I went to two free, open-to-the-public talks by Vasant Lad at the Ayurvedic Institute, he is I…read morebelieve the founder. I was invited by a friend, who is a big fan of Vasant Lad, and says that he is the teacher of Deepak Chopra. There's apparently a film about him at the Guild at the time of this writing.
What I don't know about Ayurveda could fill their bookstore (and probably does), but Vasant Lad is a great speaker, clearly highly knowledgeable, and kept it interesting, while being cautious not to describe Ayurveda as a magic bullet that we should all practice like authorities on our neighbors.
The only slightly negative vibe I had was when he was determining the "doshas" of audience members, and then suggesting they were this, that, or the other thing ("Oh! You always fall asleep with a book!"). That part struck me as a little psychic-like. Ayurveda has a lot of basis to it, but at the same time I think that people like that psychic-who-am-I kind of thing and so he was offering that, but I found his lecture topics linking aspects to the science that I was more familiar with, to be more of interest.
They had a brochure that I perused at the beginning, that requested please no photos, bare shoulders, open beverages, or children. All four of these things I saw in evidence, but people were trying to be respectful. The one heads up I would give, is that at least at the first talk, you needed to remove your shoes.
The people at the Institute define nice. They served tea, and snacks, and they came up to you with authentic smiles and greetings, genuinely trying to be helpful and informative. I came away intrigued, having had a good time, and wondering if I wanted to pursue some course of study with them. Or at the very least, adopt some good, easy lifestyle habits that would probably make me a much happier, healthier human.