Weaving The Wisdom Of Ayurveda Into Other Healing Modalities

During this talk, Holly explains what are the different Doshas (energies), how they can pull the body out of balance, and how you can use this wisdom to adapt other healing modalities such as massage, yoga, aromatherapy, to assist the healing process.

Transcript

Hello lovelies!

I held a lovely workshop on Friday but unfortunately the recording came out really glitchy so I thought it made more sense to rerecord it and send it to you in a video.

So I hope this will be useful for you today.

We're talking about how you can weave Ayurveda into other healing modalities and it's one of the things I love about Ayurveda is you don't have to have this big long list of if this is wrong do this.

It's really intuitive so I wanted to take some time to go through that with you today and we're going to look at three main areas.

So the three main areas we're going to look at is what are the energies that take us out of balance in the body and what do they feel like.

How can you like really pick up on them from a really somatic point of view from feeling into the body as opposed to a really kind of masculine way of a checklist.

And then we're going to look at how you can recognize these energies in other people and when they've taken them out of balance.

And then we're going to look at how you can adapt to what you're currently offering in terms of a healing modality or if this is just for yourself how you can work with other healing modalities to bring yourself back into balance.

So let's get started and this was the exercise that we went through on Friday and I want you to just close your eyes for a moment and really settle in,

Pay attention to the breath,

See if you can really anchor into that sensation coming into the now,

This present moment.

And I want you to imagine in your mind's eye that you're sat next to a fire in your garden,

It's a warm summer's evening and you're mesmerized by this fire.

I want you to notice it,

What does it look like,

What colours are presenting,

How does that fire move,

What temperatures coming away from it,

How does that feel in your body.

So this would be the energy of pitta,

Pitta when it's in balance,

This warmth mesmerizing energy that when embodied gives off charisma,

It's attracting.

But then I want you to imagine that you throw a new log on that fire,

You hadn't realized but the log either has some kind of fuel on it or is damp and the fire starts to spit,

The flames become overwhelming,

Seems unpredictable,

Uncontrollable.

And this is how pitta can manifest in the body when it's out of balance,

This kind of rage,

Frustration,

Overwhelming redness,

Too much heat.

So if you think about this on a body level this might be things like inflammation,

Infection,

Having a fever,

Hot flushes,

Redness in the skin,

This is the energy of pitta.

And then I want you to close your eyes again if you've opened them and I want you to imagine that you're walking in a forest and it's an autumn day and you can see the wind and it's dancing beneath the leaves and through the tops of the trees and it's mobile,

Adaptable,

Beautiful.

You see it's swirling round making the leaves dance and this would be the energy of vata.

And vata energy it feels like that it's it's dancing,

It's creativity,

It's being able to adapt and weave the move with ease.

But then I want you to imagine that all of a sudden this wind seems to get up and it starts thrashing through the trees,

Branches start to fall,

Feels really chaotic,

You don't know where the winds gonna come from next.

You feel like you're being knocked over,

It's overwhelming and this is what can happen when vata becomes out of balance in the body.

It can throw you off your feet,

It can be that kind of overwhelming movement in the mind or the body.

So things like anxiety,

Overthinking,

Too much wind in the body,

Too much air,

Too much gas and wind can be quite drying.

If you think about the winter season or autumn season it dries out your skin.

This can be the effect of vata in the system.

So anything that's really drying in the system,

Really unpredictable,

Anything that's going up and down,

No rhyme or reason to it.

You know one minute you might be constipated and the next day you know you can't stop going to the toilet,

That would be vata because it's that unpredictability.

And then we move on to the energy of kapha.

And I want you to imagine now that you've had a long day at work and you've come to sit in the garden and you've taken off your shoes and socks and you've put your feet on the earth.

You can feel that grounded feeling and there's a gentle really gentle rain starting to fall on the garden but it feels refreshing and you look round and that rain is nourishing all the plants.

They look,

They're perking up,

They look greener,

They look healthier,

More nourished.

I'm really feeling into that energy,

That energy of Mother Earth.

So this is the energy of kapha and the energy of kapha is that which nourishes us,

Which keeps us grounded,

Which keeps us growing and feeling stable.

But then I want you to imagine that as you're sat in that garden that that rain starts to become heavier and heavier and heavier and you can see the ground is turning into this sticky mud.

It's heavy,

It's gloopy,

It's sticking to your feet.

The plants become overwhelmed.

They're almost drowning in this mud,

Unable to move and this is what can happen when kapha becomes out of balance in the body.

It can create that stickiness,

That heaviness,

That being stuck.

So from a mental emotional point of view this can be literally stuck in the past or going over the same situation in your head again and again and again and in the body it can be stagnancy.

So that anything that's like really heavy,

Really slow,

Your body's holding on to things that aren't good for it.

So things like a lot of toxicity or perhaps even weight,

This would be the energy of kapha.

So that's kind of how the energies feel and what I want you to do is really get in touch with that feeling sensation because we can know these things on a logical level but actually it's only when that memory is within our body that we can act naturally through instincts.

So when you're doing a session with a client or you know doing a massage with a client or doing a yoga class with a client your instincts will immediately bring up exactly what you need to know.

So I believe it's not enough to know these things on a mental level.

It's got to be felt.

So really try and feel into those energies.

See if you can get really familiar with how they feel in the body,

The sensations they bring up for you when you think about those different scenarios.

And so it can be difficult if you're not used to working with these energies to then identify them in other people.

But again if you think about this on an instinct level,

Let's think about the energy of pitta.

So like I say pitta and balance can be you know those charismatic people,

Those people that are born leaders,

They ooze confidence,

They know what they want,

They can see clearly through all of the other detail and just see what they need to do.

From a physical point of view people with a lot of pitta are generally quite medium build,

They might have a bit of redness in the skin and especially out of balance you're likely to notice redness in the skin,

Perhaps even coming across as a little bit aggressive or argumentative or judgmental towards others and themselves.

Expectations from people that have a pitta and balance going on can be really really high and other people and themselves are never going to be able to meet their own expectations.

So those are things to kind of look out for.

Also just a physical feeling of heat coming from their body.

You know some people are generally quite hot-blooded,

We have that in our vocabulary and it's a very physical thing.

People that are generally hot-blooded are likely to have a lot of pitta,

Are likely to be able to go out of balance in the area and perhaps come across a little bit too direct.

And then vata,

So what does a vata out of balance in other people look like?

So these might be people that are quite or you know in that situation might be quite fidgety,

Looking quite anxious,

Eyes darting around a bit,

Unable to sit still,

Unable to sit down.

We know people that fit into all of these categories or naturally fit into all of these categories but these are things to look out for in other people and the more you tune into that feeling of it the more you'll be able to identify it in other people.

And then we move on to kapha.

So kapha is likely you'll be able to notice it presented in other people because there'd be a slowness.

They might talk slowly,

They might and if you think about the being stuck in the past they might keep going back when you're talking to them about things that happened in the past as opposed to be able to move on.

There might be a holding on in the body,

A holding on of weight or toxins or generally looking quite puffy so not necessarily weight but water retention so anything that looks like it's being retained in the body.

And the more you work with this the more you will easily be able to see that looks like a kapha imbalance or that looks like a vata imbalance but by all means talk to people and you don't need to say to them that I'm trying to diagnose you in line with Ayurveda that's not what this is about I'm not asking you to be an Ayurvedic practitioner but I'm asking you to consider can you use these things just by identifying people through your instincts through that intuition through that noticing and then adapt your own healing modality accordingly.

So what might that look like?

So if we have a look at a pitta imbalance a pitta imbalance and again it's this is what I love about Ayurveda is it's it's so logical it makes so much sense so if you think about pitta is this fiery energy you're going to want things that are going to be able to cool and calm the system so if you're a yoga practitioner you might want to do some more gentle yoga more calming practices with if you have a lot of people in the class and you're picking up a lot of pitta energy if you're a massage therapist and you see a lot of pitta energy coming up perhaps a lot of heat coming from the body then you might want to work with the person with slow gentle massaging strokes as opposed to something that's more vigorous and you know with aromatherapy you're gonna want to think about things like cooling calming oils as opposed to anything that's going to be too invigorating because with pitta they're already invigorated you want the opposite if you think and this is where it's really important to feel into this you don't need a big long list of for this I need to do this just feel into the qualities of them so if pitta is heat well what would the opposite of this feel like if it's heat fast very go go go you want anything that's going to be the other end of the spectrum and then we move on to Vata and and it's a similar thing in a way but you're going to want to work with clients that are showing a lot of Vata in a way that's going to keep them feeling really grounded really safe so you know from a yoga perspective this would be really grounding practices things that are going to give them that feeling of strength so perhaps things like warrior poses are going to be really helpful in that respect from a massage therapist point of view this might be this might be more subtle it might be things like using extra blankets to get that weight on it might be making sure that the room feels really warm and safe and comforting from an aromatherapy point of view this might be things that are a bit more warming on the system but still calming so those and I'm using those examples but you can apply this to any healing modality you can apply this to coaching when you're coaching someone you can think about okay what are the questions I can ask that's going to bring their mindset back in line with where they need to be so if they're if for example you're working with someone who's very pitter and they're goal orientated they're feeling very you know I need to achieve this I need to achieve this what questions can you ask them about but how do you want to be do you see what I mean and then kafa so working with someone who has a lot of kafa energy you're gonna want to do the opposite as some of these so for example as a massage therapist you're going to want to be doing vigorous movements things that are going to get things flowing so that's the opposite if you think about stagnancy a kafa you want things that are really going to get everything going so quick massages but perhaps quite a bit of pressure to try and get everything moving through the system things like draining the lymph and then if you think about from a yoga point of view you're going to be wanting to do some quicker flows you're going to be wanting to things they're going to create a bit of heat in the body so it's going to get everything moving and then from like an aromatherapy point of view think spicy and vigor eating feel into this you know these things instinctively you're the healers out there you you know how to work with your inner instincts and inner intuition and this is just building on that and putting a bit more structure around it for those clients where it something's not right and you just can't figure out what it is this might be an added tool to kind of figure out how to work them a little bit more and so from a coach point of view it might be about getting them out of that past mindset getting them into a future focus or present moment mindset and allowing them to think about yes but what you want to achieve where is it you want to be going as opposed to where have you been so I hope that has been useful for you we had some great questions in the workshop and I appreciate you're not getting all of those because this is a recording with just me so if you have got any other questions please message I would love to hear from you I would love to know how you found this and yeah reach out and if you are really interested in finding out more about this I have got my four month program currently open and it starts officially next Monday so week commencing 7th of December and we'll be diving into the wisdom of Ayurveda and I mean really diving in but on a really somatic experience way because I like I say to me this is so much more than having big long lists of things that meet different qualities it's about feeling into it it's about trusting your own inner wise woman it's about really knowing these things on a body level as opposed to just a mental level and that program would be just as useful for people that want to use this knowledge when working with their own clients but we'll also have coaching there'll be one-to-one support with me and it's gonna be fantastic I'm so excited so yeah if you're interested send me a message we'll book him for a chat and I'll post a link in the email that I'm sending out with this video okay well I am wishing you all a gorgeous week and yeah I hope you have a good one look forward to seeing you soon take care bye

Reviews

Outstanding suggestions on how to weave ayureveda into my life. I appreciate the support.

This was wonderful! So educational, thank you 😊 🙏 ❤️

Very interesting, I read a book about ayurveda and it did made sense to me too. Thank you.

Loved this although I am not a teacher I am a beginner aryuveda student. I found this helpful to notice things in myself as well as in family and friends. Thank you.