Why I Love Its Principles
My interest in Ayurveda actually started long before I became a yoga teacher. I was about 27 when my personal trainer, Pete Cohen, introduced me to some of the ideas, and around that period I discovered the work of Deepak Chopra.
One of the books that helped bring Ayurveda to a Western audience was Perfect Health: The Complete Mind/Body Guide by Deepak Chopra. I remember being fascinated by the idea of the doshas — Vata, Pitta and Kapha — and by the suggestion that we aren’t all exactly the same and therefore shouldn’t necessarily expect the same food, routine or lifestyle to suit everybody.
Ayurveda is a traditional Indian system of health that developed over thousands of years. It’s sometimes described as the sister science of yoga because both traditions look at the person in a much broader way than simply exercising the physical body.
What has always appealed to me is the holistic philosophy behind it.
Food matters. Sleep matters. Digestion matters. Movement matters. Our environment matters. Our state of mind matters. The seasons matter. Rest matters.
And balance matters.
Years later, when I went to India to do my yoga teacher training, Ayurveda became much more real to me.
I trained at an Ayurvedic spa surrounded by jungle in Goa, and it was a very different experience from going away on a conventional yoga course.
One of the things I remember most vividly was mealtimes.
Our food was delivered to our rooms and we had to eat quietly, calmly and on our own. We weren’t allowed to sit chatting together in the restaurant.
Initially, that was quite a shock!
We’re so accustomed to eating while talking, looking at our phones, watching television, working or rushing onto the next thing. Suddenly I had nothing to do except sit there and eat.
But there was a principle behind it that I’ve never forgotten.
Eating isn’t just about what we eat. It’s also about how we eat.
Eating slowly, sitting down, noticing our food and allowing ourselves to be present with a meal feels completely different from eating while stressed and distracted.
During that training I also had an extraordinary experience with Ayurvedic treatment.
I’d developed inflammation and discomfort in my right knee, and for about ten days I received a wonderful treatment using very warm oil and a heated herbal pad or bundle over the area.
It was amazing.
Traditional Ayurvedic treatments of this kind can involve warmed oils and herbal bundles, sometimes known as pinda sweda or kizhi. Different preparations can contain different medicinal leaves, herbs, powders or other ingredients, so I can’t now tell you exactly what was inside mine.
What I can tell you is that lying there in the warmth of the oil, surrounded by the jungle in Goa, receiving this treatment every day was an experience I’ve never forgotten.
It also deepened my curiosity about Ayurveda.
One of the Ayurvedic ideas I’m particularly drawn to is sattva.
Within the traditional yogic and Ayurvedic philosophy, sattva is associated with qualities such as clarity, harmony, balance and calmness. A sattvic way of living isn’t simply a diet. It can include the food we eat, our routines, our environment, our thoughts and the way we live.
Sattvic food traditionally emphasises fresh, simple, nourishing foods such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, pulses, nuts and seeds, prepared and eaten in a relatively simple and mindful way.
I find that philosophy very beautiful.
There are also interesting similarities with some of the things I learnt when I studied Nutritional Healing, including the emphasis on fresh plant foods, vegetables, natural whole foods and reducing heavily processed foods.
I also studied ideas around an alkaline style of eating. I now understand that our bodies regulate blood pH very tightly, so food doesn’t simply make our blood “alkaline” in the way some popular diets have suggested. But many of the foods encouraged in those approaches — vegetables, fruits, herbs, nuts, seeds and minimally processed foods — are foods I still love and eat regularly.
That’s an important distinction for me.
I can appreciate the wisdom or practical value within a traditional philosophy without needing to treat every traditional explanation as modern scientific fact.
The same is true of the doshas.
I still find Vata, Pitta and Kapha fascinating as an Ayurvedic way of thinking about individual constitution, but I don’t use somebody’s dosha as a medical diagnosis or tell them that they must eat or exercise in a particular way because they’re “a Vata” or “a Kapha”.
I use these ideas more as an invitation to become curious about ourselves.
What gives me energy?
What drains me?
What foods leave me feeling nourished?
Am I rushing all the time?
Am I eating when I’m stressed?
Am I sleeping enough?
Do I need more stimulation or more rest?
What happens when I actually listen to my body?
This is where Ayurveda, yoga, breathwork, nutrition and the way I now approach personal training begin to come together.
I don’t see health as one hour in the gym followed by 23 hours in which nothing else matters.
Health is the strength training we do, but it’s also the food on our plate.
It’s our sleep.
It’s our breathing.
It’s walking outside.
It’s having periods of activity and periods of recovery.
It’s sitting down to eat rather than permanently rushing.
It’s recognising when our body needs challenge and when it needs rest.
And perhaps that’s why, more than 30 years after I first became interested in Ayurveda, I’m still fascinated by it.
I don’t follow every Ayurvedic principle rigidly, and I don’t think we need to.
I take the principles that help me live with greater awareness.
Eat nourishing food.
Move your body.
Breathe.
Rest.
Pay attention to the seasons.
Notice how you feel.
Create moments of calm.
And perhaps, occasionally, sit down with a beautiful plate of food and do absolutely nothing except eat it.
That little lesson from a room in the jungle in Goa has stayed with me all these years.
Selena
Personal Trainer, Yoga Teacher & Wellbeing Coach
In Flow Wellbeing Studio, Cheltenham
