The ModernZen Collective Podcast
Are you ready to elevate your mind, body, and spirit? Join Lizzy Sutton and Nikki Sucevic on The ModernZen Collective Podcast, where conscious women come together to explore the art of living with purpose, balance, and spiritual grounding. Whether you're a single professional navigating the pressures of urban life or a stay-at-home seeker yearning for deeper connections, this podcast is your sanctuary for holistic practices and personal growth.
Tune in as Lizzy and Nikki delve into ancient wellness secrets, expand your consciousness, and help you discover your true life purpose. We tackle the challenges of work-life stress, the quest for inner peace, and the journey of rediscovering who you truly are, to be able to live in alignment. Here, we embrace the unconventional, celebrate community, and empower you to step beyond societal norms to find balance, joy, and holistic living.
The ModernZen Collective Podcast is here to guide, educate, and connect women ready to transform their lives. Discover a world where balance, joy, and holistic living are within reach. Connect, grow, and thrive with The ModernZen Collective—your space for holistic wellness in the modern world.
The ModernZen Collective Podcast
Discovering Ayurveda: A Journey to Authentic Living and Holistic Well-being
What if the key to your health and happiness was written thousands of years ago? Join us as we share our personal stories of discovering Ayurveda, an ancient science that beautifully complements the practice of yoga. Together, we explore how Ayurveda and Western medicine can harmoniously enhance your overall well-being.
Have you ever felt like you're living life on someone else's terms? Through the lens of Ayurveda, we explore the profound impact of living authentically and following your true purpose. We discuss how unprocessed emotions and societal expectations can lead to physical and emotional challenges. With insights from our experiences, we peel back layers to discover our unique ways to serve humanity, all while emphasizing the power of intuitive pings and mindful habits like eating.
In our discussion, we offer insights into daily self-care practices like tongue scraping for detoxification and oil massages for healthier skin. We dive into the rhythms of the doshas—Vata, Pitta, and Kapha—and how syncing your daily activities with the Ayurvedic clock can boost both productivity and vitality. We invite you to experiment and find the Ayurvedic practices that resonate with you, setting the stage for a healthier, more aligned life.
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Hi, I'm Lizzie and I'm Nikki. Have you ever felt that your life was missing purpose, joy or deep connection? Welcome to the Modern Zen Collective Podcast, where we embrace holistic living for a joyful, purpose-driven life.
Speaker 2:In this podcast, we'll explore holistic practices, consciousness expansion and spiritual alignment. We will dive into personal development practices that connect mind, body, spirit and share secrets that ancient cultures have known for centuries. Together, we aim to guide, educate and connect individuals eager to transform their lives.
Speaker 1:Join us weekly on the Modern Zen Collective podcast and elevate your mind, body and spirit. And now on to today's episode episode.
Speaker 3:Hello everyone, Welcome to another episode of the Modern Zen.
Speaker 2:Collective podcast with your hosts Lizzie Sutton and Nikki Sasevic. Hi, everyone, Welcome.
Speaker 3:Hello, welcome, welcome. So today we wanted to talk a little bit about Ayurveda and do just a high level introduction of what this separate from Western medicine or choose one or the other, but that we choose to do together, and we just wanted to give you a high level of that, along with some resources at the end. If you're interested in learning some more, so think of us as your introducees to Ayurveda and not the experts. We both know quite a bit about it, especially because we both went through our yoga teacher training 200 hour, which Ayurveda and yoga are actually sister sciences. So we learned a lot about Ayurveda. However, we do not pretend to know everything, so we will send you to the people that you need to go read, listen to all the things if you're interested in some more. So I hope that sounds good.
Speaker 2:It was, yeah, it was our introduction. I guess I'll ask you like when was your introduction? Was it during yoga teacher training, or was it at a different time, before or after?
Speaker 3:Yes, my introduction to Ayurveda was during my yoga teacher training. I'd never heard of it before, actually, and we went through. We had a book that we did during our yoga teacher training one of you know like five plus books we did but it was called Body Thrive and it's by Kate Stillman. And it is so good because it's actionable 10 actionable daily habits that you work on cultivating, that are Ayurvedic habits that help improve your daily life and your longevity. And so I love the book because it gives you a lot of information about Ayurveda, but it also walks you through actually cultivating these healthier habits throughout your day. And I really like it because it's 10 chapters on the habits and we did it over 10 weeks, so it was like focus on one habit a week because you can't just blow through these things and still they're hard to cultivate. So highly recommend that and we'll link it in the show notes. But that's when I started learning about Ayurveda. What about you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, whenever I was in corporate and everything was happening in the beginning of 2020, I wanted to really focus 2020 now that I was remote, working in my corporate role on getting back to authenticity and what that meant for me. So I was working with some coaches and I got the intuitive hit to look into Ayurveda. And it's actually an interesting story. I found I had this intuitive hit to learn more about Ayurveda and what that would look like and how that would open me up to you know, expand and whatever it would be. So I was connected and followed a woman on Instagram, briar Roots. We're friends now after we've did a one-on-one training and she was at that time teaching Ayurveda and how you can introduce it into your life and what that looks like. And she was actually a really good balance for me to get into Ayurveda because I wanted to learn it all, but she also was very seasoned in what it takes to get to your next level. So whenever I would work with her, not only were we doing like the kitchari cleanse and we were doing a lot of knowledge about the doshas and about foods and about times of day and all these things we'll get into, but she was also having me really tap into what does it look like for me to step into my life purpose and what does it look like if I don't do it? And it was really, really interesting.
Speaker 2:So I ended up working with her one-on-one as my coach in 2020. And she was actually my first coach ever that I had that I was paying monthly, that I really felt so called to learn the sister science of yoga, and that was even before I had my yoga teacher training. So that was my first step into it and I was learning remotely. She was in Bali and I'm in Chicago and it was just really interesting. A lot of the habits she taught me from the beginning. I'm still doing them to this day and we're four and a half years later from when I started working with her. But that was that was definitely it and it's. It's interesting I think I've mentioned this before Whenever I reached out to her and asked if she'd be interested in one-on-one coaching, she said she was thinking of expanding to the States. So it just, you know, shows, when you follow your intuition, it not only works for you, but it works for others as well. So that was my first take into it was working one-on-one with her.
Speaker 3:That's pretty crazy. You just dove straight into the deep end without knowing anything about it. Absolutely, that kind of sounds like you a little bit.
Speaker 3:You have to work out so well. That's what we're talking about people, the pings, the intuitive hits, and look at where it led you. So, yeah, that's so well. So I really want to talk about the habits that you worked on with her and cultivated, and the ones you still do and the ones that you've kind of gotten away from. But I feel like before we talk about that, we need to tell our friends what Ayurveda is. They don't know, which you probably don't, because I had never heard of it before. Yoga teacher training.
Speaker 3:Most ancient texts from human history it was originally found in the ancient Indian Vedas, which were written in Sanskrit and they're at least 5,000 year old. And it is a medical science deeply focused on healing and maintaining the quality and longevity of life. So it's really based on the belief that health can be achieved only through balance among the mind, body and spirit. So a lot of the stuff that we talk about here on Modern Zen Collective mind, body and spirit and all that kind of stuff it does really come from Ayurveda and from yoga and this holistic view of how we treat ourselves and how we live and how it affects everything else. So it's not really meant to replace Western medicine, but instead be a compliment to it. So Ayurveda is more focused on preventative and the habits that you do day in and day out and as the seasons change, how you eat, things like that to keep you healthy, vibrant, vital and promote longevity, whereas conventional Western medicine is more focused on your symptoms and helping you in these urgent situations like where your arm's about to fall off and stuff like that. So they really work together very well. It's not one or the other. And I think the other thing that we've really talked about is how Ayurveda and yoga are really linked together and they're sister sciences. So the reason why they call them sister sciences yoga was also in the Vedas and why they call them sister sciences Yoga was also in the Vedas.
Speaker 3:But spiritual growth goes hand in hand with your physical, you know, healing and health, because we can't be our highest selves if we're not our healthiest selves. So the healthier, they say, the healthier we become, the more spiritually aware we become. So it's interesting because yoga is really a lifestyle. It's not really about the poses, the asana, like just the class that you think of when you go to. Yoga is a lifestyle and practicing Ayurvedic rituals is part of that lifestyle to help keep us clear, healthy, vital, our energy flowing, the best that it can. So I think that's really why you learn about it there and why it's practiced in a lot of Eastern cultures as the primary form of medicine.
Speaker 3:How Nikki was also talking about working with her coach, about finding her life purpose and things like that as a part of her coaching with her Ayurveda coach, is because they really feel in Ayurveda that the purpose of health surpasses just our physical body, but it also includes achieving self-actualization and like enabling us to be our highest selves and everything that comes with it and living your life purpose.
Speaker 3:Finding it and then living your life purpose out is one of the founding and like main principles of Ayurveda. So I really love that too. So, nikki, I would love for you to share some more about your experience working with an Ayurvedic coach, and what kinds of things did you guys focus on in the beginning, especially when you're new to instilling these habits in, and what have you found are the things that have stuck with you all these years later? What are some things that really helped but were a little bit harder for you to keep going in your day in and day out and have maybe fallen to the wayside and you're interested in bringing back in, or like, what are some things that you tried that like just don't really work for you right now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so when I started working with Briar we were, yes, life purpose was a big part of it. I was in corporate and it's actually a funny story from working with hers why I left my corporate job. No blame to anyone, but it just really opened my eyes because, like you said, a lot of Ayurveda is we need to have that chi flowing, our life force, energy flowing and not getting constricted. And we can hold so many emotions inside of us that are unprocessed, whether that be through trauma that we're not processing or waves of emotion that we're not allowing ourselves to feel. But another big part of that is when we don't live our purpose and we're living for someone else, we're not living in our authenticity. So with that we could have constriction every day when we go to work or we wake up to work for someone else and do something that doesn't bring us joy or fulfill us. And a big part of Ayurveda is pulling back the layers to see what that life purpose is. And your life purpose doesn't necessarily mean that it's your career. You don't take a quiz and purpose is, and your life purpose doesn't necessarily mean that it's your career. Like you don't take a quiz and you find out that your life purpose is to be a manager in an office for marketing et cetera. That's not how it works. It's more of the overarching theme of how you are using your gifts to serve humanity. So, whether that be that you are very empathetic and a great listener or a really good problem solver, or really good with creative and making big ideas, so, for instance, with life purpose, if you are boxed in in a job and you work at a computer every day or whatever it is, and you're doing over and over and over, you're getting a paycheck, you're paying your bills all of that's good, but you just have this desire inside of you that you need to create and that you need expansion and you're not receiving that at that business. Then your body's going to start telling you that in ways where you're going to see physical symptoms eventually Hopefully not it gets to a point where you can move on before the physical symptoms. Eventually Hopefully not. It gets to a point where you can move on before the physical symptoms come, but also from an emotional and a tangible standpoint, where you might know that job's not for you but you're staying for the paycheck and then all of a sudden you get fired, which can be devastating absolutely. Or you get laid off or you don't have a backup plan.
Speaker 2:And that's why Lizzie and I talk so much about intuitive pings and following them, because they're soft whispers to start and whenever we don't really pay attention to them, they start to get a little bit more and more and more leading us to our purpose. So a big part of working with Briar was peeling back the layers to what that is. What's my authenticity, what is my purpose. And I found by working with her, that my inner purpose on my own is to ignite an inner fire in others, to shine a light on things that you might not see for yourself. And an exercise she had me do was to pretty much write out what would happen if I never followed this, and it was like a very, very long dark, like everything you know. She had me look, she had me peel apart, look into the cracks of you know what would happen if you never do this. And let's look five years down the road and 10 years down the road. And this is part of that process of healing, of looking like, oh wow, I'm on autopilot and if I keep doing this, nothing's going to change and I'm going to get sicker and sicker and not feel great and not actually serve my purpose. So that's a big part of what it was. So that was the overarching huge part For the habits, some things that I loved.
Speaker 2:So I came to her and said I feel bloated, like my digestion's not good, a lot of reasons why you go to functional medicine or you look to Ayurvedas try to figure out what's going on, et cetera. So some things that we worked on was really chewing your food, because whenever you chew your food which is ironic, right it's like why is it a race? So when we don't chew our food fully, our stomach has to work a lot harder to process it like a lot harder. So when we actually help it by chewing, so that when we swallow our food and it gets into our stomach, it's a lot easier for everything to break down with our stomach acids. So that was something that I would say that's the one that has been hard for me to stick to, because I just love food and when I am eating food I just want to eat it and enjoy it, et cetera. So that part I have to consciously remind myself of.
Speaker 2:Some other ones are working with spices just how spices can cure so much. So I use turmeric, I use coriander, I use fennel seed. There's just so much that you can do and I love learning about how, if you feel like overheated, use some fennel or coriander. If you feel like you need a burst of energy or you feel sluggish, you're going to want to use some paprika or something that's like a little bit like warmer turmeric. So that's something that I use especially in my cooking is using the spices and some other things.
Speaker 2:You know, tongue scraping was the first thing. Our first call. I tongue scraped within the first just meeting her, and that's something I do every single day. As soon as if you can find a tongue scraper they're available readily online if you want to get one and it's really just scraping your tongue before you brush your teeth and that really helps with so much of the bacteria that accumulates on our tongue, to release that so we're not swallowing it and then creating more toxicity in our body. So tongue scraping something I still do to this day, every single day.
Speaker 2:And another thing is blessing food. So this was something that really stuck with me whenever we were working together because, you know, blessing the food it kind of came back to me as like being brought up Catholic and how we do, you know, a blessing of the food before we eat and it's it's really about thanks and thank you and you know, and then we eat and I really saw a correlation of how this, you know, very much could have been originated from Ayurveda, because with Ayurveda you're giving intention to your food and you're blessing it before you're eating it, because everything is energy. So in Ayurveda it's really known that anything you digest is energy, whether that be someone else's rant or emotions or something you're reading or the food or water that you're drinking. So that's something that I do every time I eat is I set an intention for that energy to just be in the highest good and the lightest good. It's really and now that I have the Reiki that I've been doing, I do a Reiki blessing with my food as well whenever I'm doing that, but it's something that I keep in my day to day because it really I see a difference and I know it sounds crazy, but you can look up Dr Emoto's water experiment and how he talked to different water in different ways loving ways and negative ways and how the water, how it looked under a microscope and when it was talked to beautifully it looked like snowflakes, and when it wasn't, it was little blurbs and not fantastic.
Speaker 2:So those are the things that I do from a day-to-day standpoint that I've kept in. And then I guess the other one, like dry brushing, is something that I don't know. Sometimes I just feel like it's a nuisance and I'm like, oh gosh, dry brushing, it just is gonna take so long, but when I do it I feel amazing. So that's one that I haven't been able to hold on to all that much.
Speaker 3:That's hilarious, because that's mine too. It's like totally the dry brushing. I'm like I feel fantastic after I do it, but it's like a once in a blue moon thing Like I need. I don't even know if I do it every month.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can see my dry brush. It's in my bathroom.
Speaker 3:Right, it's sitting out waiting for me to pick it up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know that's so interesting because I think when I did the Body Thrive it's really focused more on the physical body and the physical habits and so life purpose wasn't really part of my Ayurvedic introduction. That, like came later for me afterwards. Tongue scraping number one thing I picked up right away my son tongue scrapes. He just turned two years old and he watches me in the morning tongue scrape and he literally wanted me to hand it to him and he scrapes his tongue now and I'm like you're so cute, I love you so much.
Speaker 3:So I'm going to link my tongue scraper in the show notes, because it's stainless steel, so it's really easy to clean, and it's from the Package Free Shop which was started by this woman who literally had one mason jars worth of trash from five years of living in the city. So she's pretty incredible and so it's all about saving the environment and that's the only kinds of things they have. So I'm going to link that tongue scraper. But I'm I'm telling you like, if you don't do anything, start tongue scraping because, like according to Ayurveda, all your toxins begin in your mouth and as you're sleeping, you're breathing and releasing all of these tongues, all of these toxins, and they just sit on your tongue. And if you don't scrape them off in the morning, then your tongue just reabsorbs them and they go back into your system and it can cause weakened digestive fire, lowered immune system, your decreased ability to assimilate nutrients into the body and really it's covering up all of your sense of taste in your mouth, so you can't taste things as strongly, and so you need more salt, need more sugar, you need more to be able to taste what you could if you didn't have this like coating of crap sitting on your tongue. So highly recommend tongue scraping, for sure, and the dry brushing we talked about that. That's one of mine that I wish I did more.
Speaker 3:And then I do Abhayanga, which is self massage with oil, and I just grew up very dry, which we'll talk about this in the doshas and stuff some more but I grew up very, very dry, so I'm used to putting on lotion after every time I get wet. I mean even washing my hands, because they just like shriveled up like little raisins and stuff. So I'm used to like taking time to rub lotion into my body like thick shit, like that stuff that comes in a tub, and so Abhyanga is really great because it's just now. I swap out. Instead of using some compounded lotion, I use oils and so I rub my whole body down with oil. If you go head to toe, it's more of like a relaxing thing than if you go foot to head. So I always go head to toe and I thought what was interesting that you were talking about too, nikki, about using different spices based on like heating or cooling, and that's one of the things that Ayurveda talks a lot about is that these things that we use have different properties, and so in the wintertime I will use a warming oil, like sesame oil is good for my body, excuse me.
Speaker 3:And then in the summertime I use a cooling oil, so I use coconut oil. So I thought that was interesting. You talked about that too.
Speaker 3:But I think what's so great about Abhayanga is not only does it have great health benefits, like increasing your circulation, hydrating you, all these different things but it also brings you closer to your body, like your skin and putting your hands all over your body.
Speaker 3:It really allows you to get to know yourself and spend time appreciating yourself in human form, whatever that may look like in that moment. And it really I think it does help quite a bit with like self-love, self-acceptance and like understanding that it takes time and different habits to like shift things if that's what you want, different habits to like shift things if that's what you want. But I mean, I thought that was kind of like a cool thing that they really talk about with Abhyanga. That is more secondary to me. But also I definitely feel that because I rub my body down. You know, being pregnant right now very cognizant of stretch marks, and so I rub my body down twice a day, especially in certain places, and so it is kind of interesting, especially going through it, being pregnant and my body changing. So much is like noticing and feeling, and I probably wouldn't notice as many of the changes if I wasn't doing this daily.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's also giving that time, like you're saying, for self-love and self-care, and showing that you can give yourself 10 to 15 minutes just for you to do this and enjoy the relaxation benefits of it, but also how it helps with lymphatic drainage. Our lymphatic system is the only system in our body that doesn't have a pump, so that's something that I also learned during my yoga teacher training. So our movement is the pump. So whenever we do any movement, whether it be walking or stretching or, you know, tai Chi, qi Gong or also doing this massage, we're moving around what can become so stagnant inside of us, and so it's not only doing so much good for our body, it's also just showing you from an emotional standpoint that you are number one and it's okay to put you number one, that it's okay to take this time for you.
Speaker 2:I feel, you know, I feel like we can look at this as being, you know, decadence and oh, I don't have time for that, and that's such a luxury and that just that seems, you know, out of place for everything else I have going on.
Speaker 2:But it's carving out that time for you, especially with this. That's something that I have not been doing for the, you know for this type of self-oil massage, but it's something that's really just so beneficial on so many levels taking time for yourself in general. But when you do it in this way, with having this massage on your own and you're also when you're that connected to your body, you're intuiting what your body needs. So whenever you're doing this massage, you can feel like what areas of your body need to. So whenever you're doing this massage, you can feel like what areas of your body need to be rubbed or need to have a little more, and it really helps you to also enhance your intuition as well when you're doing something like that. So I love that you do that, and you've done that through both pregnancies. That's so great.
Speaker 3:Well, it's just so interesting because I think when I learned about Ayurveda, what really hit me and what resonated with me right off the bat was the doshas, and I think this is the biggest thing. One of the biggest ways Ayurveda can help you right now is figuring out what your dosha is, and it's different in the body versus the mind dosha is, and it's different in the body versus the mind. You can be a higher combination of certain doshas in the mind versus the body. They're two different ways of looking at it. And what doshas are is that Ayurveda is really based on the natural elements here on earth, so fire, water, earth, air and ether, which is space and these elements not only exist in the planet but also in our bodies in physical form and they represent different physical and mental characteristics in the body. And the three doshas, the three different energy types, are vata. The three different energy types are vata, which is comprised of air and ether. Those are its two elements. Pitta, which is comprised of fire and water, and kapha, which is comprised of earth and water, and so these three doshas all show up in your mind and body in various combinations and really talk about physical characteristics and mental characteristics that can be out of balance or imbalance.
Speaker 3:And I think for me what hit home so much is that I had a ton of issues growing up like medical things. I had allergies, I had eczema, I was always itchy, I was always uncomfortable in my skin People will call me like alligator skin and stuff, because I'm talking like I had scales, like my body was so dry, like so dry. I had so much gas, so much bloating, like I just I had to be very careful what I ate. I mean I was drinking like rice dream rice milk when I was like seven years old. It was terrible, I hated it so much and I was on steroids, been often on steroids almost my whole life until I found natural ways of healing myself, which is kind of what got me started on this whole path, which is a story for another day. Myself, which is kind of what got me started on this whole path, which is a story for another day.
Speaker 3:But I think when I learned about Ayurveda, we took this dosha quiz, which we will link like a few different versions of dosha quiz in the show notes so that you can take a quiz and figure out what your unique makeup is. But I learned that in my body I was very, very high Vata, talking like 60, 70% Vata, with like very little pitta and kapha, and that every single ailment that I had that looked different, like these symptoms, looked like different things that were going on in my body. When you looked at all of them together, they were all pointing back to a Vata imbalance, like having so much excess movement, so much excess air, so much extra space. All this stuff is pointing to this one thing that if my parents would have looked at this, had like a different kind of view which I don't blame them for this at all Like you don't know what you don't know, and this was also like 30 years ago. You know very different access to information at that point. But if they could have seen and gone to someone that knew about Ayurveda, then I would have had a much easier time getting everything back in line.
Speaker 3:It took me until my mid-20s to finally feel comfortable in my own skin. I would wake up with blood under my fingernails from scratching in my sleep because I had just such bad patches. One year over the summer I was on a low dose of steroids every single day for three months. We all know how bad that is. And yet I was doing that with additional steroid shots in the butt just so that I could be outside at a summer camp and like eat food that everybody else was eating. It was crazy. So this, like this realization, I was like, oh my God, like this has the answers. Why aren't we looking at this too? So I'm so yeah. So I think the thing that I really want to go into is kind of like explaining what these doshas are and how they can show up in the body and in the mind when they're out of balance.
Speaker 3:And I'm curious, nikki, because I'm I'm like high vata body and then pitta and then kapha, like smallest, and then in my mind I'm literally like half and half, vata and pitta are the exact same, it's like 43 percent of both and then a little bit of kapha. So I'm like have a lot of the characteristics of both vata and pitta when I think about how I think and like different kinds like that, and then in my body I have to work so hard to raise my kapha and lower my vata, like do you know your combinations of your mind and your body?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so interesting. When I worked with Briar I was like super high pitta and I don't that doesn't surprise me because I was in a very high stress, go, go go environment and that was, you know, my body was very pitta. I was getting pitta out of balance, but, like you, I was also getting vata out of balance, where I would feel a lot of air, you know like, just you know, anything that's associated with that, with the like, spaciness of vata, and also from a physical standpoint I would feel so it was a little bit of both. And whenever I was doing yoga teacher training, which was several years later, I took the quiz again and it showed that all three were balanced, which I felt very proud. But I felt like all three were balanced, which just to show that we can ebb and flow with our doshas and like sometimes it's just like with life, sometimes it can be high, sometimes you can be at imbalance here and there. And at that time when I took it during my yoga teacher training, everything felt more balanced.
Speaker 2:But from a physical standpoint, definitely the the pitta and the vata, I can tell whenever my pitta gets like too, too much, or whenever I'm feeling, you know, like agitated or anxious and then with vata, I can feel, whenever I'm, you know, bloated, or I just feel like I don't want to eat, or I just feel kind of like spacey and just like all over the place and I can't concentrate on something.
Speaker 2:So, for both, vata and pitta are both for mind and for body. I don't have much kapha, which is something that I need to very intentionally bring in, which is, you know, slowing down and just, you know, enjoying the day-to-day and then in the fall, winter, eating heartier foods and just giving yourself that more grounding. Because I can be, I'm very air in my astrological sign and chart and then I'm very like fire with my pitta. So really understanding when I see the imbalances and getting back to what this means to bring in some kapha and also Ayurveda really opens your eyes that these things that society may have told us are not good. Everyone's so different, right, so something that's not good for someone might be what will help them to get back into balance. So it's really about knowing your body or working with someone, that you can figure these out for yourself and figure out how to get back into balance, just like what you were saying when you were younger, lizzie.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's just so interesting to me because, especially how both of us are very Vata and Pitta, but it makes sense because like the kind of stuff we enjoy and what we talk about and things like that. But with the habits we were talking about, we both have to be very aware and cognizant of bringing in Kapha, daily habits into our life or we can just freaking float off into space. So it's one of the things that I do with my son is when we wake up in the morning we go outside in the backyard barefoot and we just stand on the earth and he runs around and I just stand there and we play with our dogs. I have four Labradors, so of course everyone is trying to get out of sight in the morning. So we spend time definitely grounding and, like you're saying, slowing down. Like one of those things Kapha is earth and water, and so when you think of earth you think of dense and grounding, and when you think of water you think of like fluidity and coolness, and so kapha is heavy, slow, cold, oily. It's very soft. It's like supple people with very supple skin, dense and liquid. So kapha is really in charge of the structure in the body. So that includes bone density, fat regulation, strength, stamina, people who are very kapha in the body, like they're meant for endurance, like it might take them a second to get moving, but once they get moving they will just freaking go and go and go and go and go and go.
Speaker 3:And so it's just really interesting because when you see kapha, all these different doshas are very good.
Speaker 3:They all have different elements, different things, but the balance of all of them together they're great things to have.
Speaker 3:And so what we want to look at is when they're out of balance, like when they're very low or very high, and so with Nikki and I, kapha is low, so we have to work on raising it up, whereas in some other people kapha might be their primary and so they need to look at bringing it down and raising up the other ones. So when kapha is out of balance in your body, you can feel cold all the time, you can have weight gain, lethargy, mucus buildup. It has a lubricating quality, so it has to do with all of your mucus and saliva and stuff has to do with your kapha phlegm, infections, swelling water retention, phlegm infections, swelling water retention so when you have excess kapha in the body, you can get all of this in excess. And then when you have a lot of kapha in your mind like excess in your mind, think about earth and water, but in your mind that's laziness, depression, loneliness, longing, sadness, jealousy, attachment, so it's kind of like bringing us down.
Speaker 3:Think about it in that way, like bringing us closer to the earth, bringing us becoming more dense, more heavy, more slow. So it's like because Nikki and I don't have much of that naturally occurring in our body, we're moving like super freaking fast all the time and we're hot and all these different things you know that we'll talk about. So for us our work is to slow down, like our work is to be more present, our work is to eat these heavier foods, because I don't know about you, nikki, but naturally it's like high Vata in the body. I crave raw foods. I want raw sushi, I want celery. I want not cooked freaking hate cooked carrots. You know. I want my, all my veggies. I would eat them all raw instead of like cooking them. And yet, as a Vata, I need the opposite. Like I need all of my stuff to be stews and cooked in one pot meals and like pre-digestion, because my digestion is so all over the place, like Kapha people have a great digestion, you know, and I am so Vata, my digestive fire is so light and airy that I like almost don't have one, so I have to work so hard to want to eat sometimes.
Speaker 3:Like you mentioned that, nikki like vata people. So vata is on the opposite end of the spectrum. If you're looking at them in a row you would think of, like kapha at the bottom, pitta in the middle, vata at the top, because vata is air and ether, so it is dry, it's light, it's cold, it's rough, it's mobile, which were all the issues of my body growing up, and it like regulates all your movements in your body, in your nervous system, in your nervous system. So vata, when it's out of balance, you get constipated, you can get bloated, you have poor blood circulation, loss of appetite, irregular periods, infertility, different things like that, and then in the mind, an imbalance shows, like you can see insomnia or anxiety, or indecisiveness, lack of creativity, fatigue, restlessness, like vata isn't all.
Speaker 3:It sounds like it's cracked up to because you're living up here like running on high, and so I don't know about you, nikki, but I like really have to focus sometimes on like really slowing down in my day to day. And it's become easier because I've been looking at it for like four years, but looking back on my youth and how I used to move through life and like how I would like float from one thing to the next, to the next, to the next and like all this different stuff. It's so interesting that it can all come back, like both these physical symptoms and ailments, but also like the things that I had issues with, like enjoying the ending of something, like really sitting words, to even think that that is related to something like me having very dry eczema coffee. That's just the thing that I love.
Speaker 2:It'll be negative 20 degrees in Chicago and I'll still make myself something iced or go get something iced. And in Ayurveda it's a lot about keeping your agni, your inner fire, alive and healthy, not overactive, but you need to keep it healthy. So that's something that I know, that I do vata that is not helping my agni, because it might be something within the first hour of waking up, that when I'm just waking up and I'm starting my day, instead of having something room temperature or warm which would help me to build what I need to build, and slow down, I'm having something cold, which the cold is also, you know, activating all this inside of you. Your body has to work harder, et cetera. So that's something that I'm very aware of with the Vata and leaning more into what that looks like to have more warm and more comforting and everything, especially moving into the different seasons Something we're going to link some things in the show notes.
Speaker 2:But Sahara Rose has a few books about Ayurveda, because that's also was how she got started as well.
Speaker 2:So the one that I really love is the Eat, feel Fresh cookbook. It's not only amazing, with amazing recipes and the pictures, and it's such a coffee table book in addition to it being a cookbook, and there's so many amazing recipes in there, from like chai pancakes to like beautiful whole grain bowls to all these different ways that you can make food with intention and with these spices and it goes from savory to sweet and it's just such a beautiful addition if you like to cook, to bring in, if you're interested in Ayurveda, to invest in it, because it's just such an amazing cookbook. And she also has Ayurveda for Dummies, which was her first book that she wrote, and it really breaks down like we're doing high level that breaks down every single nook and cranny. You can learn about Ayurveda, which is really, if you're interested in it, really eye-opening when you start to see the disconnect in your body and how you can start to self-heal in certain aspects, just by having this knowledge.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love Sahara Rose. I mean, that's actually how Nikki and I met each other, was through her. So we'll definitely link all the books and everything for you guys and you can dive in deeper where you feel called to. Is it on your nutrition journey? Is it on you're just learning the base of it? The Idiot's Guide to Ayurveda highly recommend. So I think you guys start wherever you feel like starting.
Speaker 3:But before we move on from all the doshas and everything, we haven't talked about pitta yet, which is the combination of fire and water. So it's hot, it's sharp, oily, liquid, light, and that is really in charge of transformation in the body. And that includes our digestion, which is something that we've talked a lot about, because Ayurveda truly believes that a lot of your health starts in your digestion, in your inner fire, your agni, which is what Nikki was talking about, and pitta governs your digestion, your metabolism and your nutrient absorption. So kind of what Nikki and I were talking about in terms of like heat, like pitta's hot, and so your body actually releases excess pitta through your sweat. So that's why it's really important to have physical activities that make you sweat, especially if you're someone who's like typically flushed red in the face like hot. Often, moving your body to like release this excess heat is very important, and so it really comes through your sweat, which is awesome. But when it's out of balance in your body, you experience feeling hot all the time, which I just mentioned, having excess or foul smelling sweat mentioned having excess or foul-smelling sweat. You could have poor eyesight, excess bile, diarrhea, heartburn, acid reflux, ulcers. You know think of like things like as anger, frustration, narcissism, competitiveness, stress or burnout, maybe some irritability or impatience.
Speaker 3:So pitta is one of those things that is really great, I think, having a lot of pitta in my mind. I love it because these are the people that make lists and get shit done. Pitta people are like let's knock shit off the list and let's do this. I like having a lot of pitta, but it is also something you really do have to think about and manage. So I just really highly recommend that you take the time to do these dosha quizzes and find out for yourself what your balance of vata, pitta and kapha is, both in your body and in your mind.
Speaker 3:And I mean, the first step to anything is awareness, so just being aware of who you are and how you're made up, and then you can decide what you want to do about that, you know, if you want to do anything or if you're just happy knowing you know, and that's okay too, that's totally fine, totally fine, totally fine. If that's where it ends, you know, we're just here planting the seeds and who knows when they'll sprout right? So we're just happy to share this information with you because I think, like both of us stepping into Ayurveda early in our holistic wellness journeys and like learning about it, it just provides like a really good base and a really good foundation and verbiage to like kind of see the connections between different things like we've talked about and like why what tongue scraping has anything to do with standing barefoot on the ground, which has anything to do with eating soups and stews?
Speaker 3:you know it's like what does this have anything? But it's all so connected and I think, like one of the last things that we really want to share with you guys, which has shifted a lot for both Nikki and I with how we are able to get things done more efficiently, so more easily, more quickly, with a lot less forcefulness, is shifting how we move through our day to align with the Ayurvedic clock, and so I know this is a whole new way of looking at time and chunks of the day instead of just morning, afternoon and evening. But it can be very helpful, like, if this interests you at all, maybe you start here, you know, for trying some experiments out. But what I mean when I say the Ayurveda clock is that Ayurveda really splits the day into six four-hour periods, so each period is related to one of the doshas, which is why we talk about the doshas. Everything goes back to these doshas and it repeats twice throughout the day, and what I love about this is it's the same numbers in the am and pm, so it's pretty easy to remember once you get it down, and so I'm going to start the day like at midnight. So we'll start the day at like midnight.
Speaker 3:So really, the Vata time is from 2 am to 6 am. That's the first four-hour chunk and then the afternoon chunk is 2 pm to 6 am. That's the first four-hour chunk and then the afternoon chunk is 2 pm to 6 pm. So twos and sixes for Vata 2 am to 6 am, 2 pm to 6 pm. The next one that comes in is Kapha. Kapha is 6 am to 10 am and then 6 pm to 10 pm. So six is intense. So it's Vata time, then Kapha time. Then we get our four-hour window of Pitta and that's 10 am to 2 pm and 10 pm to 2 am. So it runs back into Vata again. So it really goes Vata, then Kapha, then Pitta, then back to Vata, then back to Kapha, then back to Pitta to close out the day.
Speaker 3:So it's really, once you get the times down, you'll get them. They're not too hard. But the rising so how these work is like really, the rising and the falling of the sun is connected to kapha. That 6 am to 10 am and that 6 pm to 10 pm, and that's a grounding earth energy. So think earth and water, kapha, again grounding in earth energy.
Speaker 3:Then the peak of the day and the night is pitta, and so 10 am to 2 pm, peak of your day. 10 pm to 2 pm, peak of your day. 10 pm to 2 am, peak of your night. You're sleeping during the peak of the night and that is like that strong, sharp energy. So fire, and why am I mind blanking Fire and water, right For PIPTA. Fire and water for PIPTA. And then the transition times. So the transition between the night and the day and the dusk and the dawn is related to Vata. So 2 am to 6 am and 2 pm to 6 pm, right when we're shifting from day to night and night to day. That is Vata, which you got to think of, ethereal, dreamlike energy, because it's the air in the ether. So the activity is what we're encouraging you to do is to do activities during these hour, four hour chunks that align with that dosha's energy. Yes, oh, go ahead.
Speaker 2:Yes, so I was something that stood out to me whenever I started to learn about the Ayurveda clock was you get this surge of energy at 10 PM in Pitta, right? So if you ever notice yourself getting a second wind if you stay up past 10 PM, that's why. So if you find yourself whenever you are falling asleep and you're 10, 10, 30, 11, before you know it it's midnight, it's because you jumped on the train to that next stage of pitta, so it's going to be a little harder for you to fall asleep. So in Ayurveda they talk about, you know, trying to fall asleep in or around that time before you hit that next four hour wave, or it could carry you forward. You can have, you know, more restless sleep and not be able to wake up. You know it's big on, you know waking up with the rise of the sun, you know, as we're going down to the sunset. But that's something that really stood out to me.
Speaker 2:And then also in that Pitta time 10 am to 2 pm such a productive time what are you doing during that time?
Speaker 2:Are you doing your things that you really need to get done in your job or your business or anything like that? Are you doing things that are more communicative. In the other times, where you're scheduling meetings, are you doing times where you just have introspective work? Whenever you're in that ethereal time so that's what Lizzie's talking about whenever there are these pockets of time, I've noticed that whenever I'm honoring these pockets of time and I'm doing things that are aligned with them, where I'm doing my very detailed nose of the grindstone, get things done, work from 10 to 2, because I know I have that energy backing me to get it done and it's going to feel easier to do it with all that energy rather than try to just like bang stuff out at 6 AM or anything like that when I'm in that kapha time of grounding and peacefulness and earth. So the Ayurveda clock is something that's really like Lizzie said it's a great gateway to start and get in, because you'll see a difference in how you're so supported by energy when you honor these four hour buckets of time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely, and you know it's funny because you picked out the two pitta types as like the things that you pay most attention to, because you are one of those people that likes to get shit done, so you're like all right, let's do it when I'm most supported. But that whole 10 pm thing that shit is so real and is one of the things that I learned in Ayurveda. Soon was like try and be asleep before 10 pm, because if you're not asleep before 10 pm, your body naturally starts to like ramp up and you want it to already be sleeping. You know to it's that digestive fire like we were talking about pitta like goes over your digestion. That 10 am to 2 pm and that 10 pm to 2 am are your two highest times of digestion and so you want to be in that but not be in the opposite. You really want to be sleeping when that happens.
Speaker 2:You want your liver to be doing the work. At that time it's doing, it's processing everything. That's the time for the liver to use the Pitta and you're asleep, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 3:So it's like I think the key for Pitta is like be asleep before 10 and plan all the stuff that you need to just like get done between 10 am and 2 pm, like that is that's the best way to use that energy, for sure.
Speaker 3:And then with like I think another thing that is so interesting that I learned in yoga is like the Vata time the 2 am to 6 am and the 2 pm to 6 pm, kind of we're talking about it's like ethereal and dreamlike and it's like it's really when you're most creative and when you have most access to your connection to the divine, both within and all around. And so in yoga they talk about like those magic hours in the morning before the sun wakes up before 6am. So right in line with the solvata time, that's like the best time to meditate, and like have a meditation practice, which I have tried so hard to get up before 6am to do this. I have not been successful, so I'm not telling you to do that Like I'm not telling you to do that, if you can't, because I cannot.
Speaker 2:Well, I do one day. It do that. I'm not telling you to do that if you can't, because I cannot. Well, I do one day. It's hard, yeah, I know.
Speaker 3:Maybe when I'm like 50, you know, and maybe I'll be able to do it. So let's give myself another 15 years here.
Speaker 2:Charlie, one of our practitioners. She's a 4AM-er and she's just so so. She knows how, the value in it, and she does it and she wakes up and she meditates and I, just I. That's just so beautiful that she can do that and have the discipline and knows the benefits of it. That's something that I've had a long journey with, too is getting up before six to be able to do and enjoy that time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's. It's on the list of things that I would like to do, but we're not going to tackle that quite yet. But I do. Actually, I think I do follow the 2 pm to 6 pm for my creative time in the afternoon, because I do feel more juices flowing during that time and I naturally lean into that. My son will nap for a little bit at that time, or most of that time, so I do take that time to do practices in the afternoon. And then the kapha time, the 6 am to 10 am and the 6 pm to 10 pm.
Speaker 3:Those are really times for you to connect back to the earth, connect to grounding, connect to slowing down, connect to other people. You know to be connected, and so that's that morning time where you're getting ready to start your day, go out into the world, and that evening time where you're coming home. You know back from your day, whether or not you work out or you're stay at home, mom or anything like. You're coming back together with your family unit or the people that you're choosing to spend time with those times, and that's a time for connection. It's a time for slowing down, it's a time to not be doing so much strenuous activity but to be more like relaxing. And I know anytime you know, in college I used to work out. During that time I was like an 8pm workouter like person that worked out and it screwed me up, you know it like made it so that I would do the opposite of what I should be doing and it would boost everything up and I would then have a really hard time falling. I would eat later, I would fall asleep later, I felt really sluggish in the morning. So, like there are legitimate, like physical things that you can experience when you fight against this Ayurvedic clock by the doshas and I think it's up to you whether or not you decide you believe this is true or not but I really encourage you to try some of these things out, try experimenting, see if you feel any better moving your day around a little bit. To try working out during the Pitta time, to try doing your creative endeavors during the Vata time, to try spending time connecting with other people or you don't have to do happy hours, but maybe you start to do some more things in the evening where you slow down, you stop worrying about work, you stop worrying about what you have going on and you just worry about connecting with the person in front of you, whether or not that's a big group of people or someone for work, or someone for fun, or just a friend that you haven't seen in a long time. So I think, really, what I want to leave you with is that Ayurveda can be the answer that you're looking for.
Speaker 3:It might not be, but for me it really was in a lot of different ways. And what's the harm in exploring it? What's the harm in, like, picking up something that Nikki and I have talked about during this podcast that interests you and going a little bit deeper with that? Just the one thing you don't have to do all these freaking things we talked about. Like again, we're just the introduction, but if there's something that really triggered an intuitive hit, a ping, that was like that's really interesting, I want to learn more about that, or that's exciting. Go explore that. We've got these links in the show notes that you can go easily to what we're talking about and then go down the rabbit hole. Yeah for sure. What do you think, nikki? What do you want to leave?
Speaker 2:them with today? No for sure it's. Ayurveda can help you with so many different things from anything mentally you might be going through, or stressors, or anxiety, or really finding that purpose and what you want to do and how you want to feel fulfilled and feeling good in your body and feeling aligned. But also not only feeling good but having that conversation with your body where you understand your body's language. That's what Ayurveda does for you, so you can understand. When you don't feel so right in this way, then you can do something Ayurveda will show you to counterbalance it, to allow you to feel better. So that would be my biggest thing. It can really hit mind, body, spirit in so many ways and you know, just starting to explore little things here and there and seeing what resonates.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, yes, yes. So I know this one was a little bit long, but this is important, you know, to have a good kind of idea of what this is. Just an introductory, starter point, so thank you for sticking with us this long. We are also releasing another practice today, so go check out the meditation that we have released as well, and just have a great rest of your day and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 1:Thank you everyone, See you soon don't miss out on our journey to living an authentic, purposeful and joyful life. Join our membership and subscribe to the modern zen collective podcast on all major platforms and take the first steps towards elevating your mind, body and spirit. For all resources mentioned in this episode and to connect with us and our conscious community, check out the episode show notes for all links and our current offerings. See y'all next time.
