Ayurvedic Consultations
Many factors play a role in the state of our health. Stress, overwhelm, trauma, deep unresolved emotions, an unsuitable diet, and environmental toxins dysregulate the body and mind. Ayurvedic Consultations entail looking at patterns in digestion, appetite, elimination, sleep, pain, toxin overload, and general symptomology to fully understand the whole person. According to each individual, a consultation will entail Ayurvedic massage treatments, guidance on nutrition and herbal medicine, holistic and spiritual counseling, and traditional yoga therapy.
Ayurvedic Massage
Healing touch has a profound effect on our physical, mental, and emotional health. In Ayurveda, massage is often incorporated as part of a treatment plan. Ayurvedic massage is known widely as Oil Massage or Abhyanga. Organic herbal oils are used and absorbed through the skin to help strengthen muscles and joints, stimulate lymphatic drainage, reduce inflammation, or give relief to pain.
Massage directly affects the lymphatic system called rasa dhatu. It assists in blood circulation by moving fluids, wastes, and toxins from the tissues and back into the digestive tract and organs of elimination. For example, it’s common to have to use the bathroom after therapy. Urine, a way the body removes waste, is made from acids from the blood and other fluids. As circulation of blood and lymph is cleared, deep holding patters become released. As mind, body, and cells are interconnected, the mind receives messages to let go, allowing breath and prana to flow freely.
My sessions offer clients a safe space to receive a nurturing massage while applying flowing and steady strokes to relax and soothe muscles as well as deeper pressure on vital energy points or Marma Points.
Each therapy session works to release physical, mental, and emotional patterns. Often, it can allow deep wounds to come up into the light of our awareness to change patterns of overall health.
In Ayurveda, supporting digestion is an integral way to experience robust health. Food is the most basic form of medicine and the ahara rasa or “essence of food” forms the building blocks of the tissues of the body.
Today, it is increasingly common to experience some kind of digestive discomfort from bloating, indigestion, IBS, acid reflux, or poor absorption and elimination. When left unaddressed, these symptoms develop into chronic conditions like inflammatory reactions, poor immunity, multiple food sensitivities, menstrual difficulties, thyroid imbalances, mood and mental health issues, disordered eating, and addiction.
Ayurveda emphasizes learning how to apply the shad rasa or six tastes found in foods- sweet, sour, salty, pungent, astringent, and bitter. These tastes have unique properties and effects from stimulating stomach acids or bile in the liver, building muscle tissue, or cleansing the blood.
In my practice, I support clients gain a better understanding of their bodies and an autonomous relationship with their food. With careful listening, I guide clients to include a diet focused on whole organic food, sustainable lifestyle habits, and herbs for the digestive and nervous system.
Food Therapy
“I firmly believe the right diet and lifestyle has the capability to change the trajectory of our health in profound ways.”
Holistic Counseling
Counseling in Ayurveda goes beyond western talk therapy. In counseling, I listen to and observe various patterns. This includes the story of symptoms clients share with me, but it also includes the manner of speech, emotional qualities, unspoken words, and body language. I will likely also take an analysis of pulse, tongue, skin, and various points of palpation. My intention is to guide individuals to understand their thoughts and emotions but direct them into release rather than further into turbulence or stagnation.
In order to clarify and stabilize the mind, it is essential to form the right habits. There are many underlying causes behind the choices one makes in their food, relationships, work, family, and so on. In counseling, the work is to understand the causes but also to gain the motivation and apply the actions to change.
I don’t believe a person should be in therapy for years. Meditation is a critical practice to quickly break through stuck patterns and states. I teach practices suitable for each individual.
Women’s Health
The services I provide women are sensitive, compassionate, and uplifting. I understand the many ways women of all cultures experience repression, abuse, and unresolved physical symptoms. I support women to trust their experience.
Unlike conventional medicine, Ayurveda understands that menstrual difficulties, thyroid imbalances, digestive issues, weight changes, and mental health symptoms can all be brought toward ease and balance through regular and appropriate practices. These can include self-massage, women’s yoga, homecooked food, and regular healthy forms of relaxation.
In sessions, I may guide practices to both bring up and soothe difficult emotions of fear, anger, or sadness. I may do this through some pranic healing, hypnotherapy techniques, or gentle breathing.