About

Madeline Gustafson

Āyurvedic Practitioner, Holistic Birth Doula, and Postpartum Care Provider

While on a journey to India in 2012, I first encountered the wisdom of Āyurveda.  As a student of yoga, this complimentary science seemed familiar as it seamlessly organized and explained the elemental understanding of the world I was getting to know.  After finishing my training as a Hatha yoga teacher and receiving a RYT-200 hour certification from Aarsha Yoga Vidya Peetham in Mcleodganj, Himachal Pradesh, India, I knew that Vedic studies, and Āyurveda in particular, were a necessary undertaking for my lifestyle and future work. 

After some time intermittently travelling to gain cultural insight and working, including experience teaching yoga to elementary aged children and at juvenile detention centers, I began my studies at the Āyurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Two years of intensive study into practicing Āyurveda clinically along with subjects such as Sanskrit language, Jyotiṣa (Vedic astrology), and Āyuryoga, and the honor of many hours in the presence of Dr. Vasant Lad, BAM&S, MASc., I graduated and became a certified Āyurvedic Practitioner.  Shortly after finishing classes, I was hired into the Pañchakarma department at the Āyurvedic Institute, where I worked as a therapist administering treatments and putting my studies into practice. In November, 2020, I became a mother. My pregnancy and unassisted birth catapulted me into deeper studies of women’s hormonal health, rooted in wisdom of pregnancy and postpartum care found in Āyurveda and several other cultural traditions and modalities. I completed the Women’s Health and Hormones program with Dr. Claudia Welch, DOM and became certified as a Holistic Birth Doula with Whapio Diane Bartlett.

I recently completed certification in the INNATE Traditions Postpartum Care Provider training with Rachelle Garcia Seliga, and intend to apply the wisdom from this transmission to my existing practice with postpartum mothers in my community. Amidst my work with Āyurveda, I find endless value in food as medicine, employing it as a tool to empower people to weave potent healing potential into their lives at every meal. I can also be found learning from and about honey bees, and getting to know the plants in my immediate environment, applying their medicinal values to principles from Āyurvedic herbalism.

जय मा