Ep 14 - Start Now Or Wait? Ayurveda Before Summer

Are you telling yourself, “I’ll start paying more attention to my body… after the [insert circumstance]”? You’re not alone. But waiting for the “perfect moment” might be keeping you stuck in patterns you no longer want to repeat.

In this episode, we explore:

🌿 What can happen when you delay starting your Ayurvedic journey — and why there’s never a “perfect time”
🌿 What Ayurveda teaches us about timing, rhythm, and integration
🌿 Common misconceptions about working with Ayurveda (hint: it’s not all early mornings and kitchari!)
🌿 What an Ayurvedic practice might actually look like in real life
🌿 How summer can quietly throw your digestion, sleep, and energy off balance — and how to respond
🌿 A reframe to help you begin — without pressure, urgency, or perfectionism

If you’ve been waiting for life to slow down before you make a change, this episode offers both clarity and compassion.

Feel inspired to take your first step today?

Book a free initial consultation with me here.

Learn more about my 12 - week programme, "Awaken Your Health"

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hi and welcome to the Lenan Ayurveda podcast. Here we explore how the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda can help us gain a deeper understanding of our body and open the gateway to finally feeling better.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Hello and welcome to episode 14 of the Lina Ayurveda podcast. My name is Vitode and I am your Ayurvedic Health Counselor. And I'm really excited to be here today because today I'm going to be answering a question that I think comes up quite often during spring and certainly before summer, but you will see how my answer to this particular question will be relevant for many other circumstances in life, not only seasonal. Okay, so that question is should I start implementing Ayurveda before my summer vacation? Or is it something that you know is better done when I'm back from my travels and then I can envisage returning to my regular routine and I can implement it then? And this may seem like a very simple and straightforward question, but actually there is so much depth to it, um, and I want to unpack this question together with you. So let me just um start by pointing out that our summer travel, our summer plans, these are circumstances, right? Just like you know, um starting a new job or um changes in our relationship, right? All of these are circumstances and life is full of circumstance. Anywhere we go, we will be met by certain circumstances, and it's very important to plan around these circumstances because that helps us lead you know lives that are less stressful, right? So it's important to understand what our circumstances will be to the extent that we we can plan them and see what we can do to alleviate our circumstance and make it easier, right, for for us to feel better. But here, what I want to draw your attention to is do you have a pattern in your life where you are using circumstance as a reason to postpone things over and over, and by things I mean especially things that you want to do, the things that you know would be good for you, okay? So, for example, um I have definitely experienced this with exercise before, where I might feel that you know moving my body in a certain way would be really good for me, but then I would really struggle to find that perfect time, and I would say, Oh, now I can't do this because I have this and this. The next week I can't do this because I have this and this lined up, and so it always gets pushed to some kind of like indefinite space in the future, and I never arrive there, right? So um, I think a lot of like if it is you, you know, there don't don't carry shame around it because I think most humans on this planet will experience this circumstantial postponement of what is good for them in one way or another, right? So for some people it will be, you know, related to um you know their diet, for some it might be exercise, for some, it might be like becoming good with money and sorting out your finances, right? And we keep on pushing and pushing and pushing, whatever we feel is outside our comfort zone, we might have the tendency to use circumstance as a reason not to do it, right? So if you notice this type of pattern in yourself where you tend to use external circumstances as a reason not to do or to postpone something that you know would be good for you and that you have been longing to do, whatever that may be, you may be falling for this myth of the perfect time, right? Believing that in the future there will be a perfect time, the stars will align, and the conditions will be perfect for you to do whatever it is that you need to do, right? So those conditions could be like maybe you will start a new job and you you will feel better. Um, maybe you will need to leave the current job. Um, I had recently um a session with somebody who is in that situation right now where they feel like they shouldn't be taking any action while they're still in this really stressful environment of the current job placement that they have, right? So this is an example of like waiting for this perfect time in the future. Um, for some, it might be like the conditions of being away from home in order to take action. For some, it might be being at home and not having any other commitments to take action, right? Waiting for things to calm down, waiting for a calm week with nothing scheduled, with your kids away, and you know, with with no errands to run. Basically, this illusion that this perfect time will come, and um life keeps passing by, and you find that that perfect time never really arrives, right? It it might do, um, in which case, you know, congratulations. But for most of us, that perfect time for taking action to do the things that we need to do for our well-being does not exist. The perfect time in the future where the stars align and the circumstances are flawless and things are easy and smooth, and there are no um obstacles, right? That is holding on to an illusion. Okay, so if you're seeing parts of yourself here, I just want to invite you to reflect like, has this ever happened to you that you arrived at this perfect time and you were able to take the steps that you need to take? And if you were able to take the steps that you need to take, was that action sustainable? Or as soon as those circumstances disappeared, that perfection of the moment disappeared, you went back to your old ways. Right? So this is something to uh to evaluate for yourself. I think you know, this idea uh that we sometimes hold on to that um in the future things will be better. I mean, we need to have this hope, we need to hold on to hope for sure, but also our future is created in the now to a certain extent. And when we believe that in in the future, after you know, after um this or that aligns, after this or that changes, our capacity will somehow magically expand to take on, you know, whether it's ayurvada, whether it's exercise, whether it's um, you know, taking care of our marriage or whatever it is that we um are longing for, whatever change we're longing for. Um the truth is that capacity usually doesn't increase on its own. We need to create that capacity ourselves. It doesn't magically expand in the future, right? Because life has the tendency to stay full always. We might experience a perfect moment, a perfect day where we suddenly feel like we have nothing to do, and that's the perfect day to take care of ourselves, but that is a very finite moment. And it will not usually give sustainable results that we can maintain when we are back in the trenches of our reality, when the circumstances aren't perfect, when the living room is messy, when we are having a fight with our partner, when our kids are driving us crazy. All of these moments are precisely the moments when you need to be doing what it takes to take care of yourself. Right? So that's the first thing I wanted to say about this illusion of thinking that things will be easier in the future, thinking that taking action in the future will be effortless as opposed to now, when we might perceive our circumstances um less than ideal. But let me just say there is no such thing as ideal circumstances, external circumstances that align for us to take action that is deliberately oriented towards self-care. In fact, the ideal circumstances are those of right here, right now. Actually, I also want to reframe this question of um should I start Ayurvada before summer holidays or in September? Okay, so if we reframe that, should I start paying more attention to my body and learning how to support it better before my summer vacation or after my summer vacation? Do you see how that changes the essence of the question? And the reason why I wanted to reframe it is because I think very often when people um, you know, people might have like a certain idea of what Ayurveda is, you know, there might be um an idea that it is some kind of very restrictive protocol where you will be told to like give up all your espresso and give up all the alcohol and like wake up at five and pray. Um, you know, so and it's true that there are some resources out there that might paint um a very strict picture of Ayurveda, just like anything. I think you know it can be um interpreted in a very rigid way or in a very loving, compassionate, and soft way. Um, and so I think perhaps part of the misconception here could be that you know, if I think that following an Ayurvedic protocol or Ayurvedic advice will restrict me majorly, then I might have this resistance um to you know try this path out during my summer vacation. Because for most people, summer vocation is when they really let their hair down, and and when they for most people, it's their only two or three weeks of you know life where they really feel alive and they really want to enjoy that time, and um I think reframing that question can really um help shine a light on this possible misconception that Ayurveda, like following Ayurveda guidelines, will ruin your summer, that you'll have no fun this summer, you'll feel restricted, you'll feel miserable, and you'll feel bored. I actually had a super interesting question. Um, I think it was last year, someone actually asked me, but what if I don't like an Ayurvedic lifestyle? I thought this was such an interesting question because no one has asked me that before. But that question uh totally makes sense, like it's it's a very uh legitimate question to ask, but it also shows that we need to deepen our understanding a little bit more about what Ayurvedic lifestyle actually entails, right? So I think you know, answering this question, like what if I end up not liking an Ayurvedic lifestyle, I think that is not a possibility. Um simply because an Ayurvedic lifestyle is aligning yourself to the rhythms of nature, so there is the rhythm of your own body, right? The circadian rhythm, and for women, it's the rhythm of our cycles, um and also the rhythm of our digestion. Uh, and it's true that you may have resistance to some parts of this like realignment uh to your rhythms because you may have you know developed certain habits of doing things a certain way at a certain hour, right? Like going to bed at midnight or at 1 a.m. And it's true that you know, in in this work of realigning yourself back to your body's natural circadian clock, you might come across resistance, right? But I can guarantee you that if you are not respecting your natural rhythms, you are not feeling well. I can guarantee I have yet to meet somebody who is not respecting their circadian rhythm, their digestive rhythm, and for women, their um menstrual cycle, um and that who feels really well. I have not met such a person. So if those rhythms are disrupted, there will be symptoms across the board, right? Um so it's true that we may have resistance when we're working with some of these elements, but ultimately um, you know, we are working towards you feeling better, right? So um you're not following these protocols to make somebody happy, right? You're following these protocols and this guidance to feel better. So if you have a desire to feel better, then you will love an Ayurvedic lifestyle because it will allow you to feel better. You might have resistance to some elements simply because you have acquired some habits, you know, due to circumstances or due to conditioning that you know may not be contributing to support your health and well-being, right? Um, but ultimately the goal of stepping into Ayurvada is that you feel better in your own skin, that you feel more connected to your body, that you know and understand what is happening in your body, and you understand how to work with your mind. Ultimately, an Ayurvedic lifestyle will equip you to do that, and I can't think of any reason why somebody would not like an Ayurvedic lifestyle if it is well presented to them, if it is um well taught to them, because an Ayurvedic lifestyle, just like yoga, it needs to be taught, right? So we need to have it explained. Uh, it's not the same to um read it in a book, right, and try apply it for ourselves that can be done, but it's not going to have the same kind of effect on us. So, what I can say is that you're likely to love your lifestyle more than you do now. Because you know, there will be more space, more chances for you to hear yourself and make space for that which your body and your mind long for. The deeper I go into the world of Ayurveda, the more I understand that Ayurvedic lifestyle can actually have very little to do with pushing yourself through willpower to do things a certain way. There is a way to interpret Ayurveda in this way, just like many you know, yoga asana teachers will teach you to push yourself and um and sweat more, and so so there's definitely ways of like twisting the message in this way of like more effort, but actually what becomes the most powerful is when we start at the subtle level, and um this is why when I work with my clients, I spend a lot of time in the subtle realm with them, you know, trying to understand what their thinking patterns are, what their thoughts are about the challenges that they're experiencing, right? And when we work um at the subtle level, that is when we can take the path of less effort, less willpower, right? Um, because our ideas and our beliefs, they're they're the things that create the reality around us, they translate into action, and um they can be of different nature. So in Ayurvedic psychology, we speak of you know, sattvic state of mind, which is a harmonious state of mind, right? When our ideas and our beliefs about ourselves and the world are um harmonious and peaceful, right? That translates into a material result. Our action will reflect that, and the results that we create will reflect that. Then what most people are struggling with is an agitated state of mind. So these are agitating ideas, agitated beliefs, right? Those will also create a particular result, and then there are the stagnant ideas about ourselves, the like really limiting beliefs that we might have about our body, about um our relationships, right? And they also create a particular result. So when we work at the subtle level, actions follow with less friction, with less drama, and more grace, right? So it becomes like this whole Ayurveda project then becomes more about self observation. Right? And it's not a protocol that you need to check off your to-do list during your summer vacation. It becomes more of a self-observation process, a constant practice, really. And when we learn to see Ayurveda through this um lens, right, just like yoga, just like joycha, Ayurvedic astrology, then that question of do I begin before or after my summer vacation, it becomes less relevant, right? Because that exercise of being your own witness, it doesn't really have like a starting date or an expiry date. It's not something that you start in September and you you're done by mid-October, right? Um, it's stepping into a different way of viewing your body, your relationship with your body and how it interacts with the environment. One more thing I wanted to say. What if you really do want to wait until September? Uh you totally can. Um, but um what I did want to say about this whole travel piece, since we are talking about you know the body being well and hopefully preserving the health of our bodies, what usually happens during the summer vacation is that our symptoms tend to increase, not decrease, right? You think that um you're going you're going into a restful phase after you know being stressed out at work, but what usually happens most of the time is that people really let their hair down during the summer holidays, right? Because there is this um fear of missing out, right? Um we feel like we have a limited number of days and we really have to make them count, and so what happens is people really indulge in caffeine, right? All these iced lattes, and you know, and there's like the special circumstance of us being on vacation and us having paid a certain amount of money to be there, and we feel like we really need to make it count, and we need to, you know, be with um, like see as many people as we can, and all of these events that we don't want to miss, and the alcohol piece also becomes um you know much easier to kind of indulge in than I find than than during the rest of the year because a lot of like a lot of these alcoholic options are actually very attractive during hot summer days because they are you know nicely presented with like fresh fruits and and ice cubes and and you're by the pool and and why not? So there's a lot of indulgence that happens during the summer, which is which is fine, you know. Um it's fine to a certain extent. Then also there is issues with sleep, right? Because of all these indulgences, because of the extra caffeine and the alcohol, and also the higher temperatures, um, especially during the heat waves, you know, our sleep becomes um, you know, our sleep can really suffer. I definitely experience worse sleep during the summer months and lighter sleep because of the temperature change. So there's a lot that happens on those weeks that we're away, and so many times I hear when people come back from vacation, instead of feeling resourced and renewed, they actually feel tired, right? So we we can put our bodies through a lot during the summer, and that is where um you know ancient wisdom like Ayurveda can really help us understand ourselves and can really help us recognize what our boundaries are so that we can enjoy, but we also don't tax our bodies too much, so that when we come back into our routine, we don't like crash into reality with a tired body, right? Because that's not a nice place to be. So even if you're traveling, even if you are seeing friends, even if you are going on a champagne tasting tour, you can still bring Ayurveda and its principles with you, and then you'll be able to do the same thing but wiser, you'll be able to do it better and with more compassion for yourself, and then you will thank yourself because by the time September comes, you will have built a base that you can continue and you can deepen your journey instead of finding yourself in September, like trying to pick yourself up and get yourself back on track. It's always so much easier to continue an ongoing effort, even if that effort is more moderate, than to like really go at it from opposite ends, right? And like really let yourself go, and then suddenly try to pick yourself back up and start again a momentum from scratch. So you can start today in a really small way, like just you know, having an extra glass of water, or you know, having a really nourishing meal, or taking a moment to notice how your body feels, and then taking a decision to listen to it. So you most definitely don't need to wait for outside circumstances to align in some perfect way, but you do need to decide that you are worth supporting now, despite the circumstances that might be surrounding you. But there's more to this, okay? So even though I am saying that there's no better time to invite Ayurvada into your life than now, in whatever way is accessible to you, I also want to stress that there's no urgency in the Vedic disciplines. There can be no urgency. Okay, so Ayurveda, yoga, joitasha, they were not designed to be rushed or checked off somebody's list. Like I did a course in that now. Check, moving on to the next thing, right? They're designed to be lifelong practices, so you know they come into our lives, that's what I believe. They come into our lives when we are ready, and we will pick them up at our pace. So you're not behind, you're not missing the window, okay. And when I invite you to begin now, I'm not saying hurry up, right? But rather I'm saying that there is a path here that you can begin walking at your own pace. And if you have been nodding along during this conversation, and if working with me one-on-one has been on your radar, now is the perfect time to start and to allow yourself this support and guidance during the summer. I have a 12-week custom Ayuretic program that's designed to guide you towards deeper understanding of your own body and helping you to feel better. So you can book a free consult call with me. Uh, I'll put a link in the show notes. And when you do that, we'll spend some time really understanding your symptoms and your current circumstances, and we'll see whether Awaken Your Health, my 12-week program, would be a good fit for you. I can't wait to see you inside, and for everyone else, I hope that you have a wonderful day and a wonderful start to your summer. It's actually the midsummer weekend coming up here as I'm recording this, so I'm gonna be planning some midsummer activities with my kids. If you celebrate midsummer, I hope you have a good one, and I can't wait to catch up with you in my next episode in a couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

Have a wonderful day. Bye.