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Ayurveda: An Experiment In Self Care · Divas That Care Network

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's Divas That Care Radio.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Stories, strategies, and ideas to inspire positive change.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Divas That Care, a network of women committed to making our world a better place for everyone.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is a global movement for women, by women, engaged in a collaborative effort to create a better world for future generations.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: To find out more about the movement, visit DivasThatCare.com after the show.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, though, stay tuned for another jolt of inspiration.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Namaste and welcome to the Divas That Care Network.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Gia Raquel, owner of Heirs Above Yoga, and you're listening to Above the Ground Podcast.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: If this is your first time tuning in, our network is in its 13th year and listened to in over 30 countries.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'd like to personally thank you for giving me the gift of your time and let you know that it is an honor to share my practice with you.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: And today we're going to start to talk a little bit about Ayurveda.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: So Ayurveda dates back as long as not longer than yoga, thousands of years, and was in essence one of the first, we'll say, quote unquote, medical health benefit traditions.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: So it was followed for centuries and touted as the most healing aspects that were available at that time, I would imagine.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I believe that it was even originally only verbally passed down and only documented, you know, again, many moons ago, as we always like to say, but also very much a lineage, much like yoga.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: And the two definitely go hand in hand.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: But Ayurveda is a much more holistic approach I'll use the word treatment, and basically it was a way to maintain health, to promote health, so that you come from a place of prevention instead of a place of disease treatment.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: it took into account the seasons, it takes into account the elements and how the body is meant to respond and react to seasonal changes, how diet affects the body, sleep patterns affect the body and how best to utilize your body's relationship with nature and the world around you to benefit your health and wellbeing so that you are able to live a life that is in sync, in essence.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's at least my understanding of Ayurveda.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I will be very, very honest because I'm gonna go through this process with you a little bit.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: When I went through my yoga teacher training back in 2011, again, many moons ago, we learned about Ayurveda, But much when you're going through a yoga teacher training, the focus is yoga and Ayurveda is kind of the focus.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: fringe benefit of the yoga teacher training.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: And not all teacher trainings do dabble in Ayurveda, but we all need to be aware of it.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of teachers that I converse with will say, oh, yeah, I learned about Ayurveda.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: But it's it's a path that you have to choose to take.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
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  SPEAKER_01: A lot of yoga instructors might know a little bit about Ayurveda more than the average bear, if you will.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: But we are not necessarily Ayurveda practitioners in any way.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so we have to be very careful not to mislead.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: So to that end, I do have some background in Ayurveda, but I want to go through this process with you.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we're going to start to dabble together and I'm going to be my own guinea pig so that as we move through this Ayurvedic lifestyle process.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: test, quote unquote, or commitment, if you will, we can do it together and see what works for our bodies and what doesn't.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so I've already started to implement a few of the Ayurvedic principles into my day, into my ritual.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I hope that inspires you to do the same.
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  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk a little bit about kind of the very basic things that you might want to know about Ayurveda before we start to jump into the details as we move forward.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
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  SPEAKER_01: vata, pitta, and kapha.
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  SPEAKER_01: And they represent different elements.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: So in Ayurveda, there's actually five elements.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: We are more akin to four, but Ayurveda focuses on an extra element, which would be space and or ether.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a spatial element, there is the air element, obviously, the fire element, the water element, and the earth element.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: So these are all of the elements that come into play and that are all present in all of us.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of Ayurveda is about keeping these doshas in balance.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now to that end, most of us are going to be dominant in one, if not two doshas.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: So keeping that in mind, There are tons of quizzes.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: We all love a quiz, like a Cosmo quiz, but a little bit more well-being focused.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think I just dated the moons when I said Cosmo quiz.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: But this is what we want to maybe have Google.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: There are tons of really beneficial quizzes out there.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: And they basically will give you an insight based on your body composition, your preferences, your skin type, your hair type, your feature type, how tall you are, how short you are, how small framed you are, or like some of us, a little more robustly framed.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so think about, I encourage you, if you have any interest, to pop online and give a quick Google and find whichever quiz kind of calls to you and sparks your fancy and just play around with it and see which doshas might be the most dominant in your person.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, the doshas that I'm, Basically, I think I'm like right on an even keel with both of them are kapha and pitta.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: So they have a lot of different characteristics.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said, we will start to get into the dosha specifically and what all the characteristics are.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: But I just want to give a brief overview and an introduction.
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  SPEAKER_01: So pitta is the fire element, but it's also combined with the water element.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: And kappa is the water element combined with the earth element.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas vata, which some would argue is one of the more, I don't want to use the word original, but some of the things that I've read up on, vata is kind of the more focused.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: It is the initial.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: It is the air and the ether element.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it gets a little bit more of a...
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'll just say a little bit more all-encompassing.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like the first one that you'll read about when you start to look into the doshas.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times people will make the doshas seem akin to the natural progression of life.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: So there's an idea of being very kapha heavy when you're born.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then...
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  SPEAKER_01: during the middle of your life, more pitta heavy, and then towards the end of your life, more vata.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that's not by any means a blanket statement.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's just that traditionally some people have viewed the doshas in this way.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I, again, encourage you to look up yours and to see what you come up with and what you find.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then there are so many ways to start to balance your doshas.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: And those are where kind of the lifestyle of Ayurveda comes into play.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: So keeping all this in mind, um, diet is a huge part of Ayurveda.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, obviously asana yoga is a big part of Ayurveda and they're actually specific postures that can help to balance out your dosha.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: So let's say you're very, like for me, if you're Pitta heavy, if you are a fiery person and let's say like some of the characteristics of Pitta are freckly skin, uh, medium build and, um, a predisposition towards outgoing, energized, and passionate, that type of thing.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: So just to give you an idea, there are certain postures that are going to be helpful for that.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: And those postures will tend towards more cooling, relaxing, like the opposite of sun salutes, if you will.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're potentially a kapha, which I do have that balance in me to a certain extent from my own self-diagnosis, not an Ayurveda practitioner, I will reiterate, but from my own quick is in my own research.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think that I'm a little bit of a balance between the two.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: And again, we all have all three in us at some point and your doshas can change over time.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a very fluid kind of system.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why Ayurveda is so great is that it really accounts for the individual and it accounts for where that individual is in their existence because it can change over time.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: And you may not always be dominant in the dosha that you find out of the gate.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: So keeping that in mind, when you're a kapha dosha and you are potentially a little more subdued, and again, it's that water element and that earth element.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: So think of stability, groundedness.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: Those are just some of the components that they kind of determine as a kapha dosha.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: And with that in mind, you might want to practice those sun salutes.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: You might want to bring that energy up into the body and start to move and start to break through routines and things that are static or stagnant.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: So you can go very far into the weeds with Ayurveda, and I would love to delve into that with you.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to talk about just a couple of things that I have implemented in my day.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: as part of my Ayurvedic experiment with you guys as we move through this, because I do want this podcast to be an Ayurvedic focus and a yoga focus.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: And we will go into nutrition and we will go into diet and we will talk about how you can kind of implement Ayurveda with other diets that you might that you might choose to do because it is, it's a preventative and literally ancient form of wellness that will hopefully come from a place of stopping a quote unquote disease in its track before it has the chance to take hold and manifest.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: So do kind of come at it with a bit of a grain of salt, know that it is an ancient tradition and that it was actually originally a vegetarian tradition.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, the whole Ahimsa, if you're not familiar with that word, it means non-harming.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's a big tenet and one of many, there are more, but that's a big one.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: So as Ayurveda has evolved, as we have evolved, obviously, you know, meat will come into play and there is a zone of no judgment here, whether you're vegan, vegetarian, or paleo.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's just about trying to nourish your body and what it means and being mindful and considerate of others, including the animals that we share our existence with.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: So to that end, The lifestyle of Ayurveda has, to me, spoken a lot to self-care and your self-care routine, which sometimes, you know, I'm sure if everyone is as busy as I am, you run around and oftentimes you do not take care of yourself.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: You maybe put everybody else first, especially females have a tendency to do that.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I encourage you to do these little small things.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just going to start with what I've implemented to my morning routine.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: So there are different oils that will support different different doshas.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said, I encourage you to do a dosha quiz to find out which are a little more dominant for you.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: But for example, coconut oil is a very cooling oil.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that's one that is beneficial for pitta doshas.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: The opposite of very warming oil in Ayurveda is sesame oil, which is very beneficial for kapha doshas.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: So as these are two oils that are on the spectrum of both cooling and heating, I have decided to go a little bit into how this morning routine is going.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: So please try it if you'd like.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously there is no pressure at all, but one of the, cool things of Ayurveda and the lifestyle of practicing Ayurveda is the morning routine, is that self-care routine.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: They also suggest getting up before the sun.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: So for any of you who like to sleep in late and hit that snooze button, I'm definitely guilty.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Waking up with the sun is a timeframe which regards one of the doshas.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: And the clock is literally broken up into three sections for each dosha.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I will, again, get you into that a little bit more.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I just want to focus right now on the morning routine.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: So when you rise out of bed, one of the first things that Ayurveda suggests that you do is to scrape your tongue.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if this sounds strange to you, I would encourage you to consider whether or not you have brushed your tongue in the morning and how you feel when you wake up.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: It might be a little funky.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: So they encourage using a copper scraper.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: And the first thing you do when you roll out of bed is go to your sink and scrape your tongue.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Following that, the next thing you would do is something called oil pulling.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you have not had any experience with oil pulling, you literally take a teaspoon or tablespoon, whatever's comfortable for you, and you swish it around your mouth for up to 20 minutes.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: 20 minutes is the goal.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: Understandably, that can take a long time.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: So if it's new for you, then you may want to start out slow.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now, all of this being said, you can use different, obviously, edible oils.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Let's not go crazy into an essential oil pulling.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: No, we only want food-grade edible oils.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason I brought up sesame and coconut are these are two of the main oils that you can use for oil pulling.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it is said that coconut oil has some teeth whitening benefits and is also antibacterial, but sesame oil also has some benefits to that end as well.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: So depending on if you are game to try this, which I have started to do it, I'm waiting for the teeth whitening to happen for me, but I am starting to do it.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I have each morning I have scraped my tongue and then I have immediately put oil in my mouth and swished around for, I'm about at like just over 10 minutes at this point.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I do notice that I like the routine and there is a lovely flavor to coconut oil and it doesn't really seem to bother me.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I can do it, you know, as I move around, do my routine in the morning.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: The next thing that they implement, and this is a big one, um, for me.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I think for a lot of people, especially if you are on that copper side, dry brushing.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're not familiar with dry brushing, I again, encourage you to give it a Google to get the specifics, but in essence, you're taking a dry brush shocking.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: And you're starting from the feet and ankles and you're brushing up to stimulate the lymphatic system.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so as you come up through the legs, up through the backside, up the back, all the way up towards the neck.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: And this dry brushing really starts to invigorate you for your morning.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Right after dry brushing, you are then to take your oil of choice, sesame, coconut, again, food grade edible.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: We're not going to go crazy and rub caustic oils on ourselves.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: But I encourage maybe using the same oil that you have in your bathroom for your oil pulling to massage, self-massage oil.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this is all done right before you shower.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: So you go from your tongue scraping to your oil pulling to your dry brushing and then your self massage.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: And again, I know this sounds like, well, I'm not going to have time to do that.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's insane.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's going to take me a half an hour.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: I find that it takes...
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: it might add maybe 10 minutes, but you are moisturizing, you are stimulating your lymphatic system, and you're giving yourself that self-care that I think all of us in this day and age lack very, very much.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: So again, these are just options and suggestions, the things that I've started to implement, because I'm going to be the aggravated guinea pig and go through this with you, because I will tell you right now, yoga teacher or not, I am definitely guilty of being a normal human being with flaws and who makes poor choices and These are the things that we need to do to take care of ourselves.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: We need to make good choices and make better choices each day and just choose to be a little bit more mindful and a little bit more considerate of ourselves.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: So as I am someone who always seems to put other things before myself, I am using this opportunity to be very raw and real with you and tell you that these are things that I'm gonna do to inspire you to do the same for yourself and to take care of yourself in a way that might be a little bit different, maybe not something that you thought about doing, rubbing sesame oil all over yourself, But think about coconut oil might be a good place to start.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Think about starting to just try it.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Give it a couple weeks.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: See how you feel.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you don't do it every day.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get mad at yourself for that.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: Forgive yourself and do it when you can.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: But see if you like it.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: See if it does something for you.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: So going back to now we have dry brushed, we have oil pulled and we have put sesame and or coconut oil as two options on our skins.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: And now we are ready to step into our shower and we are ready to rinse this oil off, cleanse our bodies and begin our day from a place that is, that is cleansed, that is invigorated, that is moisturized, that is cared for.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: And go through our day.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: Now, once you're completed, you're going to want to brush your teeth.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: They suggested Ayurvedic toothpaste, but let's not get crazy.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: One baby step at a time and begin your day.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: And this is how we start.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought it would be a wonderful way to initiate the Ayurvedic aspect of above the ground by starting with one of the best things to do for your morning care.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: And this is, again, that prep work.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now, hopefully, you know, you've already meditated and done your yoga for the morning, but in whatever order at best suits you.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Always try to take care of yourself because if there is one thing that I believe to be true is that you cannot pour from an empty cup.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: And this is something that I struggle with and something that I am trying to learn.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it's part of my growth and I hope that it can be part of your growth as well.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: So again, this is when I say the tip of the iceberg, this is the snowflake on the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Ayurveda because that glacier rolls deep.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I encourage you to do as much digging around around into Ayurveda, fall into a Pinterest hole, fall into a Google hole, and see if it inspires something in you.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: It is an ancient practice, and it's still around today.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: There are still people practicing Ayurveda, so they could be doing something, right, as far as I'm concerned.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: And just let's see how we go with this little experiment of ours.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: So again, I want to thank you so much and tell you how much I appreciate each and every one of you for allowing me to share this experience with you.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so please feel free to share it with yours.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: For more goodness, follow me on the socials at Heirs Above Yoga or visit my site, heirsaboveyoga.com.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: And as always, definitely check out my other episodes and all my amazing sisters at divas.care.com.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: Find us on Blog Talk Radio, SoundCloud, Spotify, Odyssey, Apple, and anywhere else where you might have a listen.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: Again, this is Gia Raquel, owner of Heirs Above Yoga, and you're listening to Above the Ground Podcast, where every day is a good one.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: This show was brought to you by Divas That Care.
• 20:20
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