Tag Archives: Ayurveda

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Sore Throat and the Path of Least Resistance

Yesterday afternoon my throat decided to get sore. It was a rainy, cold day and I was already feeling kind of <meh> because of the weather, so it took me a while to decide that I actually should do something about said sore throat.

Thinking about dealing with my throat made me reflect on my Ayurvedic studies which I’ve been struggling with lately. I wasn’t exactly sure why it seemed so difficult lately and it was causing me a great deal of frustration. Over the last day or so every time I do some reading, look at my Facebook feed, or even do my morning meditation, I am being told that they way to abundance and to getting what I want is through the path of least resistance.

I am a longtime, hard-core resistor of the path of least resistance. If there’s an easy way and a hard as hell way to get somewhere, you can bank on the fact that historically I’ve been struggling part way down the path of most resistance. Looking over at the path of least resistance wondering how I missed the turn onto that path and how the F do I get there? Wait, maybe I’ll just push ahead a little more, struggle some more and then I’ll find that easy path? Sometimes I’ve even been on the path of least resistance and jumped over to the path of most resistance because I thought it was too easy, I should be struggling more, I didn’t deserve to be this happy…..

Sigh.

I’ve been doing this with my studies as well. I told myself that I’m already behind the ball because I didn’t have any knowledge about Ayurveda when I started (and it seemed like everyone else did), and so being intimidated I felt like it was a struggle. Ironically when I manage to just close these thoughts off, don’t think about what I know and what I don’t know and go with what my gut says is right I’m always on the right track. Which, of course, is true about everything else I do in my life also.

After 43 years of intensive research on the path of most resistance, I can assuredly tell you that it’s not a path conducive to success and long-lasting happiness. I can also tell you that the few times I’ve been able to really let go and relax into the path of least resistance that it is a path to success and happiness. So, considering it’s called the “path of least resistance” because it means that it’s the one that you should have to put the least amount of effort into – why is it so bloody hard to do sometimes? It should be a welcome, joyful path to follow all the time. With Unicorns and rainbows on it.

So, lying on the couch resisting the fact that I was having a sore throat and struggling and suffering with it and the knowledge that I knew of an easy way to solve it – I finally got up and took my cure-all for my throat.

Big ol’ gulp of Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar. Nasty…. but it works. Throat’s already almost completely better.

So, I’m setting my intention that I will be making a concentrated effort to look out for that path of least resistance and following that towards the things that I want and the things that make me happy. Because true happiness is unselfish, loving, blissful, peaceful and easy. When you are happy doors open and that makes life so much easier than having to stop and try to open all those doors yourself.

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My Source, My Balance, My Ayurveda…

I was doing some work for my Ayurveda class today and while daydreaming got to thinking about this blog and how it’s a blog about Ayurveda, but it may not always appear to be about Ayurveda. But in a very deep sense it is all about Ayurveda. One of the things that is stressed in my studies is connection to the Source. Without connecting yourself to Your True Self, and The Source; you will never be able to maintain a proper balance – which is vital for true health.

A lot of what I write about here is how I’m discovering my own connection to The Source. To awaking and opening My True Self, which lives inside me, and connecting to The Source which is everywhere. You can call The Source whatever you want (God, The Universe…) but I’m understanding that there is a urgent need within me to realign myself with The Source and with who-I-really-am. This alignment is the balance that we search for in our spiritual lives but also in our physical lives. This keeps us healthy in body, mind and soul. Ayurveda is a lifestyle of keeping your body and soul in balance for optimal health. Learning how to achieve that balance is quickly becoming my life’s work.

For most of my life I have believed that the only way to achieve things is to work hard. To get out there and *do* something to prove myself.  To suffer through things to get to the reward at the end. Lately I’ve been thinking…. what if that’s not the best way to go about things? Because all the hard work in the world isn’t going to bring freedom, happiness and peace if I haven’t followed my bliss, balanced my soul, connected to The Source.

What if, instead, the way to achieve the things I want in life is to stop and balance my soul?

Because I feel like I have spent years running like mad on a treadmill and not getting anywhere. Sweating, crying, swearing but not actually moving and missing a lot of the fun.

When I first started my studies I learned that pretty much any condition that a patient would come in for – anxiety, high blood pressure, blood clotting issues, weight gain/loss, you name it – one of the standard prescriptions is to include meditation twice daily into your lifestyle. I understood this on a basic level that it was a good thing to slow down and connect yourself to Source, but lately I’ve been understanding it on an entirely different level. If we aren’t connected and balanced we can’t enjoy good health. If we aren’t listening to that inner voice that guides us and tells us what our dharma, our bliss, our reason for being is then we aren’t in balance and can’t enjoy perfect health. Connecting to that Inner Self and aligning it with the Source, the Higher Power, is how we achieve balance, bliss, and health.

No amount of running around and fixing things on the outside is going to fix what’s broken on the inside.

My reading this morning pretty much summed up all of these thoughts that I’d been mulling over on my walk this morning (this is why my walks are so important). Here’s an excerpt:

The primary reason that people feel a shortage of time is because they are trying to get too much leverage out of their action. If you are unaware of the power of alignment and are making little or no effort at finding your personal alignment—if you are overwhelmed or angry or resentful or ornery, and from those emotional perspectives, you are then offering your action to try to accomplish things—you are very likely experiencing a severe shortage of time.

There simply is not enough action in the world to compensate for the misalignment of Energy, but when you care about how you feel and you tend to your vibrational balance first, then you experience what feels like a cooperative Universe that seems to open doors for you everywhere. The physical effort required of someone who is in alignment is a fraction of that required to someone who is not. The results experienced by someone who is in alignment are tremendous in comparison with the results experienced by someone who is not. If you are feeling a shortage of time or money, your best effort would be to focus upon better-feeling thoughts, to make long lists of positive aspects, to look for reasons to feel good, and to do more things that make you feel good when you do them. Taking the time to feel better, to find positive aspects, to align with who-you-really-are, will net you tremendous results and help you balance your time much more effectively.

Hicks, Esther; Hicks, Jerry (2008-08-12). Money, and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Wealth, Health, and Happiness (Kindle Locations 3585-3591). Hay House. Kindle Edition.

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There simply is not enough action in the world to compensate for the misalignment of Energy. These were powerful words to me. Because I can guarantee that I spent a massive amount of energy on action trying to compensate for the misalignment of Energy. And paid for it dearly. The good thing is that my body and soul are forgiving. I can feel now that I am coming into a better balance that I have more energy, I’m happier, I am accomplishing more but *doing* less. I am so thankful for that shift.

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NOT The Cookie Cutter Healthy Lifestyle

One of the things that draws me to Ayurveda is the fact that it is not a “one size fits all” system of health. Instead of pushing medications that may help mask one issue while most likely bringing on other issues, Ayurveda looks at the individual and what imbalances that individual may have and then works to create health and balance for that person.

The ideal goal for living according to Ayurveda is perfect health. Not “feeling kinda well”, not “doing ok”, not “feeling not so bad”. Health – perfect health. Having your body be perfectly in balance. An interesting thing is that what is perfect balance for me is not perfect balance for you. Or “one man’s meat is another man’s poison”. Things that could create balance and perfect health for me with a pitta/kapha constitution, for example, would not necessarily make my son with a vata/pitta constitution healthy – in fact it could do quite the opposite.

But, knowing what balances you and how to find that balance can lead you towards perfect health. With Ayurveda, you actually treat the issue and not just mask the symptom – which encourages healing and restores health.

I think of this when I see this commercial that is out right now for heartburn medication. Some man is talking about how he’s off to a chili cookoff and he’s worried that he will get heartburn from eating all the spicy chili. He deals with this issue by taking some of the medicine and – voila – no heartburn. Although what it does is merely mask the symptoms of heartburn and usually these medications cause many health issues of their own. I always think he’d be better to either not eat the chili and find something else to eat that will help soothe the heating, or to get to the root of the source of his heartburn and deal with that imbalance. But, that can’t be dealt with by just popping a pill. Usually there’s a lifestyle change involved and we are so hesitant to commit to having to change our lifestyle – even if it’s going to make us healthier.

It’s empowering, exciting and enlightening to come back into touch with your true self and gain an awareness of how your own individual body functions and reacts to things. You are one of a kind and you can’t cookie cutter yourself into any lifestyle or treatment plan for yourself. Honouring your body and spirit means just that. Honouring the space within you that strives for perfect, balanced health.

By the way – a good night’s sleep really is something that most of us in our culture could really benefit from. I mean being asleep before 10pm and sleeping straight through until 6am. Or longer to pay back our sleep debt. We are a culture of chronically overtired people. After all, sleep is one of the three pillars of life:

“There are three supports (pillars) of life. They are food, sleep and observances of bramacharya. Being supported by these, the body is endowed with strength, complexion and growth, and this continues up [until] the full span of life, provided that the person does not indulge in regimens detrimental to health.” — Charaka Samhita

Namaste ~

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If you are what you eat… what are you?

I have a bad sweet tooth. Like if I could I would eat a lot more Nanaimo Bars and cupcakes – every day. But I can’t. I’ve got enough Kapha in my constitution that I don’t burn off those sweets and at the end of the day it makes me feel worse (both physically and mentally when my pants don’t fit anymore) so I try really, really hard to make better choices for me. Not always successfully, and I try to balance in some less sweet sweet treats to make it seem less painful.

I was reading my newsfeed on Facebook this afternoon (procrastinating doing some course work) when I came across this picture from Food Inc 

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This is a big part of the reason why I started studying Ayurveda. After spending most of my life having no idea how to properly feed myself or having any understanding of what food really does to my system I was starting to believe more and more that everything I ate, said, did, thought and believed was either creating health or dis-ease in my life. And I seemed to have a lot of dis-ease. Something about the lifestyle choices I was making was wrong and I knew I needed to make changes.

When I remember to be a mindful eater (something I’m really working on) and I sit down and give thanks for my food and then very consciously eat every bite with those words in mind it does seem much easier to make good food choices. Sometimes though, life gets stressful, busy, I get tired etc. and things don’t go the way I intend. Like when we are in line at Target and my daughter begs me for a little package of Goldfish (a banned substance in the house). I lecture her about how there’s nothing in them at all that’s going to help her grow a healthy body, and still sometimes give in and buy her the carton. I justify it by saying it’s a little snack size instead of the monster package but still… I do the same with myself at the bakery. I really want that cupcake. That cupcake is so tasty and yummy and will make me feel so good (for a hot minute). If I can take a step back and breathe into a conscious decision I can sometimes convince myself to step away – or at least to find someone to share it with so I’m not shoving the whole thing in my pie-hole.

They are such simple words, but so true. Everything we eat is either feeding a dis-ease or helping to fight one. The choice we make is completely up to us.

There is an Ayurvedic Proverb that says “When diet is wrong medicine is of no use. When diet is correct medicine is of no need.”

How powerful our food choices are. In our on the go – drive thru – convenience based society we seem to have completely forgotten how important it is the food choices we make. That we literally are what we eat.

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