Ayurveda For Everyday Life & Balance | Brett Aldrich

Your body already knows what season it is—and it’s asking for warmth, steadiness, and a gentler rhythm. We sit down with breath worker and Ayurvedic counselor Brett Aldrich to unpack how the five elements and three doshas can guide everyday choices as we move from winter’s dry winds to spring’s heavier, wetter mood. Instead of chasing trends or rigid plans, we dig into why agni (your digestive fire) is the quiet engine behind energy, mood, and immunity—and how warm water, cooked food, and the right spices can keep it strong.

We move from first principles to the plate: brothy soups that hydrate, mineral-rich vegetable stock with seaweed, tender root vegetables, and the smart addition of bitter greens as days lengthen. Brett breaks down the pungent taste—ginger, black pepper, mustard seed, and a careful pinch of cayenne—to lift kapha heaviness without overwhelming pitta heat. We talk practical swaps like trading iced drinks for spiced tea, choosing a larger midday meal when digestion peaks, and using cardamom or cinnamon in warm milk for evening calm. If you’ve wondered whether online dosha quizzes are helpful, we compare quick checks to working with a practitioner and share how to listen for your body’s real-time signals either way.

This conversation is grounded, kind, and immediately usable. Whether you’re feeling wired and cold or heavy and foggy, you’ll leave with a short list of foods, spices, and movement ideas that meet you where you are. We also explore mindful eating—starting digestion before the first bite through smell, touch, and pace—and simple rituals to come back to yourself when life turns loud. If seasonal living, nervous system care, and better digestion sound good, hit play, try one change this week, and tell us what shifts for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs soup season, and leave a review to help others find the show.

Connect with Brett @ https://seedthespirit.com/

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be well, my friend
xx Hannah

Transcript

Brett’s Path From Yoga To Ayurveda

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Hello. Welcome back to the podcast Journey to Well. My name is Hannah, and today we get to talk about Eastern philosophy, Eastern medicine. I'm joined by Jet Brett Aldridge. She's a breath worker and Ayurvedic counselor and founder of Seed the Spirit. And I was telling you, Brett, like I my mom's really into Ayurveda, which is how I got introduced to it originally. And I talk about Ayurvedic practices just more generally with my one-on-one coaching clients, but I don't know that I've talked about it on a podcast before. So I'm super excited to have you. Thank you for coming and sharing your knowledge and your wisdom. And we're going to be talking about winter and finding balance within different seasons. And if you've never heard of Ayurveda before, you are okay. Keep listening because you're going to get a good background knowledge and foundation of Ayurveda, and then kind of talk about how that weaves into our practices and what we can do throughout this winter season kind of coming into the spring. So you know that my favorite thing is to let my podcast guests introduce themselves. So before we get into all of that, who is Brett and who are we having the pleasure of learning from today?

Elements And Doshas Explained

Agni, Warm Water, And Cooked Food

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Thank you, Hannah. I'm excited to talk about all of this. So I began working in a very high stress environment, work environment long ago. And uh then after having my first child, I decided to stay home full time. I um found that um after having children, I just was like, I don't really, I'm a very different person, right? So you go through a big change. Um the usual things that I would typically do to kind of assist myself to feel better, or back then I wanted to get back into shape, all of those things, or just feel more like um stronger physically um and mentally as well. I over time I realized I needed more support than what I typically did in many different ways. So I fell into yoga briefly, uh, just the physical practice of yoga, the asana practice. Uh, the philosophy came later, um, you know, the understanding of all of that. But I was brought in through the physical practice. And then I just started from there. Um, and then, gosh, so many years later, I started to slowly understand a little more at a time uh what it really was to practice yoga, and it is a life practice, um, not just a physical practice. And so then I just wanted to know more. So I was like, all right, so what is this? You know, so I didn't really try to find it. You know, I learned how to teach yoga, the uh practice yoga and teach yoga. I was certified to teach um that as well, to be a yoga teacher. But then I wanted to know more, right? There was something like, wait, I think something's missing here. Like I'm missing something. Like I know there's more to this. I love what I'm doing, but I know I'm missing something. I'm missing something. And then I just fell into um went to a store one day and I looked over to the side and there was a little card, and it said Ayurveda Dinacharya, which in Dinacharya means a daily practice, and it had a little like clock of the day of the time and what to do, when to do things at a certain time of day, and it taught about how to take care of your body throughout the day, just little tips. And then I was like, hmm, what's that? So I picked it up just out of curiosity and I read it, and that was also during a time of my life where again I was going through physical change and life changes, and so well, I'll try this. Um, still unknowing, just knowing it was related to um yoga, and um, and now I learn is the sister as they call coin the sister science to yoga. Um, and so um I tried it and I tried it for a couple weeks. I'm like, actually, like this is really doing something. So the small pieces, the beginning stages of this, and then I just again was like, you know what, I think this is something that could be useful for me and for anybody else. And um, it went from there more, and then decided to get my education um in Ayurveda and just start the process and practice. And um, I needed it first and foremost, um, with the practice with what I needed, and to supply, you know, nutrients to my body and also taking care of my body in another way in the physical sense. Um, and um, I didn't have to do a rigorous, I came to the realization the things that I was doing, I didn't have to do. And things that I could have taken the place of it that um over time created more balance. And that was the big piece of it was like, oh, so I was doing all these things thinking that this was what I was supposed to be doing, um, which is great for probably many people. However, for me and the way I operate and the way my body works, I was like, there was actually maybe you shouldn't do those, but you can do these other things. Yeah, it really started to make some sense. I was like, oh, so all of this stuff is good for me or for someone, right? Um, all these things are great, but I can pick and choose, and I don't always have to do this one thing just because I just have this idea. Um, so really that's kind of how it began. So that's a long story about how it began, but that's how it went.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

I love, I love the tools that help us learn, like, oh, this might work, but this thing might work better. And I think I've I've talked about that a lot on on my podcast. And because I I've experienced it in my own life, even if we're talking about a diet and you meet someone and they're like, I feel amazing, doing keto, let's say, right? And and like you have to do it, and and they really excite you and they get you hooked on it, and then you try it and you're like, I must be doing something wrong. Like, I'm either not getting results, or I feel terrible, or it's not working for me, or I'm not able to stay consistent with it. It doesn't mean that it is not working for someone, but maybe it doesn't work for you and your body type and where you are in your life. And the little bit that I know about Ayurveda that rings true for sure. It's kind of this introduction of learning your body, your body type, um, and how you can best support your energy. Um, so for people that have heard of the word, because it's not, this is obviously not a new practice, um, but I don't, I would guess that a lot of people don't really know what Ayurveda is. So I think we need to start there with what is Ayurveda, and then we'll get into other deeper questions.

Seasonal Living And Winter Care

Transitioning From Vata To Kapha

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Sure. I, you know, in Ayurveda, in like any um, you know, indigenous ancient practice of different countries or lands or cultures, there it's really deep and it's really broad, and there's a lot to it, right? So it can feel a little overwhelming thinking about what is this? How can I do this? How can I bring this into my life? Um, Ayurveda, from what I was well, how I was taught, is really what they call the study of life. Um, everything matters. Um, everything could be medicinal for you, or other things could be poison for you, depending on timing, quality, and quantity, and when you bring it into your life. So really has the coin statement of it all depends on your situation of what would work for you. They are based on trying to um utilizing um what you're made out of and then what everything else is made out of, and finding balance in that. And a big piece of it, what Ayurveda really does focus on too, is um what we call the elements. So everything is made out of five elements, and those elements have characteristics, and those elements trickle down into um energy centers, what we call doshas, um, which can also describe um everything around us, including ourselves. Um, some of the differences is when we're taking doshas and and and describing ourselves, it brings also brings in character and emotional tendencies, uh, which is also interesting. So the elements are are primarily or only um fire, water, air, ether, and earth. And those are the five elements that um Ayurveda typically utilizes. And it's an indigenous practice, so it's native to India. However, you know, elements we consider are everywhere. So I find this to be a good foundation for myself, and that's where I go from. And these elements all eventually make up, can create or go together as the doshas, the energy centers. So um there's vata, which is a dosha, um, which is air and ether combination of the elements. Um, there's pitta, which is the dosha, which can be the water and fire element um combination. And then there's earth, excuse me, kappa, or some say kapha. Um, and that is the elements of uh earth and water. So when we kind of like get to know someone or you get to know yourself, these qualities or these elements have qualities and um description. And over time we sort of go, oh, okay, so fire, right? You know, it's red, it's hot, um, it digests, it transcends, it changes things. Um, it's an alchemy in a way, right? You put things together, bring fire onto it, it turns into something else. Uh, so that's a lot of pit dust. So we be so we can kind of understand what we're made out of. And then our food also is made out of these elements, right? The spices that we place into our food also have elements. So um, for example, you know, someone like myself, if I have a lot of fire and water within me, if I want to eat something, I would probably eat less spicy food, right? Because I would ingest something maybe a little bit cooler to the body. Um, so to find internal balance. So we, and you know, we want to make sure when we eat, you know, there's times of days that we should probably eat more than another time of day. So even the day has different um doshas. So the day even has its own dosha clock, right? So a time of day where it's best to be resting, a time of day where it's like noon or around that time is a good time to eat our largest meal because that's when our digestion is working more, it um is more um rigorous or more active. We work by the sun. So 24-hour clock, and that's kind of how we uh create our day. Um, so really it is relative to just our life and finding balance and getting to know the elements to the point where we can use the to our benefit. Find balance inside and mentally too, as well. Mental balance, internal physical balance, um, our environment. Yeah, everything is is included in this process. Um, it's also spiritual too. If that's something that, you know, people tend to are geared to as well. There is um some pieces there too that you know the the body is a vessel that holds on to, you know, the universe, as we say. And so um some of us feel that way.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

And so taking care of that vessel and um knowing we're connected to everything around us. And that's um, you know, and that's a big piece too, is eating natural, organic, hopefully, or natural foods, whole foods, and creating them um to be a medicine for us.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

It's a lot of cooked foods too, right? Or is that for a specific dosha?

Cycle Alignment And Ayurvedic Parallels

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Right. So uh yes, the advice is to eat cooked foods, um, moist foods, um, and foods that can hydrate. So we not only hydrate with water, but our food hydrates us as well. And in order to assimilate and to really like receive the nutrients of our food, it is advised to have cooked food. It's easier to process um and and it keeps our ugni. We call it our ugni, or I digestive fire, it keeps it running. You're able to eat your food and process it while you're eating it. Um, that's a piece of it as well. And we don't put ice in our water, we try to drink warm beverages or room temperature beverages, um, you know, to continue the digestion and the transformation of what we're ingesting. So it could be food or life. So if our in digestive fire is working well, it's food and life that we're able to uh metabolize. That's what we're working on. And we do, you know, and also what we what music we listen to, you know, if we sing, if how we move our bodies, it's all related to the elements. And if we look into that, you know, if we're feeling a little sluggish and tired, you know, dancing could be a great way to like change things around and to find balance in the body. Um, you know, if you've been busy that day and moving a lot that day, maybe your practice that day, physical practice is just lying down on the floor for 20 minutes. It all really just depends um on what you're trying to do in order to just maintain yourself with the life.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

So if we have these, we're all one of three doshas primarily. So from what I understand, we're kind of all three, but we have a kind of a more prominent one. Um are there specific foods and movement and activities that aid each dosha and does that change like for the day of the week or the season, or does that kind of stay the same?

Quizzes Vs Practitioners For Doshas

Winter To Spring Foods And Spices

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Well, if if this is how I if if you're dealing with something specific, right? If I'm a person, I'm like, you know, I'm dealing with something really specific that's really um, I'm feeling symptoms, right? Specific, or if it's like, you know, I'm having a hard time like um processing my food and I feel like uncomfortable after I eat, you know, there are certain postures and things you can do physically um to take care of that issue, you know, laying on your belly. There's um, you know, just sitting in um seated and doing like mild, easy breath work, which could be like just in and out of the nose, you know, um taking fennel after you eat, um, things like that. Um, however, um, when it comes to activities and food, we do typically go by seasonal living. So winter, summer, fall, or and then there's that transition right between each season that's kind of like a little bit of both. Uh, so we do create or there are ways to um choose uh foods, activities, movement, um, breath work even during those transitions and during the season to support the body. And if you are more of one dosha than another one, um you kind of like do a little more of one thing versus another, things like that as you get to understand it a little bit more within your own body. Um, you know, because in the wintertime, if you have a lot of vata in your body, if you have a lot of ether and air, this time of year is challenging. Um, so you do more than probably what someone like has a lot of earth in them. You would do more like calming of the nervous system, eating foods that are more brothy and warm. Um, because we tend to get more irritated in the cold weather, right? Like increases like. So if you have more of the same thing over and over and over again, you can create an imbalance within yourself. Um, so we try to find the balance that way too, as well. So I think that makes sense. So, really, it is so winter time, it is about soothing the nervous system, nourishing the tissues of the body, making sure you are hydrated with warm beverages. Um, you know, some of us have warm milk before bed, not everybody, but in the evenings. Um, you know, waking up in the morning and making sure you're taking care of your ugni and eating foods that are um a little bit spicy or a little bit warming in nature with the spices. However, not so much that you're like, you know, it's too spicy in your face, it's red, in your mouth, like maintaining right, like your body in a kind way, right? Kindness is key when it comes winter time. And um, in our practices are similar, like they're grounding and warming to the body, so there is movement. Um, you know, however, we're not jumping up and down and you know, uh overdoing it um physically um too often, just enough um when it comes to our practices. And then coming towards spring, we start to get a little bit more active. We want our foods to be a little bit more brothier, a little bit warmer as well. Um come springtime, we want to do more cleansing foods because we're trying to cleanse out all the heaviness of winter time. We're heaving towards that. So we do more cleansing foods. Um, usually sometimes some of us do a cleanse during that time of year as well, um, to get rid of the excess um cold, the excess heaviness. Um, and um, sometimes some of us have like irritated joints. We try to get all of that either inflammation or what we call ama or undigested or processed matter that we have sometimes after the wintertime, and we try to um keep that going and just making sure we're cleansing the body but also supporting it at the same time. And that's what we do. Yeah, and we just keep and again looking at the elements and those characteristics um and making sure we're finding balance. And you really it is trial and error sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Yeah, yeah. Are we moving from vata da pitta or vata da kappa?

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Right now we're moving from vata da kappa. Oh yeah, so we consider, yeah. So, like, right, so this time of year is it depending on how you're feeling and also the time of life, right? Um, so going from vata kappa, we are moving from the colder, um, more windier, yeah, mobile time, and we're heading to the more of the heavier um it's still cold. It's still cold then. So we're trying to find that balance, right? You know, so in our mind's eye, like what would you know, what would be helpful for us from that cold time to another cooler time, but heavy time, right? So what would we do to balance that out? And you can do it so many different ways. Um not just your food, but food is also helpful because that is really what we do every day. And with Ayurveda, really it is too, is what we do every day makes a difference. Um, and those practices that we do every day does create how the body is feeling.

Pungent Taste And Digestive Support

SPEAKER_01 20:39

Yeah, it's super interesting because a lot of what I teach in I call it cycle alignment, like aligning to our cycle, which is whether you're someone that like menstruates or not, and even if you're a male, um, we have cycles, whether you're talking about the four seasons, you're talking about the moon phases, you're talking about your menstrual cycle. And I really love how this really just aligns and supports and actually gives more suggestions for how you can support your body because our winter phase is like our menstrual phase. And it's like when you're talking about the vata and like being cold, and how can you eat, how can you feed your body nourishing foods and what movement? Maybe it's not really hot, sweaty exercise in the winter time. Maybe it is just going for a walk or doing some gentle yoga or laying, like you said, just laying on the floor and like moving your body a little bit. There's a lot that we can do to support our our site, like our inner cycle, which I'm drawing a lot of conclusions and like um I'm drawing a lot together of Ayurveda and just like kind of talking about the what I use more, just kind of cyclical living. But there's a lot that I've that again, well, no, I I don't think again, I my mom is very into Ayurveda. I think I told you that before we started recording. So uh my mom has been the introduction to Ayurveda for me. And it was mostly, I think, in college when I first started, but you can go online and like take a dosha quiz and stuff. And I should actually actually ask you if that's good, but that's what I did. Um, and I had the kind of this like printout of all of the foods that are really supportive and like movement, and like I really like at least how I did it years ago, is it separated even like sweeteners, right? So if you want to sweeten something like a tea or a coffee or I don't know, oatmeal, uh, there's a difference between honey or maple syrup for each dosha. Um, or even like I make my own milk. And so if I remember correctly, no, I'm supposed to eat figs, actually. Like fig the difference between figs and dates. And so, like, I can sweeten with um like a well, actually, I don't think kafas are supposed to have dates necessarily, but I do still sweeten with dates. But like I used to eat a lot of figs when I learned that. And the interesting thing is, even going back to a simpler example of cold water versus warm water, I always would drink cold water through college. And once I learned this whole Ayurveda, or I started kind of practicing Ayurveda a little bit more, I slowly slowed down the cold water that I was consuming. And now, years later, I feel like, especially in the winter, like I cannot have cold water at all. I don't like cold water at all. I'll drink room temperature water, and that's totally fine with me. But I also do drink a lot of teas. But it's interesting when you introduce these things and then you kind of give your body a chance to feel how it feels, that you then start craving the like warm water or the bone broth. I really love bone broth in the winter. Like you almost start craving that. And then it's like, no, I don't want to just get a salad when it's 10 degrees outside. I don't want to eat something that's cold and raw.

Mindful Eating And Digestion Cues

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Right. And that is the really wonderful thing I like about Ayurveda too, is that it's it's a slow process. So we can work with someone and give them a lot of suggestions, but typically we try to ask them just to try one. Or, you know, if someone's a night owl and they like to go to, they like to fall asleep at one o'clock in the morning. Um, you know, the suggestion is to go to bed a little earlier than that, you know, like around like 10, maybe a little before that. And um, you know, what we do is we work towards feeling better, right? So and our system working better, right? Yeah. Processing things in a way that allows you to feel good, right? It really is that, um, and to thrive, right? So um in doing things slowly, um over time and nourishing, like continuing to nourish and give you the good, give you the stuff that like continues to give you the balance, without saying don't do this, don't do that. It's moral analogies, you can do this. You can do this, you can do this too, and you can do that. And over time, you know, I can do this, I can do this. This is great. Over time, the things that I've noticed too, that over time the things that I probably would be better off not doing, just there was no longer space for it. It wasn't like I should or shouldn't do this. It was more along the lines of like I didn't crave it anymore. It wasn't something that was part of I didn't need it anymore or want it anymore. It was more um, and again, because guess what? That could be good for somebody else. Right? So if we put in more of the positive spin, which I feel really is most of it is positive, you know, what works for one doesn't always work for the other, but that's always still okay. Um, you know, there's always that understanding of like it's I can do these things for myself. And over time, the things that aren't necessarily working in my body anymore, I will no longer crave as much. So that tends to be nice for people.

How To Connect With Brett

Closing Reflection And Final Practice

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Interesting, yeah. And I love that because that's what I always said with diets. Like it's so diets are terrible because you're because you're pulling things out. And there's actually a lot of research. I forget where I read this. Um, it might have been in atomic habits, I think. Um, but there's a lot of research on when we pull something out or multiple things out, like keto, right? You can't have carbs, you might lose 10 pounds, but the research has shown that six months post that diet, they've the participants gained double what they lost. So if you lost 10 pounds six months post, you've gained 20 pounds. And it's because you're, I mean, it is so psychological too, but like I don't believe that we really need to pull anything completely out of our diet or our works, our workout schedule or whatever, you know, whatever it is, whatever we're talking about. I think food is easy to talk about, like you said. Um but that's what I really loved about, not that I'm like a huge supporter of intermittent fasting, but I really loved that about intermittent fasting is you're not pulling anything out. You're actually just adjusting the times where you're eating. And again, kind of going back to what you said with the Ayurvedic principles, eating the biggest meal in the middle of the day, which kind of ends up being fasting. For me, at least it was. Like I would eat the majority of my meal, which is probably why fasting worked actually for me. Uh, the majority of my like calories came from lunchtime because I would break my fast and then like an hour or two later, I would have like food, and that would be about lunchtime. And then by the time your like evening comes, you don't want to eat like a huge meal anyway, because you're not that hungry. Um, but anyway, that that's I'm not like suggesting fasting, but I'm just sharing that's an example, another example of we're not taking something out and restricting ourselves. And I like that you're saying, like, we can try this, like just try it. Like, I don't know, find find your dosha, which actually I want to ask you. Um, and then try, you know, try a couple of things. And one of my favorite things that my mom had has always said is when you try something, then just notice how your body feels. Like when you eat something, notice how your body feels afterwards. When you do this workout, notice how your body feels afterwards because your body is telling you if it's working for you or not. But a lot of times we don't listen. It's like you eat, you know, like a big plate of spaghetti and you're like, oh, I feel terrible. But then tomorrow you eat another big bowl of spaghetti.

unknown 29:14

And it's like, okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

But my question is because I I want to come back to that with the quiz, because I know that there's a lot of quizzes online, and I haven't done this for years, so I don't even know it's out there now. But do you suggest taking a quiz? Is that the best course of action? Should we do something else to figure out our dosha?

SPEAKER_00 29:33

Sure. I there's a couple of things too that can be challenging as well, because sometimes um our dosha, what we attempt to try, we we attempt to do with with these questions is to find your natural state, your original state. Okay. Which is what we were, you know. Sometimes I ask a lot of questions about, oh, you know, when you were a kid, what were your favorite foods? You know, and so that usually tells us some stuff. Um, because I can say for a fact, like these were the things that I did not like eating when I was a child. Oh, and guess what? Now I'm an adult and realizing I forced myself to eat these things thinking I was supposed to eat it. And when I was a child, I already knew I wasn't supposed to eat it. So I realized there were some things I had to take out a little bit. You know, over time I I didn't really have them in my diet anymore. But um, that is an example, like when you do it with a practitioner versus when you do it online. Um, so online, you can absolutely do a quiz. You know, sometimes these quizzes can tell you what's going on today, right? How your body's exhibiting the elements today, um, which uh may not necessarily be your original state. However, it's still great to know that because you're still working towards feeling balance on the inside. So these quizzes are lovely to assist you in understanding in the moment how you're feeling and what's going on. And um, they do help to figure out what you want to do for yourself. Absolutely. You know, I've done it too. I've done a couple of them just to kind of guess and see how it felt, you know, versus with someone. Um, there's a lot of questions and you can answer them and it's really fun and just see. And um, and then you, you know, when you correlate with the list of food and everything, there's some websites that really have a great um, you know, description of it and then telling you what bet what's better to eat, how to support your body. Um, there's great descriptions like that. So yeah, give it a go, see what happens. Um, but what I do know when I remember from myself, just because I did it for me, right? Is that it was more along how I was doing in the moment today.

SPEAKER_03 31:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

Um, which is also great too. It could be your dosha from you know your original state, or it could be right now, how you're feeling right now. And but either way, it's still helpful. It's is helpful information.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

Um it reminds me of like homeopathy. I worked with a, I don't know if you call them homeopathists. I don't know what you call them actually, but somebody that practices homeopathy. And yeah, it was it was it was really cool to have that conversation with her because I mean homeopathy is I should actually have a have somebody on my podcast, but it's it's kind of taking like this very holistic approach. But she would ask me like all of these questions from childhood and and stuff too, and it's more of a full picture than just answering, you know, the quiz questions. But I do think that the quiz is a good place to start, and I like that that's kind of a an option that we have if we don't want to dive in and work with a Ayurvedic practitioner right away. Um one of the things that I want to talk about too is okay, so maybe we're not interested in like finding out our dosha right now, and and maybe that's something that we want to put in a box and revisit later. But there are ways that we can, you've mentioned a couple times of seasonally supporting ourselves and things that we can just generally do based off of the outside environment and and not like primarily our inside environment. Uh, what are some things that we can do kind of moving from this winter season to the spring? And like you mentioned, like it's everything's kind of melting right now, and we're kind of moving into like a heavier season. So, what kind of foods can we be eating? What kind of movement can we do? Are there any other tools that you find really supportive in this season, which is really hard for a lot of people? Like winter, I mean, we're both in New England and I have people that listen everywhere, but even my best friend from North Carolina, she's like, it's so cold, it's like 40 degrees. I'm like, I wish it was 40, but it's still cold for them. So no matter where you are, the winter is chillier.

SPEAKER_00 33:46

Yeah, absolutely. And you what I find really, and it is true, you know, I can relate, you know, I know there's um someone in Florida, and you know, it's like 60 degrees, they're wearing their parkas and their hats. And I was like, it's probably really cold for them, I guess. You know, yeah, absolutely, you know. Um, so it is winter for them too, even though it's it's a different, you know, extreme, right?

SPEAKER_03 34:06

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 34:07

Absolutely. It's this time of year, I think, is also really challenging too, because a lot of people tend to start to have like aches and pains with the transition, which it could be colds, you know, there's this period of time right now that people start to like when things change, right? This even if it's slow, we still have our body still kind of feels like there's mobility, right? And there's change. And when there's mobility, it kind of like disrupts a little bit of our foundation. Um, and you know, it could be immunity, it could be we're exposed out, you know, we're getting out more or we're staying in more, you know, and um we're fighting the temperature, you know. So, so our body's working harder to take care of itself during this time. And when our body's working harder, that's when it's we're being asked to place those practices a little bit more into place to support yourself, right? So, what can we do to cleanse the body because we're getting to a heavier stage of the year, however, at the same time maintaining that warmth and protection at the same time. Um, so yes, and it's challenging to be like, if I say seasonal eating here in New England this time of year, that's a challenge. Yeah. Because we're like, what can we, right? And I know it's so funny, right? So, you know, and a big piece is, you know, okay, so we have to look back in time a little bit. Okay, what were people eating out of their root cellars, right? What did people pickle? What did people preserve? Okay. Um, and go from there. Um, so, and you know, sour right now is okay for some, not all. Um, pungent foods is okay for most. So if we go to like the tastes and what things taste like and how um they can affect and assist you, that's also helpful as well. Um, so I would suggest this time of year, still brothy foods, bone broth is lovely, even vegetable broth, you can make it pretty substantial if you put in um, you know, a seaweed in your broth and let it steepen with some other vegetables that gives it a like call it umami or that depth.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:16

Um, they call it a bone broth, but really it's just more nutrients um for the body that you may not get from um if you don't utilize um, you know, the the animal. Uh so there's that. Um root vegetables are still great. Um, we're heading towards like kale, more of the cleansing foods too, as well. So you want some more greens, like green, you greens are still available. I see kale out out in the wintertime, it's still there. So um, you know, and people have greenhouses too, as well. So we I kind of have to think that way. Like if a farmer, I'm like, okay, what would a farmer be doing right now? Like, and that's kind of where I'm at. So greens are really great to add um to your um menu. Um, greens aren't always everybody's favorite. There are ways to assist that, you know, you cut like I joke around, I'm like, okay, what would I do when I was little? And if I didn't want to eat it, how would I make sure I, you know, you cut it up smaller, you put it into your soups, things like that if it's not your thing. Um, but it is helpful because they are packed with nutrients, and that's what we need, is we still need that support of like deeply nutritive food. Um, so that's kind of a piece too, as well. You know, dates are great over time, start weaning off too, and going towards more of the fig, um, for all of us, too, including, um, just because we're going to the heavier stage of the year. Um, depending on your dosha, too, you could probably have dates, you know, depending on what you're dealing with, too, personally, on a personal level, dates might be fine all the time for you. Um, but seasonally, you know, you we go in that direction. Um yeah, and uh, you know, you can do um warmer beverages like milk is still a good warmer beverages of milk is still good, any kind of milk and nut milk is good. Oat milk, I don't drink as much just because I don't know, there's some I'm not I have had oat milk. I don't I like it, but I don't have it as often as I would a nut milk. That's just me, um, considering blood sugar and everything. So it is okay. Like anything is good in moderation. I always feel like that. Don't say no, but like everything's good in moderation. Um, so and that's kind of what is, and then depending on your dosha, like for me, for some people, if you have a lot of fire in you, coconut milk's great. Um, for those of us that have uh more heaviness nature, you know, almond milk, cashew milk, sun um pet milk is also um, you know, and then those of us that uh that don't mind having um cow's milk, that as well is great. Um probably when it starts to get a little heavier, I'd use I do still maybe milk a little bit, but then I'd put some spices in it to get it so you can digest it properly. Well, it really is about playing with it. Um, if that makes any sense. So squash is still good. You know, the the earthier foods are great. I'm just making sure that it's warm um and easily to digest. And that's where the spices come into place, too. Aurveda does use a lot of spices.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

My mom cooks with so many spices, and cardamom in your milk is amazing if you do warm milk and you are a um I don't I need to ask my mom for the recipe. She made the most incredible warm milk the other night, and I know she puts cardamom in it and maybe not Meg, I don't remember. Um, but yeah, warm milk at night is amazing, and it's interesting that you said that like difference between coconut milk and almond milk because I definitely would choose almond milk um the majority of the time. And yeah, I'm not a huge I like oat milk, but I'm not a huge oat milk. I like pistachio milk actually. You can make wild milks, like I have a milk maker machine. I've made like pistachio, macadamia nut, cashew, oat, coconut, almond, flax milk is actually really good. I don't know what that would be good for your dosha or what dosha would be good for, but um, what are pungent foods? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:23

Pungent food are so pungent sea could be a lot of things. Okay, garlic has some pungency, onion has some pungentcy. Um, you know, and and that's definitely a um that's a like a like some people can eat it, some people can't. So it's relative to you. Um pungent is also in the spices. So if I, you know, can't find anything pungent in nature to eat as food, I usually just grab a spice and add that. Um, and to so of course, like cayenne pepper. Um depending on um, you know, salt and pepper, pepper alone is pungent, um, can be astringent as well. Like a lot of our tastes have a lot of our um seasoning also has multiple different factors as well, or multiple different elements as well. Okay, that also can come into play. Pungency, um, I'm even trying to think, like anything that's the one I always struggle with because I don't eat as much of because I have a lot of fire. How's that? Ah, I have to eat a lot of it. Um, you know, and then there's like the the um long pepper is pungent. Um, there's a thing, this this um, there's a thing called trickatoo, which is like a couple peppers in uh in one that's very potent as well. Um Hingvashtika or asevetita can be pungent, um, but it's also um not too much, like it's actually good for most people. Um let me think what else we can do here. Um in terms of like food, food, it's it's challenging. It's not, it's more like fruit can be pungent. Um some fruits can be pungent, but fruit we eat alone, um, and not always. Like citrus can feel pungent, um, you know, but it's also sour and sweet and astringent as well. Um, so so it really is about the spices too.

SPEAKER_03 42:19

Um I'm trying to think.

SPEAKER_00 42:21

And there's also sometimes sumac can be a little bit pungent, and that's a spice, but it's not a lot. Um but it's it's a little bit if you tend to want to stay away from the spicy, um it has a little pungency as well.

SPEAKER_01 42:37

Yeah, it kind of sounds like things that maybe have like a little kick, but it doesn't have to be like a spicy kick, just kind of like garlic to me, you know, like that, like definitely I love garlic, but that can have like a you know, like a yeah, like a little punch to it, maybe. So something like that. Same with onions, too, depending on how you prepare them. But yeah, for sure, those resonated with me.

SPEAKER_00 42:58

And mustard seed has the pungency as well, um, which is great for the heavier time of year. Um also nice to have. Um fennel can be have a little pungency, it assists into digestion as well. Um, so most spices can have some or little, um, other than you know, cayenne, of course, is what I always use as references more on the other end. Um actually. Yeah, it's great. And you know, it's really great. Um, I can like if I have it, I would probably have it right around now. Um, and I'd put it a little bit in like uh in like chocolate or something like that that's a little bit heavier that I do is nice. Yeah, kinda's a great administer of of anything that you're eating, it assists in the assimilation of your food and keeps the circulation going in your body. So I recommend it for most people, but you know, a little bit for some and more for others, depending on you know what you're made out of, you know.

SPEAKER_01 43:59

And I like all these examples because while you're listening, you're gonna find some examples that just kind of like you're like, oh yeah, that would be good. Like that just kind of hit you a little bit long, like harder than the others. Like, because as you're saying things and like absolutely or like, yeah, that's yeah, maybe like that's okay. At least I'm finding that. So as you're listening or as you're going through spices, trusting your body that like your body is kind of telling you as you're having this conversation with it of what it wants and what it doesn't want, and kind of play around with it. Like, that's my favorite thing with food, especially with Ayurveda, is playing around with again trying something and then noticing how you feel and how you how your body is responding. And even when you're thinking about it or cooking it, like how is your body responding? And and do you feel that it's uplifting or that it's helping you digest or that you're feeling very lethargic and tired after? I think that's a huge one is not noticing how tired we are after eating some things, and that's not necessarily normal. Um, and maybe that's your body telling you that it's not the best thing for it. And just noticing. I mean, we don't maybe with all things, but I do feel especially with food, we don't take a lot of time to notice how you feel afterwards. And that would be one of my invitations after listening to today's episode for sure.

SPEAKER_00 45:24

Yeah, the mindful eating is what some you know, there's a lot of versions of a similar thing, but like, you know, taking the time to sit and notice and smell your food. Um, cooking your food is this beginning process of digestion. I don't know if everybody really likes thinks about it, but you know, the beginning stages of digestion is is feeling a little bit of hunger, preparing your food, smelling your food, touching your food is the beginning stages of digestion.

SPEAKER_01 45:52

Yeah, doesn't it? Touching your food, it actually gets your digestive system working.

SPEAKER_00 45:57

Yes, with your hands and you know, like all utensils. Yeah, absolutely. Um, and that's and then you know, there you salivate and then it begins the process, and then you send signals to your body and to your stomach. Oh, you're gonna eat soon. Um, it's it's definitely a primitive, dare I say, um animals. So this is you know how it does operate, and then um slowly eating your food, tasting it, um, noticing the texture, um, smelling your food, um, you know, noticing how you're sitting. Um, if you can sit cross-legged on your chair, um, that's a great way to attest um your digestion as well. Um, it assists in digestion there too.

SPEAKER_01 46:40

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00 46:41

Yeah, yeah. Sitting cross-legged in your chair or on the floor. Um, if you want to try it sometime. Um, and see what it does take, you know, sitting upright. Um, so it does, you know, that is a challenge for for me too, as well, um, while eating. But it is a process and it just it creates the the strength in the body, the process and in work, work and super fun.

SPEAKER_01 47:05

I'll have to try that. Imagining everyone going to restaurants now and just sitting cross-legged in their chair. Never mind. Don't do that. Try it at home first. Try it at home. Um, so for people that are interested in learning more from you and connecting with you, and maybe even if they have a question and want to reach out, where do you hang out the most and how can we stay connected with you?

SPEAKER_00 47:28

Absolutely. I am on Facebook and Instagram if you want to reach out. It's under um Seed the Spirit is um, I have uh uh Facebook there as well. You can just reach out that way if you want. Um, you can also go through my um website, uh seedthespirit.com, and you can connect with me um through my website as well. There's a up at the bottom you can email me and there's you know ways to to reach out. Um, yeah, and just reach out that way. And I'm, you know, I'm really good about making sure I respond um, you know, within a couple days or I try 24 hours at the most, but um, I make sure I respond as soon as I can. Um yeah, any questions or if you want to um touch base, I do a uh free 20-minute um consultation if people just want to have a conversation with me. Um, and that is always open for anyone that has interest in that. And I do make sure I get out in the world too. So I um make sure I have some workshops scheduled. Um, so on my website, I usually put workshops and classes in.

SPEAKER_01 48:27

Okay. I was gonna ask if you have a group virtual program or do you just work with clients one-on-one virtually?

SPEAKER_00 48:33

Right now, I just work with clients one-on-one and I do like to get out in workshops. That's kind of what I'm doing these days. Um, I don't know, I like to talk to, I don't know, that's just how I like my nature. So to, and so currently I'm going to be at the Thomas Memorial Library, and that's this weekend, so it's coming up soon. Um, and I am going to be um at Lavish Earth in May on, I'm trying to remember the date, May 3rd. And um, that's breathwork. I'll be focusing on breath work at that time. Um, so and you'll see everything, you know, on my website too in detail if people have interest and want to see it that way.

SPEAKER_01 49:11

So fun. Thank you so much for coming. I have one final question, and this is just I rotate through questions uh to end the podcast, but what is one practice that helps you come back to yourself when you've when things feel really chaotic or unclear?

SPEAKER_00 49:28

Sure. Um I just sit cross-legged with a cup of one, a warm beverage that I prefer. And um I do focus in on um nature and the herbs. So I connect with Mother Nature myself. So if I can't get outside, I at least visualize um, you know, the herbs that are the medicinal herbs that um we use in Ayurveda, but also here in New England. Um, and that usually brings me back. Brings me back to myself. Oh, so simple. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 50:03

Yeah. I actually had a really good podcast with somebody that talked about um David Crow, if you want to continue the podcast journey. Um, he talked about using herbs like as medicine and just all kinds of herbs, like you know. So anyway, you could always listen to that if you want to connect a little bit more with herbs, but that's so huge. It's such a powerful tool. Like you can use that as a meditation, and I think that's really beneficial too. It is, yes.

SPEAKER_00 50:31

I feel like if you can't have the herb itself in in and of itself tangible, if it's not there, you can still at least meditate on the the um understanding and the medicinal side. So it's usually how yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:45

Thank you so much, Brett. Thank you for sharing all your wisdom and answering all the fun questions and and helping us learn more about Ayurveda. And thank you for your time. Thanks so much, Hannah. I had a great time.