Today I’d like to introduce you to Lesley O’Brien. Like me Lesley is passionate about Ayurveda. She has just written a book which is about integrating Ayurveda into your daily life. Check out her guest post on the blog and her special offer at the end of the post. Take it away Lesley…
When we first discover Ayurveda it’s a thrilling experience of revelation. We get to know how our body works in a whole new light. Understanding what’s going on in our physiology according to Ayurveda’s knowledge of circadian rhythms brings relief because it makes sense. We realize we can impact our health, reverse engineer and return to some semblance of I feel better in myself.
Yet after a while, Ayurveda can become confusing – when you hit the limitations of the popular Dosha categorizing system. Dosha opens the door to Ayurveda but if you remain at that level trying to fit everything impacting on you into the categories of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha you’ll get stuck going in circles.
Often a Doshic body type questionnaire will reveal your Vikruti and what needs balancing rather than your constitution as such, called Prakruti. Constitution or body type shouldn’t be measured by things that change like moods or how many times you pass a stool a day. Your body type is stable and best measured by factors about your physicality that don’t change. The more you attune your body type to natural rhythms and how and when it was designed to function, to digest, to sleep to move, then the further you are from disease formation.
Ayurveda considers poor digestion as the primary cause of conditions like diabetes and calls the pre-diabetic metabolic phase Prameha. Weak digestion leads to toxic residue called Ama and it can accumulate in the pancreas impairing the production of insulin.
The aim of Ayurveda is to align body and mind in the environment. You’ll know this has happened for you when you have one of those ‘good days’! You’ll feel lighter, clearer and have more energy when you’ve supported the 20% impact you can have on the health of your constitution, and adjusted with your surroundings simultaneously. You do it through every substance you choose to take in through your five senses: through what you eat, drink, listen to and watch. It’s called epigenetics and you have enough control over the effects to either trigger dis-ease or recover from it to varying degrees depending on circumstances.
While in clinic practice I realised that there was something missing about how to help patients with the positive health potential of adopting Ayurveda’s lifestyle habits called Dinacharya. My patients wanted to be pain free and sustain a level of health they could self-manage at home every day. I wanted this for them too and I knew I needed more routine to lean into in my own life for sustained energy, yet we don’t DO things that are imposed on us consistently enough to get results. And we hit the shadow issues like the rebel or the control freak when we take on more than is reasonably doable given our circumstances. After studying behavioural science and researching efficiency for business, I developed the Bold Freedom method, aligning health science with the techniques needed to show up and take self-care every day.
There need to be elements of time management, relationship alignment and a conducive environment in any nutrition or movement method for real success in wellbeing. It’s the way to get deep, lasting results we can repeat and don’t have to rely on a weekly dose from a health pro to keep going. When all aspects of our being are supported through a complete method like Bold Freedom, integrity is graced. Our home and work space, our calendars our diet all become conducive to a healthier lifestyle.
One of the secrets to finding more free time in your day is to create space – physical space and head space!
Start with when you eat dinner. Eating dinner before the sun goes down fits in with how your body was designed to function best. You’re a primate and your bile is best at lunchtime for a main meal then. Having dinner before dark leads gracefully into earlier to bed and allows for waking without stiffness or a groggy head. When you eat dinner earlier, you naturally detox overnight while you sleep. You wake ready to eliminate the toxic residue (Ama) and start the day spacious and ready.
You may not need MORE food or sleep as much as you need to change when you eat and rest! The aim is to wisely use the time and energy you already have first. When you see your average week on paper, it’s glaringly obvious where you’ve misaligned with when you eat, and that maybe you’re overscheduled and stressed about things. This exercise can lead you to better decisions which create more abundance in so many areas of your life.
You have so much more control over finding more time and getting more energy than you might realise. It can take months to automate your daily routine and a year to get the household aligned! Remember you’re continually growing and refining. It gets better day after day after day.
In essence, the Bold Freedom method guides you to write out how you use your time now. It encourages you to state your big lofty vision for the year – something that connects you with your body type and so what you’re created for. Then doable action steps get scheduled.
Looking at how you currently use your time is fascinating and sometimes embarrassing! Bold Freedom will help you create a space that’s conducive to how you want to live.
For example, if you want to exercise there needs to be a solid decision about whether you’ll exercise in the living room or garden or gym and what time of day you’ll show up.
When we don’t plan the action the words and ideas go around in heads as stressful pressure and we don’t think we can trust ourselves because we haven’t done what we said we’d do!
It’s vital we shed all that brings a sense of stress if we want to be healthy. It’s only when we’re easeful can we shed the Ama that keeps us clogged and unwell.
We can’t truly heal one area of life without affecting other areas of our life, because they’re interrelated, just like all the aspects of our physiology. If you truly get healthy circulation then your skin glow will improve. Yet I’ve seen people get amazing developments at work but who are tired and can’t perform at the next level and be present for that growth. There’s a disconnect!
It’s vital to an easeful successful life that body and mind in the environment be strengthened and cleared simultaneously. Dinacharya is the best way to do that –it’s time well used in developing a foundational wellness to thrive from. When we wake early, hydrate, move, breathe, poop and scrape our tongues we rid the Ama from yesterday, we build our immunity and a whole new day of Bold Freedom begins.
“Who do you know who’s ‘too busy’? Give them the gift of healthy slower days. Order them a copy of BOLD Freedom when you order yours. FREE shipping.”
Lesley O’Brien – Ayurvedic Medicine Practitioner: Herbal medicine, Nutrition, Massage therapy.
Lover of stand up paddle-boarding, bike riding, re-bounding, Yoga & wholefood cooking. Past volunteer firefighter.
I’ve helped people from as young 2 years of age to 93 years with a broad range of health conditions, such as chronic fatigue, acne, arthritis, and Parkinson’s disease. I’m constantly impressed by the human body’s ability to heal, to find a place where it’s pain-free and able to thrive. www.ayurbotanicals.com.au
Coming home for Thanksgiving nearly 14 years later I’m nostalgic for my childhood. Days where I heaped cranberries on Turkey and ate four slices of pumpkin pie.
When I eat a meal I think about the magic of the seed, the person that planted the seed, the person that plowed the field and watered the plant, the one who harvested the fruit or vegetable, the driver who drove that vegetable to the grocery store, the person who stocked the shelf, the checkout person, the person who made the car so I could drive there in the first place. I think about my mother who taught me to cook and set the table. I even think about the people that made the table, the placemats, the pots and the cutlery.
