December 2, 2025 • 29 mins
On this episode of Five to Thrive Live, our guest, Amita Nathwani will explain what Auyurveda is and how this ancient form of healing can be used to optimize health and manage disease. We will explore how the principles of Ayurveda are woven into all of its applications – from yoga, nutrition, breathwork to herbal medicine.
Five To Thrive Live is broadcast live Tuesdays at 7PM ET and Music on W4CS Radio – The Cancer Support Network (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
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Five To Thrive Live is broadcast live Tuesdays at 7PM ET and Music on W4CS Radio – The Cancer Support Network (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
Five To Thrive Live Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Any health related information on the following show provides general
information only. Content presented on any show by any host
or guests should not be substituted for a doctor's advice.
Always consult your physician before beginning any new diet, exercise,
or treatment program.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Welcome to five to Thrive Live, a podcast about thriving
for those who've been affected by cancer and chronic disease.
I'm doctor Lisau Schuller and I co host with my
good friend Carolyn Gazella. You can find all of our
past show podcasts on every major podcast outlet and our
schedule on ithriveplan dot com. So tonight, I'm very excited.
(01:01):
I'm going to be talking with my friend, colleague, my
amazing collaborator, Amita Nathwani, and she's going to talk to
us about Ariveda. She wears lots of hats, she's an educator,
she's a practitioner, she's a businesswoman. And tonight I think
she's going to don her education educator persona and really
(01:23):
give us this kind of sweeping overview of Ariveda. So,
Amita Natwani is a practitioner, author, educator of Arivedic medicine
for over twenty five years and she is a graduate
of the Maharishi School of Ariveda in India and the
Maharishi International University of the United States States. She has
(01:44):
a master's degree in Ariveda and she bridges traditional Arivedic
teachings with modern medical models. She is on the fellowship
faculty at the Andrew Wild Center for Integrative Medicine, where
she teaches Ariveda. She also teaches anatomy and theology at
acupuncture schools where she translates complex concepts into practical applications.
(02:07):
And she's on faculty at Sonoran University for her expertise
in ariveta. So she is definitely somebody that we're going
to learn a lot from. But before we start a conversation,
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doctor Hira Probiotics dot com. So with that, Hello, Amita,
(03:37):
welcome to five to Thrive Live.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Absolutely well, I'm so happy to talk to you about
this topic of all topics. So okay, let's start with
a little time traveling and I want to take us
back to the very birth of Ariveta. So when and
where are we?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
So it's a great question. You know.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
One of the common statements that are may is made
by Irabba doctors is that we are a five thousand
year old system of health. But you know, really, when
we talk about the birth of Aravela, we're talking about
the emergence of a complete medical epistemology that unfolded across
really several hundred years. And it's a living science, which
(04:20):
means that it continues to grow based on climate, access agriculture.
So it's not something that was just developed immediately. It
took time, through its own development of research and understanding
for it to become the medicine that it is today.
And going back five thousand years to the Indus civilizations
where the earliest references to disease, herbs and healing appeared
(04:44):
in what we call the traditional texts of the Vedas
v d As the Vedas, and these are considered Iravela's
seed texts. Not only does it address the physical, emotional,
and mental aspects of our day to day life, but
it also touches on the spiritual components and the big
(05:07):
questions of why are we here? What are we doing
on this planet, and how do we interact with their
natural environment?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, fantastic. Well, you know, Ariveta must have something for
just you know, going for it because it survived all
these thousands of years, and yet it has evolved over
that time period as well a bit. So has it
changed would you say significantly or is it basically the
(05:35):
same thing now that it was five thousand years ago?
Speaker 4 (05:38):
It has changed absolutely as it should and as most
medicines should. You know, we're all it is a living
science and what has remained unchanged.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
However, its core is its core principles.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
So you know, just as the human physiology, you know
my end. You know this, this understanding became a lot
deeper for me in my practice when I started teaching
amine physiology to acupun your students, because one of the
things that we cannot dispute is the makeup of the
human body. And so what is the role between lifestyle
and disease? What is the role of the digestion, it's
(06:13):
and gut help and how it pertains to mental health?
What is truly the way that the body functions, so
that we can look at pathology the disease process, it
goes in a certain pattern, and this is something that
Arava holds very true, because the human body itself does
function in a particular way based on the elements. However,
(06:37):
of course we've evolved. We've evolved for so many different reasons,
the environment around us, the type of pathogens that we're
exposed to. Also, you know, Iraveda and a lot of
sciences like this come from the East. But when we
translate it and bring it into climates in the West today,
we can clearly see that not all of its application
(06:59):
can be practical or even applicable at all. Like some
of the botanicals that grow in East Asia do not
grow here in the West. Should we really be utilizing
that for our current disease management? Based on the pathogens
that we experience in our current environment. So for that reason,
(07:20):
we have to keep evolving and changing, but we do
not change the principles behind it.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Really, Yeah, that's a really good distinction, I think, because
it's the principles that holds the philosophy together and really
gives it its power. And I think that you know,
the principles essentially give the vitality to the medicine. And
then of course, as humanity evolves, how those principles are
(07:50):
translated into our modern life is going to be different
than it was five thousand years ago. So yeah, that
makes total sense. So how would you describe the uniqueness
of ariveta, especially when you compare it to other types
of holistic or natural medicines.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
So, you know, because we did talk about how you
know earlier, I mentioned that it's it's a medicine that
was developed over time in its completeness. So it is
a complete medical system. So it's not just botanicals, it's
not just diet, it's not just lifestyle, but it also
includes diagnostics, pathology, even its own pharmacology, psychology, surgery itself
(08:33):
as well, including preventative medicine. So you know, a lot
of times I have patients who come to see me
and they say, well, you know, I really want to
take the holistic route. I do not want to do surgery,
And at that point I take the time to break
it to them that, you know, surgery is not mutually
exclusive of holistic medicine. Even five thousand years ago, we
(08:57):
were correcting imbalances. Sometimes it was from a prevention standpoint
and sometimes it was from a more invasive standpoint. But
the point is is that what makes iriba unique is
that it focuses on the cause of the imbalance first,
not just the symptom, but then by understanding how something happened,
what the disease stage is, we get to treat it
(09:21):
at the level that's necessary, and sometimes just botanical, sometimes
just diet, sometimes just perspective and change of one's emotional
and mental state of being can inherently define a person's health,
and in other cases, because of the disease stage or
what has occurred, surgery is necessary. And this is what
(09:43):
makes araveda so uniquely different than other forms of holistic medicine.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Mm hmm. Okay, so you kind of implied this, but
you know, key I think to areveta is the connection
that we have to the natural world, and I wondering
if you could allab rate on that a little bit
and why that's so central to understanding aubatic medicine.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Yeah. So, you know, this sometimes can become a little
esoteric to a certain extent, but you know, we really
are We are not separate from nature. We're just you know,
we're like trees, except we actually we're extensions of the earth,
but we happen to be moving around at the same
time everything that exists. There are books and philosophies written
(10:26):
that state that the entire natural world is made up
of the five elements, including us and everything else. Everything
else is just perception, and so because of this, we
cannot separate ourselves from the world around us. And this
is when, you know, our lifestyles move away from natural
rhythms or sleep cycles and the seasons, hunger cues, things
(10:50):
like that. You know, this is where we start to
see little bits of pathology kicking in or the disease
process so irradas brings us back to that alignment. You know,
we say all more than fifty percent of diseases and
disorders can be eliminated by simply reconnecting back to nature.
And a lot of times that you know, for people
who live in big cities, they say, well, that's really
(11:11):
hard for me to do to get into you know,
to get into the forest or to get to a lake.
I do it on the weekends. But that's that's not
what that means. It means following circadian rhythms. It means
following seasonal changes. You know, going to the farmer's market
and seeing asking your farmer did you grow this and
did this really grow in this climate? Was did you
(11:31):
use a cold frame? Where did this come from? Is
this something that I should be eating in this climate
at this time? Do we know where our food is
coming from? Are we just moving? You know?
Speaker 3 (11:42):
We can't, We can't.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
We can't look at our external environment and dictate how
our internal environment is going to process just based on
what's on the outside of us. We also get the
opportunity to make those changes from within, so we can
create that natural movement, We can create that natural emotional balance.
You know, I think about sometimes it's an extreme example,
(12:07):
but I think about people who are incarcerated and find
and manage to find peace within themselves in a place
where they don't have all of these things that we're
talking about here access to you know, maybe whole foods,
or maybe access to rivers and trees. But when you
(12:27):
are able to harner harness that type of understanding of
yourself with your natural environment on its own, then I
think we can achieve a sense of balance that we
don't really need to go too much farther for that.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
M Yeah, okay, yeah, connection, a reconnection really is what
restores health.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah, yeah, okay, I think that that's important, and honestly,
I feel like this is really a key thing to
the health of humanity right now, you know, especially as
we get more technologically dependent, and with that, the risk
(13:13):
of isolation from each other but also from the natural
world looms large. And I think if we unhinge ourselves
from the natural world around us, I don't know how
we will maintain our collective sanity honestly, never mind our health.
Right So I think this is a very important teaching
that Ariveda has for us. Actually, So you know, sorry,
(13:37):
go ahead, Well, I was just.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Agreeing with you and also wanted to just add that,
you know, at the end of the day, the quality
of compassion, you know, we can have that within us
without really even having to see another person. We can
build that within ourselves, and if we have it for us,
it just naturally flows out. And you know, the thing
(14:02):
is that as we kind of look at the way
that our bodies function in terms of science, we can't
ignore the fact that everything is vibration as well. And
so the way that we think, the way that we feel,
the way that we choose to live our lives on
a day to day basis, whether it's in front of
a screen or in nature. This reverberates out to the
(14:25):
rest of the world. And so when we feel helpless
and we don't know what to do, IVY, that always
reminds us to go back within and to hold those
qualities of love and compassion for yourself, because if that's
the only thing we can do, we're doing so much
in that moment.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
M Yes, very true. So I want to just get
I know this is a big question, but maybe so
many people associate avivated with the doshes, and so if
you could just take us just quickly, if you can
through the doshas, like what are they? And why is
it so important to are you.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Beata for sure?
Speaker 4 (15:07):
So the doshas, even though you know they can be
individualized as body types, they're really more we call them
qualities or humors. And what we want to know is
that what dosha is involved in whatever we're addressing. So
(15:27):
although we can have one of these doshas as a predominance,
we really want to know in that given moment, regardless
of who you are and what your a doosha might be,
what is involved, what is actually happening, what is most predominant.
So when we talk about the doshas, we're really breaking
it down again going back to my original commentary on
(15:48):
the five elements. We're going back to that again. So
when we put the five elements, according to Irra, it's
called the Mahabuddhas the Great the great elements and are
space or ether, air, fire, water, and earth. And when
we put them all together, what we do is we
(16:10):
come to a place where within the body structure itself,
we can start to see these elements manifest themselves. So
ether and air is basically anything that creates space the
cavities of the body, or anything that moves within the
body respiration elimination circulation, and we actually call this vata
(16:31):
vata and that is one of the doshas. The second
is when we see fire and water together within the
body itself, and there we see it manifest itself as metabolism,
not just of the body, but also of the mind, transformation,
production of enzymes, production of hormones, anything that converts from
(16:54):
A to B. And that's what we call pitta, which
is another dosha pia. And then the last way we
look at how the body functions is through its structure, bones, muscles, tissues,
et cetera. It's all the structural element of the body itself.
And we call this is earth and water together, and
(17:16):
we call this Kuffa ka pha. And so we have Vata, Pinta,
and Kuffa as the three doshas, and we have to
have all three of these doshas within our body. Obviously,
we cannot function without transportation, circulation, movement. We can't function
(17:36):
without metabolism nor the actual structure of the body. But
what ends up happening is that we do start to
see tendencies within us, both physically and mentally, of how
we show up in the world. Are we more votic
by nature? Is our body more evotic? Is it airy?
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Is it cold? Is it dry? Are we hot? Are
we more pit that by nature? Is it hot?
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Is it oily? Or are we more earthy by nature?
Are we heavier, set, larger bone structure?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
And we can start to see these.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Qualities within the mental systems as well. And this is
where we start to see our.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Predominance come through.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
But as an ironic doctor, I'm very much more interested
in what has become out of balance in your body. So,
for example, if you are pit that in nature, which
doctor Elschuler you are more nature. You know, you've got
(18:39):
some fibre in you, strong metabolism. You can see the problems,
see the solution, you go, no brainer. These are a
lot of the qualities that you have within. You build
muscle mass very quickly. You have definition of your muscular
strength when you have this quality in you.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
The question we're.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Asking is are you in a healthy state with it?
Or has there become an imbalance? Are you becoming too hot,
too inflamed? Are you being too quick to respond instead
of thinking about your answer before making a judgment call?
So we wonder has pit that increase. On the flip side,
(19:20):
you could say, wow, you know, I feel very sluggish
these days. I feel like I've gotten a lot heavier.
I'm very tired when I wake up every morning, I
feel like my digestion has gotten lower. Although Pita might
be your constitution, kuffa has really set in, and as
your provider, I would address you as that cuffa imbalance
(19:43):
rather than that pit that imbalance. First, just to see
the forest from the trees. And the last is that
if you become you know, emaciated or anxious, inability to
eat or focus, I would ask you then is vata
increase and at that point we would take different measures
to help you hone that in and each disease and
(20:07):
disorder starts with a little bit of that vata pa
cufa imbalance that moves it and pushes it into different
systems and organs, where then it manifests again into other vata,
pitta and kuffa types of manifestations. And a great example,
(20:27):
if I could, is an example of this would be,
you know somebody with acid reflux. Acid reflux can happen
for many different reasons. It could be because there's a
hideal hernia, for example, or it could be because there
is alesion or an ulcer in the epigastric region, or
(20:48):
it could be because the gallbladder is sluggish and the
body's not able to break down fats correctly. So it's
having an upward effect causing the reflux. And so how
we address yes, it would be in that vata, pita
and kufa way. If there is a hernia that is
a vata dysfunction, the structural function is the proper upward
(21:10):
movement and downward movement is not functioning correctly. If it
were a lesion or an ulcer, that's a pitha disorder.
But if there's sluggishness in the gallbladder, then that's a
Kuffa disorder. That's all addressing the same manifestation or the
same symptom. And so we look at vata, pitta kufa
not only as body types and predominance, but we also
(21:33):
look at them in terms of, now, how are we
going to address the disorder?
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting because it sounds so simple
on the surface, and yet as you were breaking that down,
it's quite complex. And I can see why it takes
quite a bit of training for people to become skilled
auvedic practitioners, you know, because there's a lot there and
just understanding the nuance of that and how things are
presenting as one sort of doshic issue but in fact
(22:03):
might be another, or you know, have overlapping. So I
appreciate that explanation. I'm wondering if you could just go
back to spirituality and the mind body connection and sort
of tie that in a little bit more. Is there
anything else you'd like to say about that, because that
does seem also very important to really appreciating.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Are beta Yes, you know, we're so happy that you know,
neuroscience today is really proving the thing that Iravita has
been connecting but not really being able to showcase in
the same way it can today, and that is that
the mind and the body are one system. It's beautiful
(22:43):
and thoughts influence physiology and trauma shapes, inflammation, stress impacts,
digestion and immunity and hormones. And so we consider beliefs, emotions, consciousness,
intuition as essentially contributors to health and healing the body
without addressing the mind, It's an that makes it an
(23:07):
incomplete perspective of aire Veda and I do I oftentimes
when I'm about to see a new patient, I will ask, you, know,
are you comfortable addressing both the physiological needs that you
might have in addition to any emotional or mental needs
or vice versa. If somebody comes to me for psycho
(23:28):
spiritual counseling, can we also talk about the physical body,
because without one we cannot address the other's. It's like
one will always hold the other one back from really
getting to where we want to go. We have to
work as a team, and sometimes, you know, we we
forget that, we forget that we are one in the body. Together,
(23:50):
and even the thoughts we have of you know, more
so often I know we're as human beings.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
We're just so hard on ourselves.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
And you know, I'm going to continued to go back
to that idea of compassion and love.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
You know, Imagine the way we talk to ourselves.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
Sometimes when we make mistakes or we you know, we're
trying to do something and it's not happening, or we're
pushing things out of the mind because we don't want
to be hurt. Imagine if we did that to the
people on the outside of us, it would be very harmful.
I'm always here to remind us that, you know, how
you treat yourself mentally and emotionally is really how you
(24:26):
treat yourself physically, and if you can start there, then
you're already on your way to full health.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Yeah, very very true. So we just have a few
minutes left, and I guess I have several questions. We're
not going to get to all of them. But I
think that there's a bit of controversy about yoga. So
yoga comes from the Ariveda tradition. I think a lot
of people assume that yoga encapsulates Ariveda. You've obviously given
(24:58):
us a lot more to think about and really helped
us to understand that that doesn't But how do you
feel about how yoga is practiced in the US? Is
it a fair representation or are there you know, do
you have any concerns about it?
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Sure? So let me tell you what yoga is. To
start with the word yoga itself means mind body connection. Okay,
so you know, I'm all for yoga for exercise. It
is one of the therapeutic tools. In Iorea, It's Irata's
the medical system. Yoga is one of its therapeutic tools,
and it can be used to balance the doshas and
(25:33):
support organ systems, regulate the nervous system. It can help
with breathing and promote primium.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
It can be used.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
Together as a complete approach to healing. And here's the
only thing I have to say about the way that
it's practiced.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
In the West.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
If one wants to go to an acrobatic yoga class.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
And you know, do yoga and.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
A cocktail afterwards, or do yoga with goats, or or
if they do partner yoga, you know, I believe that
all of these things are beautiful. They're moving the body
and exercising, being with animals, how wonderful. And if someone
wants to go have a beverage after they do yoga,
that is fine. The only thing I would say is
(26:21):
yoga has not occurred.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
That is not yoga.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
That's all I'll say about that, because true yoga is
definitely setting up the body for a healing process. And
there is a difference between the internal work that we
do and the external work that we do in the world,
and the internal work, like I had mentioned earlier, just
to tie it back, you know, the physical and the
(26:46):
mental are not separate. So yoga, the kind of yoga
that we do in Iraviva as a daily practice, is
actually setting the body up for mindfulness and breath work
or meditate and praying out, whatever you want to call it,
and it creates and starts the day in that place
(27:07):
of complete union of oneself with their mind, body and spirit.
And from there we go out into the world, and
we go out into the world and we do acrobatic yoga.
Then we're doing acrobats, but it is not truly yoga
at this point. It is there is physical therapy. So
(27:29):
in the ioretic text, we do have physical therapy and
there are yoga asanas that are used for therapeutic purposes,
and in that way it can be just such an
incredible tool, being able to distinguish the two and acknowledge
where it came from. That's all I ask.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Okay, fair enough, Well, I mean that this has been
really just wonderful conversation. And I'm wondering if you have
any website or social media that you'd like to share.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Sure, I do.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
I have a website, a Meetaiareta dot com, and and
there I have access to some recipes that I like
to share, some writings that have done, books that I've
published on Iareta, cooking, psycho spirituality, and just access to
really anything Iraveta that anyone's interested in.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
All right, well, thank you so much. Well, this has
been a great show and I really appreciate your time.
Then that wraps up this episode of five to Thrive Live.
So again we thank our sponsors pro Thrivers Well in
the sleep formula, Cetria glutathione to support antioxidation in the body,
cognizance Cticoline for brain health, and doctor Hira's award winning
(28:46):
shelf Stable probiotic. Thank you listener for joining us and
may you experience joy, laughter and love. It's time to thrive. Everyone,
have a great night
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Standstings
Any health related information on the following show provides general
information only. Content presented on any show by any host
or guests should not be substituted for a doctor's advice.
Always consult your physician before beginning any new diet, exercise,
or treatment program.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Welcome to five to Thrive Live, a podcast about thriving
for those who've been affected by cancer and chronic disease.
I'm doctor Lisau Schuller and I co host with my
good friend Carolyn Gazella. You can find all of our
past show podcasts on every major podcast outlet and our
schedule on ithriveplan dot com. So tonight, I'm very excited.
(01:01):
I'm going to be talking with my friend, colleague, my
amazing collaborator, Amita Nathwani, and she's going to talk to
us about Ariveda. She wears lots of hats, she's an educator,
she's a practitioner, she's a businesswoman. And tonight I think
she's going to don her education educator persona and really
(01:23):
give us this kind of sweeping overview of Ariveda. So,
Amita Natwani is a practitioner, author, educator of Arivedic medicine
for over twenty five years and she is a graduate
of the Maharishi School of Ariveda in India and the
Maharishi International University of the United States States. She has
(01:44):
a master's degree in Ariveda and she bridges traditional Arivedic
teachings with modern medical models. She is on the fellowship
faculty at the Andrew Wild Center for Integrative Medicine, where
she teaches Ariveda. She also teaches anatomy and theology at
acupuncture schools where she translates complex concepts into practical applications.
(02:07):
And she's on faculty at Sonoran University for her expertise
in ariveta. So she is definitely somebody that we're going
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(03:37):
welcome to five to Thrive Live.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Absolutely well, I'm so happy to talk to you about
this topic of all topics. So okay, let's start with
a little time traveling and I want to take us
back to the very birth of Ariveta. So when and
where are we?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
So it's a great question. You know.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
One of the common statements that are may is made
by Irabba doctors is that we are a five thousand
year old system of health. But you know, really, when
we talk about the birth of Aravela, we're talking about
the emergence of a complete medical epistemology that unfolded across
really several hundred years. And it's a living science, which
(04:20):
means that it continues to grow based on climate, access agriculture.
So it's not something that was just developed immediately. It
took time, through its own development of research and understanding
for it to become the medicine that it is today.
And going back five thousand years to the Indus civilizations
where the earliest references to disease, herbs and healing appeared
(04:44):
in what we call the traditional texts of the Vedas
v d As the Vedas, and these are considered Iravela's
seed texts. Not only does it address the physical, emotional,
and mental aspects of our day to day life, but
it also touches on the spiritual components and the big
(05:07):
questions of why are we here? What are we doing
on this planet, and how do we interact with their
natural environment?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, fantastic. Well, you know, Ariveta must have something for
just you know, going for it because it survived all
these thousands of years, and yet it has evolved over
that time period as well a bit. So has it
changed would you say significantly or is it basically the
(05:35):
same thing now that it was five thousand years ago?
Speaker 4 (05:38):
It has changed absolutely as it should and as most
medicines should. You know, we're all it is a living
science and what has remained unchanged.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
However, its core is its core principles.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
So you know, just as the human physiology, you know
my end. You know this, this understanding became a lot
deeper for me in my practice when I started teaching
amine physiology to acupun your students, because one of the
things that we cannot dispute is the makeup of the
human body. And so what is the role between lifestyle
and disease? What is the role of the digestion, it's
(06:13):
and gut help and how it pertains to mental health?
What is truly the way that the body functions, so
that we can look at pathology the disease process, it
goes in a certain pattern, and this is something that
Arava holds very true, because the human body itself does
function in a particular way based on the elements. However,
(06:37):
of course we've evolved. We've evolved for so many different reasons,
the environment around us, the type of pathogens that we're
exposed to. Also, you know, Iraveda and a lot of
sciences like this come from the East. But when we
translate it and bring it into climates in the West today,
we can clearly see that not all of its application
(06:59):
can be practical or even applicable at all. Like some
of the botanicals that grow in East Asia do not
grow here in the West. Should we really be utilizing
that for our current disease management? Based on the pathogens
that we experience in our current environment. So for that reason,
(07:20):
we have to keep evolving and changing, but we do
not change the principles behind it.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Really, Yeah, that's a really good distinction, I think, because
it's the principles that holds the philosophy together and really
gives it its power. And I think that you know,
the principles essentially give the vitality to the medicine. And
then of course, as humanity evolves, how those principles are
(07:50):
translated into our modern life is going to be different
than it was five thousand years ago. So yeah, that
makes total sense. So how would you describe the uniqueness
of ariveta, especially when you compare it to other types
of holistic or natural medicines.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
So, you know, because we did talk about how you
know earlier, I mentioned that it's it's a medicine that
was developed over time in its completeness. So it is
a complete medical system. So it's not just botanicals, it's
not just diet, it's not just lifestyle, but it also
includes diagnostics, pathology, even its own pharmacology, psychology, surgery itself
(08:33):
as well, including preventative medicine. So you know, a lot
of times I have patients who come to see me
and they say, well, you know, I really want to
take the holistic route. I do not want to do surgery,
And at that point I take the time to break
it to them that, you know, surgery is not mutually
exclusive of holistic medicine. Even five thousand years ago, we
(08:57):
were correcting imbalances. Sometimes it was from a prevention standpoint
and sometimes it was from a more invasive standpoint. But
the point is is that what makes iriba unique is
that it focuses on the cause of the imbalance first,
not just the symptom, but then by understanding how something happened,
what the disease stage is, we get to treat it
(09:21):
at the level that's necessary, and sometimes just botanical, sometimes
just diet, sometimes just perspective and change of one's emotional
and mental state of being can inherently define a person's health,
and in other cases, because of the disease stage or
what has occurred, surgery is necessary. And this is what
(09:43):
makes araveda so uniquely different than other forms of holistic medicine.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Mm hmm. Okay, so you kind of implied this, but
you know, key I think to areveta is the connection
that we have to the natural world, and I wondering
if you could allab rate on that a little bit
and why that's so central to understanding aubatic medicine.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Yeah. So, you know, this sometimes can become a little
esoteric to a certain extent, but you know, we really
are We are not separate from nature. We're just you know,
we're like trees, except we actually we're extensions of the earth,
but we happen to be moving around at the same
time everything that exists. There are books and philosophies written
(10:26):
that state that the entire natural world is made up
of the five elements, including us and everything else. Everything
else is just perception, and so because of this, we
cannot separate ourselves from the world around us. And this
is when, you know, our lifestyles move away from natural
rhythms or sleep cycles and the seasons, hunger cues, things
(10:50):
like that. You know, this is where we start to
see little bits of pathology kicking in or the disease
process so irradas brings us back to that alignment. You know,
we say all more than fifty percent of diseases and
disorders can be eliminated by simply reconnecting back to nature.
And a lot of times that you know, for people
who live in big cities, they say, well, that's really
(11:11):
hard for me to do to get into you know,
to get into the forest or to get to a lake.
I do it on the weekends. But that's that's not
what that means. It means following circadian rhythms. It means
following seasonal changes. You know, going to the farmer's market
and seeing asking your farmer did you grow this and
did this really grow in this climate? Was did you
(11:31):
use a cold frame? Where did this come from? Is
this something that I should be eating in this climate
at this time? Do we know where our food is
coming from? Are we just moving? You know?
Speaker 3 (11:42):
We can't, We can't.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
We can't look at our external environment and dictate how
our internal environment is going to process just based on
what's on the outside of us. We also get the
opportunity to make those changes from within, so we can
create that natural movement, We can create that natural emotional balance.
You know, I think about sometimes it's an extreme example,
(12:07):
but I think about people who are incarcerated and find
and manage to find peace within themselves in a place
where they don't have all of these things that we're
talking about here access to you know, maybe whole foods,
or maybe access to rivers and trees. But when you
(12:27):
are able to harner harness that type of understanding of
yourself with your natural environment on its own, then I
think we can achieve a sense of balance that we
don't really need to go too much farther for that.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
M Yeah, okay, yeah, connection, a reconnection really is what
restores health.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah, yeah, okay, I think that that's important, and honestly,
I feel like this is really a key thing to
the health of humanity right now, you know, especially as
we get more technologically dependent, and with that, the risk
(13:13):
of isolation from each other but also from the natural
world looms large. And I think if we unhinge ourselves
from the natural world around us, I don't know how
we will maintain our collective sanity honestly, never mind our health.
Right So I think this is a very important teaching
that Ariveda has for us. Actually, So you know, sorry,
(13:37):
go ahead, Well, I was just.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Agreeing with you and also wanted to just add that,
you know, at the end of the day, the quality
of compassion, you know, we can have that within us
without really even having to see another person. We can
build that within ourselves, and if we have it for us,
it just naturally flows out. And you know, the thing
(14:02):
is that as we kind of look at the way
that our bodies function in terms of science, we can't
ignore the fact that everything is vibration as well. And
so the way that we think, the way that we feel,
the way that we choose to live our lives on
a day to day basis, whether it's in front of
a screen or in nature. This reverberates out to the
(14:25):
rest of the world. And so when we feel helpless
and we don't know what to do, IVY, that always
reminds us to go back within and to hold those
qualities of love and compassion for yourself, because if that's
the only thing we can do, we're doing so much
in that moment.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
M Yes, very true. So I want to just get
I know this is a big question, but maybe so
many people associate avivated with the doshes, and so if
you could just take us just quickly, if you can
through the doshas, like what are they? And why is
it so important to are you.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Beata for sure?
Speaker 4 (15:07):
So the doshas, even though you know they can be
individualized as body types, they're really more we call them
qualities or humors. And what we want to know is
that what dosha is involved in whatever we're addressing. So
(15:27):
although we can have one of these doshas as a predominance,
we really want to know in that given moment, regardless
of who you are and what your a doosha might be,
what is involved, what is actually happening, what is most predominant.
So when we talk about the doshas, we're really breaking
it down again going back to my original commentary on
(15:48):
the five elements. We're going back to that again. So
when we put the five elements, according to Irra, it's
called the Mahabuddhas the Great the great elements and are
space or ether, air, fire, water, and earth. And when
we put them all together, what we do is we
(16:10):
come to a place where within the body structure itself,
we can start to see these elements manifest themselves. So
ether and air is basically anything that creates space the
cavities of the body, or anything that moves within the
body respiration elimination circulation, and we actually call this vata
(16:31):
vata and that is one of the doshas. The second
is when we see fire and water together within the
body itself, and there we see it manifest itself as metabolism,
not just of the body, but also of the mind, transformation,
production of enzymes, production of hormones, anything that converts from
(16:54):
A to B. And that's what we call pitta, which
is another dosha pia. And then the last way we
look at how the body functions is through its structure, bones, muscles, tissues,
et cetera. It's all the structural element of the body itself.
And we call this is earth and water together, and
(17:16):
we call this Kuffa ka pha. And so we have Vata, Pinta,
and Kuffa as the three doshas, and we have to
have all three of these doshas within our body. Obviously,
we cannot function without transportation, circulation, movement. We can't function
(17:36):
without metabolism nor the actual structure of the body. But
what ends up happening is that we do start to
see tendencies within us, both physically and mentally, of how
we show up in the world. Are we more votic
by nature? Is our body more evotic? Is it airy?
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Is it cold? Is it dry? Are we hot? Are
we more pit that by nature? Is it hot?
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Is it oily? Or are we more earthy by nature?
Are we heavier, set, larger bone structure?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
And we can start to see these.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Qualities within the mental systems as well. And this is
where we start to see our.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Predominance come through.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
But as an ironic doctor, I'm very much more interested
in what has become out of balance in your body. So,
for example, if you are pit that in nature, which
doctor Elschuler you are more nature. You know, you've got
(18:39):
some fibre in you, strong metabolism. You can see the problems,
see the solution, you go, no brainer. These are a
lot of the qualities that you have within. You build
muscle mass very quickly. You have definition of your muscular
strength when you have this quality in you.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
The question we're.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Asking is are you in a healthy state with it?
Or has there become an imbalance? Are you becoming too hot,
too inflamed? Are you being too quick to respond instead
of thinking about your answer before making a judgment call?
So we wonder has pit that increase. On the flip side,
(19:20):
you could say, wow, you know, I feel very sluggish
these days. I feel like I've gotten a lot heavier.
I'm very tired when I wake up every morning, I
feel like my digestion has gotten lower. Although Pita might
be your constitution, kuffa has really set in, and as
your provider, I would address you as that cuffa imbalance
(19:43):
rather than that pit that imbalance. First, just to see
the forest from the trees. And the last is that
if you become you know, emaciated or anxious, inability to
eat or focus, I would ask you then is vata
increase and at that point we would take different measures
to help you hone that in and each disease and
(20:07):
disorder starts with a little bit of that vata pa
cufa imbalance that moves it and pushes it into different
systems and organs, where then it manifests again into other vata,
pitta and kuffa types of manifestations. And a great example,
(20:27):
if I could, is an example of this would be,
you know somebody with acid reflux. Acid reflux can happen
for many different reasons. It could be because there's a
hideal hernia, for example, or it could be because there
is alesion or an ulcer in the epigastric region, or
(20:48):
it could be because the gallbladder is sluggish and the
body's not able to break down fats correctly. So it's
having an upward effect causing the reflux. And so how
we address yes, it would be in that vata, pita
and kufa way. If there is a hernia that is
a vata dysfunction, the structural function is the proper upward
(21:10):
movement and downward movement is not functioning correctly. If it
were a lesion or an ulcer, that's a pitha disorder.
But if there's sluggishness in the gallbladder, then that's a
Kuffa disorder. That's all addressing the same manifestation or the
same symptom. And so we look at vata, pitta kufa
not only as body types and predominance, but we also
(21:33):
look at them in terms of, now, how are we
going to address the disorder?
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting because it sounds so simple
on the surface, and yet as you were breaking that down,
it's quite complex. And I can see why it takes
quite a bit of training for people to become skilled
auvedic practitioners, you know, because there's a lot there and
just understanding the nuance of that and how things are
presenting as one sort of doshic issue but in fact
(22:03):
might be another, or you know, have overlapping. So I
appreciate that explanation. I'm wondering if you could just go
back to spirituality and the mind body connection and sort
of tie that in a little bit more. Is there
anything else you'd like to say about that, because that
does seem also very important to really appreciating.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Are beta Yes, you know, we're so happy that you know,
neuroscience today is really proving the thing that Iravita has
been connecting but not really being able to showcase in
the same way it can today, and that is that
the mind and the body are one system. It's beautiful
(22:43):
and thoughts influence physiology and trauma shapes, inflammation, stress impacts,
digestion and immunity and hormones. And so we consider beliefs, emotions, consciousness,
intuition as essentially contributors to health and healing the body
without addressing the mind, It's an that makes it an
(23:07):
incomplete perspective of aire Veda and I do I oftentimes
when I'm about to see a new patient, I will ask, you, know,
are you comfortable addressing both the physiological needs that you
might have in addition to any emotional or mental needs
or vice versa. If somebody comes to me for psycho
(23:28):
spiritual counseling, can we also talk about the physical body,
because without one we cannot address the other's. It's like
one will always hold the other one back from really
getting to where we want to go. We have to
work as a team, and sometimes, you know, we we
forget that, we forget that we are one in the body. Together,
(23:50):
and even the thoughts we have of you know, more
so often I know we're as human beings.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
We're just so hard on ourselves.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
And you know, I'm going to continued to go back
to that idea of compassion and love.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
You know, Imagine the way we talk to ourselves.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
Sometimes when we make mistakes or we you know, we're
trying to do something and it's not happening, or we're
pushing things out of the mind because we don't want
to be hurt. Imagine if we did that to the
people on the outside of us, it would be very harmful.
I'm always here to remind us that, you know, how
you treat yourself mentally and emotionally is really how you
(24:26):
treat yourself physically, and if you can start there, then
you're already on your way to full health.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Yeah, very very true. So we just have a few
minutes left, and I guess I have several questions. We're
not going to get to all of them. But I
think that there's a bit of controversy about yoga. So
yoga comes from the Ariveda tradition. I think a lot
of people assume that yoga encapsulates Ariveda. You've obviously given
(24:58):
us a lot more to think about and really helped
us to understand that that doesn't But how do you
feel about how yoga is practiced in the US? Is
it a fair representation or are there you know, do
you have any concerns about it?
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Sure? So let me tell you what yoga is. To
start with the word yoga itself means mind body connection. Okay,
so you know, I'm all for yoga for exercise. It
is one of the therapeutic tools. In Iorea, It's Irata's
the medical system. Yoga is one of its therapeutic tools,
and it can be used to balance the doshas and
(25:33):
support organ systems, regulate the nervous system. It can help
with breathing and promote primium.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
It can be used.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
Together as a complete approach to healing. And here's the
only thing I have to say about the way that
it's practiced.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
In the West.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
If one wants to go to an acrobatic yoga class.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
And you know, do yoga and.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
A cocktail afterwards, or do yoga with goats, or or
if they do partner yoga, you know, I believe that
all of these things are beautiful. They're moving the body
and exercising, being with animals, how wonderful. And if someone
wants to go have a beverage after they do yoga,
that is fine. The only thing I would say is
(26:21):
yoga has not occurred.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
That is not yoga.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
That's all I'll say about that, because true yoga is
definitely setting up the body for a healing process. And
there is a difference between the internal work that we
do and the external work that we do in the world,
and the internal work, like I had mentioned earlier, just
to tie it back, you know, the physical and the
(26:46):
mental are not separate. So yoga, the kind of yoga
that we do in Iraviva as a daily practice, is
actually setting the body up for mindfulness and breath work
or meditate and praying out, whatever you want to call it,
and it creates and starts the day in that place
(27:07):
of complete union of oneself with their mind, body and spirit.
And from there we go out into the world, and
we go out into the world and we do acrobatic yoga.
Then we're doing acrobats, but it is not truly yoga
at this point. It is there is physical therapy. So
(27:29):
in the ioretic text, we do have physical therapy and
there are yoga asanas that are used for therapeutic purposes,
and in that way it can be just such an
incredible tool, being able to distinguish the two and acknowledge
where it came from. That's all I ask.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Okay, fair enough, Well, I mean that this has been
really just wonderful conversation. And I'm wondering if you have
any website or social media that you'd like to share.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Sure, I do.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
I have a website, a Meetaiareta dot com, and and
there I have access to some recipes that I like
to share, some writings that have done, books that I've
published on Iareta, cooking, psycho spirituality, and just access to
really anything Iraveta that anyone's interested in.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
All right, well, thank you so much. Well, this has
been a great show and I really appreciate your time.
Then that wraps up this episode of five to Thrive Live.
So again we thank our sponsors pro Thrivers Well in
the sleep formula, Cetria glutathione to support antioxidation in the body,
cognizance Cticoline for brain health, and doctor Hira's award winning
(28:46):
shelf Stable probiotic. Thank you listener for joining us and
may you experience joy, laughter and love. It's time to thrive. Everyone,
have a great night
Speaker 1 (29:04):
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