on skin but going through all kinds of therapies and reflecting on the different causes of whatever is happening. I read that someone critiqued that she was “selling” her products, and that’s not the case, while she sugggests to use some of them there’s always an alternative you can try yourself at home, actually thousands of them. I have started to experiment with cleanser, moisturizer and nourishing oils and not only is fun to prepare them but the skin feels great . So if you’re thinking about it, go for it! It’s really worth it