Zoa and Special Guest Christine Gordon, clinical herbalist with Bloom Herbal Clinic, dive deep into the world of Ayurvedic doshas, those quirky little energy types that shape our mind and body. Think of doshas as your personal vibe check, made up of the elements of nature: air, fire, and water, oh my! They break down how these doshas influence everything from your mood to your health, and how understanding them can lead to a happier, healthier you. Christine, with her herbalist hat on, explains that it’s not just about fitting into a box labeled 'Pitta' or 'Kapha'; it's about recognizing how we can ebb and flow through different energies in our daily lives. Whether you’re feeling fiery and passionate or a little stuck in a rut, the doshas can help illuminate your path towards balance. Plus, they share some juicy tips on how to harmonize your doshas through food, movement, and mindfulness practices. I mean, who knew that leafy greens could be your best friend when you’re feeling 'kapha-ish'? So, grab a snack, kick back, and get ready to discover how you can tap into the power of Ayurveda to boost your vitality. It's all about embracing the changes and learning how to dance with the doshas rather than getting tangled up in labels!

Takeaways:

• Doshas in Ayurveda represent your unique constitution and how you interact with nature and life.
• Understanding your dosha can help you identify imbalances that affect your emotional and physical well-being.
• Our doshas are not fixed; they change with our environment, food, and life experiences, just like nature.
• Finding balance in your doshas involves lifestyle changes, including diet, movement, and mindfulness practices.
• Online dosha quizzes can be fun but working with a trained practitioner gives you deeper insights into your constitution.
• Don't get too attached to labels; understanding doshas is about embracing change and growth in your wellness journey.

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Find Christine Gordon:

Bloom Herbal Clinic (bloomherbalclinic.com)

Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/christineinbloom/

Find Zoa:

Zen and Vitality with Zoa (zenandvitality.com)

Intentional Vitality Retreats (intentional-vitality.com)

Music Credit goes to Lemon Music Studio at: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4XWZhZ32YrVV5lvpF7cr1E?si=tnbSklR7SJyPNKiHP4MbHA

Welcome to Sustain youn Vitality, the podcast that gives you a nurturing kick in the ass so you can take action every day to feel better, not older.

Your lifestyle holds the power to change how you feel.

And no matter your age or health issues, you are in the driver's seat.

I'm your host, Zoa Connor, functional wellness guide at Zen and Vitality with Zoa and retreat leader at Intentional Vitality Retreats.

I'm here to help you figure out how to lower your stress, increase your energy, put yourself into a healing state, boost your drive and pleasure in life, prevent disease, and feel the best that you ever have with no regrets later.

Let's go.

And I'm delighted to share Christine Gordon with you for these conversations.

Christine, would you like to introduce yourself?

Hello and thank you, SOA for having me today.

I am a clinical herbalist by training with a focus on Ayurvedic medicine and traditional wise woman and Western herbalism.

I have a clinical practice here in La Plate in Maryland, and I've been practicing herbalism for about professionally on my own, in my own business for a couple of years, but in general for about 20 years.

Fabulous.

Well, let's get to our conversation then.

So today we're going to get into a conversation about Ayurvedic doshas, because then we're going to have a few more episodes in the future that describe each of the three doshas.

And doshas are something that Westerners love to latch onto as a label, but it's not always how you want to approach thinking about and working with your doshas.

So, Christine, would you like to give how you describe what the doshas are to people first?

Yeah, thanks.

I think I totally agree with how we've latched onto this concept as Westerners, but in order to have a greater understanding and an easier pathway toward wellness, we should know that Ayurveda in general is based on nature.

Right.

The natural elements.

And so are the doshas.

And the doshas are.

I guess you could relate the doshas to your constitution, who you are, what is your mind like, what is your body like?

And they're made up of five elements, five elements from nature.

And they are air, ether, and.

Or space, fire, water, and earth.

And so we have an understanding of three different doshas based on different natural elements.

Right.

And so when we're connecting the nature to the people, it's not like you are a tree.

Right, Right.

More like you have certain behaviors and we also see them everywhere in nature.

Right, exactly.

So our doshas are funny because they change throughout our lives.

They change from moment to moment.

And so that's indicative that just like nature, you watch a seed and it starts to grow and it starts to expand into a plant, which becomes a tree, and then it makes fruit.

And all these things that we see in nature, that happens with ourselves as well.

So how do we know if we're in the right place in our dosha.

Wellness if we are not?

Well, if there's some kind of dis.

Ease or imbalance, whether that's emotionally or physically, you can guess that one of your doshas is out of balance.

And one way that that can present a couple of ways.

I know we're going to be talking about the specific doshas, but just to give a general balance, if you are quick to anger, then your pitta or your fire may be too much, and we may need to create some balance there with cooling foods or herbs or mental practices.

Yeah.

And like you said, Zoe, they can change moment to moment.

There are so many contributing factors.

The food we eat, our environment, the seasons.

There are lots of things that contribute to.

To what dosha is showing up for you the most in the moment.

And if your dosha is imbalanced, is it always a bad thing?

It is not a bad thing.

It is not a bad thing.

And we tend to latch onto these things, too.

I hear this a lot.

Oh, you're such a pitta.

And the translation for that is, oh, you're, you know, such a jerk or you're, like, so angry.

Well, I mean, there is what the other thing pitta stands for, but that's not.

That's a different spelling.

Exactly.

Right.

So, no, the short answer to that is no.

I mean, pitta is amazing.

Pitta.

The pitta quality, the pitta dosha is transformative.

Right.

It's made of fire and water.

So it's these.

When pitta dosha is predominant, then these people are filled with energy, and they have good ideas and they're strong leaders and they can transform things.

They're the ones who you want to assign the project to to get it done.

So there are a lot of good things around this pitta energy.

It's so.

So, no, it's not all negative.

Right.

The problem comes when you are imbalanced in a way that doesn't work well for you.

Right?

Right.

So if it's preventing you from doing something that you want or creating trouble that you don't know how to mitigate and adjust based on your lifestyle, then it's a problem.

But in general, we always have some predominances.

We are more like certain aspects of nature or more like a certain dosha.

And that could be a really beneficial thing at the time.

It's just not always.

And so that's where we work with your lifestyle in order to adjust so that you are living and being the kind of person that you want to be.

Right.

And there are so many contributing factors, like I said earlier.

I mean, we can work with environment, with food, with herbs, with movement practices, with breath, work practices.

All of these things can contribute to balance in your doshas.

Absolutely.

So what if you did one of those cute little online dosha quizzes?

It's so popular, you can find them on social media.

You can find them on all kinds of websites.

Do those mean anything?

I think in general that they are.

They can be a decent tool, entertaining, if nothing else.

But I do think that there is some validity to some of them if you get them on a reputable site.

But I do think it's better to work with someone who has some ayurvedic training and knowledge so that you really, really know.

And the only way to do that is to talk to an ayurvedic wellness practitioner or an herbalist or a wellness practitioner who has a background in ayurveda.

But.

But I think it's okay, you know, I think it's a fun thing to do to get online and try and figure it out.

And there's the concept of doshas changing and evolving.

Right, right.

And so if you take those little online quizzes, it really is kind of depend on when you take it.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

But when you work with a practitioner, you can get to your constitutional dosha, the one that you were born with, and compare that to what you might be experiencing right now to help you understand where you might be imbalanced but not realize it.

That is so true, Zoa.

And most importantly, map out a plan to get to where you will start to feel better in your mind and body.

Right.

And is it possible that you prefer a balance to your doshas, which is not your constitutional one that you were born with?

That's a super interesting question.

I think that sometimes we're out of our comfort zone when one of the other doshas may be better for us in the moment.

Right.

We are comfortable being in a certain state.

And so it's beneficial to have a guide wellness practitioner to suggest the idea that, hey, you're here right now.

How's this working for you?

You know, we may want to bring you over here.

It's going to be a little uncomfortable, but as we move through it, you will start to see the benefits both emotionally and physically.

So, yeah, I think there's a challenge there, but I think it's doable and I think oftentimes necessary.

And is it possible that if you're feeling kind of stuck in some and in some fashion in life, either with career or health or relationships, that that could be related to an imbalance in your dosha that can be easily shifted with lifestyle changes?

Most definitely.

That would be kapha imbalance, where there's stagnation.

So kapha is made up of earth and water.

So if you can visualize mucky, muddy, stuck, stagnant, and the way to move through that is to introduce maybe gentle movement practices to get you like yoga or walking, introduce light and airy and astringent foods, like to say, soak up that.

That muckiness.

Right.

So leafy greens, mental practices like puzzles or reading a challenging book.

There are certain ways to create balance, both physically and mentally through food and mindfulness practices.

So that.

So you might not need to hire a career coach or a therapist or any of these other people dealing with the problem that you have or the problem that you're identifying.

If you worked on yourself, your self care, then you might be able to shift those on your own.

Yeah.

And this is what's so great about you doing this episode on the doshas, right?

Because you're creating awareness.

And when people have awareness, knowledge is power.

Right.

So if you recognize, if you do one of those dosha quizzes and your move to meet with a wellness practitioner with some experience in Ayurveda and you know, hey, I'm stuck, I think this is kapha imbalance.

Then you have the tools within your reach to move through it without doing a lot of unnecessary things.

Awesome.

What else do you think our listeners should know about the concept of doshas in general?

I think let's not have an attachment to it.

Right.

Because like you said, they are always changing.

I think it's wise to know that it's a philosophy based on nature that is attainable for everyone to learn about.

But don't get stuck on it.

Don't, don't label yourself, don't label anyone else with doshas.

Understand that it's nature based, which means like everything in nature, it's always changing.

Well, I really enjoyed our conversation, Christine.

Do you want to let people know how they can find you and learn about all of the wonderful things that you help people with?

That would be great.

Thank you so much Zoa.

You can find me online at my website bloomeherbalclinic.com b l o o m bloomeherbalclinic.Com you can check out my musings on Instagram @christineinbloom and you can find me on Facebook @christineandbloom as well.

Great.

Thanks Christine.

Thank you Soha.

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