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    May 19, 2020 6 min read

    I first started studying Ayurveda few years before I launched Bright Body, and have continued my studies with great teachers since. There are Ayurvedic principles in all of our goodies, and we are in the process of developing more explicitly Ayurvedic products.

    In June 2020, we're launching our trio of Ayurvedic Body Oils (to parallel our Ayurvedic Facial Oils). To celebrate this launch we're hosting a free 5-week webinar series all about Ayurveda, held on IG Live. We're reposting the full video on IGTV and also breaking up the full video into shorter clips. Keep scrolling for the full video and the shorter clips.

    LEARN ABOUT OUR CUSTOMIZED AYURVEDA CONSULTS

    SHOP OUR AYURVEDIC FACIAL OILS

    FULL VIDEO (56:34)

    Watch the full IG Live below, or keep scrolling for shorter clips for the 10 tips. 

    Tip 1: Stop Drinking Ice Water (4:32)

    Drinking ice water dampens your agni (digestive fire), slows digestion and food breakdown, increases ama (toxins) in the digestive tract, and reduces absorption of vitamins, nutrients, and minerals, causing many bowel irregularities. In allopathic terms, ice water constricts blood vessels in the digestive tract, drastically decreasing blood flow and enzyme secretion. This has effects on digestion, metabolism, and your lymphatic system.

    Tip 2: Learn to Speak Your Poo's Language (9:43)

    Your poo gives you insight as to the state of your digestion and how you can balance it to feel your best.

    • The Vata digestive type (prone to irregularity, constipation, hard stools, and gas) needs to increase consumption of warming and grounding foods, and decrease consumption of raw, cold, bitter, and astringent foods.
    • The Pitta digestive type (prone to inflammation, acidity, and diarrhea) needs to increase consumption of cooling and grounding foods, and decrease consumption of pungent, sour, and salty foods.
    • The Kapha digestive type (prone to sluggishness, slow digestion, and heavy/mucousy stools) needs to increase consumption of warming and drying foods, and decrease consumption of sweet, sour, salty, and heavy foods.

    Tip 3: Learn to Love Cooking and Get Acquainted with Spices (3:09)

    Focus on cooking and eating foods with the most prana (energy) - fresh, whole, home cooked foods. Properly spicing your foods with the right mix of herbs and spices not only makes your food taste better but it also improves your digestion. Learning to (re)kindle your love of cooking will infuse more love and prana into your food. 

    Tip 4: Reduce your Intake of Leftovers and Minimize Usage of your Microwave (5:57)

    The longer food sits in the fridge, the more prana (energy) it loses and the more ama (toxins) it will produce in the digestive tract. Leftovers are also harder to digest due to reduced taste (rasa) and an increase in indigestible starch content. Nutrient content degrades with both time and reheating. Microwaves specifically create byproducts that cannot be metabolized and can disrupt endocrine balance. If you're going to eat leftovers, do so within 24 hours, add a little black pepper, and reheat on the stove/in the oven.

    Tip 5: When You Eat, Just Eat (4:50)

    How you eat is just as important as what you eat. Eating is a sacred ritual to provide nourishment to the body. Experiencing the tastes of your food improves digestion and absorption of food. Digestion is a complex set of hormonal signals between the gut and the nervous system, and stress (activated sympathetic nervous system) creates the opposite conditions for good digestion (activated parasympathetic nervous system). Mindful eating also helps reduce overeating.

    Tip 6: Reduce your Intake of Raw & Cold Foods (5:01)

    Raw foods are energetically cold and require very strong agni (digestive fire) to properly digest. Those with Vata and Kapha type digestion will have the most trouble, and consuming raw and cold foods in Vata and Kapha seasons (fall and winter, respectively) is not recommended. The best time to enjoy raw foods is Pitta season (summer), and at lunchtime. If you're enjoying smoothies, make them room temp for improved digestion and absorption.

    Tip 7: Routine, Routine, Routine (3:24)

    An Ayurvedic dinacharya (routine) includes sleep, food, movement, and time for stillness. Prioritize living in accordance with your circadian rhythm and boosting your gut health. Living in alignment with natural rhythms boosts immunity and metabolic health, and healthy digestion improves overall health, including and especially mental well being (90% of all serotonin is produced in the gut). 

    Tip 8: Make Oil Your Friend, Inside and Out (6:44)

    Eating the right kinds of healthy fats in proper quantities is essential for overall health. Fats are vital for cell membranes, hormones, brain, skin, and more. Ayurveda distinguishes between types and quantities of oil best suited for each of the doshas. Externally, oil on the skin is key for maintaining healthy skin and joints. The practice of Ayurvedic self-massage with oil (abhyanga) is deeply grounding and soothing. We will be releasing our whole herb-infused Ayurvedic Body Oils in June 2020. 

    Tip 9: Prioritize a Healthy Sex Life (1:53)

    The three pillars of Ayurveda are food, sleep, and sex. Kama (pleasure) is vital to health, and the mental/emotional experience of sex is just as important as the physical. Working through any blocks you have around sex is a deeply Ayurvedic practice. I recommend Katie Silcox's book: Healthy, Happy, Sexy for excellent guidance on Ayurveda and sexuality.

    Tip 10: Exercise to Energize, Not to Deplete (3:01)

    The goal of exercise is to boost prana (energy) and ojas (immunity). Overexerting will deplete both. If you feel energetically drained and exhausted after a workout, you're doing too much. This doesn't mean you only do the "easy workouts" or you never challenge yourself - it's a matter of respecting your edge and your tendencies.

    • Vata types tend to like to do fast-paced, constantly moving workouts. They need to learn to slow down and be more deliberate.
    • Pitta types are most likely to say "fuck that" to this advice and go way too hard in a workout. They need to learn to chill out and pace themselves.
    • Kapha types are the most likely to skip a workout or keep it super low key. They need to learn how to pick up the pace and kick it up a notch.

     

     

    LEARN ABOUT OUR CUSTOMIZED AYURVEDA CONSULTS

    SHOP OUR AYURVEDIC FACIAL OILS


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