November 11, 2024 • 38 mins
Today’s incredible guest, Linda Bretherton takes us on a fascinating journey into the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda, a 7,000-year-old holistic practice that has shaped modern healing approaches. Linda unpacks the basics of Ayurveda, explaining the unique body constitutions—vata, pitta, and kapha—and how understanding them can help guide healthier choices, like seasonal eating and balanced living.
We also explore the search for inner guidance, the often-misleading notion of external success, and how true mentorship plays a pivotal role in self-discovery. Linda shares her own refreshing perspective on legacy, emphasising instead the importance of a life filled with purpose and vitality, especially as we age.
Listen in as Linda tells us about her books, Dosha for Life, crafted to make Ayurveda approachable for Western audiences, alongside her new vegetarian cookbook, At Home With Ayurveda, which is packed with wholesome recipes. For anyone curious about living with intention and vitality, this episode offers practical insights and inspiration to embrace change with “tough love” and move toward a more balanced, purposeful life.
NOTES
You can find out more about Linda you can visit her website or find her on Instagram. You can also find her new book here
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome to the Bravery BehindThe Brand podcast, the podcast
that dives deep into the heartof the stories behind the
brands we encounter on socialmedia every day. On the
surface they make it look soeasy but I guarantee there is
blood, sweat and tears behindall the reels, posts and
beautifully presentedproducts. I'm your host Amanda
Jane, a personal branding andmedia skills coach originally
(00:25):
from the north of Ireland andnow calling beautiful
Cheshire, England my home. Iwork with business owners,
building their confidence andcrafting compelling brand
stories so they feelcomfortable stepping into the
spotlight and becoming thego-to guest that everyone
wants, speaking with authorityand selling with authenticity.
I experience first-hand thecourage that's required to
move beyond our comfort zoneand these are the
inspirational stories I wantto share. I'll also be doing
(00:48):
some solo episodes and sharinguseful tips that will
hopefully help you to getmotivated with your own
personal branding. Becauseit's more than just a
beautiful website and glossyphotos for Instagram, You do
actually have to talk topeople, so let's get started.
Hello,everyone, and welcome to the
(01:13):
Bravery Behind The Brandpodcast. I'm your host, Amanda
Jayne, and today I have withme Linda Bretherton from At
Home With iReader, and that'sholistic healing. Hello,
Linda. Hi Amanda, nice to behere. And thank you for
joining me. So we're going tohave a little chat and then
we're going to get straight into talk about you and what you
(01:34):
do. But before we do, tell me,what motivates you? Well, do
you know, honestly whatmotivates me is waking up in
the morning, is the food thatwe cook, how I feel about the
day. But if you, you know, ifsomething that livens me up,
(01:55):
you know, I would put Elviesong or the Beatles or Roy
Orbison, some of the great oldears I like to listen to. But
I wouldn't say necessarilymotivates me. I would say that
I enjoy it and it Cheers me upnow and then. I still love a
(02:17):
bit of Elvis. Love a bit. Ilove The Beatles and I love
Robison as well. Isn't itamazing how after all these
years, all of those artistsstill stand up? Iconic. Yeah,
absolutely iconic. And mydaughter, she's studying air
levels at the moment. Andinterestingly, she's studying
The Beatles. Oh, wow. Wow,that's amazing. You know,
(02:37):
she's actually studying TheBeatles and all the technical
things behind that. So I justlove it. Well, my whole life
and soIt is a business but it's
(03:09):
really just my life. Ayurveda,the word means the science of
life. So it's about thescience of how we live daily,
weekly, monthly, every yearthroughout our lives and It
involves what we eat, what wedo, how we sleep, how we
(03:34):
interact with others. Itinvolves all our health. So it
really is about the science ofliving. So Ayurveda is a
modality that covers the wholeof our lives. So it covers
everything from herbalmedicinal, it covers
everything from meditation,yoga, cooking and so it's a
(04:00):
vast huge subject which itwould be if it was the science
of living. And when it was7,000 years old And when the
British invaded India, whichis part of where came from,
they took portions of Ayurvedaand so things like
(04:22):
reflexology, things likeacupuncture, things like EFT,
which in Ayurveda are mamapoints, We're all taken from
Ayurvedic principles. ButAyurveda covers all of it, so
you can imagine the trainingis huge. So I can do all those
(04:43):
small pockets that many peoplenow do as an individual
modality. That's what Ayurvedastands for and so when I work
with clients what we're doingis helping them to live a
better life through all thoseareas. So we have routines,
(05:04):
rituals, types of cooking, welook at the types of body
constitution. So Ayurveda hasThree main body constitutions
which are called vata, pitta,katha and they are directly
connected to the elements ofthe earth which is air, fire,
(05:27):
water, earth and space and sothis body constitution which
many people get confused withis simply all the elements
that exist in the universe arewithin our body and that tells
us what kind of food we shouldbe eating, what kind of drinks
(05:48):
we should be drinking, what weshould do in the seasons. So,
Ayurveda focuses very much onthe seasons as well. There are
six seasons in Ayurveda, notfour, and each season has its
own Particular types of food,particular routines,
(06:08):
particular things to do. Soit's something I've done. I
was trained in a Vedicmonastery 30 years ago and I
was doing Ayurveda before thatas well but I then had serious
training and then I went toMumbai and I did some clinical
(06:29):
training in hospitals there.So I've been doing it for a
long time. Wow, it's sointeresting. And all those
things you mentioned, we knowthem, you know, the
reflexology and all of thosethings, we know them as
individual things. And I'venever heard of it combined as
one thing. And what you saidabout the seasons and The food
(06:52):
that we should be eating makesabsolute sense to eat the food
that is part of the seasons,what's growing in that time.
Yes, and from your area. Soseasonal and local is the best
way to eat healthy food.That's right. I've always
thought myself that everythingthat you and your body needs
(07:14):
can be found in nature. It'salways been something I've
always believed in. So how didyou get into that? What
attracted you to that in thefirst place? Well, it's a big
long story, but I'll give youthe shortened version. When I
was studying at the FordInstitute, which was in La
Jolla in America, and so I wasI was going there on a
(07:43):
training session and at theairport there was a book on
Ayurveda which I knew a littlebit about. I picked it up and
I thought, oh this isfascinating. I put it down and
didn't think about it againand then 12 months later I
(08:05):
went on another It wasactually a cruise, but it was
a teaching cruise. And while Iwas on this teaching cruise, a
chap came up to me and said,I'm sorry to bother you, but I
really need to get to know whoyou are. And I said, oh,
(08:27):
that's interesting. That's aline. He said I'm with my wife
and I've been watching youcome into the dining room and
I said to my wife I really Idon't know why but I need to
know that lady and my wifesaid go on go over and speak
to her so I joined them attheir table I was on my own at
(08:49):
this on this cruise so Ijoined them at this table and
we were chatting and talkingand we became friends and he
said I don't know why but Ijust had this I had to meet
you and I'd done loads ofspiritual work prior to this
(09:10):
and anyway at the end of thecruise we swapped emails but I
gave him my works email not myprivate email. I had an office
in Manchester at the time.This is 30 years ago, even
longer probably and so I gavehim my works email and came
home And when I got home, Iwas tidying up, I'd been away
(09:35):
a couple of weeks and I foundthis Valia Veda book again
that I'd picked up a whilebefore. And I picked it up and
I thought, you know, this isreally interesting. I really
want to do it. I really wantto do it. So I'm looking at
the back of the book and itsaid it was a monastery. This
(09:58):
teaching was at a monastery inNorth Carolina in the Pisgah
Mountains in North Carolina ina monastery at the foot of the
mountains and they didn't havea phone or an email. You had
to write in And it said thatthe courses started in, I
(10:20):
can't remember now whether itwas November and then spring.
And it was October when I waslooking at this book and I
thought, oh God, be great togo in November. I don't want
to wait till next year. And asI was sat at my desk, my phone
rang and my business partnerat the time who was in the
(10:41):
office in Manchester said, Doyou remember that chat that
you met on the cruise and yougave him the office email and
I said, yes, yes, yes, I don'twant to, I have no time to
talk to you, I'm trying tofind this monastery, I've got
to write to it. And my partnersaid, where's the monastery?
(11:02):
And I said, in America. And hesaid, oh, OK, where in
America? He said, what do youwant me to do about Dave, the
guy on the cruise? What do youwant me to do? And I said,
I'll answer it when I come inthe office next week. And he
said, where is this place inAmerica? And I said, North
Carolina. And he went, wherein North Carolina? And I said,
(11:26):
I've just got, and I wentlooking at the book,
Asheville, Asheville. And hesaid, Linda, that's where Dave
lives. It's on the bottom ofhis email. So on the bottom of
Dave's email, it hadAsheville, North Carolina.
(11:48):
Wow! That's unbelievable! So Irang him up there and then and
he said that monastery isround the corner from where we
live in the mountains. Wow! Sowe went to the monastery, it's
only female monks and one ofthe monks said we've had a
(12:09):
cancellation for November, getyour lady here. So I was in
the monastery a month later inNorth Carolina. So the stars
aligned absolutely perfectlyfor you. Oh don't you just
love it when that happens? Soit was it was amazing yeah and
(12:31):
there was lots and lots ofIncredibly synchronistic
things happened after that atthe monastery and that kind of
thing. But that was amazingbecause we became very good
friends and they then managedme. They became my managers in
America and I went all overAmerica giving talks and
(12:53):
seminars and things like that.What an incredible story and I
always find myself saying Idon't believe in coincidences.
Because you just saidsynchronous today. And I think
that's the keyword. That'sincredible. I'm just sat
hanging on your every word.Wow, that is unbelievable.
(13:15):
Just utterly amazing theseoccurrences that lead you to
your higher path and thethings that you're absolutely
supposed to be doing. So withall of that incredible story
then, what was your biggestchallenge and how did you
overcome it? I think,well I've had several big
(13:40):
challenges, but if you'retalking about that particular
time in my life, it wasprobably the challenge to
find my own inner guru. Ratherthan, and I say this to
students now, so this weekendwhen I had my, I call them
(14:04):
short retreats because theycome for the day, stay
overnight and then they leaveat lunchtime the next day, so
it's a short time. We'repacking loads of stuff but two
of the people on the retreatwere saying how much they I
think that my biggestchallenge at that time
(14:48):
was the struggle between theSwamini who was the guru of
the monastery andmany gurus do, there are a few
that don't, but many gurusactually want to be adored and
want to be the guru andThe challenge there, and I
(15:15):
did, it was a huge challengebecause 10 years later I was
faced with it again. Thechallenge was to see that
these bigger than thou, biggerthan you think, and it's all
thinking which is all anillusion, the thinking mind is
(15:36):
an illusion. This bigger thanthou image of somebody It is
actually not bigger than thouand they actually still go to
the toilet just like you doand they still get a bath and
they still are exactly thesame but we The challenge was
(15:57):
dealing withIf you like controlled by that
(16:29):
better than you energy andseeing that that is an
illusion and I've done massesof work on that and I do that
with my students. Sointeresting isn't it and the
personalities that arecharismatic and enigmatic and
charming and seductive and Idon't mean that in a you know
(16:50):
in a In a sexual way, no? Yes,exactly. People tend to fall
for these images andforgetting that the power to
change, to grow, to develop iswithin themselves. That's
right. And it saddens mereally when people are looking
for these solutions externallywhen the journey begins with
(17:14):
yourself and people do forgetthat the power is right there
and I love that you said thatbecause it's In my view, what
is wrong with the modern worldand the pitfalls of social
media and the money and theglamour and all of these
symbols that people aretricked into aspiring to and
(17:37):
that's what defines success.And yeah, it becomes a worry
for me really when all thoseshiny shinies become the
sought after thing when inactual fact it's Going back to
the very basics of humanity,isn't it? And what is it?
Well, you know, it's anillusion. The sought after
thing is very nice. There'snothing wrong with having a
(18:00):
Ferrari. There's nothing wrongwith having whatever they want
to have. The problem is theythink it's a Ferrari that's
going to make them happy. Youknow, it did nothing wrong
with the, you know, we're in adualistic world where we can
have Shiny sparkling thingsbut need to understand that
those shiny sparkling thingsare not what brings the
(18:22):
happiness. You can have themand enjoy them but they are
transient. They're never goingto remain shiny and happy
because a car will rot or rustor whatever. So there's
nothing wrong with havingthem. It's about why one has
(18:43):
them. Is it to have a biggerstatus? Is it to believe that
they're going to be happy withthat thing? And they will be
in the short term. You know,the new coat always makes us
feel great for a little bit,then it gets shabby. And
understanding that, and thisis where spiritual materialism
(19:05):
has a real The realunderstanding is not about not
having these things, it's fineto have a great big house and
a beautiful car, nothing wrongwith that. And that's where
the spiritual woo-woos and thejosh sticks and the Jesus
(19:25):
sandals say that Nothing isbetter. Simplicity is better.
That's an illusion. We're in adualistic world and we can
have the shiny, we can havethe plain. None of it matters
because none of it's real.None of it exists, really
(19:48):
exists, other than in ourminds. What really matters is
how we feel inside. So we canhave A fabulous Ferrari
driving it, knowing that theFerrari doesn't give us the
happiness, it just gives us ajoyride. That's it. You know,
it's an illusion. If it wasthe answer to all happiness
(20:10):
there would be no unhappy richpeople. And then also there
wouldn't be unhappy poorpeople.
People try to make somethinginto what it isn't and that's
(20:30):
what brings the misery. Thestride to be something when
all you have to be is you. Theproblem with that would have
just said you only have to beyou, is that many people don't
know who you is, who me is.And that's where the mentor, I
call myself a mentor or aguide, that's where the mentor
(20:54):
or the guide comes in. toguide people into where to
look and what to do and how tobe and that's of course where
Ayurveda comes in. Ayurveda isabout sadhana and sadhana
means The living meditation,the daily living of
meditation, so to be awaredaily in what you're doing,
(21:18):
when you're walking, whenyou're cooking, when you're
with your dogs, when you'rewith children, when you're at
work. Sadhana is the dailyliving of meditation. So
interesting, isn't it? It'sjust so fascinating. I'm going
to have to do a lot morereading after this podcast. So
(21:39):
what legacy do you want toleave behind? I'd probably
say, do you know, Ialso don't really believe in
legacies. I think they're alsoa bit of an illusion in that,
(22:01):
but if while I'm alive I canhelp people to understand how
wonderful Ayurveda and thelife of Ayurveda is, then I
will be content with that.I think that, you know, I say
(22:22):
to people That peoplewill remember you and then
forget you in a heartbeat.You're really and truly, you
simply Not that relevant toanybody other than your
(22:42):
family, your closest family.You know, tell me who your
great-great-grandfather was.You probably don't know. You
probably don't know his name.Your
great-great-great-grandfather.You won't even know his name.
You probably won't know wherehe was. You won't know his
wife's name. You might knowyour grandfather and your
grandmother, but then there itends. Life just moves on. It's
(23:09):
this concept of leaving thisfor my children or leaving a
legacy for someone. It's justanother human illusion in that
anybody cares. If you were toask me a better question,
(23:35):
For me would be what do youthink enables us to Be vital
and young in mind and spiritregardless of age. I'm 73. I
opened a restaurant two yearsago. I was 71. I'm opening a
(23:56):
brand new centre in Chester.It'll be open in December,
whether we'll have peoplegoing there yet, I don't know,
but it'll certainly be open inthe new year. So I think the
answer to that is having Areally varied purpose, so I
don't mean a purpose where youare completely dedicated to
(24:22):
it, overriding everythingelse. I think variety, being
inspired, believing that whenyou get to 65 it's not
retirement and the end of theworld, believing that there's
more another 20-30 yearsminimum it's another lifetime
(24:47):
that you could do things so ithink it's about a variety of
purpose and so often people imean i suspect i would have to
say that i've been uh iwouldn't say lucky because i
don't believe in luck eitherbut i've been fortunate in
(25:11):
that I've always been kind ofentrepreneurial. So I've had
some jobs but then you getpeople that have had jobs all
their lives and then theyretire and now what? They talk
about retirement and thenretirement happens and now
what? They can go on a coupleof holidays, they can sit
(25:32):
around for a bit and then theyget older and bored. Now what?
So it would be There are thevariety of having different
types of purposes to dothings, not just holidays, but
to be involved in something. Ilove that attitude. I love
(25:56):
that approach. And perhaps thequestion for you should have
been, what impact do you thinkyou've had on the people that
you've coached, the peoplethat you've spent time with,
those people that you met whenyou were in the monastery, all
your travels? What kind ofimpact do you think you've had
on those people? Well,some good, some not so good. I
(26:24):
have lots of emails frompeople who say have changed
their lives for the better andthat they feel motivated and
that they're going to continueto eat better, cook better,
live better, that kind ofthing. And then there are
(26:44):
people that don't want to betold that What they're doing
is not the right way becausethey are stuck in a position
that is threatened orchallenged and so I'm pretty
(27:05):
straight with people. I tellthem exactly what I think is
the problem and some peopledon't want to hear that. So
the impact is both Probablymore positive than not, but
nevertheless it's both sidesof the coin really. Well, I
(27:27):
think sometimes... You justhave to speak as you find, you
know, especially with, withwhat you do, you're not going
to help anyone by telling themfibs. So that's, you know, I
say this to people, you can goanywhere. You can go to your
friends, you can go to yourfamily who will all pat you on
(27:50):
the shoulder and say, Oh,sorry. And, you know, we, we
support you and we want tohelp you and, Let's do
something lovely. Let's go outand have a nice cake or let's
go out and do something. Andall that's very, very nice,
but it actually doesn't makethe shift or the change that
(28:13):
is actually needed when peopleare stuck, when people are in
an environment that is selfsabotaging, holding them back.
I'm actually a qualifiedpsychotherapist anyway, so I
know that kind of modality ofworking
(28:47):
But it takes years and yearsand years and sometimes it
does and sometimes it doesn't.It often makes the client feel
better because they've gotsomebody to talk to. But if
somebody is looking to change,What we need is
(29:12):
challenges and what we need isto be pushed. What we need is
to chip, break something openso that something new can come
through and that's how I work.So that can be very, very
challenging to some people.It's very challenging to
(29:36):
everybody but some people willresist and say, how dare you
say that to me. You've no ideawhat it's like. You don't know
what's going on and all thatkind of thing. And in most
cases I do know very much thesame type, not exactly the
(29:57):
same, but I know I've livedlong enough to have gone
through many challenges andshifts and changes. And the
only way through is usuallythrough pushing them or a kick
up the backside, I might say.Okay, so some tough love or
(30:18):
yeah, better term for thatisn't there ruthless
compassion? Is that the term?Yeah, tough love. Kick up the
backside. You know, tellingthem how it is. Yeah, no
pandering. Yeah. Well, there'sno room for that. There are
(30:39):
plenty, plenty, plenty. You'veseen it all over Facebook. You
see all these pretty quotesthat come online. All the
lovely Facebook pages. I mean,they're all very pretty with
the angels and the fairies andall and very lovely. I'm not
(31:02):
saying People shouldn't beinterested or enjoy them but
if somebody wants to change itisn't going to happen from
that kind of materialspiritualism which is surface.
You know even Jesus had toughlove. Tell me about your
(31:27):
books. You're a publishedauthor and I want to put the
links to your books in theshow notes. So you've got them
there, tell me about them. Sothis is not the first book I
wrote, the first book I wroteis over there but that doesn't
matter. This is called Doshahfor Life and this is, so when
(31:49):
I came back from training fromthe monastery and talked about
Ayurveda, people would go outand buy books on Ayurveda and
they were very confusedbecause it is It appears to be
complicated but it isn't. So Iwrote this book which is a
contemporary look at Ayurveda.So it's called Dose for Life.
(32:14):
It takes you through threepeople that are experiencing
difficulties who When peoplestart to work with
iverahedron, it tells them howto get through their
difficulties. So it's a muchmore Western view for people
(32:39):
to understand it. And it's onAmazon, if I put the link in.
This is Dosh for Life, yeah.It's on Amazon or they can get
it directly from me. They canmessage me. And I often send
it out to people. And you'vegot a website? Yeah, so the
(32:59):
website iswww.lindabreatherton.com.
Okay, I will put that on theon the show notes. And you had
another book as well? Then thelatest book, which only came
out four weeks ago. Oh, wow,hot, literally hot off the
press. Yes, it's a home that Imade a cookery book. Oh
(33:24):
fantastic. So this is abouthow to cook great food.
Healthy food, Ayurveda food,but the thing with this
particular, both the bookshave got questionnaires in
them to help you to understandwhat your body constitution is
(33:45):
and so does this one. So thisbook, the cookery book has the
questionnaires, it tells youabout Ayurveda, tells you what
Ayurveda is and so this is meand this is Sandra and Sandra
did the photographs for thebook And it's a tasting.
(34:07):
Bri actually wrote the bookand did all the recipes. So
that's the new, this has beenout about four weeks. Oh,
congratulations. It looksabsolutely stunning. It is
lovely. It is really nice. Andit's a healthy book. So if
people want to know how tostart to cook and eat
(34:34):
I don'tknow whether you're vegetarian
but I've been vegetarian eversince I went to the monastery.
But when you go intorestaurants... I did a post
this week on Instagram and onFacebook which started
(34:59):
something like Vegetarianfood isn't boring, it's the
chefs that don't know how tocook it that are boring and so
I talked about how chefs don'tknow how to cook good
vegetarian food and so if youare not vegetarian and you're
(35:26):
not Many people there are notveg, so of course when people
eat meat they have chicken andchips, chicken and veg, meat
and veg, veg and mincemeat,fish and veg. So if you're not
vegetarian and you don't lookat it properly, you don't know
(35:49):
how to cook it, but thatcookbook will show you how to
do that. Well that willinterest me a lot. I don't
eat a lot of meat and myhusband's not a vegetarian. I
eat very, very little meat soI wouldn't call myself a
vegetarian but I don't likemeat much. But we eat a lot of
(36:13):
vegetarian food but we don'tnotice that we're eating
vegetarian food. It justhappens to be vegetarian food
that, you know, Which I quitelike because it's not an
active choice, it's just whatwe cook and what we eat. And
you're absolutely right, it'sthe chef. Vegetarian food, if
you're not even aware thatyou're doing it, I think
(36:33):
that's the mark of a goodcook. Because I don't actively
choose to eat meat. I justweirdly always choose the
non-meat options but there'sso much scope and I just don't
particularly like meat. But ifit's in front of me I wouldn't
be rude and not eat it but Idon't particularly like it.
(36:55):
But my husband, he doesn't eatthat much meat because we
don't buy a lot. But that willbe really interesting to me
because I'll just see what'sthere and maybe there'll be
some inspiration in there forme. But thank you so much for
coming to my podcast. It'sbeen an absolute pleasure and
I love the adventures and Ithink you should write some
more books about theadventures that you've had,
(37:18):
your travels, the people thatyou've met, all the
synchronicities that you'vehad. I'm sure there's a lot
more stories to be told there.But thank you so much for
sharing them with us and it'sbeen a pleasure having you on
the podcast. Oh, you'rewelcome. I'm sure you'll send
me the link and then I can putit on for everybody. I will
do. Thank you. OK. Thank youfor listening today and
(37:43):
special thanks to my fantasticguest, Linda Bretherton, for
sharing her fascinating storywith us. If you want to
increase sales with your brandstrategy, don't miss out on my
free resources. You can findthe links in the podcast
notes, as well as the linksthat Linda also mentioned in
the podcast. And if you likedthe episode, please leave a
review and share it with yourfriends. Join me on the next
episode for more incrediblebravery behind the brand
(38:04):
stories. You can follow me onInstagram at CoachingMandaJane
or visit my websitemandajane.co.uk. Bye for now!
Welcome to the Bravery BehindThe Brand podcast, the podcast
that dives deep into the heartof the stories behind the
brands we encounter on socialmedia every day. On the
surface they make it look soeasy but I guarantee there is
blood, sweat and tears behindall the reels, posts and
beautifully presentedproducts. I'm your host Amanda
Jane, a personal branding andmedia skills coach originally
(00:25):
from the north of Ireland andnow calling beautiful
Cheshire, England my home. Iwork with business owners,
building their confidence andcrafting compelling brand
stories so they feelcomfortable stepping into the
spotlight and becoming thego-to guest that everyone
wants, speaking with authorityand selling with authenticity.
I experience first-hand thecourage that's required to
move beyond our comfort zoneand these are the
inspirational stories I wantto share. I'll also be doing
(00:48):
some solo episodes and sharinguseful tips that will
hopefully help you to getmotivated with your own
personal branding. Becauseit's more than just a
beautiful website and glossyphotos for Instagram, You do
actually have to talk topeople, so let's get started.
Hello,everyone, and welcome to the
(01:13):
Bravery Behind The Brandpodcast. I'm your host, Amanda
Jayne, and today I have withme Linda Bretherton from At
Home With iReader, and that'sholistic healing. Hello,
Linda. Hi Amanda, nice to behere. And thank you for
joining me. So we're going tohave a little chat and then
we're going to get straight into talk about you and what you
(01:34):
do. But before we do, tell me,what motivates you? Well, do
you know, honestly whatmotivates me is waking up in
the morning, is the food thatwe cook, how I feel about the
day. But if you, you know, ifsomething that livens me up,
(01:55):
you know, I would put Elviesong or the Beatles or Roy
Orbison, some of the great oldears I like to listen to. But
I wouldn't say necessarilymotivates me. I would say that
I enjoy it and it Cheers me upnow and then. I still love a
(02:17):
bit of Elvis. Love a bit. Ilove The Beatles and I love
Robison as well. Isn't itamazing how after all these
years, all of those artistsstill stand up? Iconic. Yeah,
absolutely iconic. And mydaughter, she's studying air
levels at the moment. Andinterestingly, she's studying
The Beatles. Oh, wow. Wow,that's amazing. You know,
(02:37):
she's actually studying TheBeatles and all the technical
things behind that. So I justlove it. Well, my whole life
and soIt is a business but it's
(03:09):
really just my life. Ayurveda,the word means the science of
life. So it's about thescience of how we live daily,
weekly, monthly, every yearthroughout our lives and It
involves what we eat, what wedo, how we sleep, how we
(03:34):
interact with others. Itinvolves all our health. So it
really is about the science ofliving. So Ayurveda is a
modality that covers the wholeof our lives. So it covers
everything from herbalmedicinal, it covers
everything from meditation,yoga, cooking and so it's a
(04:00):
vast huge subject which itwould be if it was the science
of living. And when it was7,000 years old And when the
British invaded India, whichis part of where came from,
they took portions of Ayurvedaand so things like
(04:22):
reflexology, things likeacupuncture, things like EFT,
which in Ayurveda are mamapoints, We're all taken from
Ayurvedic principles. ButAyurveda covers all of it, so
you can imagine the trainingis huge. So I can do all those
(04:43):
small pockets that many peoplenow do as an individual
modality. That's what Ayurvedastands for and so when I work
with clients what we're doingis helping them to live a
better life through all thoseareas. So we have routines,
(05:04):
rituals, types of cooking, welook at the types of body
constitution. So Ayurveda hasThree main body constitutions
which are called vata, pitta,katha and they are directly
connected to the elements ofthe earth which is air, fire,
(05:27):
water, earth and space and sothis body constitution which
many people get confused withis simply all the elements
that exist in the universe arewithin our body and that tells
us what kind of food we shouldbe eating, what kind of drinks
(05:48):
we should be drinking, what weshould do in the seasons. So,
Ayurveda focuses very much onthe seasons as well. There are
six seasons in Ayurveda, notfour, and each season has its
own Particular types of food,particular routines,
(06:08):
particular things to do. Soit's something I've done. I
was trained in a Vedicmonastery 30 years ago and I
was doing Ayurveda before thatas well but I then had serious
training and then I went toMumbai and I did some clinical
(06:29):
training in hospitals there.So I've been doing it for a
long time. Wow, it's sointeresting. And all those
things you mentioned, we knowthem, you know, the
reflexology and all of thosethings, we know them as
individual things. And I'venever heard of it combined as
one thing. And what you saidabout the seasons and The food
(06:52):
that we should be eating makesabsolute sense to eat the food
that is part of the seasons,what's growing in that time.
Yes, and from your area. Soseasonal and local is the best
way to eat healthy food.That's right. I've always
thought myself that everythingthat you and your body needs
(07:14):
can be found in nature. It'salways been something I've
always believed in. So how didyou get into that? What
attracted you to that in thefirst place? Well, it's a big
long story, but I'll give youthe shortened version. When I
was studying at the FordInstitute, which was in La
Jolla in America, and so I wasI was going there on a
(07:43):
training session and at theairport there was a book on
Ayurveda which I knew a littlebit about. I picked it up and
I thought, oh this isfascinating. I put it down and
didn't think about it againand then 12 months later I
(08:05):
went on another It wasactually a cruise, but it was
a teaching cruise. And while Iwas on this teaching cruise, a
chap came up to me and said,I'm sorry to bother you, but I
really need to get to know whoyou are. And I said, oh,
(08:27):
that's interesting. That's aline. He said I'm with my wife
and I've been watching youcome into the dining room and
I said to my wife I really Idon't know why but I need to
know that lady and my wifesaid go on go over and speak
to her so I joined them attheir table I was on my own at
(08:49):
this on this cruise so Ijoined them at this table and
we were chatting and talkingand we became friends and he
said I don't know why but Ijust had this I had to meet
you and I'd done loads ofspiritual work prior to this
(09:10):
and anyway at the end of thecruise we swapped emails but I
gave him my works email not myprivate email. I had an office
in Manchester at the time.This is 30 years ago, even
longer probably and so I gavehim my works email and came
home And when I got home, Iwas tidying up, I'd been away
(09:35):
a couple of weeks and I foundthis Valia Veda book again
that I'd picked up a whilebefore. And I picked it up and
I thought, you know, this isreally interesting. I really
want to do it. I really wantto do it. So I'm looking at
the back of the book and itsaid it was a monastery. This
(09:58):
teaching was at a monastery inNorth Carolina in the Pisgah
Mountains in North Carolina ina monastery at the foot of the
mountains and they didn't havea phone or an email. You had
to write in And it said thatthe courses started in, I
(10:20):
can't remember now whether itwas November and then spring.
And it was October when I waslooking at this book and I
thought, oh God, be great togo in November. I don't want
to wait till next year. And asI was sat at my desk, my phone
rang and my business partnerat the time who was in the
(10:41):
office in Manchester said, Doyou remember that chat that
you met on the cruise and yougave him the office email and
I said, yes, yes, yes, I don'twant to, I have no time to
talk to you, I'm trying tofind this monastery, I've got
to write to it. And my partnersaid, where's the monastery?
(11:02):
And I said, in America. And hesaid, oh, OK, where in
America? He said, what do youwant me to do about Dave, the
guy on the cruise? What do youwant me to do? And I said,
I'll answer it when I come inthe office next week. And he
said, where is this place inAmerica? And I said, North
Carolina. And he went, wherein North Carolina? And I said,
(11:26):
I've just got, and I wentlooking at the book,
Asheville, Asheville. And hesaid, Linda, that's where Dave
lives. It's on the bottom ofhis email. So on the bottom of
Dave's email, it hadAsheville, North Carolina.
(11:48):
Wow! That's unbelievable! So Irang him up there and then and
he said that monastery isround the corner from where we
live in the mountains. Wow! Sowe went to the monastery, it's
only female monks and one ofthe monks said we've had a
(12:09):
cancellation for November, getyour lady here. So I was in
the monastery a month later inNorth Carolina. So the stars
aligned absolutely perfectlyfor you. Oh don't you just
love it when that happens? Soit was it was amazing yeah and
(12:31):
there was lots and lots ofIncredibly synchronistic
things happened after that atthe monastery and that kind of
thing. But that was amazingbecause we became very good
friends and they then managedme. They became my managers in
America and I went all overAmerica giving talks and
(12:53):
seminars and things like that.What an incredible story and I
always find myself saying Idon't believe in coincidences.
Because you just saidsynchronous today. And I think
that's the keyword. That'sincredible. I'm just sat
hanging on your every word.Wow, that is unbelievable.
(13:15):
Just utterly amazing theseoccurrences that lead you to
your higher path and thethings that you're absolutely
supposed to be doing. So withall of that incredible story
then, what was your biggestchallenge and how did you
overcome it? I think,well I've had several big
(13:40):
challenges, but if you'retalking about that particular
time in my life, it wasprobably the challenge to
find my own inner guru. Ratherthan, and I say this to
students now, so this weekendwhen I had my, I call them
(14:04):
short retreats because theycome for the day, stay
overnight and then they leaveat lunchtime the next day, so
it's a short time. We'repacking loads of stuff but two
of the people on the retreatwere saying how much they I
think that my biggestchallenge at that time
(14:48):
was the struggle between theSwamini who was the guru of
the monastery andmany gurus do, there are a few
that don't, but many gurusactually want to be adored and
want to be the guru andThe challenge there, and I
(15:15):
did, it was a huge challengebecause 10 years later I was
faced with it again. Thechallenge was to see that
these bigger than thou, biggerthan you think, and it's all
thinking which is all anillusion, the thinking mind is
(15:36):
an illusion. This bigger thanthou image of somebody It is
actually not bigger than thouand they actually still go to
the toilet just like you doand they still get a bath and
they still are exactly thesame but we The challenge was
(15:57):
dealing withIf you like controlled by that
(16:29):
better than you energy andseeing that that is an
illusion and I've done massesof work on that and I do that
with my students. Sointeresting isn't it and the
personalities that arecharismatic and enigmatic and
charming and seductive and Idon't mean that in a you know
(16:50):
in a In a sexual way, no? Yes,exactly. People tend to fall
for these images andforgetting that the power to
change, to grow, to develop iswithin themselves. That's
right. And it saddens mereally when people are looking
for these solutions externallywhen the journey begins with
(17:14):
yourself and people do forgetthat the power is right there
and I love that you said thatbecause it's In my view, what
is wrong with the modern worldand the pitfalls of social
media and the money and theglamour and all of these
symbols that people aretricked into aspiring to and
(17:37):
that's what defines success.And yeah, it becomes a worry
for me really when all thoseshiny shinies become the
sought after thing when inactual fact it's Going back to
the very basics of humanity,isn't it? And what is it?
Well, you know, it's anillusion. The sought after
thing is very nice. There'snothing wrong with having a
(18:00):
Ferrari. There's nothing wrongwith having whatever they want
to have. The problem is theythink it's a Ferrari that's
going to make them happy. Youknow, it did nothing wrong
with the, you know, we're in adualistic world where we can
have Shiny sparkling thingsbut need to understand that
those shiny sparkling thingsare not what brings the
(18:22):
happiness. You can have themand enjoy them but they are
transient. They're never goingto remain shiny and happy
because a car will rot or rustor whatever. So there's
nothing wrong with havingthem. It's about why one has
(18:43):
them. Is it to have a biggerstatus? Is it to believe that
they're going to be happy withthat thing? And they will be
in the short term. You know,the new coat always makes us
feel great for a little bit,then it gets shabby. And
understanding that, and thisis where spiritual materialism
(19:05):
has a real The realunderstanding is not about not
having these things, it's fineto have a great big house and
a beautiful car, nothing wrongwith that. And that's where
the spiritual woo-woos and thejosh sticks and the Jesus
(19:25):
sandals say that Nothing isbetter. Simplicity is better.
That's an illusion. We're in adualistic world and we can
have the shiny, we can havethe plain. None of it matters
because none of it's real.None of it exists, really
(19:48):
exists, other than in ourminds. What really matters is
how we feel inside. So we canhave A fabulous Ferrari
driving it, knowing that theFerrari doesn't give us the
happiness, it just gives us ajoyride. That's it. You know,
it's an illusion. If it wasthe answer to all happiness
(20:10):
there would be no unhappy richpeople. And then also there
wouldn't be unhappy poorpeople.
People try to make somethinginto what it isn't and that's
(20:30):
what brings the misery. Thestride to be something when
all you have to be is you. Theproblem with that would have
just said you only have to beyou, is that many people don't
know who you is, who me is.And that's where the mentor, I
call myself a mentor or aguide, that's where the mentor
(20:54):
or the guide comes in. toguide people into where to
look and what to do and how tobe and that's of course where
Ayurveda comes in. Ayurveda isabout sadhana and sadhana
means The living meditation,the daily living of
meditation, so to be awaredaily in what you're doing,
(21:18):
when you're walking, whenyou're cooking, when you're
with your dogs, when you'rewith children, when you're at
work. Sadhana is the dailyliving of meditation. So
interesting, isn't it? It'sjust so fascinating. I'm going
to have to do a lot morereading after this podcast. So
(21:39):
what legacy do you want toleave behind? I'd probably
say, do you know, Ialso don't really believe in
legacies. I think they're alsoa bit of an illusion in that,
(22:01):
but if while I'm alive I canhelp people to understand how
wonderful Ayurveda and thelife of Ayurveda is, then I
will be content with that.I think that, you know, I say
(22:22):
to people That peoplewill remember you and then
forget you in a heartbeat.You're really and truly, you
simply Not that relevant toanybody other than your
(22:42):
family, your closest family.You know, tell me who your
great-great-grandfather was.You probably don't know. You
probably don't know his name.Your
great-great-great-grandfather.You won't even know his name.
You probably won't know wherehe was. You won't know his
wife's name. You might knowyour grandfather and your
grandmother, but then there itends. Life just moves on. It's
(23:09):
this concept of leaving thisfor my children or leaving a
legacy for someone. It's justanother human illusion in that
anybody cares. If you were toask me a better question,
(23:35):
For me would be what do youthink enables us to Be vital
and young in mind and spiritregardless of age. I'm 73. I
opened a restaurant two yearsago. I was 71. I'm opening a
(23:56):
brand new centre in Chester.It'll be open in December,
whether we'll have peoplegoing there yet, I don't know,
but it'll certainly be open inthe new year. So I think the
answer to that is having Areally varied purpose, so I
don't mean a purpose where youare completely dedicated to
(24:22):
it, overriding everythingelse. I think variety, being
inspired, believing that whenyou get to 65 it's not
retirement and the end of theworld, believing that there's
more another 20-30 yearsminimum it's another lifetime
(24:47):
that you could do things so ithink it's about a variety of
purpose and so often people imean i suspect i would have to
say that i've been uh iwouldn't say lucky because i
don't believe in luck eitherbut i've been fortunate in
(25:11):
that I've always been kind ofentrepreneurial. So I've had
some jobs but then you getpeople that have had jobs all
their lives and then theyretire and now what? They talk
about retirement and thenretirement happens and now
what? They can go on a coupleof holidays, they can sit
(25:32):
around for a bit and then theyget older and bored. Now what?
So it would be There are thevariety of having different
types of purposes to dothings, not just holidays, but
to be involved in something. Ilove that attitude. I love
(25:56):
that approach. And perhaps thequestion for you should have
been, what impact do you thinkyou've had on the people that
you've coached, the peoplethat you've spent time with,
those people that you met whenyou were in the monastery, all
your travels? What kind ofimpact do you think you've had
on those people? Well,some good, some not so good. I
(26:24):
have lots of emails frompeople who say have changed
their lives for the better andthat they feel motivated and
that they're going to continueto eat better, cook better,
live better, that kind ofthing. And then there are
(26:44):
people that don't want to betold that What they're doing
is not the right way becausethey are stuck in a position
that is threatened orchallenged and so I'm pretty
(27:05):
straight with people. I tellthem exactly what I think is
the problem and some peopledon't want to hear that. So
the impact is both Probablymore positive than not, but
nevertheless it's both sidesof the coin really. Well, I
(27:27):
think sometimes... You justhave to speak as you find, you
know, especially with, withwhat you do, you're not going
to help anyone by telling themfibs. So that's, you know, I
say this to people, you can goanywhere. You can go to your
friends, you can go to yourfamily who will all pat you on
(27:50):
the shoulder and say, Oh,sorry. And, you know, we, we
support you and we want tohelp you and, Let's do
something lovely. Let's go outand have a nice cake or let's
go out and do something. Andall that's very, very nice,
but it actually doesn't makethe shift or the change that
(28:13):
is actually needed when peopleare stuck, when people are in
an environment that is selfsabotaging, holding them back.
I'm actually a qualifiedpsychotherapist anyway, so I
know that kind of modality ofworking
(28:47):
But it takes years and yearsand years and sometimes it
does and sometimes it doesn't.It often makes the client feel
better because they've gotsomebody to talk to. But if
somebody is looking to change,What we need is
(29:12):
challenges and what we need isto be pushed. What we need is
to chip, break something openso that something new can come
through and that's how I work.So that can be very, very
challenging to some people.It's very challenging to
(29:36):
everybody but some people willresist and say, how dare you
say that to me. You've no ideawhat it's like. You don't know
what's going on and all thatkind of thing. And in most
cases I do know very much thesame type, not exactly the
(29:57):
same, but I know I've livedlong enough to have gone
through many challenges andshifts and changes. And the
only way through is usuallythrough pushing them or a kick
up the backside, I might say.Okay, so some tough love or
(30:18):
yeah, better term for thatisn't there ruthless
compassion? Is that the term?Yeah, tough love. Kick up the
backside. You know, tellingthem how it is. Yeah, no
pandering. Yeah. Well, there'sno room for that. There are
(30:39):
plenty, plenty, plenty. You'veseen it all over Facebook. You
see all these pretty quotesthat come online. All the
lovely Facebook pages. I mean,they're all very pretty with
the angels and the fairies andall and very lovely. I'm not
(31:02):
saying People shouldn't beinterested or enjoy them but
if somebody wants to change itisn't going to happen from
that kind of materialspiritualism which is surface.
You know even Jesus had toughlove. Tell me about your
(31:27):
books. You're a publishedauthor and I want to put the
links to your books in theshow notes. So you've got them
there, tell me about them. Sothis is not the first book I
wrote, the first book I wroteis over there but that doesn't
matter. This is called Doshahfor Life and this is, so when
(31:49):
I came back from training fromthe monastery and talked about
Ayurveda, people would go outand buy books on Ayurveda and
they were very confusedbecause it is It appears to be
complicated but it isn't. So Iwrote this book which is a
contemporary look at Ayurveda.So it's called Dose for Life.
(32:14):
It takes you through threepeople that are experiencing
difficulties who When peoplestart to work with
iverahedron, it tells them howto get through their
difficulties. So it's a muchmore Western view for people
(32:39):
to understand it. And it's onAmazon, if I put the link in.
This is Dosh for Life, yeah.It's on Amazon or they can get
it directly from me. They canmessage me. And I often send
it out to people. And you'vegot a website? Yeah, so the
(32:59):
website iswww.lindabreatherton.com.
Okay, I will put that on theon the show notes. And you had
another book as well? Then thelatest book, which only came
out four weeks ago. Oh, wow,hot, literally hot off the
press. Yes, it's a home that Imade a cookery book. Oh
(33:24):
fantastic. So this is abouthow to cook great food.
Healthy food, Ayurveda food,but the thing with this
particular, both the bookshave got questionnaires in
them to help you to understandwhat your body constitution is
(33:45):
and so does this one. So thisbook, the cookery book has the
questionnaires, it tells youabout Ayurveda, tells you what
Ayurveda is and so this is meand this is Sandra and Sandra
did the photographs for thebook And it's a tasting.
(34:07):
Bri actually wrote the bookand did all the recipes. So
that's the new, this has beenout about four weeks. Oh,
congratulations. It looksabsolutely stunning. It is
lovely. It is really nice. Andit's a healthy book. So if
people want to know how tostart to cook and eat
(34:34):
I don'tknow whether you're vegetarian
but I've been vegetarian eversince I went to the monastery.
But when you go intorestaurants... I did a post
this week on Instagram and onFacebook which started
(34:59):
something like Vegetarianfood isn't boring, it's the
chefs that don't know how tocook it that are boring and so
I talked about how chefs don'tknow how to cook good
vegetarian food and so if youare not vegetarian and you're
(35:26):
not Many people there are notveg, so of course when people
eat meat they have chicken andchips, chicken and veg, meat
and veg, veg and mincemeat,fish and veg. So if you're not
vegetarian and you don't lookat it properly, you don't know
(35:49):
how to cook it, but thatcookbook will show you how to
do that. Well that willinterest me a lot. I don't
eat a lot of meat and myhusband's not a vegetarian. I
eat very, very little meat soI wouldn't call myself a
vegetarian but I don't likemeat much. But we eat a lot of
(36:13):
vegetarian food but we don'tnotice that we're eating
vegetarian food. It justhappens to be vegetarian food
that, you know, Which I quitelike because it's not an
active choice, it's just whatwe cook and what we eat. And
you're absolutely right, it'sthe chef. Vegetarian food, if
you're not even aware thatyou're doing it, I think
(36:33):
that's the mark of a goodcook. Because I don't actively
choose to eat meat. I justweirdly always choose the
non-meat options but there'sso much scope and I just don't
particularly like meat. But ifit's in front of me I wouldn't
be rude and not eat it but Idon't particularly like it.
(36:55):
But my husband, he doesn't eatthat much meat because we
don't buy a lot. But that willbe really interesting to me
because I'll just see what'sthere and maybe there'll be
some inspiration in there forme. But thank you so much for
coming to my podcast. It'sbeen an absolute pleasure and
I love the adventures and Ithink you should write some
more books about theadventures that you've had,
(37:18):
your travels, the people thatyou've met, all the
synchronicities that you'vehad. I'm sure there's a lot
more stories to be told there.But thank you so much for
sharing them with us and it'sbeen a pleasure having you on
the podcast. Oh, you'rewelcome. I'm sure you'll send
me the link and then I can putit on for everybody. I will
do. Thank you. OK. Thank youfor listening today and
(37:43):
special thanks to my fantasticguest, Linda Bretherton, for
sharing her fascinating storywith us. If you want to
increase sales with your brandstrategy, don't miss out on my
free resources. You can findthe links in the podcast
notes, as well as the linksthat Linda also mentioned in
the podcast. And if you likedthe episode, please leave a
review and share it with yourfriends. Join me on the next
episode for more incrediblebravery behind the brand
(38:04):
stories. You can follow me onInstagram at CoachingMandaJane
or visit my websitemandajane.co.uk. Bye for now!
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