Isabel is trained in Therapeutic Yoga for Women, a Yoga Nidra Facilitator and in
Clinical Ayurveda.
She’s a mum to two children and to three rescue rabbits, two
rescue cats and a tortoise.
She lives in Derbyshire where she opened a small yoga
studio in 2023.
It’s from here that she runs Well Woman yoga and Ayurvedic workshops and consultations.
I’ve been really passionate about wholefood plant-based food for many years and in those times where I’ve been really committed to eating this way I have noticed a significant difference in my health with more energy, better mood and less brain fog.
In lockdown, like lots of people, started to become interested in what I could eat from my own garden orf orage from local nature spots. I also learned the basic principles of Ayurveda as part of my first yoga teacher training which eventually lead to me studying in Clinical Ayurveda.
What I love about Ayurveda is that it isn’t a diet. It’s not about losing weight…it’s about living in balance. It’s accessing thousands of years of studies, wisdom and insights to live optimally for a healthy and happy life. Ayurveda is truly holistic. It’s not just about the food you eat but how you live.
Ayurveda is over 5,000 years old and has developed and evolved continuously over that time.
The World Health Organisation recognises Ayurveda as an effective health care
method and there have been over 100 Who approved Ayurvedic medical schools.
What it really excels at is where Western medicine can sometimes fall short.
Things like preventative ‘well living’, supporting the symptoms of chronic illnesses and alleviating symptoms related to menstrual and hormonal health.
So how does it work?
According to Ayurveda texts, everything in the world is made of the 5 great elements. Earth, water, fire, air and space.
These elemental mixes are symbolised by three different ‘doshas’ Kapha, Pitta and Vata.
Each of us is made up of a mixture of the three doshas with one or more being dominant:
Vata - Air and Space
Kapha - Water and Earth
Pitta - Fire and Water
When doshas go out of balance they can cause problems like illness or just generally not Feeling our best like when you just feel tired all the time or a bit run down, foggy.
Agni or digestive fire is a key tennet of ayurveda. It’s through good agni that we digest our food and absorb the nutrients into our bodies so that we can function optimally.
What we eat becomes our cells. In fact in classical Ayurveda it’s believed that 90% of disease from agni disorder
This is where people sometimes mis understand the power of herbal remedies.
Taking 1 st johns wort tablet once a day isn’t necessarily going to help if your body isn’t
absorbing that properly. It’s also why sometimes we might have a great diet but still get ill.
Agni can be optimal or it can be too fast (meaning you don’t have time to absorb nutrients from food) or too slow (meaning that you’re not absorbing nutrients AND the food is just kind of sitting there!)
There’s lots of different ways you can support your agni
Slow digestion - speed it up with well spiced food eg black pepper and drinking ginger tea.
Fast digestion - avoid things like drinking water with meals, reduce hot spice
Sit down to eat meals - ritualise meals
But Ayurveda is so much more than food and it’s so important to live with our natural cycles.
Things like our circadian rhythm for example. If we get this right it can revolutionise our day.
Going to sleep at the right time (around 10pm) and waking up at the right time (around 6am) means that we’re working with our natural rise and fall of cortisol.
Other cycles that impact us are our digestive peaks and troughs. Aiming to eat three times a day when our digestion is peaking means that we’re working with our body not against it.
The optimal times to eat are around 7am, around 1pm and around 6pm however there’s a lot of scope around those times and I’ve just given one rough time for ease in this short blog.
Trying to live seasonally, eating seasonal food (pretty hard in our current food system) and allowing yourself to slow down in the winter is hugely beneficial. And if you a person with a womb you’ll have whole other cycle to think about.
Too often we’re encourage to push
through our natural energetic ebbs and flows but by allowing ourselves time to rest we can live more happily and more imbalance the rest of the month.
If you’re interested in learning more about your own menstrual cycle, I highly recommend looking at Wild Power by Alexandra Pope and Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer.
If you’d like to learn more about your own dosha, there are lots of free questionnaire’s online and these are a great place to start.
I offer 1-1 Ayurvedic Programmes which delve deep into your needs and where you want to get to.
You can get in touch via my website www.whileibreathe.co.uk
Love Isabel xx
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