Embracing Winter Wellness with Ayurvedic Practices with Carinne

This is our third episode that we have had with Corinne and I'm so grateful for her knowledge and all things Ayurveda . I really wanted to be able to do each season with her . So we have one for summer , we have one for fall and now here's our one for winter . We talk a lot in this one about what Ayurveda is , so a really great intro .

And we also talk about all of these things under this umbrella of yes , we bring up examples of winter , which is the season that we're in right now , but also kind of an umbrella encompassing women's cycles , nutrition , exercise , how you are mentally , all of those things with a really nice foundational backstory of Ayurveda .

So if this is your first time listening , welcome . It's season appropriate and we have others for you as well . So , yeah , I hope you enjoy . I'm so grateful that she's come on so many times to talk about all the different things that we might need , while looking at Eastern medicine as our guide . Hope you enjoy .

All right , so we're here to talk about Ayurveda Woo Yippee . So do you want to start out saying like , like telling how you got into it and why you liked it and what sparked all that ? I do , do you ?

So we spent the last part of my training was blending Ayurveda and yoga together or , as they like to call it , reuniting yoga and Ayurveda , because it was always together and we kind of separated over years .

So my first touch of Ayurveda , though , was back in our 200 hour training at Shine with Amy and just a little bit , you know kind of what it was a couple of self care practices which I started doing , and then , kind of like rabbit hole down .

I found a couple of books and read a couple of books , followed some people on Instagram Larissa Carlson , cato Donald are the two that I mainly follow now and so , after I did the 200 , I did Ayurveda kind of on my own for a while , and then it just kind of faded off to the side , as things do sometimes , yeah , and somehow I can't exactly remember what

brought me to it , but I was on Instagram . I think I was following Kripalu , and they posted where they were doing . It was right in the height of the you know the pandemic , so people were all at home trying to find things to do , and they offered it .

Kripalu offered an online Ayurveda seasonal online class , one for spring , one for summer , one for fall , one for winter . So I did the spring one . I was like , oh my gosh , this is so amazing . You can do such little changes and it can make such a huge difference in your life .

So I did those programs that they offered through there and then they had their foundations of Ayurveda training . That happened , and it was last September .

So I did that and fell in love with it and there we learned all the basics of Ayurveda from the very beginning , you know , breaking down what the actual word means , to getting into the different doshas and the self-care , sense-care practices .

And then after that I went up to Kripalu to finish my yoga and Ayurveda teacher training , where I kind of completed that section for now , and I've just been working on incorporating Ayurveda into my self-care practices , offering it shine , kind of dropping it into some yoga classes here and there as the seasons change , bringing in those Ayurvedic kind of sprinkles

throughout my classes .

Definitely yeah .

The two parts of the word mean like the study of or the understanding of life . So , put if you put Ayurveda together , it's like the study of life or the science of life or the wisdom of life .

Yeah , so there are different ways to kind of interpret what that means , but it takes like the mind , the body and the soul , like all parts of you , into consideration when you add any of those Ayurvedic practices into your life .

So Ayurveda is very it kind of has a very individual approach to everybody , because we're all made up of , you know , the five great elements , but just in different combinations . So in Ayurveda it teaches us to kind of learn and study the science and the wisdom of your life .

You know how much of each of these elements do you have in your body Ether , air , water , fire , earth . So we all have this like unique combination . And then maybe some of you out there have heard of Doshas .

A lot of people will say that when you , if they do know about Ayurveda , like , oh yeah , I'm a this Doshas or that Doshas , which is a really great way to kind of dive into how the practices in Ayurveda can help with you . So everyone has these combinations of the five great elements .

They come into different combinations to form Vata Doshas , pitta Doshas , kappa Doshas . So Vata is made of ether and air . So you might think of a Vata person If you want to .

It's a great way to kind of use these terms to help you build your understanding of Ayurveda and then , as you learn more , sometimes those terms aren't as necessary to continue like your conversation , you're learning and you're understanding , but they're a really great way .

Those things are really great to help you understand what Ayurveda is and then kind of dive into it from there . So Vata has a lot of ether and air . So you might think of them as a person who maybe has a little more energy or is like a taller figure , taller person , kind of a thinner frame . They have a lot more of that mobile quality in them .

And then your Pitta Doshas is fire and water . So someone might have a little bit more pep in their step , a little bit more personality , but they're a little more kind of fluid in their movements , perhaps not quite as rigid as a Vata person might be .

And then Kappa Doshas is earth and water , so you think of that strong person that you just want to give a hug . They're very stable , they have great memory , so you kind of take these big pictures .

And then Ayurveda has all these little tools to help you create the best kind of life for yourself by making these little changes based on the quality and the amount of elements in your body . So if you're a Vata Doshas , you might want to try these things to help keep your body in balance . And same for Pitta and Kappa .

So that's kind of how you start and then figure out which Doshas most like you . Like they have those quizzes . Have you ever taken one ? of those Like what's your Doshas quiz , and you have different questions , and so those are really fun to start .

If you've never heard of Ayurveda and want to start learning more about it , I always find that those are a great way to get started , to give you a place to kind of go , because Ayurveda , like many other systems of traditional medicine that have been around forever , are huge .

Like it has similar qualities to Chinese medicine , traditional Chinese medicine so you think of how deep and wide that is . It's the same , with Ayurveda just originating from the country of India as opposed to China . So , yeah , ayurveda came around over 5,000 years ago from India . It's still practiced in India . It's like the longest living system of medicine ever .

It goes from prenatal care all the way up to geriatric care . So from the moment you're conceived to the moment you leave this earth , there's a way that Ayurveda can enrich life .

But , anyway , those quizzes , I think , are a great way to start , because you can kind of narrow down then your search for what might work best for you and then kind of start your own journey . That way I find that they're really helpful to start with , but try not to let yourself be obsessed . Yeah like oh , I'm so Vata .

I'm a Vata , so I have to do this and I can't do that . Ayurveda is very , it depends . You know kind of like with everything we're not this cookie cutter person with 25% water and 50% fire and 25% earth . You know we all have this blend . So using that as a guideline , if that is something that you're interested in , is a great way to get started .

And then you can kind of deep dive and let yourself kind of search after you have a little bit of direction , so you kind of get learn what the terms are , because there's lots of terms in Ayurveda . It's like a whole another language , like with any other , like with yoga .

So starting with a little quiz just to see how it might apply to you is always a great way to start and work on yourself and then yeah , what's the biggest difference between Chinese medicine and this Is there , I'm sure there are much more differences than I can think of at the moment , but they have very overlying principles .

I think a lot of their terminology is different . I'm not super familiar with Chinese medicine , but there is basically an Ayurvedic equivalent , just maybe called something differently .

They might be treated differently , but it's the same kind of area that might be targeted where an Ayurvedic massage therapist might press on a Marma point on you , whereas if you go to acupuncture you might get a needle in that spot . Similar things , but different ways of talking about them and some different ways of probably treating them .

Obviously , you can treat things with Ayurveda , like , if it gets to that point , there are ways to treat it and , of course , medical intervention if needed . Like Ayurveda has surgery and all the things in it as well . It's not just superficial is not the right word but non-surgical things . It also has like medical and surgical aspects as well

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You have acid indigestion . So , yes , that is a quality of a person who may have a little more Pitta in their body , but you wouldn't want to just have heartburn all the time . So you would know , okay , if I eat super spicy food because I tend to just be a little more acidic , maybe I won't eat that this time .

Or , if I did , when I go home , I know that if I drink this herbal water or whatever , it'll help with my acid indigestion . So you're constantly kind of doing this little balancing act of learning the things that take you out of balance , that give you too much of a certain quality . Ayurveda talks a lot about qualities of things .

So we don't want to increase a quality such as , like you know , the fire element , the hot quality of fire . You wouldn't want to increase that too much by eating all this hot spicy food .

You know , in the middle of summertime You're just gonna add more of the same , the same , the same , the same , the same , and eventually cause some sort of disorder or disease or unwanted side effect . So you might be in the summer if you're a person who tends to get more hot you know you would do opposite things . Cooling activities .

You know , cooling food and beverage choices , cooling activities . So you're always doing exactly that bringing yourself back to center , even every time . You know , day after day after day , just come right back to the middle path .

So yeah , ayurveda is a lot about opposites bring to balance and like increases like , so instead of continually to increase those , we bring the opposite quality to balance Totally yeah , it's also funny , once you learn all this , to think that people don't think in qualities . Yeah , you know , like cause , like right Well no , I know like .

And it's like oh , but it's like yin and restful and cold and like like describing like a season . That way it just becomes like second nature , which I feel like is helpful when you're like doing like are you Vedic practices ?

Cause you could kind of like sit and reflect , like , okay , like I am this , this and this , but I need to balance with this , this and this and using like those words to kind of balance Exactly .

So each of those five elements has qualities that describe them , and then the combination of those two give you , you know , the Vata , pitta or Kappa , which then is a combination of the qualities of the two elements that came together to make that , so they're you know they're .

If you think of fire , you know it's hot , it's kind of sharp and you know penetrating , it's spreading . So a Pitta person would have those qualities in their body in all sorts of ways . You know , in the way that they just act in daily life . Maybe the way that things are on the inside , like certain foods , might cause them to get a little more sharpness .

They have a little more fire in the body . So yeah , everything in Ayurveda is a quality and bringing that quality to balance Same thing with like winter it's cold outside , it's really windy and mobile .

So you'd want to do things that are warming and stable and grounded , so you don't get to like blown off into this crazy you know winter tornado of , you know , distress and anxiety and emotions also have qualities , you know , and everything kind of goes . The emotions that are like there for summer are because of the qualities of the month of summer , you know .

It's , it's hot , it's humid , it's sticky , so you might notice yourself being a little more frustrated or angry or irritated quicker .

You know , it's like when you're menstruating , you want to go in inward and it's like winter and you want to rest and you want to have warm foods and you want to like have all these things . You know , and it's like you know , it's just crazy . Like it's like oh , it's such a light bulb moment . Oh , yeah .

Some people don't even know the phases of their cycle , which is totally . I mean , it's not like they teach us that in school .

into that period . So Ayurveda definitely supports that and encourages that . Like you know , your cycle's gonna start soon . So and if you start feeling those you know needs to slow down and maybe be a little extra warmer , you know , really tap into that and listen .

And so you can potentially , by learning you know your symptoms of when it's about to start and like , okay , it's time for me to slow down or do this activity or try this food instead , totally , you know it can help hopefully relieve any symptoms you might have before that of feeling sluggish or tired or bloated or irritated or having food cravings , right , which

can still happen anyway , because I mean we're all human yeah . But by learning you know your cycle , and if Ayurveda interests you , you can then kind of applying some of those things to it as well . So Totally Chilling out before .

You know it doesn't matter if you feel like crap or you know you're having a heavy day , like you just have to go on and do it anyway .

So it's really nice that kind of going back to that ancient wisdom like giving yourself permission , because way back in the day , you know , when people just intuitively knew that that was happening , they just like chilled on anyway .

Like in a lot of other countries where it's not like us , and go , go , go all the time , like the energy is just up and out and up and out and up and out .

They don't have a lot of like premenstrual symptoms because and they don't have even a lot of I don't know like the percentages or the you know you know where this came from , but from my reading and listening to other people like even perimenopausal symptoms like are less or much less in other countries where things aren't like up and out , Totally Up and out ,

and when you're menstruating like the , the energy the Vata dosha has , every dosha has sub-doshas , so we won't get all into that , but one of them of the Vata dosha .

So Vata is like the governs all of the movement in your body , like when you blink your eyes , when you walk your foot forward , when you chew your food , when you digest your food , when you eliminate your food . So the same thing with when you're menstruating you're eliminating that downward , downward energy .

So if you're just , you're doing lots of activities and you're maybe eating on the run and on the phone and doing all of your , you know , hot vinyasas and you're running and you're doing all the things .

So not only you know , using the restroom , but menstrual blood , yes , slowing down , letting the energy be like downward , inward , and then helping things to go outward , definitely is something that is recommended and I've found myself , I feel , a whole lot better , like you know you have those three or four days kind of in the middle where it doesn't really matter

what you do . You just a little need to take some time to chill . But by knowing when you know your cycle's starting , taking time to tell , giving yourself permission to not do everything for just a couple of days , it's like you're not going to lose your gains .

You're not going to lose your goals , you're not going to not be able to do down dog next time , because you didn't stretch your hamstrings for one day , but like , just give yourself a couple days to chill .

Go back and then when your energy increases and you're starting to , you feel it come better and you get more energy , then yes , then maybe you know , go do a little bit of energy is building and rising . So because you're back in spring , right , you're coming back into spring , right ? Yeah , You're renewing all this newness , so yeah , that's . Maybe you know .

Go to your extra hot yoga class or try that new CrossFit class .

right ? So I could see how people would get a little bit maybe confused on . Well , what do I do ? Because if it's winter , do I , you know , listen to the outside or do I listen to the inside ? And I would say I don't know if you agree with this , but it's like me before we kind of a thing so like do what's going on within you versus outward ?

So like , let's say that you are in your ovulation phase , so your nodulation , which identifies with like summer , but yet it's winter outside . So then how would you balance that ? I mean , I would say don't eat the super warming foods right at this time because you're not menstruating . But what would you say ?

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It's to like your exact scenario If you have that like specific right you can know all these things and I her beta kind of thinks of you know your doshha in in kind of two different ways .

So there's first like your property , which can is still Vata , pizzacava , but it's the exact amount of qualities that were there the moment of conception , like when your parents created you . Well , these were the qualities that were in their body , in the time of day , in their emotional state , in everything , and it creates you .

So that's your property , is kind of like the place that you're always trying to come back to and being so . That's like your overriding kind of principle . And then you have what they would call your vikrity , which is your current state of imbalance .

So , what , even though you might be predominantly a pitadoshha , because you identify with those internal qualities , maybe your body structure has some of our qualities as a pitabody structure would have . So you would always that would kind of be your guiding thing . But you know , after some practice and some study you might feel like that's pretty good .

But then the other things that come in , like seasonal changes , cycle changes , you know , travel , anything like that can cause stress whatever , anything good or bad . So that's when you come into where someone might feel more effects from what's happening around them . So that's where you could take and kind of work on those things .

So if you're , let's see what was the example you gave me .

It's winter outside but you're ovulating , so it's summer with you inside . So , what I would think , so you always want vata dosha .

So you always kind of want to make sure that when you do warming and uplifting activities because it's if it was winter time you always kind of want to make sure that you keep a little extra blankie around the vata dosha , like you don't want her to get too upset and you know , move too much .

So I would think you know you kind of have to go with a balancing act . Like what if it's winter and it's cold outside and your pitta , maybe that actually might feel a little better to you . But perhaps , let's see , maybe do like , so you're keeping yourself like , but maybe you'd want to do like warming activities that are a little more .

That would make you like get a little . That would be more intense . So maybe that would be the time where , because it is cooler outside , even though you're a vata like you , you can do uplifting activities but just keep a little like cap on them , like maybe you don't go 100% , go like 95% .

Yeah , that might be a good time to like , try a new , either like maybe a winter sport , because if you're a pitta person , well , you'd be a vata person . Anyway , try like maybe a more energizing kind of hotter activity , because it is winter and you're a little cooler and you have this like higher level of energy because you're obviously summer .

So kind of , as long as everything else is within balance , and then you could kind of do it as a test , like maybe try it for yourself . Okay , this is the way I'm feeling now . I'm in ovulation , but it is winter outside . I'm going to try this new activity and then see how it lands , like , did that make you feel okay , or was it maybe too much ?

And now you feel a little anxious because maybe you went just too hard . So it's kind of like a balancing act for yourself and seeing how it works for you and really then taking the time to notice how that feels so often , like with all of us . You know you do things and you just keep going yeah , you don't actually step back .

So if you were , really diving into those things and trying to create like the best flow for your body that makes you feel the best . Try it out and then see how it landed and maybe it was too much or maybe it wasn't enough and you saw like tons of energy and you're like I could have done that again .

Right , you know , maybe next time you do a little more , remember , and you do it again .

So just kind of trying things out , seeing how it works , noticing if there's any change in qualities afterwards is always kind of how I kind of go with things , because I'm still learning , I mean we're all probably learning forever , forever , the whole life , and I don't yeah . I'm just a student of life , kind of testing it out , just being mindful .

I always , you know , just be mindful and present with your like decisions and take time to then be mindful and present afterwards and just see what , how it landed . Yeah , you know . I mean , you don't really know until you try and Exactly .

Yeah , yeah , I always feel like the ovulation time is a time where , like my curiosity peaks sometimes , so like I might want to try a new activity Totally .

You know , in the summer , during , you might have those light , fresh foods that are grown locally , like I mean , you know that look like fruit and things like that that you have .

But if you're winter and you want fresh food , well , you might just have like kale and like sweet potatoes , because that's like all there is , that's all right where you're still doing that light food for your , your ovulation , but it's in season , yes , and you're living in you could lay .

But yeah , trying to bring more of those like seasonal things in there and cooking them in a way you know , maybe changing up like your spices or right the method that you used .

Yeah , ayurveda of course does a lot with food because food can be medicine and even like herbs and spices can be medicine and to you know , certain spices are more warming so you might want to favor them , you know more in the winter time , like , add a little extra , you know , cumin or black pepper or ginger or turmeric to your winter foods , right , and then

maybe in the summertime if you have a similar meal , well , maybe don't use , you know , as much of those things . Use a little less .

Or maybe try a different , more of a cooling spice like cilantro or like coriander or something in the summertime on a similar dish right so changing up your spices and oils that you use can change kind of a meal to make it fit season and maybe fit how you're feeling , you know , if you're a little more , if you tend to have more of the dosha in you which

is governed by , you know , ether and air . There's no substance or moisture . So maybe the Vata person in winter would have the same dish as a pitaya person but they might put , you know , more ghee which is clarified butter with a little extra warming spice on their food , whereas the pitaya person may not want that on their food .

Yeah , and the cup of person may not want the ghee , but they might need a little more warming stuff like that extra black pepper or ginger , because the cup of person is very structured and sturdy , because they're made of earthen water but sometimes they get a little stuck so they need an extra like little yeah so a little extra of that warming spice where you

could serve the same meal and just kind of have like at different times you know for the Vata person , or this for the pitaya , or this for the kappa , and then even checking in , like where you are on your cycle , maybe adjusting your , your seasonings and stuff to a similar meal .

So yeah , kind of give yourself like a nice basis to start with and then change , you know , your toppings or things to to suit your , your mood or your place in your cycle or the time of the season of the year .

Does a pitaya person need to be more cautious in their season and a Vata person needs to be more cautious , because they're gonna have a balance , because like and like , is that yes you are 100% spot on .

Pitta in the middle years because you're fiery , you're building your career , you're building your family , you're creating a home . And then your Vata years when you're , you know , coming towards the end of life , when you need to slow down and things get a little cooler . You know the older people move to Florida because they're cold .

You know they have less fire in their bodies . They want to be warmer . So right now we're in winter , which would winter shares the same qualities as the Vata Dosa . You know , it's cold , it's dry , it's mobile , because it like mobile , as in movement , like there's lots of often a lot more windy in the winter time .

So Vata goes kind of from the late fall when you start to notice that there's like no more humidity in the air anymore . You're like lots of seasons coming . It's dry , you might notice , static , obviously .

It's getting colder , a little grayer , so Vata is attached to like late fall all the way until spring , and then in spring would be the Kappa Dosa and you might notice , you know , things are kind of blooming and rebutting but there's also kind of , as it starts , a lot more like moisture in the air and sometimes people will get seasonal allergies .

Yeah , you know the junction of the seasons when there's a huge change , and so of course there's practices to support that . But that's , spring is ruled by Kappa Dosa and then summertime is ruled by the Pitta Dosa , fire and water .

And so , yes , if you are a Pitta person and it's in the middle of summer , you probably want , would want , to change your activity so you're not compounding the hot season with your just general hotter nature with hot yoga and jalapenos , and you know , too many things on your schedule .

Even having too much too many things to do can be too much for so they want to they want to do it . Yeah , they want to do all things , like Pitta wants to have their list and check it off and make sure everything's perfect . But that's also like too much sharpness and it can increase .

So like , increases , like , and then you will find that it could lead to some sort of imbalance . That's a Pitta imbalance , like anxiety , anger , frustration , acid , indigestion , diarrhea , all of those like hot , fiery things will start to accumulate in your body , especially when you're in the season that identifies .

That is the same as like the Dosa that you are most similar to , and same in all the other seasons . Like I tend to be , I'm kind of Pitta Vata ish . It just depends kind of on the season which one comes out more . I tend to be more on the Vata side . So in wintertime , you know , I have the tendency to just be cold and like not want to move .

I already don't have , you know , any heat , a lot of heat in my body and it's cold outside and it's windy and I already might feel like I'm a little windy because I'm full of wind and ether . So in the wintertime , if you're a Vata person , you know you would also want to change your activities .

You know , maybe this is when you do try that hot yoga class that you've never tried before and maybe do all the vinyasas or more of them than you would before , because you want to help warm your body up a little more , but not too much , because Vata is a lot of air and too much can cause that uplifting to come too fast and it accumulates that like

quality . So there's always that balancing act like right , seeing what goes and you know , noticing when you've gone too far and there's an accumulation of whatever that dosha is . And then , okay , I did too many things in this cold and now I'm like scattered and can't figure out how to ground myself again .

Right , you know so , yeah , yes , definitely , the accumulation of qualities will happen faster when you're in the season . That is similar .

So it's the energy . Has a tendency to go up up up super fast , really fast , like get anxiety super fast from okay because there's no reality , there's no ground , there's no substance bringing you back ? Yeah , they don't have much of that earth quality to help them become down and grounded .

Now your cup of person right , you know we're giving kind of very broad generally .

It's like a Vata and a kappa , like they need like to come together and hang out all the time you can have your pit to like , leading them down the right track . They all work together really well and kind of bring each other into balance .

So then you might get dry hair , dry skin , dry nails , even like having a hard time going to the bathroom , because if there's no moisture in there , because everything's all dried out from the wind , just going up and up and up , well , you can't bring it down to go to the restroom .

Yeah , so you'll know what that feels like in your body , which I think is a thing we're all probably working on and as society we all probably need to work on a little more of like checking in and noticing how things feel . Yeah , so that's like the first step . You got to be able to be open and you know , notice and pay attention Totally .

I would have just not done that and chill out at home and like wrap myself in a heated blanket and , like you know , watched a good , feel good movie with some warm soup or something .

learning what works for you and paying attention to what works for you . Yeah , so yeah . Once I feel like a person has made that shift , it's like so many more opportunities , so many more experiences or whatever the right word is like are open for you if you just take the time to like listen like it's there . Yeah , you just have to listen .

Yeah , check it out . Check in and then , you know , start applying those practices , whether whatever you start with , like there's so many things to start with , but just like , try .

Yeah , you know , take that DOSHA quiz and see what it says and just use that to then start your journey of like on what it means , right , and take things kind of with a grain of salt , like just because you identified mostly with the Quality is that they said for a cup of person , well , that doesn't mean that that's all that you are lazy .

Yeah , a lot of people Right so many people think that , which I think is so sad like people are amazing . Yes , sure , they could be slow and sluggish and a super couch potato like that would be , you know the over exaggerated version but they're also like , they have super strong bodies .

Like they're very nurturing their supportive apart a root word of kappa because it comes from Sanskrit a part of that I'm not going to say which one is I probably will get it wrong .

One of the root words of kappa means like to embrace or to hug , so it's kind of like that's what that is , like your body just like giving itself a hug , being supportive , and like but those people , yes , might need a little more , you know .

So , yeah , you can kind of like I like to take some of those things and then kind of attach them to a person as I'm learning Totally , so I can see you know this person is like a kappa person does .

Yeah , you know , just just see who who in your life kind of identifies as those things I think that's always totally and then noticing how , like something lands in them versus how it lands in you . Yeah , it's kind of neat just to to learn and experiment , and I know , I also

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stick straight with like a lot of muscle and like all these things . Yeah , but that's you and you're allowed to be that Exactly and you don't need to change that .

Like it doesn't matter , like that's your body and like learning to love your body and work with the qualities of your body to bring you to heart , bring you to balance , like day after day , until you , just like you know , feel like you're on this most perfect path for you , regardless of you know your dacha , or your size or your weight , or your oil , like

if you're oily .

Yeah , like there's enough crap to deal with . Yeah .

You may not think it , but they are constantly taking in information , processing it , digesting it , keeping it all day long . I mean , we're talking , you know that's a use of our Vata energy because we're , you know , using our vocal cords , we're creating sound . You know we're hearing things . So your senses are , like , always on alert .

So Ayurveda has tons of self care practices . You know , if you did them all , you'd be in your bathroom , you know , for three hours every morning . So you know the ancient yogis or the ancient Ayurveda practitioners when they came up with all of these things .

If they weren't a householder they could do a lot more , but , like as a householder , I can't spend three hours in the morning doing self care . Yeah , Though there though you could I mean anything you could think of .

Ayurveda has a self care remedy to take care of that sense organ , but some of them that I find are super helpful and they can , of course , change seasonally , since we are in winter , something that I have found beneficial for myself and it can be very beneficial for others , cause I've heard a couple of people ask me a similar question that ends up I end up

giving them the same answer . So it's winter , it's cold , obviously , but it's mobile and windy and your ears are just hanging out there getting blown on all day long and it can be very disrupting because it's wind hitting a sense organ that's kind of full of space . So you've got this kind of Vata organ .

It's being hit with like a Vata quality just if you're outside or wherever . So in the winter time I always find it beneficial to make sure that you cover your ears when you go outside . Cover anything , you know , wear a hat , wear a whatever , keep

your hair down . But I've had several people ask me like I feel like I get so anxious in the winter time . You know I'm running around doing all these things . It's cold , it's windy . I feel like , you know , I'm just a little unsettled , I'm like . Have you thought about covering your ?

it can really be beneficial . Obviously , in the summertime maybe you don't need to cover your ears because , it's already hot , so you wouldn't , you know , need to do that . So in the morning I think some great things are to try and work towards a consistent wake-up time in the morning . Ayurveda recommends getting up by about six or six thirty in the morning .

You know , depending on your time zone , depending on the time of year , because often you know it's very , it's really quiet and not a lot has started yet . So it's a good time for you to take that , you know , 10 , 15 minutes for yourself to kind of get the right foot forward when you start your day , to kind of set yourself up for the rest of the day .

So if you can work , it doesn't have to be six o'clock in the morning . If that doesn't work for your schedule or your life , maybe just try not to sleep till like noon every day If you work a regular schedule . If you work at night , obviously a whole different story . But you know a person who has a semi normal , you know daytime work hour .

Try to create a consistent time for your body to wake up .

If the body was asleep at that time , it would be able to digest and transform and all of that while you're sleeping .

So all of that , those impressions you took in through your eyes , all of the food you ate through the day , all of the things you heard , all of the smells you smelled , you know , the pitadoshas comes back on and dominates that time because it's helping you to digest and incorporate all of that stuff .

So if you're awake you might feel your second wind , like if you've ever been asleep half-way to go to sleep and it's 9.30 and then you get up at 10.15 , you're like I could go , you know whatever , because that pitadoshas , like that fire , is kind of cracked back up and you're awake .

So it's like come on , let's do it , let's go do stuff , so yeah , if you're asleep and in bed by 10 o'clock , your body has the best like ability to integrate , transform , digest all of your day and then it goes in from 2 am until 6 am . It goes into the Vata time of day where the energy starts to increase .

Sometimes , if you notice maybe , I always have to go to the restroom like 4 o'clock in the morning and then I have a hard time going to sleep because , like the Vata dosha , the energy is starting to move , like the wind is starting to activate in your body and like the thoughts are starting to happen in your head .

So sometimes when you do wake up around 6 am , it may feel natural for you because the body is kind of starting to wake up anyway , so yeah , creating yourself consistent . Wake up and go to bed times scraping your tongue . It's a game changer . It is a game changer . Like you know , your tongue can get some funk on there .

You know I'm trying to like scrape , like the actual tea spuds off your tongue . You can use a tongue scraper , which is that kind of like horseshoe thing . It's a thin piece of metal , either copper or stainless steel . There are some plastic ones , but I don't really care for them .

I use a stainless steel one you can just pop in the dishwasher , but I like to do it before I brush my teeth in the morning . You can do it before or after , but you know .

So your body's asleep , it's detoxifying , it's digesting , it's transforming , and then when you wake up and that's the best time to do your stents , care , like if you have , you know , white stuff on your tongue or whatever colored stuff on your tongue .

Ayurveda thinks of that as like things that the body doesn't want , like it put them on your tongue for you to scrape them off and get rid of them . So when you wake up in the morning , you know you might have like eye boogers , tongue grows like . You know .

All these things are happening because , like overnight , your body's been getting rid of stuff that's no longer needed , transforming and digesting what you do need and then getting rid of what you don't need . So you wake up , scrape your tongue , spit that out , like don't , you don't want that stuff back in there .

Your body's like , nope , we don't need it , it's time to scrape it out . So that's why I left it there for you . So a tongue scraper , just you know , a couple of times from the back to the front of your tongue and spit it out , rinse it out . It's like a game changer .

And after doing it for a while you'll you'll notice that there's there could be less on your tongue .

And then when you do , maybe indulge and have like , go out to eat and have a rich meal , maybe with some dessert , or you had some drinks or whatever , because we're all human and you know we do those things , you might notice , since you've been scraping your tongue for a while , that what you scrape off your tongue that morning was a little funkier , maybe ,

than when you had , like you know , your your perfect diet for the day . And you drank all your water and you ate all your green , green leafy vegetables and all that . So you'll notice , by having that as part of your practice , when you do eat something different , the stuff that you scrape off your tongue will be different .

So I always think that's a great practice . And after you do whatever other oral care you do in your morning brush your teeth , floss whatever drinking , either like hot water or hot water with lemon .

Some people don't like the citrus in their water that early in the morning , but just a like hot water is so great in the morning because you haven't drank anything for however long you've been sleeping , you know you're give your body a chance to rehydrate and because it's warm , it's more similar to you know the temperature inside your body .

So , instead of dumping down a big you know glass of ice cold water and kind of putting out that fire that's in your belly . You drink something that's more of the same temperature and it kind of helps to hydrate your body properly without putting out that fire . Like Ayurveda calls the fire in your digestive tract and the fire in other places your uge .

So you don't want to like put out your uge with this big glass of cold water any time of the day .

So , yes , having a warm beverage in the morning warm water , hot water or hot water with lemon or lime . I put lime in mine cause I find that lemon juice is a little too acidic for my body , so I like lime juice . Oh , so kind of a seasonal , but can be used self practice , self care practice all the time .

So , like in the winter time , we talked about that extra practice of making sure that you take care of your ears In the summer time , especially because it's just hotter and things are , you know , warmer and whatever .

Taking care of your eyes is recommended all the time , but maybe , if you don't do something all the time to give your eyes a little more care in the summer , because your eyes they have their own agony , their own digestive fire , because they're digesting images , you know all of the things that you see , your body's taking in through your eyes and digesting .

So your eyes are a very like hot working organ . So either spritzing them with like a little bit of cool water or a rose hydrosol . It's made with like rose water , not rose essential oil . They say that's not safe to spray directly in your eyes .

Just spray essential oils directly in your eye , but like a rose hydrosol , because it roses are cooling and your eyes are a hot digesting kind of organ .

So a little spritz , even with your eyes open , can be really nice anytime of the year or anytime of day even , but I find it especially helpful in the winter time or if you're staring at like a computer screen all day long .

Having a little spritz of cool water or a rose hydrosol is so nice and it smells really good too , if you like roses , of course , cause it's gonna smell like roses and yeah .

So I think that's great all the time , but especially , I find , when it is hot outside or if I've been staring at the computer , all those spritz of rose hydrosol or rose water , whichever you wanna call it , I think it's really nice . And then some kind of movement .

It doesn't have to be have to do yoga every day or Pilates every day or have to go for a run every day , but some sort of movement activity , because helps to move your body in any way . Get things that are stuck out of there , give yourself something fun to do . But maybe change that based on how it is outside or where you are in your cycle .

So yeah , some kind of movement , like a walk . Today might be a nice day to do something inside where it's warm .

So for me , my movement practice , when I do strength training , like I do my sense care , wake up , scrape my tongue , brush my teeth , do some other things , drink my hot water , take a moment to pause and be still , and then I gotta go work out and then I can continue on with the rest of my day .

So , finding the time that it works best for you and it can change , like maybe this month it works better for you to take your walks in the afternoon , but next month maybe you have time to take them in the morning . So whenever you can find the time to do it , it doesn't have to be a lot , yeah one is good .

One more I just thought of , which can be used anytime . Iroveda also talks a lot about self massage which they call abhyanga , which I am learning to love . I'm not a huge fan of the sensation of like the oil on my body .

But some people love it most of like , tons of people love it , and you can do it in so many different ways . Like it could be a quicker oil massage if you're a person who likes to , you know , put on something after you get a shower or if that's part of , maybe , your morning care , you know To give yourself a little bit of a massage .

So you could do maybe a quicker one , do you do dry brushing before . Normally you would do dry brushing before . And dry brushing can be a seasonal thing too , like maybe it's something you do more in like the spring and summer Versus like the fall and winter , when the body's all the skin may already be dry , like dry .

So I know the dry brushing , yes does , can get rid of the dry skin , but it's like if you're already super dry anyway , like yeah , it can be too much for your skin , so you just have to be mindful . But yes , if you are gonna do dry brushing , you would do that first . Then your Abhyanga and it can be done . You can take a really long time .

Of course .

The longer you take , the more Benefit you'll get , because the oil is just soaking deeper and deeper and deeper into your skin and you're getting the benefits Kind of warming the skin , you're moving the blood and limp around and you're getting into places that like your ankles or the back of your knee or like your shoulder , like places you may not get to very

often . If you have time to take like a really long nice , like Self-massage , and you can even change the direction you're going . Like if you need a little more uplifting , maybe you start at your feet and go to your head . If you're feeling anxious and ungrounded , start from the top of your head and then move down .

She's like , if that's the only ingredients , I give you permission to use it as your abhyanga . Yeah , you know just so . You're not , because your skin is an organ , is absorbing whatever you put on it . So you know , just choosing a product that isn't full of things that are unnecessary and you know , high fragrance . Yeah not a lot of fragrance are added in .

Even if it is five minutes , like think about you know , when you're rubbing your feet , like thank your feet for carrying you around , for letting you walk all day , for providing you this strong structure , so , like the intention behind your any self-care , of course , yeah , really heightened , I think , the benefit .

The one thing that I did want to mention , though , is I do feel like , if you are beginning I , your VEDA and you want to start eating closer , feel like it's kind of hard in our Western culture to Go through and figure out what to do , because you're trying to make all these like almost like Indian dishes , mm-hmm , like to try to like can't even go to

Martin's and get like half of the things . So what would you say to somebody that wanted to start like eating closer to find balance ? But then we're like googling like I , your VEDA recipes for this , blah , blah , blah , and then they're like I don't know , like what , I don't even know what that is like this is intimidating .

You know , they grew up eating potatoes , you know .

. The right word is to try and eat seasonal produce as much as you can . Yeah , and that can you know be different , because if you go to a regular grocery store you can get you know everything , yeah . Time of the year all year long .

But if you had a farmers market even if you didn't want to , you know , maybe that wasn't within your budget , but maybe if you went to a farm market and saw what they had and then when you do go to the grocery store , that does fit within your Budget . Okay , I saw that it's a winter time so they have lots of green vegetables or green leafy greens .

You know root vegetables . Well , when I go to my grocery store , I'm gonna try and get you know sweet potatoes and potatoes and kale and maybe try and incorporate you know one or two of those seasonal things into your food and then just try to layer on from there .

Like , try to change like one Thing instead of like I'm not gonna eat any of the stuff I have in my entire house is all crap .

Yeah , but taking those small changes and making it work for your lifestyle and for your budget , because , unfortunately , fresh produce is much more expensive than you know , traditional packaged food , but to try and the things that work for you and your budget in smaller ways , or maybe , if you know that still isn't within your budget , could you change up you know

your spices that you're using .

Like , do you always use salt and pepper in every meal that you always make , which can be a great way to start , but maybe I'm making , you know , mexican dish or whatever , so I'm gonna amp up , you know , the cumin and put a little , maybe , turmeric in there , because they're a little bit warming , if it's , you know , winter time , yeah , and then in the

spring time Maybe you do add a little more black pepper and try , you know some like ginger , because it's a little like spicy and heating , and try to bring up , you know , the energy a little bit as you're coming out of this cold time . So making those small tiny changes with your food , I think can be , beneficial .

And then it helps to kind of get you get the ball rolling and then you know when the next season comes around or You're out of . You know , winter sometimes a hard time to start , like changing up your food . Yeah , nobody wants to do anything in winter time ?

Don't do that as much . In the same time you know , like your heavy Dense foods , you want to eat when the weather and it's the heavy dense time You're not like in the summertime it's lighter , it's hotter if you don't want your body like full of lasagna trying to digest it when it's 100 degrees outside .

Along with cooking , I found a lady that was one of my teachers and I follow on Instagram and it's been . She's a Ayurveda Practitioner for life . Kate O'Donnell has I think you probably have it her every day . Ayurveda cookbook is so amazing and she .

It's a really great book because it gives you like an intro to Ayurveda at the first part of it , so you learn a lot of the stuff that we've talked about , but she'll , you know , goes into more depth and then she gives kind of like everyday recipes that you could change seasonally and then she has sections for each season of Food that would be most likely

available in nature and then how could you cook it in ways that are appropriate with the season ? Like you know the spirit summertime , obviously , the foods are , you know , lighter .

There's more you know lighter soups made from , you know , zucchini or corn , as opposed to in the winter Time the soups might be made , you know vegetable broth and lentils and you know potatoes or something like that .

So that cookbooks great , and even if you didn't cook the exact recipe , she kind of gives you a nice framework , yeah definitely these are the foods that I could favor in the season to start to bring a little more Ayurveda into my life , start to be in a little more harmony with nature in my food choices .

So her cookbook is Amazing , yeah , I think , and she gives so many great tips in there on each recipe in a couple ways you could change it up and she takes very complicated . You know Indian dishes because she's been to India many times and been in the houses where the moms and the grandmothers and the answer All cooking the food and everything .

So she's taken that you know deep , ancient Ayurvedic wisdom and tried to bring it a little more .

Maybe aren't your theorists coming through the book and you're like I'm never gonna cook any this stuff . Well , maybe you just notice the foods that she's suggesting for those totally layers and try to incorporate them into your food or , you know , make your own recipe out of those things . So yeah , the seasonal bounty or seasonal produce .

Yeah , it's the best is the best way .

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So we just did a yen yoga workshop , hopefully bringing some more yen and Ayurveda workshops to shine in upcoming . So you can find me over at shine shine yoga baby .