AYURVEDA & ME - EDITION 3
5/13/202510 min read
In recent months I have taken some of my own advice. Rather than overthinking and attempting to figure out what I am doing on this path of mine I have consciously let go of expectations. These expectations, either my own or those I think that others have of me, take up time, space and energy. My decision to make switch from full time corporate career was a considered one, a big change. It was about gaining time, space and energy so I am now able to be mindful of self-talk and the choices I make. I am far from perfect at this but I am making progress. I still have periods of procrastination (particularly with social media content, this is all very new to me so tend to overthink here) and I still question whether I am doing the right thing or doing enough.
As you will know by now our puppy arrived in January this year, little Herbie took over the house and my routine. Everything was on hold while he was getting settled in. It was a perfect lesson in letting go, plans I made were not going to happen! The positive in all this was that simple act of letting go allowed me the space to really think about what I wanted to do next. As an added bonus he taught me more about being present than any textbook or teacher!
The universe presented a few signs – these signals are always there for us but we need to be present enough and open enough to see them! Reflecting on what I wanted out of life and how I would achieve that led me to writing this blog series. I knew that I wanted to give something back and I knew that I needed to share what I passionately believed in. Since completing my training I have had lots of ideas about how to do that and this in some ways resulted in my thoughts and ideas being rather scattered. Luckily, I recognised this and took steps to bring myself back to my centre, to focus on what I could do right now, what I had control over and how to put that into action. After talking this through with people I trusted and having a couple of coaching sessions it was my daughter who provided the biggest lightbulb moment!
I want freedom to live life fully, to make a difference to others and to share what I have learned and experienced. I also want to remain healthy and to grow old with grace (and maybe a little craziness!)
FREEDOM
One of my lifelong motto’s has always been ‘this is not a rehearsal’. For we only get one go at this. My decision to change my life as I approached 50 was a considered one. I had enjoyed my corporate career for the most part, I met some great friends and the financial rewards were good but that career required an exchange - a hefty chunk of my time and energy. My job required a commitment that was non-negotiable and I disliked the lack of flexibility. The energy exchange required to be good at my job felt disproportionate (my dislike for big corporations didn’t help either).
I knew that I needed to DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT, a saying you will hear from me often. You cannot expect life, symptoms, experiences, or anything to change without well…changing! A key Ayurvedic principle is cause and effect, every action or choice has a consequence. Only I could make that change happen.
I wanted a life that I didn’t need to ‘holiday’ from. We self reward for working hard and the high we feel is short lived, I was going to break that cycle. I wanted to do something useful and rewarding, I wanted to wake up each morning with a sense of FREEDOM. What would freedom look and feel like for you?
Freedom for me is about choice, choosing how I spend my time and energy is important. Perhaps getting a little older reinforced this, reflecting on how lucky I have been and that each day I spend here is a privilege and not a right. So, my time is a limited resource and should therefore be used wisely and in line with my values, right?
Align with nature
Trust your intuition
Grow our own food
Take responsibility for our own health
Understand our own body, mind and soul
Avoid toxic chemicals
Look inwards
Not over consume
For some this may sound anti-establishment, my experience says the establishment is anti-human! Participating in society can, for different reasons, be challenging for all of us at times. What I have learnt is to trust my own instinct, to trust my intuition and to base my views on lived experience rather than what I have read or heard. Allowing my intuition to influence my choices, that to me feels like freedom. I was once angry about the amount of control exercised on the masses but I now live with acceptance. Acceptance is a huge element of any healing journey and while I wasn’t physically or emotionally broken, I was worn out. I knew my life was not in alignment and that misalignment was draining my life energy. My views, opinions and choices have been difficult for some to understand but at this stage of life my need to live life fully and in a way that aligned with my values has become more important than people pleasing.
So what to do….
There was to be a lifestyle change. It was a shift in perspective and a chance to DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT. My goal to live a more conscious life needed to become a reality. I had to make that happen. It is easy to just carry on but I made the decision to not just leave the big city behind but to really live my life!
Embracing an Ayurvedic lifestyle was an important element in that shift. Ayurveda had drifted in and out of my life for some time and then I stumbled upon Myra Lewin, founder of Hale Pule. I can’t even explain how the following weeks unfolded but after joining Myra’s free ‘Flow with the Feminine’ (a free offering she makes regularly), I arranged a discovery call to discuss signing up for her Ayurvedic Health Advisor training. Something simply clicked.
Ayurveda, aside from addressing symptoms and illness holistically, brings us back to nature, to align with its rhythms and to bring balance to our lives. For me personally it raised questions about my past, present and future life. It has a wonderful ability to show you the way forward. Myra is a fantastic teacher, I will share my training experience with you in another blog….and since graduating I have also become an ambassador for Hale Pule.
I know of people who have embraced a similar shift without Ayurvedic training. It’s not just about Ayurvedic living, it is about the shift itself, to live in alignment with your values. Living naturally isn’t just about limiting my exposure to toxins it is also about living day to day in a way nature intended. Switching off from consumerism, like many others I had used material gains as a way to self-reward. This type of self-soothing happens mostly when our inner and outer worlds are not working harmony. From an Ayurvedic perspective, this disconnection leads to illness and disease.
I will work on the assumption that you have some interest in holistic living to be reading this blog so I invite you to look at your values, reflect on them, dig a little deeper. What does freedom mean to you? What does holistic living mean to you? What brings you true happiness and joy? There is no right or wrong answer, we are all different and that is ok. But it is immensely helpful to consider these questions.
I am now DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT and it feels good. It feels better than good, its amazing. I feel very blessed and I am grateful to have choices. I accept that perfection does not exist, I therefore manage my expectations better. I make better decisions about my wellbeing and my family get to experience those benefits too. There is, of course, plenty of eye-rolling and teasing but I am always happy when my daughters ask for advice or when anyone is happy to try my Ayurvedic cooking (everyone thinks that kale is my favourite thing!!). Like anyone my life has ups and downs, I am living through a human experience, that much is inevitable but I know that I am blessed and I am, as my own daughter pointed out, ‘living the dream’! I am lucky to have a small income that allows me the luxury of space and time, I am not rushing Inner Nourishment and I don't want it to feel forced.
I can only encourage you to create some space for yourself, explore what life means to you and what your values are. Are you living in alignment with those values? We all have commitments and financial commitments particularly will inevitably take a slice of our time and energy but you can find the time you need. Remember how much power you have and unless you live off grid we all remain in part of the system to some degree but you also have an awful lot of choice too. Reconnecting with yourself and with nature can bring about remarkable changes in your physical and mental wellbeing. It is easy to get caught up in our chaotic world but you have the power to press pause, to press reset or to the change the game completely. Ayurveda meets you where you are today, that is part of its beauty. All you have to do is choose.
We can make better choices about where we put our energy and that includes not only our eating habits and wellness choices but also our spending habits. Consumerism is failing us all, it is time to become more conscious of our spending, it is our purchasing power and we should use it wisely. A simple choice we make is to buy organic veggies from a local organic farm – Sarah Greens Organics and that feels like a real win for everyone! Be more mindful when spending your hard earned cash.
To round off today I want to share one last thing, it is related to one of my Spring topics - Indryas – these are our 5 senses. Life often gets too busy which means we are not being present, not being present means we miss what our senses are experiencing. I will be sharing more about Indryas in my next blog so look out for that.
Recently a friend, Briony of Space Together posted about setting random alarms to remind us to pause during the day, to stop, pause and take a moment to notice 3 things around you. I often advise clients to take a pause or two during the day, to take a moment and to breathe but Briony is upping the game here. Yesterday I set my alarm for 4 random times, I used my phone and literally spun the wheel thingy on the time setting. It gave me 6.20 am, 9.40 am, 1.10pm and 8.35pm (ok so I did the last one again as it was way past my bedtime!).
I decided to take photos of each moment to create a post. 6.20am = yoga mat moment, 9.40am = doing some washing, 1.10pm = working on some content creation in our garden bar, 8.35pm wind down time.
Briony’s suggestion of noticing 3 things made me realise that although I am better at slowing down these days, I am not really taking in everything around me. My first alarm at 6.20am was easy, I was on my mat, I was in a place of stillness and awareness already. There is always a magical air at that time of day too. I noticed the calm air, the morning light and few things that still needed putting away after our holiday. The second one at 9.40am amused me, I didn’t want to smell the washing and even our laundry liquid doesn’t smell of much as it is unfragranced – haha! What I noticed wasn’t so much the things around me but that we often compete chores without thinking, being on autopilot or worse still with a negative attitude. The thought of using my senses more while doing the washing did at least make me giggle! 1.10pm was lovely, lots to take in, the smells (our garden bar has a distinct smell, woody and earthy), sounds in the garden plus a coolness of being sheltered from the sun. Finally at 8.35pm, as I sat in the conservatory the light outside from the sunset reflected beautifully off the trees, the sun shining over the top of the house on to the outside. Although the air had cooled down the conservatory was still warm. An overall sense of contentment. A new habit that I adopted recently was to create some stillness before bed so this was a perfect moment. Thank you Briony for a wonderful, thought provoking challenge, love it! Below is my post showing the photos I took for my random pauses.
This blog series is my offering to you, a chance to see how Ayurveda is weaved into my life & how you can apply these principles to your own life.
Welcome to the third edition of Ayurveda & Me!
I want to refrain from getting political, I am after all politically homeless. We are sold an illusion of choice, there is no choice within the system. I have no trust in government. There is no government known to me that encourages us to:
Instead, they encourage:
Reliance on governmental policy and advice
Chasing the dream, dangling the carrot and keeping us stuck on the hamster wheel
Consumption of processed food
Buying more stuff
Giving up responsibility for our health and putting reliance on modern medicine to ‘fix’ symptoms
Constantly being overstimulated
Living in fear
To participate in the bread and circus game
