Unlocking the secrets of Ayurveda is like finding the ultimate cheat code for life! Ayurveda, meaning 'knowledge of life', is all about harmonizing the body, mind, and spirit. Zoa discusses how this age-old wisdom, passed down through generations, offers practical tips for living a longer, healthier life. Forget what you think you know about wellness; Ayurveda is personalized! It’s not about rigid rules; it’s about tuning into your body’s unique needs. We touch on the three pillars of life in Ayurveda: food, sleep, and yes, even sex! Each of these elements plays a critical role in our overall vitality. Zoa encourages us to listen to our bodies and embrace a lifestyle that promotes healing and joy. So grab a comfy seat and get ready for a fun, enlightening chat that might just change how you think about health and wellness!
Welcome to Sustain Your 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 Conner, 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.
Speaker A:
I'm here to introduce you to the concepts of Ayurveda. Ayurveda is made of two words, ayer, which means life, and veda, which means knowledge. So Ayurveda logically would be the knowledge of life.
It's a system of healing from ancient India. Life in this case, includes body, mind and spirit and knowledge.
This is ancient knowledge, ancient traditions that have been passed down orally from mother to daughter to granddaughter. These traditions are about how to live a long and healthy life. Ayurveda has been continuously practiced and passed down for thousands of years.
There are books. There used to be more, but now there's only a few ancient texts. They describe the practices, the principles, the ideas and the concepts.
But it's the oral tradition of mother to daughter that describes the wide range of actual practical applications, the oral traditions, that are important for today. Another way of describing Ayurveda is the science of longevity. Ancient peoples were interested in having as long of a good life as they could.
Yes, they may have died from wars or injuries, but they still had a vested interest in feeling good and staying alive to be with their people, the ones they love and the ones they take care of. The purpose of Ayurveda then was to maintain a high quality of life and to help it be a long one.
Ayurveda helps create a pathway to your own inner healer. Your body knows what to do, your body knows what it needs.
We just need to take away the roadblocks, find that path to what our own body tells us we need. In our modern world today, we get distracted pretty easily sometimes, and we need to learn to listen to our body. Ayurveda helps us do that.
It allows us to tune in and receive the messages from ourself, to see what do we need in order to feel better, to have a long life, to have increased vitality, and to live with Joy. Ayurveda kind of requires an understanding of your own unique body, mind and consciousness.
They're intertwined and they're connected in all the ways that matter for healing. Your body is different than someone else's. It's different than your mother's, your sisters, your husbands, your daughters, and it changes.
But many of the practices of Ayurveda are ones that you're familiar with. The use of herbs, movement practices like yoga, unconscious thinking, like meditation or prayer.
Ayurveda may have come from India, but it does not require you to be Indian. It doesn't require you to use only the foods and plants from India. It doesn't require you to use ancient cooking techniques or fancy tools.
You can use the Ayurvedic concepts and the basic practices and the philosophies that they have spread over the entire globe, even if they're not called Ayurveda in a different location. Ayurveda is intended to be personalized. It's intended to be brought locally. If you're in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern U.S.
you use the local plants and the local culture and the local traditions to create that longevity. The principles are the same. You can take Ayurveda and compare it to traditional Chinese medicine. India and China have a long relationship.
Many of the practices that you find in traditional Chinese medicine are also present in Ayurveda, but they're not exactly the same. Different plants, changes of practices, the same basic concepts.
Ayurveda weaves together, services, healing concepts, and treatments of all different types to support the healing and longevity of a particular person. It's truly interdisciplinary, integrated, and multimodal. In Ayurveda, there are three basic pillars of life. Food, sleep, and sex. Yep, you heard that.
Food, sleep, and sex.
And maybe the food is about what you do eat and about what you don't eat, or about what you need to eat right now and what you might need to eat at another time. Certain foods that help certain things in the body go on. Other foods that add challenges. Sleep. Sleep is important. It's complicated.
Without good sleep, you can't heal. Sleep is about your nervous system. It's about your environment. It's about the inside of your body and the outside.
Good quality sleep fixes so many problems. You can see why it's a pillar in Ayurveda. And then there's sex.
Sexual energy, the creation of it, the use of it, the support of your sexual energy in order for you to make things happen in the world. Growing a business, growing a baby, growing a relationship. These all require your sexual energy. Supporting yours is a matter of staying vital.
You can't have longevity in the body without good growth and support and use of your sexual energy.
So these three pillars of life in Ayurveda, the way that you support these pillars, the way that you create them, what you do with your lifestyle, that depends on you.
But if you focus on food and sleep and your sexual energy, those are the basics you can use Ayurveda from watching, reading, picking up bits and pieces here and there. That's certainly what I did for many decades.
When you're ready to put all those pieces together and to use the principles of Ayurveda to create your lifestyle both at home and while you're traveling, I encourage you to create a session with me. Let's have a chat. Let's see what we can do to use the principles of Ayurvedic to support your lifestyle, your health and your vitality.
Speaker A:
If the Sustain Your Vitality podcast is helping you understand what you need to feel fabulous in every way with the least amount of effort, please share the show with someone who also needs it.
Sharing is easy, just use the sharing link in the show notes the Sustain your Vitality podcast is a gift from Zen and Vitality with Zoa LLC and Intentional Vitality Retreats based in the State of Maryland, USA. All the podcast things planning, recording, editing, producing have all been done by me, Zoa Conner, Ph.D.
Even though you can call me doctor, I'm not a medical professional and your safety is your responsibility.
By listening to this podcast and understanding that any movement, nutrition, lifestyle or health protocols discussed, you are agreeing to take full responsibility for your actions. Zen and Vitality with Zoa are not responsible for any injuries or issues that may occur.
This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for personalized medical, wellness, nutrition, lifestyle or movement and fitness advice. Always practice any fitness or movement related activities in a safe and environment.
I make no claims about the effectiveness of the techniques or protocols discussed for you or any specific results that you may achieve. I recommend you consult with your healthcare professional before changing your diet, exercise, routine or healthcare plan.
Zen and Vitality with Zoa and the guest of this podcast are not liable for any injuries or health problems that may arise from following the information presented.
