Change Your Life with Ayurvedic Medicine with Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh
We turn to Western medicine whenever we feel any symptom of illness. Our automatic response is that something is wrong with our physical bodies. But if you take a moment to reflect, you'll find that these symptoms are often due to your lifestyle and environment. After all, we are connected to everything in nature. Thus, we need to live in harmony with it to achieve optimal wellness. Connection and balance are the core of the practice of Ayurveda.
Medical doctor and Ayurvedic practitioner Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh joins us to discuss questions around Ayurvedic medicine? She shares her realizations after shifting from Western medicine to Ayurvedic medicine. She also discusses Ayurveda’s principles, qualities, and elements. Finally, Dr. Avanti gives practical tips on how people can start applying it in their lives.
If you want to know just what Ayurvedic medicine is and how it can help you, you will find great value from this episode!
Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full episode:
What is Ayurvedic medicine, and how is it different from Western medicine?
Learn the three areas of remedies that will help you easily apply Ayurveda in your life.
Find out how you can start making small but profound changes in your life through Ayurveda.
Resources
The Health Catalyst: How To Harness the Power of Ayurveda To Self-Heal and Achieve Optimal Wellness by Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh
Create a daily meditation ritual in just seven days! Download BUILD YOUR DAILY MEDITATION RITUAL and other freebies at RadicallyLoved.com!
FREE Podcast Action Guide! Apply the lessons you learn from this episode as you listen! Sign up at RadicallyLoved.com, and I’ll send it right away.
This episode is brought to you by
Magic Spoon
Use code LOVED at checkout to save $5.00 off your order.
Manly Bands
Get 21% off plus a free silicone ring!
FLEX
Use code loved for 20% off Flex Disc Starts — or $10 off your first Flex Cup—plus free U.S. shipping!
Episode Highlights
The Health Catalyst
Dr. Avanti self-published this book amid the pandemic because she wanted to have it out without delay.
The idea came out as people constantly asked Dr. Avanti if she had a book from her teaching experience around Ayurveda.
In the book, she talks about how to apply Ayurveda along with her background around the practice.
Dr. Avanti shares that the book is part memoir and is meant to be a primer on Ayurveda.
The Shift from Western Medicine to Ayurvedic Medicine
Dr. Avanti had a health crisis during her medical training.
This experience urged her to take a hard look at her lifestyle.
Dr. Avanti questioned why she had no health issues in the first 20 years of her life when she lived at home.
She realized that, as the daughter of Indian immigrants, she grew up with Ayurveda.
After setting her sights on medical school, Dr. Avanti didn’t look back on the practice until her health crisis.
What Is Ayurvedic Medicine?
Ayurveda's basic principle says that we can access and have optimal health and wellness when we live in harmony with nature.
It can get complicated because human beings connect to everything in nature.
Dr. Avanti is not a proponent of the doshas when starting with Ayurveda because they're nuanced.
You first need to understand what imbalance is going on for you presently so you can get back into balance.
Ayurveda is a qualitative science. It’s crucial to describe the qualities of what you’re trying to heal.
Understanding the Qualities of Ayurveda
Everything in nature, including us, consists of five elements: air, space, fire, water, and earth. Every element has certain qualities.
There are 20 qualities or 10 pairs of qualities in Ayurveda.
You can apply qualities not only to people, animals, and plants but also to symptoms.
The golden principle of Ayurveda is like increases like, and opposites reduce.
The Counterbalance Solution
Step one: Identify what is the challenge you’re having and what are its qualities.
Step two: Apply the golden principle.
Listen to the full episode to learn the application of the counterbalance solution to anxiety!
There are three areas of remedies you can explore for self-healing. These include routines or daily rhythms, diets, and the tools of yoga.
You can easily apply Ayurveda to your life once you shift your mindset and understand that Ayurveda is qualitative.
Tips for Someone with a Stressful Routine
The most important thing is to create a schedule.
Have some touchstones throughout the day where your body and mind can go into relaxation.
Start your touchstones with sleep, wake, and meal times; these times are the most important.
Eating warm cooked foods and fluids helps ground you and is particularly helpful for people with anxiety.
Applying the Tools of Yoga
The three main yoga tools are breath, meditation or stillness, and movement or posture.
If you have anxiety, it’s better to visualize a mountain versus a flowing river
because mountains are solid and grounding.
Lengthen your exhale. Through this, you can calm the nervous system down.
If you want to ground yourself more, slow down your pace.
How Dr. Avanti Moved through Hectic Situations
Dr. Avanti admits she didn’t do it very well in the beginning. She went through many challenges and even got sick.
She was juggling being newly married, having two young children, and being in medical school.
After stopping and taking a good look at the situation, she started to incorporate the Ayurveda principles back into her life.
Ayurveda is about awareness and living consciously.
Collective Stillness from the Pandemic
Toxins create an imbalance within us, leading to symptoms, illness, and chronic diseases without remedy.
These toxins come from every aspect of life.
The pandemic allowed us to take a look at the different areas of our life.
As we’re reemerging from the pandemic, reflect on what you want to keep and get rid of.
Start Simply
Western culture tends to try and complicate everything.
Yet, the most powerful answers are simple.
Adding something small can be life-changing.
Tune in to the full episode to learn some examples of small but profound changes you can apply to your life!
Powerful Quotes from This Episode
[04:44] “Storytelling and journeys that, especially for those of us in the healing professions, in the helping professions, it has a lot of power to it when you explain why you're doing what you're doing. And it is it really inspires other people too.”
[09:10] “The basic principle of Ayurveda is that when we live in harmony with nature, we can access and have optimal health and wellness. Full stop.”
[15:20] “In Ayurveda, there's a basic principle I call the golden principle, which is like increases like, and opposites reduce. Literally, if you just remember that, you can apply Ayurveda to your life right now. Then, it's just a matter of practicing these concepts.”
[25:28] “Ayurveda, this way of living is really, at its basic level, about awareness. It's about living consciously, about being aware of why you're making the choices you're making, or you know, what's showing up for you. And then taking a look and saying, ‘Well, why is this showing up?’”
[30:46] “We tend, in our culture, in Western culture to try and complicate everything. And honestly, the most powerful answers are simple ones.”
About Dr. Avanti
Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh is a physician with more than 20 years of experience. She began her career as an ER doctor. Later, she recognized the limitations of Western medicine. Dr. Avanti then pursued the practice of Ayurveda. Today, she is a well-recognized and sought-after expert in integrative wellness and thought leader in Ayurveda.
Aside from that, Dr. Avanti is a certified yoga therapist and a plant-based professional. She is also the host of the Healing Catalyst Podcast. She has been featured on various media platforms, including Google, goop, The Huffington Post, Good Life Project, and more.
If you wish to connect with Dr. Avanti, visit her website and follow her on Instagram.
Enjoy the Podcast?
If you felt radically loved from listening to this podcast, subscribe and share it with the people you love!
Love to give us 5 stars? If you do, we'd love a review from you. Help us reach more people and make them feel loved.
Do you want more people to learn what Ayurvedic medicine is and benefit from it? A simple way is to share what you've learned today on social media.
Don't forget to follow and message us on these platforms!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosieacosta
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosieacosta
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/radicallylovedrosie
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@itsrosieacosta
To feeling radically loved,
Rosie