Āyurveda
What is Āyurveda?
One of the oldest known systems of medicine in the world, Āyurveda is vast and well-established. This traditional way of living teaches and empowers one to thrive harmoniously with Nature’s rhythms. Āyurveda views each human as a unique and divine individual, coming from their own set of experiences, environments, relationships, and beliefs.
Each living being is comprised of a specific combination of the five universal elements, or states of material existence, making up the bodily, physical constitution (prakriti) with its' natural state of equilibrium uniquely expressed in each individual. This balance of elemental influences is in a constant dance with the endless flow of experiences, conversations, meals, and lessons presented in each moment of life. Disease, imbalance, and disorder (vikriti) arise within the body and mind when food, experiences, emotions, and sensory input aren't properly digested and assimilated due to physical, mental and emotional toxins accumulating in the body.
Through practicing Āyurveda in daily life, illness can be prevented from arising and balance can be recovered when the innate state of well-being has been overcome by dis-ease. I am here to assist in guiding you on your path to sustained health through diverse offerings ranging from custom diet, lifestyle and herbal remedies to deeply therapeutic detoxifying programs and rejuvenating bodywork therapies that meet your unique needs and current phase of life.
Āyurvedic Consultation
Do you have struggles or concerns with digestion, interrupted sleep, skin conditions, or weight? Do you want to feel nourished and pain free? Do you wish you had more energy and mental clarity? Do you want integrated care for a medical condition?
Are you feeling overwhelmed and discouraged due to perceived infertility, or would you just like to prepare your body for pregnancy and birth?
Are your menstrual cycles irregular, painful, producing excessive blood, or nonexistent? Are you emotionally exhausted and overwhelmed around your periods?
Are you desiring support through menopause?
Do you just want to learn more about your cycles and become more in tune with the ever-changing nature of the female body?
In an initial Āyurvedic consultation, we will engage in a conversation about your expectations and goals and employ traditional assessments for diagnosis, such as pulse, tongue, and eye analysis, to address the underlying root cause of the health concern or ailment you are experiencing.
Together we will create a customized healing protocol that addresses each and every part of your unique constitution and current concerns. I will provide recommendations for dietary modifications, daily routine adjustments, contemplative practices, breathing and movement techniques, customized herbal formulas and body therapies to help your system arrive at and maintain a state of vibrant health.
Can be done in-person, online or by phone as needed.
60-90 minutes- $90
Follow-up Consultations
This is a shorter check-in after the initial consultation to follow progress and adjust or add recommendations or treatment protocols.
30-45 minutes- $30-45
To purify and cleanse the body of accumulated toxins arising from poor diet, unhealthy lifestyle and emotional factors that diminish digestive capacity, I will guide you through a detoxification process that can be done in the comfort of your own home. The recommended protocols are based on ancient Āyurvedic pañchakarma techniques. There will be an initial consultation to establish your unique requirements and provide you with a custom tailored step-by-step home cleanse protocol. Guidelines for your cleanse will include instructions for self-massage, how to make kitchari (the prescribed diet for your cleanse), and specific herbs and remedies to use to enhance your healing process.
$195-includes initial consultation, plus follow-up consultation mid-cleanse, and post-cleanse rejuvenation guidance
6-9 Day Guided At-Home Cleanse
Āyurvedic Yoga Āsana and Prāṇāyāma Instruction
After a short conversation, assessment and establishing client’s goals with yoga, the practitioner will create an individualized physical posture and breath control sequence for the client from an Āyurvedic healing perspective, followed by a private instruction practice session.
Like all other aspects of Āyurvedic treatment, personalized sequence of body movements, postures, and breathing techniques are paramount to a well-rounded Āyurvedic lifestyle. Āsana is the ancient practice of posture, or seat, classically employed for sitting meditation and in more modern times utilized as an exercise to increase or improve strength, flexibility and mobility within the body along with a sense of calm and clarity in the mind. Prāṇāyāma is discipline or control of the prāṇa, vital energy often understood as breath. Applying certain breathing manipulation and retention techniques along with subtle movements in the body from a seated posture, this range of breath control practices increases flow and volume of oxygen within the blood and brain, bringing balanced energy and stabilized mood.
Recommendation of specific āsana and/or prāṇāyāma practices to incorporate into current lifestyle, based on individual constitution and current health status or concerns will likely be included in a general Āyurvedic consultation. We also offer private instruction or group classes for these traditional physical yoga practices from an Āyurvedically individualized and healing perspective.
$75 -initial consultation
$50 -1 hour private instruction session
"Āyurveda is an art of daily living that has evolved from practical, philosophical, and spiritual illumination, rooted in the understanding of Creation.”
— DR. VASANT LAD, ĀYURVEDIC PHYSICIAN
FAQs
What can I expect from a Health Consultation?
In an initial consultation, after being asked extensively about daily routine, dietary habits, sleep, health concerns, symptoms, digestion, emotional tendencies, relationships, stressors and more, the Āyurvedic practitioner will use traditional assessments for diagnosis, such as pulse, tongue, and eye analysis. They will then come up with a detailed and thorough, yet approachable, set of recommendations or treatments specific to the client.
What kinds of remedies or treatments will be recommended?
The recommendations will likely include diet and eating advice and lifestyle incorporations such as prāṇāyāma techniques, sleep guidelines, stress management, and more. Herbal protocols which may include traditional Indian plants as well as some familiar western herbs, specific oils for self-massage (abhyaṅga), and/or medicated decoctions/concoctions will also likely be a part of the proposed protocol.
Treatments such as shirodhāra (continuous flow of warm oil to the forehead), external basti (an oil bath applied to a specific organ, joint or section of the body) or marma therapy (stimulation of specific energy points on the body to remove blockages and impart physical and psychological relaxation) may also be advised.
What is a “Guided At-Home Cleanse”?
Pañchakarma, translated as “five actions”, is the individualized process of detoxification, and is another important aspect of Āyurvedic treatment. This process is a series of a selection of ancient therapies that may include oil massage, therapeutic sweating, shirodhāra, bastis (internally as enemas or externally as oil baths) along with special herbal protocols and diet during an indicated duration in which one undergoes a deep and thorough cleanse. Some of these protocols may be recommended after a series of consultations, and many can be practiced at home under the guidance of a practitioner.
What types of health concerns can Āyurvedic Practitioners address?
Because Āyurveda is so grounded in the principles of individualized diagnosis and treatment, taking into account the unique physical constitution, lifestyle, relationships, and motivations for finding healing balance for each person, the variety of possible health concerns that can be addressed is essentially endless.
Digestion, hormonal imbalance, sleep, skin conditions, and weight concerns are a few of the common concerns an Āyurvedic practitioner may be familiar with treating. Most any symptom, illness, or ailment has a root cause which can be effectively treated, and eventually overcome, with proper treatment. The possible treatment protocols one may receive in a consultation is just as vast.