Know Nature, Know Yourself: The science of Ayurveda with Mira Katyal
Transcript
Mira Katyal 0:01
There's also another issue I found that now we have a flood of information and the information is disconnected and you don't know you're shooting in the dark. Should I drink this juice? Should I take that protein shake? Should I have an extra smoothie? So there's nothing behind it which will, unless it's just your personal observation and a trial and error, but Ayurveda doesn't have this trial and error, it has a big theory behind it that explains how these things work. So you are not doing random things.
Ericka Thomas 0:33
Welcome to the Work IN. Your Guide to Natural Ways out of stress, tension and trauma. My name is Ericka Thomas. I'm a certified trauma release exercise provider health coach, and yoga instructor, and I'm fusing my 20 plus years of experience to bring you a new perspective on health and wellness. I believe that true health and healing begins and ends with the nervous system. And that means, for most of us, we need to reintroduce those connections. The great news is that we can, and that's what the Work IN is all about. Throughout this podcast, you'll find tools, resources, practices, people, and perspectives that will help you add to your own resilience arsenal and shake off the effects of all sources of chronic physical, mental, and emotional stress, My intention is solely to bring you information and empower you with permission to stop working out and start working in.
The work IN is brought to you by Kinetic Grace resilience, kinetic grace is an online program designed to teach safe self regulation of the stress response through the body. Using trauma release exercise guided body awareness, and the breath. The program includes private instruction, exclusive access to certified providers at 30 days of group classes. And because it's online, kinetic grace is available anywhere you are. Enrollment is open now. Visit elementalkinetics.com to learn more.
Welcome to the Work IN everyone. Today, I'd like to introduce you to Mira Katyal and I am so happy to have her on the program today because I have for a long time been very interested in Ayurveda and ayurvedic medicine. So let me tell you a little bit about Mira. She comes from a family of four doctors of Western medicine. However, it was only when she rediscovered the ancient wisdom of her heritage echoed, time and again through the wise and intuitive, did she start her own personal journey towards health and happiness.
After narrowly avoiding becoming a doctor as gently encouraged by her father, Mira went ahead and studied psychology. Then she obtained her MBA and worked for two decades in marketing and customer service, but the work never pulled on her heartstrings. After her own journey into alternative healing she found her calling and launched her own company, Mira Om offering education and consultation on healing through emotional distress lifestyle therapy, because the surest way to know you are in or out of balance is through your feelings. Mira says chronic agitated emotions are a sure sign of imbalance, chronic digestive ailments or another, Mira believes it's time for humanity to re embrace Mother Nature and her gentle but strict wisdom. By aligning mother nature's laws to regain mental and physical balance with the help of Ayurveda, yoga, and yoga therapy, Reiki, lifestyle and diet, we can have better sleep more peace of mind, better digestive power, reduced illness, and a greater ability to seize the moment within our circumstances.
So let's start our work IN today, with Mira Katyal. Welcome Mira I'm so happy to have you.
Mira Katyal 4:14
Thank you, Ericka. Thank you for spreading the light of Ayurveda!
Ericka Thomas
You come from a family of western medical doctors. I’m really curious about how your health journey led you to Ayurveda and alternative healing.
Mira Katyal
It is all the problems, the tiny tiny problems that we all experience that I went into this because my kids were born in 1996. They were twins and they had low immunity.They would fall sick every month, they would have fever, cough cold. I was unable to give them too much breast milk as well so I was aware that their immunity is low. So I went to my doctor. I was living away from my family and in the Middle East, and I said, Do you have anything to boost their immunity so that they don't fall so frequently sick, and she did prescribe something. I'm somehow I just didn't take it.
But at that time google or whatever, internet was a bit coming up, and I found a lot of knowledge from a well known Prophet sleeping prophet called Edgar Casey from USA near Virginia, and he's a hardcore Christian but when he went under a trance he would answer any question and a lot of the stuff he says parallels what Ayurved says. Anyway, I did not know about Ayurveda but he did mention a soup or juice, about immunity. So he said if you drink or celery, lettuce, and carrot you can improve your immunity. I still remember thinking that the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.We are into science and vaccines and antibiotics and the whole world has progressed, So how can a carrot, improve your immunity. But anyway, being curious and experimental I did give my kids regular juice.
And it took me three, four years to be convinced that this is working because every September when school opens there is flu season. And all the kids, they tend to get the flu from each other. And I noticed that they were not getting the flu, or they were rarely getting it, even though their friends and neighbors and cousins were getting it. And then it's clicked that he's right. I mean, there is something in these three vegetables that can help boost your immunity.
Then I said okay, whatever he's saying is, I mean he hasn't done any research in labs or anything and he had access to this sort of divine source of knowledge, but what he was saying was truthful, based in fact because if you did it, and it works, that means it's based in truth. Its a very holistic thing then again, I had a lot of stuff like allergies and back pain and moods, you know, get depressed every now and then with stress. All of these I have one by one, use a lot of holistic medicine to turn around, like, my father would just take this pill take that pill. But a lot of it has gone was.
Ericka Thomas 7:11
Yeah, and, and it's great that you gave it so much time, first of all because when you are working holistically. It's not like a pill, it's, you can't just drink a juice once, and cure anything, it is how the body takes those nutrients out of the food, and then basically does the work for, for you, it heals itself we just have to give it what it needs, what it's asking for.
Mira Katyal 7:42
Exactly. There's also another issue I have found that now we have a flood of information and the information is disconnected and you don't know you're shooting in the dark. Should I drink this juice Should I take that protein shake, should I took a smoothie. So there's nothing behind it which will, unless it's just your personal observation and trial and error, but Ayurveda doesn't have this trial and error, it has a big theory behind it that explains how these things work. So you are not doing random things.
Ericka Thomas 8:15
So let's get into that a little bit so can you. Let's just start at the beginning, because I don't know how much other people understand about what Ayurveda is. So let's just start at the very very beginning, can you explain Ayurveda, in a way that maybe someone who's never heard of it can understand, and maybe how it connects to some of these other things that we maybe have heard of, like yoga and some other things.
Mira Katyal 8:44
So India is a very old spiritual culture. A lot of the knowledge over there came from spiritual sources where you can say hardcore monks, which we call Seers or Yogi's they would meditate for their whole lifetime. And they were devoted to knowledge and they received a lot of information. It's not just that they invented this or discovered it just by themselves, they were supported.
And there was a culture at that old time maybe 6000 years ago approximately, and people wrote these scriptures, especially the Vedas and out of these the sciences emerge. Now the basic theory of binding, all of these sciences, whether it's yoga or even I would say in Eastern Astrology it's called Jyotish, and Ayurveda, they're all linked through the Vedas and the same theory. And it says that this, this place has been created through the five elements. And there's a deep, profound theory behind that.
But the thing is that even though it's a beautiful creation there is contrast, everything there is light and dark, pain and happiness, heat and cold, and nobody can escape this. But these things cause happiness as well as suffering which is like mutual happiness and sadness. But, the creator himself doesn't have the sufferings because He is above all this contrasts. And so even though every creature is born here and can enjoy life, sooner or later they also have to encounter pain.
So these systems, like you get sick, were given to mankind to reduce suffering so Ayurveda’s for the body to body wellness, yoga is for the mind. And there's also a lot of, you know, we believe in rebirth and karmic cycle, which again is another source of suffering for that astrology, so Ayurveda focuses more on the body, either means, age, or your lifespan and data means knowledge. So it is the knowledge of how to improve your longevity and have a high quality life. It is not the attempt to beat death. It is simply to make your life as pleasant as possible while you are on.
And because the whole universe is composed of the five elements, there is no, it's not going to have a different law in America and a different one in Indiana a different one on Mars or it's the same laws throughout the universe, you understand this, the elements, you will understand how your mind works, you will understand how your emotions work, you will understand your body, you will understand each.
Ericka Thomas 11:47
So let's, so let's talk about what those elements are, what are those elements that make everything up?
Mira Katyal 11:54
So first is the space element came into being, which is the universe or the body or glass, anything which, in, in circles. There's other stuff. Then there's a movement, which is the air element, and then comes when there's friction fire element is caused, and the fire element produces water element and the water element produces the earth element which is matter.
Now these elements can be very gross where you can touch and feel them but they can also be so subtle that you don't, you can't touch them, they're, and they have an intelligence, and they are interdependent on each other, and they have, they work in, in a certain order, nobody can change that. Creation has created that order, we can either flow with the order, or we can go against it, as when you flow with the nature you're in maximum health and happiness when you move against it, that's when you increase your distress disease. Karmic issues, everything.
To simplify it, we eat, and ingest all these five elements on a daily basis. We breathe air, we drink water, or there's water in our food, we eat food which is earth element. We have fire in our stomach, which we have to support. I mean when the oxygen circulates. There is fire, if you have a very high fever. That's a very high fire or you get very cold, then you're losing the fire, so the body has to maintain it actively 20% and space is our body and our mind or spirit.
Ericka Thomas 13:45
Yes. Okay so, in Ayurveda, how do you learn how to move in flow with the nature.
Mira Katyal 13:58
So the first thing is that we are born with the Constitution, with the five elements, but some of the elements can be more or less. So, if you have more of some elements you will be more prone to imbalance them easily. So, the basic thing is first to check the Constitution.It’s called prakriti. And there's a quiz and observation and everything you can check what you are. And then you have to check how much you moved away from it. This is called prikruti it's called imbalance.
So let me give you an example, supposing you are a person with a lot of fire in your constitution. Now you can have a lot of mental fire and physical fire, both are only one of them. So if you have a lot of physical fire you would like to do a lot of sports activities go out party, you want to, you're ambitious you want to grow. This is all manifestation of the fire and. But if you miss if you, if you eat spicy food if you live in a hot country if you are a workaholic now the fire will become a wildfire and start burning you.
Now instead of the workaholic, working out harder, they have to actually rest. Only then they will come back to balance. So supposing a client comes in their work or their have a Pitta imbalance, which is the firewall. And they love doing Power Yoga and running and jogging, I would actually say you have to, you know, take a break, I mean, soften it, go for a walk, go for a swim. And that will affect not only the body that temperament, will stop being so irritable and angry.
Ericka Thomas 15:48
So let's talk about what those three constitutions are and kind of give give a little bit of a little explanation about each one I'm sure people are gonna be like the naming, that sounds like me.
Mira Katyal 16:01
So, very conveniently, the five elements are divided into three constitutions. So the bottom, which ... I'm just going to show you my cups because I've created some characters, you know, this is the Vatta person you know ... and creative. I like to call her baby, so she is made of more space and air, so she doesn't have that much matter to hold her down, so she can easily get depleted, she can easily get anxious, and she can easily get fearful, worried, neurological disorders, because there's not enough material in her body. So she's too much air and space. Now, if she's going to do something which will increase air, like for example, if she's going to overthink or she's going to have too much salad which is a very light, diet, then she's going to increase the ... and then instead of being anxious, or neurological disorders 10 years later she's going to predispose them to maybe five years early, just because she's now fanning the vatta with her lifestyle. So what she needs to do is ground herself, sleep very well.
The first thing for the Vatta person is to protect their sleep regime. Very, very important. Sleep comes down to Vatta and they are the first ones to get disordered. Is restlessly broken sleep fidgety. They just don't have good sleep, you know when they're imbalanced I'm not talking about a balanced we're talking about an imbalance like that. They cannot, they, they just get very high strung. If there's an exam, they are more hysterical than the average person because they have nothing to hold on, because they're. It's like they're a kite in the sky. How can they hold on to the ground. So they have to come down, literally, and ground themselves. And they'll see the difference.
Mira Katyal 18:24
You'll sleep better, their bones will ache less. They will feel more cheerful, they'll have less gas in their stomach. Because that's another sign that you start bloating and gas. So you can feel this from any angle, from your food, from your lifestyle briefly, the way you think, all of them can just attack your stomach and become gassy. Because we don't know how the Vattas any imbalance is going to start showing up again because there are so many options inside the body.
Ericka Thomas 18:59
So that's a better use, you talked a little bit about the Pitta personality that one. Yes.
Mira Katyal 19:09
Yeah, so the Pitta is the driven person, and also naturally more males have fire. Okay, this is speed, and he likes to really excel in everything, whether it's in competitions or in sports, or in the organization, he's a good planner.
Mira Katyal 19:28
He wants to challenge himself today I'm going to do two kilometres next year. I'm going to be four kilometers. Maybe they always have this feeling. What am I doing today, what am I achieved today. This is their constant refrain in their mind that they feel dissatisfied a lot, or have to achieve them, they're always like milestone achievers. It’s good, we all need to achieve that, but again when they go into imbalance, then they start getting aesthetically they will have inflammation skin breakout, they will be very irritable, very angry, very critical. They're just a little bit hard to be around because they just snap at people a lot. People tend to dump them, depending on how, how much aggravated and how much fire. They also cannot sleep well because they're always like, oh I have to do this, I have to do that, there's the ration is sleep is very short and also to start.
So you, everybody will perform much better if they're a balanced version of themselves, that actually the Pitta will achieve far more in life. If they're balanced, and so will the Vatta, and so will the Kapha, and they're made of the big players made of the fire, and water element.
And the last is kapha, this is Kati, so she's made of water and earth again as you can see she's a little bit more curvaceous because she's very endowed with water and earth elements so they have soft skin, plump cheeks, they have strong bones sturdy ankles and joins. They are very peaceful. It's hard to rile them. But once they get mad they get stubborn, or they sulk. And it's hard for them to get up in the morning, they want to sleep in which is not good, of course, because the earth element is heavy, so they don't, They it's hard for them to get up, Pitta walk fast do everything fast, they're more like elephant energy No, they will do a lot, but don't expect them to be quick. And I like to call Vatta the bird. She's everywhere but don't expect her to pull a load. Pitta is the Lion, the king of the forest, tells everyone what to do.
Ericka Thomas 22:03
So that covers pretty much every personality type. Yes, that there is, but how do you know, now here's what I know very, very fundamental, just a very little bit about how to figure out which constitution, you are. But I do know that the way you are now as an adult may not really be your true constitution. So, how do you figure that part out? Where, where in your history, are you looking to find that true constitution?
Mira Katyal 22:44
So the thing is the constitution per se doesn't change, it just gets imbalanced so what happens is your, like for example if I take my example I have a lot of Vatta energy so in my childhood. It was not a problem. I was very curious,I would climb trees. I was perfectly healthy, so nobody's going to go to a doctor or find out what's my constitution or anything. As I became older, I was a worrywart. It was my habit, even if you have a problem I start worrying about it was such a inbuilt thing inside me, you know, I was always worrying about all the family members and their problems, and it was such a ingrained habit, you don't even realize who you are because you're not paying attention to it.
Also I love to...Vatta they're very, they are seeking information and experiences so I'm always big with the 21st century 24 Seven media, TV, phone, you always have access to information and too much information just dumps on you. That's why ADHD is going up, you know, that's why mental diseases is going up because everybody is on, on social media or on the internet, and they're not sleeping, they're doing two things. Three things actually, junk food, not sleeping properly within the proper hours and too much media. So,it's inevitable everybody is going to have some mental disorder, this mental mood disorder.
Ericka Thomas 24:23
When you describe those three constitutions, I feel like for me I have moved in and out of all of those throughout. So what makes someone a balanced.
Mira Katyal 24:37
Yeah constitution so we, there are actually seven combinations, these are the only three basic ones, we can be, what the kafir, or we can be. And even, each one will be different because one will be more one will be less. So, it's just how much, like if you take this is your body and you have the elements, five elements, someone has this much earth and only this much air. Someone has this much air and only this much earth.
So, We are a container with the five elements, depends on how much is the proportion of each and because none of us can survive without the five elements. Everybody has a fire and they have a body temperature, everybody has a body, and matter. So everybody has Earth. It's just that someone has more and someone has less. Now how do you know you're imbalanced, you have this list of problems. It just a system. Your sleep, your skin, your movement, your poop, your tongue. Your everything, your emotions.
So when we, when a proper Ayurveda consultant sits with the, with another potential client. It actually takes him almost two hours to receive all the information. So you because it's showing up in the body, right, so if you are, if I'm a vatta person and I have balanced whether my skin will not be dry and to be normal. But the more my skin, the more I have dryness inside me, the more my skin will become dry and this has happened to me.
I had such, I came from the Middle East to Canada. Canada's a cold country. So cold over here means more Vatta. So suddenly my heels and everyday thing became dry. My skin became dry. I remember going to a beautician and she said, your skin is so dry, I would put lotion on, nothing would happen. And those heels and there was no treatment for them. My husband used to look you can use them as sandpaper.
I had used all the things you do Burt's Bee vasoline on the thing of paraffin or cleaning and scrubbing and never did it. He didn't I started by learning Ayurveda and my teacher says, You should apply sesame oil. Sesame Oil is the most moisturizing, maximum densest heaviest oil. so for Vatta’s that's a very good oil. And he said, I have never seen anyone who has not used this for six months and that heels healed.
So I said, Neither one of those tags on it. But anyway, because I started learning Ayurveda, and I actually took out all my lotions and I got a bottle of cold pressed, sesame oil, And my daughter's they're using these expensive lotions $100 $80 per bottle kit, you know $500 And I said throw them all out otherwise they are useless just use natural oil that God made.
And They said Oh Mama is bad blah blah. Anyway, my skin started improving. I said, oiling my skin, my heels became better. I wish I'd taken a photo of the time when my heels were like sandpaper.
And one fine day I find that my daughters are using oil now because they get the shiny skin now. And, okay, my skin improved, that's fine. But now that I've been doing it for maybe two plus years, I started noticing other things that even my, even though I'm not doing hardcore either but somehow my stomach also slightly improved, just by applying oil because my now my body didn't fight for moisturizing resources. My skin was okay, so they probably the body could devote more moisture to my insides. So it's just that it grows in feet. That's why I like Ayurveda You know, It just doesn't stop because it's done its job for the skin. Because now your water element is fixed over at the skin level it starts improving inside the body. Inside this just builds and builds and builds it's actually quite fun. I love Ayurveda. It's such a beautiful,loving healing science, And I say, the best place to start Ayurveda is in your kitchen. By the homemaker, the biggest guide Ayurveda that you will put on a pedestal is the homemaker sitting in the kitchen with their foods and ingredients and oils, nourishing the whole family.
Ericka Thomas 31:14
So I love that it is really nourishing and, and your story completely illustrates how connected everything is. You can't just fix one thing and not have that effect, everything. And then that the flip side of that, one thing can't be wrong and have it not affect everything else as well.
So let's go a little deeper, how diet, how our diet, the types of foods that we are putting on our plate can affect that overall balance of constitution. So a lot of people are out of balance with what they eat, you're in Canada, I'm in the United States, and we in the United States have something called a standard American diet, and that the acronym for that is sad, sad and that's what it is it is very sad,( by the doctor or by the Americans) by the Americans is a SAD diet, and it's just all of the way that we process our food here just regular, everyday food, and there's a lot of food politics that has gone on through many, many years of course. And we don't really have time to get into that side of things, but it's almost like we have removed ourselves from natural food from real, whole food. And so let's talk a little bit about how Ayurveda can kind of move people back to that better relationship with just stuff that grows out of the ground, basically.
Mira Katyal 33:01
That's why I call this Ayurveda is the Mother Nature. So there's so many millions and billions of fads out there so it's hard for people to know what to do, right, because today the science is saying someone's saying do the better style. Do this, do that. There is no theory behind it. But I will say, Who created us, nature,
Mira Katyal 33:25
so let us listen to nature, if this fails go back to your old life. But first give nature a chance.
So, Ayurveda stands on three pillars. The first pillar is food and diet. The second is sleep, and the third is called Bhramachari, which is a kind of restraint or celibacy, and I'll explain the importance of each pilla.
The gateway to the body is through the mouth and the stomach. So anything you put inside is going to affect your body composition, and how it's going to perform in the long run. So food is one of the biggest pillars and what you put in your mouth is one very big pillar for your body.
The second pillar is sleep, which is, which nourishes the mind and emotions. So if you don't sleep properly never expect to be, well, emotionally and mentally. You cannot.
And the third pillar is now you've taken care of the body through food and you've taken care of the mind and emotions through sleep. And sleep means rest, and also deep breaths like meditation and everything this is not just nightly, I'm talking about the deep breaths.
Once the body, mind and emotions is taken care of, the third pillar is your spiritual connection to God, which cannot be obtained unless you follow the rules of nature which is really restraint. You can't just do anything you want. This is what it is and practicing that restraint on all the levels is that which lifts your spirits and opens your, your, your mind and conscience and experience to spiritual experiences which is impossible without the third pillar.
So, again, if a person is sick, there's no point in talking about spirituality, because it's too far. First we have to take care of the body, we have to eat everyday to maintain our body if your body dies, your mind and emotions and spirit dies, everything ties together. That's what the first pillar is food because the food, the body is the container for your mind and emotion and spirit. So, once the body is nourished, then we move on. So the food is very important, don't trust anybody except God say or nature if you don't believe in God. Eat what nature produces, as, as much as the original condition, and try to make it yourself. When you process food yourself, it's like a love affair with nature, and your stomach. When you make your meal. Okay, I will give you a chance to make a meal yourself from scratch, have that. And then notice how you feel the whole day in your stomach, and then buy a piece or the next day and eat that and notice how your stomach feels towards the end even your mind, just do this experiment. Most of the time unless you're making an exact replica of the pizza, you will feel lighter and better with your own home cooked food.
Ericka Thomas 36:31
Yeah, yeah, I love that. I personally feel like food is my own love language, and that was a shift. Once I figured that out. I used to just feel like that when I was preparing food for other people, but now I feel like that is across the board, even when I'm preparing a meal for myself just for myself if, even if I don't have to take care of someone else. And I think that's missing for a lot of people, the way they look at what they put on their plate. It's rarely something that they do, as an act of love or an act of self love for themself. And I think we lose so much of that connection. And I know a lot of of how we eat really is rooted in kind of our relationship, almost a religious relationship with food, and I've had other guests that have said that, you know changing how you eat can be like changing your religion.
And I think for a lot of people, they don't realize how, how much they associate or identify who they are, with how they are eating. And so when it comes to the point where, maybe you've visited the doctor and something has to change, you have to change something about what you're doing in order to improve your health in some way to be able to stay on this planet for a little bit longer. That can be really a shock to the system and now you have to change everything about, you know, how you shop for food how you prepare your food how you eat your food. And what and I think that that where you've said it several times the word nourish and I think that that concept is really kind of missing in our dialogue about how we eat is, is this food actually nourishing us, and you can apply it to those other pillars, as well, sleep that is nourishing, or meditation that is nourishing for the mind. And then when we set boundaries around the things that we do the things that we consume the media that we consume, are these things nourishing us in some way. So I think that's a really beautiful piece that I that I see quite, quite a bit in Ayurveda,
Mira Katyal 39:09
Actually, Ayurveda goes one step further, so they're not just talking about how the food nourishes you, they said, even the mood of the cook influences the food, and it affects the people eating the meal.
And so you should not make food when you are very angry, and also you should not eat food when you're angry because whatever you eat will become poisoned. Like not poison in that typical sense, it just that it will not be digested properly and when, and when foods are not digested properly, it doesn't nourish the blood properly, and that's the whole cycle of disorder starts.
So, if, eat little bit, but eat good quality food, and in a very peaceful place so that 100% goes to nourish you instead of 50% is burnt off and thrown away and this is further, you can use food as spiritual tool, because there is a concept which is called in Ayurveda the satvik, when you start becoming Satvic you actually start spiritualizing yourself. So food is even a spiritual tool in America.
Ericka Thomas 40:19
That's beautiful. That is, that's beautiful. So, I mean we touched a little bit on how the Constitution is and also how food can kind of affect our mindset and our emotions so how can we use these, these principles to help us with stress levels.
Mira Katyal 40:40
Okay so for Pitta person... Everybody has stress and like we all agree, there is no place on earth where there's no stress, and there are provocations and triggers, but each person will react to the stress, according to their constitution, and also according to the level of the aggravation of the constitution. So when I have. Supposing all all three three of us have the same stress, the topic takaful. So the Vatta will start getting fidgety, high strung or hysterical, whatever, you know, the Pitta will get very angry. Very, but it depends, violent even, I mean depends on how much, what is the composition of fire, and the Kapha will withdraw go into the game, not come out for maybe two days, not shave or eat.
So, now supposing the Kapha person is imbalanced. And this of course has a stressful job, And then they eat a lot of ice cream at 12 in the night because they're emotionally disturbed. Now, for sure, next day is going to be worse, because now you've added more heavy energy to your body. And instead of feeling better you're going to become even more irritable or depressed whatever the Pitta person is going to have more spicy fried food more hot sauces, and that will just flare up his anger more, and the Vatta person is just going to have some tea, coffee, and just walk around maybe skip a meal and be even more agitated next day.
So what I will say is one. First thing, when you go to an Ayurveda with a psychologist, let's pretend they're a psychologist. First, counseling, they first take this warm tea. Drink it.
Mira Katyal 42:39
Settle down, let me oil your back. Let me Why are your feet wrapped in a blanket. Now tell me what is going on. So first we're going to settle the body. So now the Pitta person comes Pitta people are very, they don't listen, they don't, they cannot hear your viewpoint, if it contradicts theirs. They are very, they're always right. Anyway, so if you suppose in your marriage with a person and you're trying to make a logical argument. Mark my words, it's gonna say. So, after learning
Mira Katyal 43:16
Ayurveda you know what to do. Give them something cooling, like a rose drink or something, say something nice to them appreciate them. All you did this, this was wonderful. You did this wonderful and now they're relaxed, and then say, you know that issue, very gently in a sweet voice. Can we do this, and they're now their guard is down, and they might listen to you, you know, like you challenge them, They will run after you.
Ericka Thomas 43:49
So it sounds like it yeah it sounds, it sounds like the opposites, creates the balance for people
Mira Katyal 43:58
That says what are the opposites in the cure is in the opposite.
Ericka Thomas 44:08
So how do you know how much of that opposite that you need without taking you completely into, you know, imbalanced the other way,
Mira Katyal 44:16
That would be very rare, because most of the people succumb to their nature, and they just keep doing what their urges are, but as soon as you develop self awareness, self control, and you start doing the opposite. You will start just noticing that your stomach is less disturbed your sleep is better, and your mood is better. Unless you are depleted. It can happen, especially when you have advanced diseases, you have all the Constitution system of this imbalanced.
So once one is settled the other one shows up as disorder, then, then that's when you were saying, I felt like I have been these things all the time, some of the time it's because if you have one layers pacified, that the other disturb layer starts showing up, is so that you have, it's, it's not a healing which will happen in one day it's layer healing, but the middle rows is the same for everyone. If you stay within the zone of balance,
Mira Katyal 45:24
then everybody's feels healthy and happier, it is nothing, it's not after all this person will more have, it's just that the balance zone you have to reach the balance of that zone. And then everybody feels because health and happiness exists in the balanced. So, for every creature on earth.
Ericka Thomas 45:46
Yeah, and that's actually really good to know. Right, I mean that's really our, our goal that's what everybody wants to get back to. We want to feel healthy and happy all the time. That's really why we're seeking,
Mira Katyal 46:04
So many other things, it's easy to argue the like a garden. So, you know, some plants need more water some nourishment less water gloat over watering your plant or under.
Ericka Thomas 46:11
Yes.
Mira Katyal 46:12
And how do you know when the plant is healthy? When it's doing well. Yeah, when it's too dry or it starts rotting, you know it's not great well so again that's too much water or too little water again you're going into the imbalance. So this theory works on plants as well on animals as well. Everything even in nature like if it's just now becoming too hot, so that's why you're going to have more more wildfires what should or do too much fire.
Ericka Thomas 46:46
Yes, It's, it seems like there is so much to know and to understand about Ayurveda.So, how do you start, Where do you just get started, if you're interested in kind of moving towards this more natural way of healing. What would you recommend for people who are interested in that.
Mira Katyal 47:10
So actually there are traditionally two ways either people go for a consultation, they tell their problems, then they do whatever it is they're told, and they go back to their life without learning about it. Or they go into the education program, and then so connected.
I think a person when they come to you, they should start immediately with the problem, pressing problems in their life. Everybody has problems. Further, except the rare Yogi's everybody should have a set of problems, and you start tackling those problems once you start tackling you get very encouraged, and if you see the ease of it, and it might arouse your curiosity, and you should start learning about it.
Because you don't have to be as iron with a doctor or anything. Just learn enough to nourish yourself and your family if you don't. Every person should not need to be an Ayurvedic specialist. It's just like cooking, everybody should know how to cook but you don't have to become the chef, if you don't want to manage a five star hotel we're not, this is not that you need to take it to another level, but enough to maintain health and happiness within your home.
Ericka Thomas 48:22
And so I think I heard you say earlier that the best place to start would be your, your kitchen, your very own kitchen.
Mira Katyal 48:50
Yes, I think that's great should be. Yes. Yes. Actually, I think you're right I think everyone should have their kitchen be a shrine, it's that would be a beautiful thing,
right, and I think it is one of the most beautiful tools mother's have, because all the little sleep problems, the small hurts and things that you deal with stomach upsets. Those will be much easier for us to get through, first of all. And then, of course it's up to how far you wish to journey, the it's unlimited the sky, the endpoint is meeting up with God. Like you start with your stomach issue, my issue. And you can stop anywhere you wish to. That's your personal choice, but if you never stopped. Then you will experience extreme spiritual happiness and go to the Divine because that's the ultimate goal.
Ericka Thomas 49:37
Well, we have just scratched the surface just a tiny tiny little surface of Ayurveda and I know there's so much more for people to learn, and I want to thank you, Mira for coming on today and joining me. I learned so much more than I knew before our talk. And I want to be sure that we let people know how they can get in touch with you, where can they find you, so they can learn even more about Ayurveda as a science?
Mira Katyal 50:10
The best place is my website, miraom.com, they can reach me through many ways, but Facebook and Instagram messaged me, and I have many options. You can have a online consultation you can join a short course.
In this COVID times I'm trying to make it. It's nice to come and practically see, I mean it's, it's, for those people, it's the best, it's very hands on, hands on science. You it's not very theoretical, I mean it is theoretical, but until you really get into it. It's not the same thing but still we can do a lot, and hopefully in the future, people will take the courses they can to come for short retreat because everybody's busy, so we have to come up with hybrid solutions where you learn and most of the stuff by yourself but then you come to get to experience it in a very cost effective manner because you cannot learn something beautiful if it's not affordable and I think a gift like Ayurveda should be very accessible, affordable to everyone. Yes,
Ericka Thomas 51:24
Yes, that's That's amazing, that's wonderful and I will make sure that I have the links to your website in the show notes for everyone, so they can just go to the show notes and find those.
And I want to thank you, my curious listener, for joining me today on the Work IN and if you like what you heard, and you want to know more, you can find all those links for today's episodes and other resources as well at elementalkinetics.com/the-work-in
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Ericka Thomas
I’m Ericka
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