Some years ago, I was living with chronic illness. It was an exhaustive condition which caused my world of international travel, work and learning to shrink to a world contained within the four walls of my small cottage.
I was more or less housebound. Doctors had no answers, other than to tell me I had to learn to live with the illness. And many charged huge amounts with big promises which amounted to nothing.
In the end, I had to return to basics – restoring balance to body and mind, and looking deeply into my soul and consciousness.
I would not settle for that of course. I knew in the face of this challenge, I could breakdown or breakthrough. I determined to breakthrough and giving care and attention to my whole being was my way towards this.
I am now fully recovered, as many of you know, I live a full and active life, and feel more vitality now than I have ever felt before in my life.
And what emerged from the work I did to heal my being, is a six step plan for health and healing which addresses all dimensions of our being: body, heart, mind, soul. It recognises the energetic dimension of our being: our vital force and the way it moves in the body, impacting the nerve currents and so impacting our physical and mental-emotional state, whilst being influenced by these and by our consciousness.
And it is not that one of the six steps addresses the body, another the mind, another the heart, for example. What I have come to learn is that the physical healing we do benefits the subtler dimensions of being. And the work we do to heal the consciousness and the mind, transmits to the body.
At the time of my illness, I had not ventured so deeply into Ayurveda. However, looking back at all the things I experiemented with through trial and error, I can see that the things that worked and helped my healing, make sense from an Ayurveda perspsective. As do the things that weren’t working and were actually making me feel worse. This is because they were or were not aligned with my Ayurveda type, condition of my doshas (humours), and the state of my agni (digestive and metabolic capacity), ojas (resilience), and ama (toxicity).
Now I bring each of the features of this six step plan into all my work, I create personalised plans based on this roadmap in my Ayurveda clinical work, taking into account dosha (humour) balance or imbalance, state of agni, ojas and prana (vital force) within each person.
The result is a very potent package of healing where each step offers a different way into support and restore health and wellbeing to all levels of being.
For example, food and herbs carry a vibration and a consciousness which impacts our consciousness, for better or worse, The vital force or our prana, can be harmonised, contained or expanded through breathing practices to impact the nervous system, and thereby the body and mind, and also can purify both of these to benefit the consciousness. Our state of mind and it’s habitual grooves can affect our vital force for better or for worse and so have a key impact on our health, making enquiry into mental and emotional tendencies so important on the healing journey. And so it goes on.
I make sure that each of the six steps plays a part in my retreats and courses. This ensures that I am addressing the whole person and so giving participants an level of all-embracing transformation so that they complete my programme feeling profoundly impacted and positively changed.
This six step plan translates wonderfully for 1-1 Ayurveda work.
One of my awakenings during my recovery time, was to the truth in the notoin that “one size does not fit all”. Practices from these six steps that I had benefitted from when I was well, now did not suit me when I was ill.
The six steps can be personalised according to each persona’s state of health, to address any symptoms. And more than that, with Ayurveda’s unique understanding of individual metabolism, it is possible to personalise this plan even further, taking into account the constitution and it’s tendencies, and any imbalances at the root of symptoms.
The six step plan then becomes a potent, many-pronged roadmap for healing the whole being and restoring health and strength.
Below is a diagram showing the three bodies recognised to make up our total being in Ayurveda and Yoga. All these are impacted by each step of the plan.
Why not book an Ayurveda Consultation and receive your own personalised 6-Step Ayurveda programme?
The written programme you receive can be a personalised handbook for life. Please click the button below to book or for more details.
I love to adapt the way I bring these 6 steps into my daily life according to the seasons and/or the changes within my own inner and outer worlds. It’s empowering and allows me to be an alchemist within the shifting tides of my life.
You too can learn how to bring this wisdom into your life, adapting as and when you need.
Plus you can learn how to offer the same to others.
Our upcoming AYURVEDA LIVING COURSE: A DIPLOMA IN AYURVEDA LIFESTYLE AND NUTRITION will teach you all of this and more.
Please click the button below for course details, to have a chat about the course, or to reserve your place. .