Recently I went through a 28 day Ayurveda immersion. It definitely enhanced my life and I’ll tell you why in a moment. Ayurveda is the sister science to Yoga. It takes a holistic approach to a person’s wellness and it dates back about 2000 years.

When I was in my early 30’s I was going through a very rough relationship. I started to experience joint pain to a point where I couldn’t walk. I went to every doctor and no one could diagnose it. I had every test and there was still uncertainty. No one asked me what I was going through emotionally- they were just looking at the ‘tests’.

I found a ‘local’ yoga class that was 30 minutes away. It was in a church on a Wednesday night. I took my nsaids and got through the Hatha yoga session. Hatha is a more gentle type of yoga and where all yoga styles originated from. During one of the classes my teacher, Yvette, talked about Ayurveda. It resonated with me. It mentioned body types ‘doshas’ and imbalances that occur and what can happen to our bodies. She recommended I see an Ayurvedic Doctor friend of hers so I traveled to mid Jersey for a session. I was taking a shot. What did I have to lose. Up to that point no one helped me. I met with the Dr. and we spoke about what I was feeling physically and what was going through emotionally. I also had severe digestive issues. He told me to take probiotics, aloe vera juice and a few other ‘supplements’. I started the ‘treatment’ and to my happiness I was cured of the joint pain and stomach issues. At the same time I got enough strength to leave the relationship and that’s when my true journey began. I realized then that holistic practices were not to be discarded but embraced. Once I felt good physically I was able to make positive changes in my life. I realized that the stress I was experiencing were creating my physical ailments.

So forward a few decades I decided to take the course as a refresher because I felt I fell off the Ayurvedic wagon. This course helped me to bring back several habits that have helped me bring balance back to my dosha – my constitution. A dosha is a ‘body type’ that you’re born. To go over all that in this post would be too much to go over. However, I will create future blog posts to share more.

Now, a week after the end of the immersion I’m happy to say that I’ve reignited my relationship with Ayurveda and am committed to learning more on how to balance my life both physically and mentally. I sleep better and feel more balanced overall. I’ve incorporated ways to eat and have also worked with the ayurvedic clock which lets me know the best times to approach certain things like creativity or more intense learning. I turn off my phone at least an hour before bedtime (which is now 10 pm) and start to wind down my night. I wake up earlier and don’t jones for coffee first thing but I drink warm water with lemon juice first. I also don’t jump into work but take time to ease into the day. month I was able to make small changes that led to big results.

It’s not a perfect plan yet but I’m determined to make more changes to make my life better. Ayurveda changed my life when I was in my 30’s. I can only imagine what it can do for me now that I’m in my 50’s.

I’ll be sharing more about my journey with Ayurveda in coming posts. Meanwhile you can listen to Ayurveda Life podcast with my teacher, Heather Johnson, if you’re interested in learning more about Ayurveda. Namaste.