Ayurveda
Medicine
Revolutionizing your health with the world's oldest medical tradition
For women, health and wellness is a feminist pursuit. To heal, a woman must learn to love and respect her beautiful body and treat her health with individual attention and care. Whereas every woman's story is unique, many powerful forces connect us all. In Ayurveda, those forces are given a name. The elemental forces are Water, Earth, Fire, Air and Ether. These elements combine to create constitutions called Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Every woman is a combination of these elements and every woman has a unique and equally beautiful constitution.
As modern Western women, we are also connected by another powerful force: our culture. We all grew up in this culture and we were all subjected to the pressures and misinformation we grew up hearing. Because of this, whether it be to learn how to eat healthily, how to exercise, or how to manage our physical pain and emotional stress, we are a culture of women trying to heal. With Ayurveda, modern Western women can nurture their minds, bodies, and souls.
Understand your needs with
Ayurveda
Ayurveda is defined as THE SCIENCE OF LIFE, and is comprised of self-knowledge and discovery. The goal is to move towards "Elemental Balance", a loving equilibrium of your "Mind, Body, Spirit System".
Too often, our culture teaches that balance is found by adding positive in to mask the negative. In actuality, health is a spiritual pursuit and whereas no woman should feel the anxiety of seeking "perfection," every woman should aim to let go of habits that
are not serving her mind, body, and soul. Whereas the word "balance" in everyday life could have many definitions, the Ayurvedic meaning is more solid and understands the unique interconnectedness of your mental, emotional and physical self, your elemental birthright.
How Ayurvedic medicine works
You were born into a constitution of dynamic ELEMENTAL FORCES. Ayurveda classifies how you came into the world and compares and classifies your current state of being. You eat a healthy "balanced" diet when you eat seasonally for your body-type and your digestion. You create a "balanced" exercise routine by examining your overall energy level and the symptoms of your Mind, Body, Spirit System. As your awareness increases, things begin to shift and you are further empowered and able to bring yourself back to homeostasis.
Ayurveda knows that you are equally energetic as you are physical and emotional. You can learn how to use your physical body and actions to affect your emotions and energy and vice versa. When you learn a breathing exercise, for example, you aren't just learning any breathing exercise. Different breathing exercises have different "energetic" effects on the body and you learn which breathing exercises match your energetic--or elemental--needs. Ayurvedic medicine is all about matching your needs, your energy, and your constitution, with the right daily practices.
Ayurveda teaches you that your body is completely interconnected. Everything you do, think, and feel is affecting you on an elemental level and adding to your personal level of health and wellness.
Lifestyle change & Ayurveda
The slow LIFESTYLE CHANGES that happen in this program can be challenging. Change can be difficult and may require your willingness to replace food, fitness and lifestyle habits for choices our culture did not teach you about. On this journey, you will notice how culture has shaped your daily choices and the thought process behind those choices. It is through loving self-examination that women become empowered to make decisions based on wellness and not pressure, body-image or stereotypes. You can access the knowledge already inside your beautiful female body !
To learn your constitution & how you interact with the world around you
To learn about the roots of your health complaint(s)
To receive several recommendations for healing your unique mind & body type
To receive honest feedback about habits & lifestyle choices
GETTING STARTED WITH AYURVDEA
First, you'll complete an online initial intake. An initial intake is either your introduction to Ayurveda or a chance to deepen your Ayurvedic knowledge. The goals of this visit are:
I want to get to know you. I use a thorough intake form that covers a variety of health complaints, questions, and goals. On top of a thorough exam form, I use my intuition, energy, and listening skills to formulate an idea of your constitution and a plan moving forward. I find the intake helpful for creating lifestyle change and empowering you to track your own progress.
Once I have a completed form, I'll use a picture of your tongue and a picture of your face ( or examination in a zoom call) to further understand your elemental constitution and current level of balance, after which we'll complete:
1) An initial intake examination:
We'll go over your intake form and discuss it in more detail. This meeting typically lasts anywhere from 30 - 45 - 60 minutes.
2) Report of findings:
Several days to a week later, we'll meet again to go over the findings of the initial examination, with the goal of being informative but not overwhelming. This meeting typically lasts about 30 minutes.
In the Ayurvedic system, you were born with an energetic DNA, your “Prakruti”, but lifestyle and disease can mask that true nature, your “Vikruti”. During the consultation, we discuss this concept in more detail and I tell you what I see and intuit happening inside of you. From this visit, you should begin to understand how your body, mind, and spirit is classified in the Ayurvedic medicine system. I give several lifestyle and plant-based food recommendations that vary based on what your health complaints and goals are.
There are several levels of Ayurvedic education available in the United States today. As a graduate of a Clinical Ayurveda Program, I was mentored in a clinical setting and trained to treat disease and write customized herbal formulas to stimulate healing.
I do not guarantee specific outcomes from this visit and this is not a replacement for your regular medical care. I offer you education about Ayurveda and support you in making your own decisions.
ONGOING AYURVEDIC SUPPORT
On-going Ayurvedic consultations allow me to support your health and wellness journey.
This is where the magic happens.
The mind creates reasoning to hold onto past habits. Often this reasoning is complex and emotional and you won't realize it's keeping you from greater emotional & physical health. I can help you see past the reasoning you're assigning various unhelpful habits and together we can put a new healthy habit in its place. Often, this is a slow process and many women have a variety of habits and thought patterns that need healing. My goal is to support women as they come to conclusions about their health care needs.
I can think of many times I have seen or intuited major blockages in a woman’s life but my highest goal is not to further hurt or traumatize a woman by telling her she needs to change a dozen things that coming week. My goal is to be present with you and help you slowly integrate new lifestyle choices and, when the time reveals itself, work on each major blockage. Learning to live in harmony with yourself takes time and effort and often takes feedback from someone on the outside.
During an initial consult, your whole story may not reveal itself. Your elemental constitution may be hidden underneath dis-ease or full disease. Your dis-ease or disease may be hiding aspects of who you are or what you are currently going through. You may be hiding truths from yourself or even from me. If there is more to your health care story, on-going consults reveal where support is needed.
An initial intake begins the process of change and follow-up visits support that change, allowing us to dive deeper into further recommendations. Ayurvedic knowledge is vast and you can play around with adding many fun habits into your daily routine.
You can read about the various healing tools of Ayurveda on my blog and by signing up for my mailing list.
1
My history as an herbalist
Trained as an Ayurvedic herbalist, my herbal medicine practice is guided by the belief that we are not separate from the world around us. When we seek TRUE HEALTH, we do so using the gifts of herbs, flowers, roots, and trees provided on our beautiful, mysterious, and intelligent Mother Earth.
Herbs can give a woman the boost she needs to change her life. In my practice, I have used herbs to stimulate healing in a woman's DIGESTIVE SYSTEM, REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM, NERVOUS SYSTEM and MUSCULOSKELETAL SYSTEM. I've seen herbs help relieve symptoms such as arthritis, hot flashes, constipation, and begin the journey of healing the emotional symptoms of anxiety, worry, fear, melancholy, and inner judgement.
We'll work together to choose herbs that stimulate healing while balancing your herbal formula with other practices that match the overall needs of your entire system. My training offers me access to disease-specific herbs through several different herbal labs.
Herbal formulas can include CAPSULES, VAGINAL STEAMS, TINCTURES, CHURNAS, and MEDICATED OILS.
2
My current herbal practice
At this moment, I can offer custom herbal formulas but I'm strongly promoting KITCHEN FIRST HERBALISM coaching. This method of herbalism is designed to get women interacting with health and healing right inside their own kitchens. Women are taught that in order to promote health, from boosting their immune system to having a vibrant glowing complexion, they must learn to eat and drink healing herbs and spices.
KITCHEN FIRST HERBALISM is challenging for many of today's modern women. Our society doesn't teach women how to interact with food as medicine and instead, promotes and rewards quick activity and fast results. Like many aspects of TRUE HEALTH, KITCHEN FIRST HERBALISM requires women to break free of the old beliefs and patterns that allowed the disease to take root and do the hard work of developing new habits.
Whereas herb capsules can stimulate healing, I have found that the women most able to MAINTAIN LONG-TERM HEALTH are women that are able to understand and incorporate the use of herbs and spices in their daily meals.
Questions about the program? REACH OUT TODAY.
Interested in what types of foods Ayurveda would recommend for you?
Sign up below and receive 3 free downloads right to your inbox!
Ayurveda
& Body Work
Understanding how the physical, emotional, and spiritual connect
Whether I'm working with a woman to restore shoulder function, end cervical pain, or bring health to her pelvic bowl, I'm always thinking of health on an elemental and energetic level and translating information through the knowledge of Ayurvedic Medicine.
Restoring physical or energetic health is not about what I can do to a patient. My bodywork treatments assist a woman in restoring or maintaining her well-being, but it is her daily choices that will maintain those changes and slowly allow the grace of "True Health” to emerge. Through direct Ayurvedic consults, I assist women in making incremental changes to their daily lifestyles.
Physical treatments uplift you on an emotional and spiritual level. Even basic deep tissue massage is effecting and changing your "energy" and when you relieve your body of pain, you can interact with the world on a much more profound and beautiful level.
The Energy of the
Pelvic Floor
I was taught about the energy medicine of the "Root Center" by my Yoga teacher Swami Sita and I went on to pursue the highest level of Ayurvedic education available in the United States. In Yoga and Ayurveda, a healthy and supported pelvic floor, or ROOT CENTER, is essential to the health of all other energy systems in the body. In Sanskrit, the energy located in a woman's pelvic floor is called Muladhara and translates to "root support".
When you choose Pelvic Bowl Therapy, you are choosing to support your entire physical and energetic structure.
Everything you do is affecting you on a PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, and SPIRITUAL level. We are at all times energetic beings responding to an energetic world. Physical treatment will stimulate an energetic response but it is you and your needs that will guide any treatment happening in this office. Like all manual therapy offered in this office, women have the option of pursuing manual therapy or combining that physical treatment with the lifestyle and energetic changes of Yoga and Ayurvedic therapy.
If you are a healthcare provider interested in this work or a woman wanting to gather in community, please sign up for my mailing list to learn about future workshops and events.