DailyOM: Briefly explain to our readers what Ayurveda is.
Sahara: Ayurveda (pronounced aye-your-vay-duh) is the world's oldest health system, originating in ancient India over 5,000 years ago. It is the sister science of yoga, based on the mind-body connection. The Ayurveda system of medicine tells us that every single one of us on this planet was born with a unique blueprint that makes us who we are.
The ancient rishis in India created this system to relate these subtle energies to the mind and body for optimal health. Once you understand the mind-body connection, you'll soon see everything from their lens and the nuances and patterns of life with deeper understanding.
DailyOM: Why should somebody take this course? What types of ailments can it help?
Sahara: This course is ideal for anyone who is looking to dive deeper into the intricacies and relationship between the mind and body. If you've been feeling like your digestion is off; you don't know the right foods to eat; you're experiencing anxiety, irritation, or sadness; your skin has lost its glow; you are experiencing bloating, gas, constipation, acidity, or heaviness; and/or you're carrying toxins, this program is for you.
DailyOM: One of the first things you have students do is discover their unique mind-body type — their dosha. Why is this important, and can somebody have their body type change during their life?
Sahara: The word dosha means energy and classifies the three mind-body types: vata, pitta, and kapha. Vata is airy, pitta is fiery, and kapha is earthy.
Your dosha gives you a blueprint of the optimal dietary and lifestyle suggestions for your most radiant life. We are not just one dosha but a combination of all three in varying amounts. Think of this as nature versus nurture. Though you are born with your constitution, you also have free will and can change your health for the better.
DailyOM: Your course covers a lot of ground — healing digestion, balancing hormones, stimulating the lymphatic system, self-massage, dry-brushing, and so much more. Is one practice more important than another, or do we have to do all of these things to be healthy?
Sahara: It depends on the individual. For example, if you have a kapha imbalance (weight gain, sluggish metabolism, water retention) then lymphatic drainage massage will be the most important for you; dry-brushing will be less important. If you have a vata imbalance (dry skin and an inability to gain weight) then dry-brushing and abhyanga (self-oil massage) will be more important to you — not lymphatic drainage. The beautiful thing about Ayurveda is it is based on the unique individual.
On top of that we each have ever-changing needs, so in the winter or early spring you'll need more kapha-balancing practices. In the cold fall months you need more vata-pacifying, and in the hot summer months you need more pitta-balancing practices. I teach you all the practices, and you can pick and choose according to what you need. Practices like abhyanga self-oil massage or oil-pulling can also be customized to your unique dosha's skin type, such as sesame oil for dry vata skin, coconut oil for pitta, and mustard seed or grapeseed oil for combination kapha.
For example, dry-brushing is the practice of taking a loofa and brushing your body (while it's dry) to remove dead skin cells. This allows oil to penetrate deeper into your skin for the next step, abhyanga. You always brush toward your heart and in circular motions on round areas of your body, like elbows and knees. Dry-brushing is a simple and affordable practice that improves blood circulation, enhances lymphatic drainage, removes dead skin cells, and stimulates the body.
DailyOM: In the course you give lots of recipes for each of the three body types. Talk to us about the food experience in your course and why it's important.
Sahara: Food is the entry point toward overall health. The foods we consume become the fabric of our thoughts and cells in our body. So it's important to make sure that the foods we eat nourish our dosha and provide our minds and bodies with exactly what we need when we need it. Vata season-imbalances call for more grounding, warming foods, while pitta season-imbalances require cooling, hydrating foods. Kapha season-imbalances need more stimulating, bitter foods.
DailyOM: You specialize in folding these practices into everyday life for the average person. How do you make that happen?
Sahara: I teach this program step-by-step. You're way more likely to keep a habit if you've slowly integrated it into your lifestyle, rather than starting everything at once and then ending back at square one!
I start with introducing the doshas in my signature way since you must understand these energies before implementing any practice. Each week we go through breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for each dosha. In the second month of the course, I introduce how to practice a variety of self-care rituals such as tongue-scraping, oil-pulling, dry-brushing, and abhyanga. This encourages you to make these practices a gradual and lasting part of your lifestyle for years to come. Ayurveda is an ancient practice that is all about the long term. I've heard from one student who has put together a simple 10-minute morning and evening practice that suits her lifestyle.
DailyOM: Can you briefly tell how you came to be an expert in this field? What is your story?
Sahara: I don't think there is a healer out there who didn't first need healing themselves. My own health issues brought me to Ayurveda. I suffered from chronic digestive issues (IBS-C, candida, leaky gut), hormonal imbalance anxiety, fatigue, hair loss, weight loss, dizziness, insomnia, and low blood pressure.
Each doctor I went to tried to treat my symptoms by prescribing me pills — birth control, progesterone, IBS medication, antidepressants, anti-anxiety medication — yet no doctor ever asked about other areas of my life in an attempt to find the root of the problem. The gastroenterologist never asked how I was feeling, or the endocrinologist never asked how my digestion was. It was as if all of my symptoms were isolated from each other. I knew there had to be a deeper reason for all of my symptoms, and that's when I decided to investigate. I began studying various holistic healing systems, which eventually brought me to Ayurveda.
Ayurveda is based on finding the right diet and lifestyle for your unique mind-body type. In fact, according to Ayurveda, it's not "you are what you eat" but "you are what you digest." I became fascinated with this science and ended up traveling to India to study it with doctors and practitioners for over two years. I realize now that my health issues were given to me to allow me to help heal others.
DailyOM: Over 35,000 people have taken your course. Can you share some feedback from students?
Sahara: For most people, my work has been their very first exposure to Ayurveda, which has been a great honor. Ayurveda has been in my lineage for thousands of years, and it is part of my life's purpose to bring this work to the masses so it can benefit the lives of others the way it has mine. Many people say they've shied away from Ayurveda because it was too confusing, but they thoroughly enjoyed how I've broken it down and modernized it for today's world. I am so excited to share this course with more beautiful souls!
DailyOM: Thank you, Sahara, for taking the time to explain Ayurveda to all of us. Until next time, be well.
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