Morning is when I usually spend some time tuning into my body. I do some gentle yoga to warm up my joints and then I sit and scan my body. I am not looking for anything in particular, but rather checking in.
 
Have you found that symptoms or challenges seem to crop up out the blue? Soreness, rashes, indigestion and the like show up without any obvious reason. It seems like they came out of nowhere.
 
For example I have been waking up to cramping in my calves lately. It is not painful, just mildly uncomfortable, but it has my attention first thing in the morning. If fills the criteria of being noticeable and new.

1.14 sa tu dirghakala nairantarya satkara asevitah drdhabhumih

This body and mind become part of the earth when the practice is performed for a long time without interruption and with zeal

1. Dirghakala-
   1. kal- celebrity, accelerate
      
2. Satkara-
   1. sat-truth, kara- from karma, to grow
      1. Do it carefully, don’t take shot cuts, don’t do it sloppily
3. Drdhabhumih-
   1.  bhu- solid basis of all things, to be, to become, to build

The practice of ayurveda and yoga is slow and systematic in order to cultivate the prana, agni and ojas. The bhumih is the solid base of Ojas that first must be cultivated. This takes dedicated effort without interruption. Ojas is created in many ways. One of the primary ways it is created is through proper nutrition. The nutrients that we consume goes through seven transformative cycles at each tissue layer ending in the most complex layer the reproductive fluid. Each transformative cycle takes about five days. That means that the principles of correct diet must be maintained for 35 consecutive days in order to create one drop of ojas. Stress depletes ojas. By insulating ourselves against stress and by maintaining the composure of the mind through positive feelings we do not disturb the production of Ojas.  We cannot produce ojas if we are trying to find short cuts or doing things sloppily. Ojas is best produced when we move carefully and consciously.

Introduction
Have you ever experienced a blissful massage where all your worries and responsibilities melt away? Modern culture inspires lot’s of activity and stimulation which keeps us in constant motion, especially in our minds. This level of high paced activity is a relatively new phenomenon in terms of our time on this planet. The ancient medical science of Ayurveda developed a strategy thousands of years ago to help balance activity with relaxation and ensure longevity. The benefits of this simple practice can have profoundly positive effects on our current lifestyle. The practice is called abhyanga and is often translated as warm oil massage.   

In Ayurveda we are constantly going on about customization, personalized medicine, uniqueness and individuality. In the west were we are so self obsessed you would think that Ayurveda would be on every other episode of the Dr. Oz show by now. Unfortunately Ayurveda has not yet matured in the west, but is has a lot of helpful strategies for self awareness and understanding that we can employ in the meantime. One of these is understanding different types of pain patterns.
 
In order to understand pain profiles through an Ayurvedic lens there must be a simple understanding of the two concepts of dosha and vayu. Dosha’s are bioenergetic principles that underlie our physiological functions through the qualities they contain.

What? Basically dosha’s are a way to categorize separate parts and functions of the body based on their similarities. All of the Doshas are everywhere in the body but certain tissues or systems may have a relative excess of one or more of the dosha’s. For example the nervous system is characterized by movement of nerve impulses and relates to Vata dosha. The digestive system is characterized by heat and it relates to the Pitta dosha. The lubricants of the body like mucus, synovial fluid and cerebral spinal fluid are moist and they relate to the Kapha dosha.

In Ayurveda and Functional Medicine we proclaim that the cornerstone of health is good digestion. Our brains are hardwired to overvalue danger in order to keep us safe. This means that unless your tummy hurts or something is not right you rarely give any thought to good digestion. In behavioral economics it has been shown that we are more likely to make choices that insulate us from loss. This is why it is so hard to give up bad habits, because we perceive it as a loss of something that once belonged to us. In a study on the endowment effect participants were asked to value coffee cups and then they were given the same cups and asked how much they would charge someone else for the cup. Researchers found that once something belongs to someone they place an increasing value on it. We tend to value what belongs to us even if that thing is not working or belonged to someone else two seconds ago. These irrational behaviors can get in the way when it comes to keeping your digestion running strong.

Most people have been exposed to Ayurveda through either yoga or indian food. While any
exposure is good exposures Ayurveda is much more than how it is portrayed in Pop culture. So
what is ayurveda beyond lentils and lassis? First thing is that Ayurveda is not a an exclusively
vegetarian science. The strong cultural underpinnings of India and it strong fascination with
vegetarianism has led many people to believe that Ayurveda recommends vegetarianism. The
essence of Ayurveda is finding a diet that is in harmony with the bioenergetic principles that
make you up. It is true that from a karmic perspective vegetarianism is probably a good choice.
Yet for many individuals who have extremely busy lives with lots of movement and activity
eating a vegetarian diet can be difficult it can also be challenging for individuals who have small
intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).

Dealing with adversity and rejection is an extremely important emotional skill as all of us will be faced with not getting our way at some point in our lives. Many of us were not taught this emotional skill as we were growing up and have been using our default option to be able to deal with the setbacks in our life. In general most of us either have an optimistic outlook on life or a pessimistic outlook on life.

In terms of Ayurveda an optimistic mindset is related to the guna of Sattva and a pessimistic mindset is related to Tamas. Sattva is translated as self-truth. When we understand our true nature as spirit then we are able to be more optimistic. By connecting with source we enrich our ability to tackle any challenge that comes our way. On the other hand when we only look at the material nature of things and measure our lives based on what we have accumulated then we don’t have a lot of resources to deal with adversity. This is the mindset of Tamas where what we see is all there is.

Most highly effective people have recognized that there is a direct correlation between the systems they employ in their life and the results that they receive. While many of them give lip service to eating healthy and sleeping well their health is merely a means to the end of higher productivity leading to larger wealth creation. Superstars such as Arianna Huffington, Tony Robbins and Tim Ferris all have routines that are aligned with their purpose, goals and values.

Ayurveda, the science of medicine born in India, has a similar approach to creating routines and like many of these big players it places special importance on our morning routines. Most time management books state that you are the most productive in the first four hours of the day and recommend a starting by strategizing your day and then spending the morning focused on your biggest priority.

Next time you are looking through some old photo albums from your parents or their parent’s generation start to notice what people look like. When I was with my parents over the holiday’s I realized there was something odd. I noticed that everyone in the pictures is unusually thin. Men aged 40-45 in the 60’s average weight was 169 pounds, by the year 2000 that was 196, what do you think it is today?1
 
In 2010 over 69 percent of American adults had become overweight or obese.  This phenomenon is not exclusive to the Western world, but a similar trend can be seen worldwide. The trend began in the 70’s and really hit its stride in between 1980 and 2008 as it doubled. Today it is estimated that there are 1.4 billion adults who are overweight and the damage to human health is significant. Obesity related illness kills more people than malnutrition and infectious diseases.  Managing the chronic diseases associated with obesity is expensive. Over the next 20 years the costs of obesity to the global economy are projected to be at least 30 trillion dollars.

True healing does not come from outside ourselves. Although many of us think that our health trials and tribulations will come to a grand closure once we find the perfect health care provider in my experience this is a myth, an urban legend. As we are dynamic, ever changing individuals a health care provider can assist us in finding a baseline and helping us to prioritize our efforts so that we get the most for the time and energy that we devote towards healing, but they cannot be there every step of the way. So what are we to do?
Listen. Each one of us has the potential and ability to listen in. To clearly hear the signs, signals and indications that our body is constantly providing for us. So what are we listening to? Many of us did not get an owner’s manual when we were born and Ayurveda has long since provided a framework that can be used as an owner’s manual so that we can have a language that allows us to develop physiological awareness, perception and attention. It is the cultivation of listening in that allows the symptoms that are unique to us to rise out of the noisy crowd and give us a clear message. When the message is clear then we can easily reply.

Dieticians, nutritionists, health coaches we all go through similar training regimes.

Learning about fatty acids, amino acids, monosaccharides and the like.

Learning about motivation, willpower, self-control and other such things.

So since our training is similar you would think that each one of us would get the same results.

That health would be easy to come by as we share our information with willing patients ready to make lasting changes.

But…

That is rarely the case for everyone.

Our ability to digest complex carbohydrates in the form of bread and pasta depends strongly on our hormones. The primary hormone involved in digesting carbohydrates is insulin. When minimal insulin is released when we are eating carbs then we easily take the sugar that is in the blood from the food ewe have eaten and bring it into the cells. If insulin levels are high it often means that the cells are not absorbing insulin which is called insulin resistance.

The presence of insulin in the blood may decrease the body’s ability to digest fat and lead to weight gain. This is the theory espoused by the Atkins diet and has been gaining in popularity as more people become paleo. In addition to minimal insulin release it is also important that the blood sugar does not stay consistently high. When the body does not secrete a lot of insulin on a regular basis than this is very possible. When there is minimal insulin resistance and quick and efficient blood sugar clearance then the body is set up to uptake glycogen. Glycogen is a stored sugar in the form of carbohydrate in the muscle tissue and liver. It has been popular with endurance athletes in the form of carb loading for a long time. This also relates to our ability to utilize the sugar in the blood

Chances are that you have trouble managing your cravings. If you are not hungry then it is unlikely that you will have cravings. Sometimes because of emotions, anxiety or boredom cravings can arise, but one strategy for alleviating cravings is to keep yourself feeling nourished. The more nourished that you feel the more able you are to avoid the cravings.

• Eat until you are satisfied.
  • Not all meals are created equal, just as not all calories are not created equal.  It is important to leave the table feeling full and satisfied. This does not mean to overeat, but to choose meal options that include all six tastes and are at least 75% vegetables. By following these basic guidelines you will be more able to create meal options that feed you in a different way. The volume of water contained in vegetables make for a low calorie meal helping you to feel satiated with without worrying about extra weight.
    

Cleansing has always been an important part of health, not just for humans, but for all animals. These days we are exposed to many man-made substances that our bodies are not accustomed too and so more frequent cleansing may be necessary. Here are a few of my favorite reasons to cleanse:

• Everything we put in our body is either appropriate or inappropriate for our goals of health. Cleansing cleans out the body’s aqueducts and allows us to access our bodies innate wisdom.
  
• Cleansing has been utilized by every ancient tradition including Egyptian, Indian, Persian and Greek in order to facilitate healing.
  
• Your ability to maintain discipline and receive the results of cleansing improves with each cleanse that you do. It builds a neural network in your brain allowing healthy choices to be the norm.

Having been teaching and sharing wellness since 2002 I have learned a lot. Time after time while offering many of my gifts I have been told that I look at least 10-20 years younger than I actually am. Many people owe my youth to the many practices that I have employed since taking that first yoga class when I was 16 years old, but I’m not so sure. Recently there has been a lot of research into cold shock proteins and I believe this may have a lot to do with my youthful appearance.

Sometimes in the heat of a yoga class (not just a Bikram class) we forget why we are actually doing these complicated movements. How is putting our leg behind our head and hovering in handstand going to help us in our real life? Well, ultimately the intention behind the science of yoga is to learn how to relax into whatever life presents. The parking ticket, the student loans, the messy marriage, all of it. How? Well yoga has these benefits:

This culture tends to promote and increase the Ayurvedic dosha of Vata. Vata is known as being extremely inventive, intuitive and intelligent. So why is it that these days the aspects of Vata that are more common are lack of focus, poor memory and inability to concentrate. That is because our lives our so full it can be hard to keep the mobile aspect of vata in balance. This is where healthy and seasonally appropriate routines come in. By having routines in place we can leverage the power of vata and get access to its inventive and idealistic nature. The four routines below will assist you in this endeavor. Vata tends to bite off more than they can chew and get overwhelmed so don’t fall into that trap. Implement these one week at a time or wait until you have success with one routine until you shift your energy to initiating and maintaining another one.

It has always been a conundrum to me that athletes and people with type A personalities are Pitta types because these are the types of people that are the most susceptible to inflammation which would compromise their athletic performance and cognitive function. Not necessarily from the increased demands that they put on their bodies and minds on a daily basis, but because of their tendency to respond to imbalance through inflammation. This is the cornerstone of imbalanced pitta and let’s look at how this inflammatory response often occurs.

I have some time off from school and I am spending it on a biodynamic farm in Southern Oregon. It is so peaceful and quiet here. In deep contrast to my life in Oakland.

I have noticed that I believe all the hard work and rushing will have the eventual goal of landing me permanently in the environment that I am experiencing this week on the farm. The quiet, the community, the peace. Yet, even with so much unscheduled time I still wake up in the morning with a sense of haste.

We are a culture of causes. Always looking for a reason a diagnosis, someone to blame for everything and anything that has ever occurred in our lives. Although some things are quite random in the case of many conditions we can trace them back to a primary cause. Take the following symptoms for example

• Environmental allergies
• Sensitives to certain foods or smells
• Eczema or acne
• Anxiety and depression
• Gas, bloating and constipation

When you read that list do you think that the root cause could be the same thing?

Within the realm of Ayurveda there are three gunas or qualities that define the universe. These qualities can be considered to be the perspective that we bring to the events in our life. This perspective colors all our activities and leads us towards outcomes and behaviors that may be appropriate and beneficial or self-destructive. By understanding the three gunas we can choose to bring in more of the perspective or mindset that allows us to achieve our goals. The three gunas are:

1. Sattva – Mature mindset
2. Rajas- Growth mindset
3. Tamas- Fixed mindset

Being a health care provider since 2006 I have seen a lot of changes every year as a new pivotal study is published and everyone rushes to be a part of the newest fad diet. During all of this I have continued to prescribe diets based on peoples constitution (vitality, digestive strength, mindset, etc and imbalance. This structure is not a reproducible and cannot be called a diet because it is uniquely tailored to the individual. However I have found some interesting data to support this.