As a healer, I don’t want to become dependent on any kind of pill! The point he was making is that you must heal your gut to absorb the nutrients from food, so that you don’t have to be so dependent on supplements. But then how do we get all the nutrients from our food then when even organic isn’t organic anymore! GMO crops are spreading like wildfire into organic farm land.

Why We Need Supplements

Roundup and pesticides used on GMO crops leaks into the soil of organic crops. Even as consumers, we may think we are buying organic with the best intentions. After Amazon bought Whole Foods, the leading producer of organic produce, Whole Foods withdrew their promise to mark GMO foods ( Mercola July 2018). Who are we to trust unless we know the farmer down the street, visited his/her land, and witnessed organic food being grown first hand?

Fruits and vegetables contain fewer minerals than the fruits and vegetables grown in the 1980’s. We are dirt poor with estimates that nutrients and minerals in our soil have dropped 20 to 30 percent or more from the late 1970’s to today with modern day farming techniques, use of Roundup, and GMO food production. For this reason, I believe supplementation is necessary. However, food is still the ultimate medicine.

The Best of Both Worlds

I have come to the conclusion that Functional Medicine and Ayurveda make a beautiful combination. Ayurveda can help us identify our imbalances, and functional medicine can provide the biological testing that identifies how deep our deficiencies go, as well as our genetic predispositions to certain conditions and diseases. The tests of Functional Medicine are excellent tools for people to live in alignment.

Through tests prescribed by my Functional Medicine Doctor, I learned I possessed some interesting genetic traits.  I wouldn’t have known about these genetic traits through Ayurveda alone. I found out I don’t detoxify very well. I have the MTHFR gene and the MTRR gene, two different genes, that have to do with methylation and the bodies ability to detoxify. MTHFR is tied to reductions in folate, whereas MTRR is associated with Vitamin B12 deficiency. People with these gene mutation cannot have synthetic Folic Acid.

My functional doctor also found that I had gut dysbiosis, meaning I had a lack of beneficial bacteria in my gastrointestinal tract. Also, meaning that even if I was eating foods with B12, I probably wasn’t getting proper absorption of it and thus the reason for my anemia.

Address the Agni

From an Ayurvedic approach, a person who has anemia has malabsorption and gut dysbiosis.
In comparing my functional tests and B12 (folic acid) deficiency with Ayurveda, my symptoms are in line with the recommendations that Ayurveda makes for those with anemia. In Ayurveda, someone with anemia would have a low digestive fire or weak digestion. In Ayurveda, the treatment of anemia or B12 deficiency would be to address the agni (digestive fire) to support proper digestion, absorption, and metabolism of B12 when eaten with foods high in B12. Thus, Ayurveda taught me to deal with my weak digestion in order to get the benefits of proper supplementation.

Pass the Salt Please!

From my functional testing, I learned I have type O blood, and most of my ancestors came from Ireland, Scotland, and the Mediterranean who before modern time lived on fish, marine life, seaweed, sea kelp, plant life and thus had high levels of Omega 3’s, which in a modern world I have to supplement to get my levels where they need to be. My body thrives on Celtic Sea Salt, Sea Kelp, and I can eat a high salt diet, and my body craves it and does very well because naturally I would have received this salt in my diet. I am iodine deficient for a lack of eating what my body would have eaten hundreds of years ago. I have been supplementing to get my iodine levels up to where they should be.

You are Unique just like everybody else.

Interestingly, my functional medicine tests pair up with what Ayurveda teaches. Functional Medicine understands biodiversity. Each of us is unique, and there is no one size fits all approach in healing and medicine. Ayurveda, understood this 5,000 years ago that each of us are born with a unique body constitution or dosha. There are three body types Vata, Pitta and Kapha. In my case, I am predominately a Vata Dosha. Just as iodine and Celtic Sea Salt and Sea Kelp are good for me from a functional vantage point, my dosha (constitution) is balanced with the tastes sweet, sour and “SALTY.” While a Kapha body type would need to AVOID salt because they would retain water, they are prone to high blood pressure, a Vata Dosha can be depleted without it. Learning this information from functional medicine and then pairing it with Ayurveda is similar to putting all the puzzle pieces together and seeing the puzzle complete.

Thank you Functional Medicine

I am grateful for Functional Medicine because of all the nuances that it has taught me about my body. Functional medicine has taught me so much about my own body, what it needs to function, and how it ticks. But what Functional Medicine hasn’t taught me is how to optimize my energy day in and day out.

Thank you Ayurveda

I am grateful for Ayurveda, because it has taught me the lifestyle habits I need to be healthy. Ayurveda picks up where Functional Medicine departs. Functional Medicine gives us access to the information of our unique biochemistry, and Ayurveda gives us the ability to take that information and transform our lifestyle to suit our bodies.

I can have all the testing done in the world, but if I have really bad habits and supplement I may not be healthy. My father was a perfect example of this. He tried to beat the system. He had diabetes, and he thought that he could supplement his way to health. Over a 15-year period, he had a massive stroke and died. Sadly, you can have all the data in the world from Functional Medicine, but if you aren’t eating in alignment with your body type, honoring your circadian rhythms, learning to de-stress, and have a higher purpose in life – then all the supplementation and dieting for your body type won’t bring about health.

Supplements are a Billion Dollar Business

One of the fastest growing industries in the world is the nutritional supplement industry. In Forbes in April of 2018, it was reported to be a $32 billion industry. By 2021, it is projected to double to $60 billion. Supplements are a cash cow, and I believe that people are still searching for a quick fix similar to pharmaceutical drugs. But what if supplements aren’t a quick fix in of themselves? What if we have to ask ourselves the question that we have to also do the work to heal internally? This is where Ayurveda is the key to true health.
Ayurveda teaches us that we have to have a strong digestive fire, a healthy gut microbiome, and that we have to eat in alignment with our own biochemistry or our own constitution, our own biodiversity if you will. And above all us, we have to give our body the support it needs through our lifestyle habits. Ayurveda is a mind, body and spirit approach to health.

The perfect diet will not save you

We, the general population, seem to think that we have the answers for the perfect diet whether it be Veganism, Paleo, etc. I used to think that healing my digestion would also be the answer to perfect health. Then one of my close friends said Paige, you cannot just eat your way to health. If you are highly stressed and unhappy with aspects of your life, then you will still suffer. The lightbulb went off, Ayurveda had taught me that healing my gut wasn’t the only solution. Ayurveda taught me that I had a lot of deep work to do through meditation and my spiritual practices to find happiness.

Baby Step by Baby Step

Ayurveda and the 10 Body Thrive habits have taught me habit automation and that change happens slowly. When I went to my functional doctor and received all the testing results to heal my nutritional deficiencies, there were no recommendations on how to change my habits, how to go about changing them, and that it would take months if not years to automate these habits. All I received were a list of supplements, and I was told to stay away from aggravating foods.

Most people fall into this camp when they see a doctor, recommendations are made, but there is no further help to create the transformational journey that needs to happen to heal and make the changes necessary. One of my Ayurveda teachers said that she wouldn’t give herbal remedies to her patients until they made the lifestyle changes first. She said the lifestyle changes had a greater impact, and that the herbs assisted, but 80 to 90 percent of the healing occurred through lifestyle.

We live in one of the best times in human history. We have amazing testing that can help us understand our genetic makeup and what makes us tick. Ayurveda teaches us how to live!

Feel Amazing!

Ayurveda teaches you how to Thrive so that you feel amazing! When I say Thrive, I mean that you feel vitality running through your veins and you don’t need external pharmaceutical drugs to feel deeply alive, pulsating, and energetic. It puts you in touch with the beauty of the planet, and it gives you a much bigger Dharma because when you know at your core that the light in me shines in you then it would behoove all of us to live in harmony with our own bodies and planet. Maybe we wouldn’t need Functional Medicine as much, if we had rich soil and whole foods from that soil, clean oceans, and water. We need to have some reverence for the earth and for our own bodies – the two are interconnected. Our ancestors didn’t have a need for Functional Medicine the way we do today because the earth was less polluted. By being stewards of our bodies, we are stewards of this planet healing both simultaneously.

When In France…Drink Wine!

My junior year in college, I studied in Montpellier, France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region where some of the finest wines in the world are made. One of my courses was in wine tasting, and I would travel around the region to vineyards tasting my way through Southern France. During this time, I grew a great appreciation for fine wines. Let me also say that during this time, even though the French are notoriously known for being thinner than Americans, I weighed more than I have ever weighed in my life outside of my two pregnancies.  My body just wasn’t doing a very good job at processing all that sugar even at the ripe age of 21. When I returned to the Bay Area at Mills College, my parents would take me to Napa Valley where I also enjoyed some of the finest wines made here in the States. Over the years, I developed an affinity for dry wines, champagne, and my summer drink a bitter gin and tonic. I love fine dining and trying the newest cocktail to pair with my appetizer, and a wine to pair with my dinner.  And I am partnered with a husband who is a Bourbon connoisseur, which makes it all that more enticing to want to bond with your partner over a drink.

Ojas and Alcohol

Almost two years have passed since I began seriously practicing Ayurveda. In the beginning, I wasn’t willing to give up alcohol, and there’s no rule in Ayurveda that says I should per say. In Ayurveda, alcohol can be used medicinally or it can be a toxin. If you have low Ojas, like I do, then alcohol is not recommended as it has the opposite effect on ojas. Ojas in Sanskrit means vigor, and thus is thought to be responsible for vitality, strength, health, immunity and mental and emotional wellness. Vatas tend to have lower Ojas than say a Kapha or Pitta because as a dosha Vatas deplete more quickly. When someone has an autoimmune disease or has faced life trauma, they also have low ojas. Similar to our immune system, ojas also means a deep emotional well or reserve. When your body is healing, then you must rebuild your ojas. Alcohol diminishes our reserves of ojas. If you have a low digestive fire, like me, then alcohol is also not recommended. Instead, Ayurveda is about raising self awareness, listening to your subtle body and attuning to your digestive fire, the season, your constitution and the food you are pairing it with.

Self Awareness Sheds Light on the Effects of Alcohol

Since I began studying Ayurveda, I have found that my appreciation for alcohol has waned. Through my daily practice of yoga and meditation, I have begun to honor my body. The days when I have a drink or two the stenosis in my neck becomes worse, I get headaches, I feel more drained, fatigued, dehydrated, and have more muscle and joint stiffness. I have a Vata-Pitta Prakriti, and a Vata Vikriti. I’m a lightweight so one drink alone can leave me feeling like hell and push me over the edge. Furthermore, drinking alcohol is too drying for my constitution, and I can feel it at night when I go to bed. I wake up thirsty, I urinate more in the night because I am up drinking water to make up for what I didn’t drink the night before I went to bed. When I urinate, I feel a drying, burning sensation, and wine gives me cystitis, which causes urinary frequently (Vata-Pitta Vikriti).

I Felt Like a Lunatic!

Prior to drastically reducing my alcohol consumption, the urinary frequency at night and neck pain was giving me insomnia. I was up just about every hour of the night sometimes only getting three to four hours of solid sleep. I blamed insomnia on my stenosis. I went to see many healers for my stenosis. Yet my chiropractor, physical therapist, naturopath, functional doctor, never once said to try eliminating alcohol to see if that helps. I would literally get up in the night do yoga postures to soothe the aches and pains away so that I could go back to sleep, and by then I was up with the Moon, I literally felt like a lunatic. I was exhausted, strung out, and in horrible pain. My neck would hurt so bad that even though I had one drink or two, I felt totally hungover. This insomnia literally went on for 10 years until I realized that alcohol was one of the biggest culprits. In Ayurveda, when the doshas are out of balance, we have accumulation, aggravation, and overflow. At this point, the symptoms are mild.

Imbalance 2.0

During the next pathological phase, the doshic imbalance will overflow and go from mild symptoms to more severe. At this point, the doshic imbalance will go to the weakest point in the body. For me, that is where I have stenosis or neck pain. The next pathway of disease is relocation, manifestation, and diversification. That is when it gets a western name like stenosis. Thus, my imbalance had been in the works for years before it became so severe. Little did I know that my casual glass of wine at night was one of the biggest contributors. Before eliminating alcohol from my evening meal, I never knew that it was causing me such debilitating pain and insomnia. I was never a heavy drinker. I didn’t think a glass of wine three or four nights a week was a problem, and it certainly wasn’t raising any flags with anyone I spoke to about my pain and insomnia.

No Western Diagnosis for Being out of Balance

Before Ayurveda, I remember meeting with my primary doctor asking her why I was up drinking and urinating so much at night. She said I didn’t’ have any symptoms of being pre-diabetic, and she had no Western diagnosis for me. Over the years, I suffered many UTI’s, kidney infections, and was on many rounds of antibiotics to treat them. This lead to gut health issues from the antibiotics further depleting my digestive fire and ojas. Then when I met with my functional doctor, he said that alcohol was causing cystitis. It turns out I have a genetic trait that makes it hard to process and detoxify sulfites well. The wine has a lot of sulfites.

Alcohol and Anxiety

Over the past couple of years, I’ve gone from drinking a glass of wine at night to just having a gin and tonic on a Friday or Saturday night or a cocktail at a special dinner. At the beginning of 2018, I decided to take a bold step and try to eliminate as much alcohol from my activities as possible. As mentioned earlier, I am married to a bourbon connoisseur, I live in a town of Bourbon drinkers, and my family bonds over wine and cocktails. I know that my appreciation for alcohol isn’t just the taste. I know that I love the relaxation that it brings, and how it helps me deal with my Vata anxiety in social situations.

Benefits of Building Body Thrive Habits

Since reducing my alcohol consumption, I find I have higher energy levels, stamina, clarity, and a greater connection with the people around me. Alcohol is such a great icebreaker in social situations, but my goal is to be more authentic with those around me, and not to hide behind any anxiety that I have through a glass of wine or cocktail. I don’t want to use alcohol to feel more free and uninhibited, less anxious or to chill myself the f$#@%! out when I am stressed out. If I didn’t have this practice, I probably wouldn’t notice the difference. The thing about Ayurveda is that you don’t know how good you can feel until you feel it. I’ve realized that when I am triggered by stress, I am more inclined to drink. Several years ago, when I read my first book on Ayurveda, I put it down and thought this practice is way too intense for me. Going to bed early, waking up early, practicing yoga and meditation daily, and eating a plant-based diet was more than I could commit to. I wasn’t willing to make the changes necessary to heal my body. I just didn’t want to believe that I had to change my lifestyle. Now I know the hard truth that alcohol just doesn’t make me feel good, and that it holds me back from being truly authentic with those around me. I’ve also found that by not drinking it shines a light on those who are drinking. It also sheds light on what some friendships and relationships are based on.

It’s Time for a Toast

While I haven’t given up alcohol 100 percent, my goal is to save it for the rarest of opportunities to celebrate a wedding or a momentous occasion. As I have become aware when I drink and don’t drink, over time I have evolved to want it less and less. At this point, I see it is something to be enjoyed with good friends and good food as it’s done in the Blue Zones. The Blue Zones are the areas of the world that have the largest number of centenarians. Think about it this way, in a modern society, our bodies are bombarded to detoxify the chemicals in our air, food and water. Our livers are working overtime to try and break down these toxins and alcohol puts an additional burden on the liver.

I Want to Feel Fulfilled

The truth is in American culture, we have made alcohol something to be enjoyed all the time just like sugar and caffeine. We have come to regulate our circadian rhythms using caffeine and alcohol to lift us up and bring us back down rather than having the body habits that we need to regulate our mood and energy levels. Who knows where I will be as I progress on this journey, but I can say that one of the biggest factors in reducing my chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and joint and muscle pain has been my drastic reduction in alcohol consumption. There may come a day when I no longer desire alcohol at all as I tap into deeper and greater levels of fulfillment naturally. What I do know is that I am more hydrated, clear, and have greater levels of clarity and energy without it. I recommend eliminating for anyone wanting to feel pain free, less anxious or stressed out to eliminate alcohol for a few weeks to notice any shifts in your own well-being? We don’t know how well we can feel until we feel it through self-inquiry, trial and error, and experimentation.

Vata Yoga

Being predominantly a Vata Constitution, I was very weak when I started on my yoga journey. I chose a more Vata aggravating practice during my yoga teacher training. I completed my training in Core Power Yoga and Baptiste Yoga. Both of these types of yoga are wonderful for more muscular body types like Pitta or sturdy Kapha. But for me the flow was too fast for my nature and chronic injuries. The yoga ended up aggravating my bulging disc and neck and that is when I turned within. I found a Yoga Physical Therapist with a background in Ayurveda, and she taught me how to move slower and more methodical in my Vinyasa Flow, and I have never turned back.

Here are some tips I learned in healing my back pain:

1. Exercise the Pelvic Floor 

Many yogis say we don’t have a yoga practice without our breath! I would say the same about the pelvic floor and deep core – the breath and the bandhas go hand in hand. We don’t have a strong yoga practice until we have learned to incorporate the bandhas. A bandha is a lock where a segment of the body is sealed, isolated or constricted in some manner.

2. Practice Mula Bandha

The Mula Bandha is also called the root lock. It helps tone the pelvic floor.  Mula bandha is found at the base of the torso at the perineum, and is part of the muladhara chakra. If you think about it, the chief axis of prana is the spinal column, which rises from the perineum to the crown of the head. I utilize the Mula Bandha to stabilize many yoga postures. Activating the Bandha takes time and concentration to incorporate it with my breath, so it slows down the ether and air aspects of my Vata Nature and grounds me in my practice. It’s great for lower back pain because it allows you to move in a safer way through your asana practice. It takes pressure off the lumbar spine, and it allows strength for the upper spine to expand upward when the lock is in place.

3. For Thoracic Back pain or Scoliosis, Practice Uddiyana Bandha

The Uddiyana Bandha, after all the air is exhaled, is an upward lock or abdominal lift where the abdominal organs are all swept up to a higher than normal position. The abdomen is pulled under the rib cage. By activating the Uddiyana Bandha, I am able to message my thoracic spine through my breath with the lock engaged. When the lock is in place, there is a balloon-like effect of the rib cage. Udiyana stretches the respiratory diaphragm, which spans the chest and the abdomen and attaches to the base of the rib cage and lumbar spine. When you have Scoliosis the chest cavity and breath can be constricted, and it feels really nice to open up the chest cavity that can get locked down with scoliosis (or at least that is true in my body).

Connecting the Root Chakra to Ayurveda

When someone of a Vata nature is out of balance they can feel anxiety, isolation, feelings of being alone, abandoned, fearful or unsupported. Thus, working with the root chakra helps draw attention to aspects of Vata that need attention. In my case, after I started working with the root chakra, I realized that when my back pain was exacerbated, I felt unsupported, “in it alone,” or abandoned. It’s my Vata nature to push through projects, and then be completely diminished. I work intensely on tasks and then end up feeling weak and unsupported when all things are said and done. Most of my life, I have felt that I have to go it alone or make it happen on my own and that I am unsupported. It is when I don’t feel “support” that my lower back will go out on me literally paralyzing me in pain.

Root Chakra and the Relationships with Vata Dosha

The root chakra is related to the earth element. It’s responsible for our safety and security. It is the support or base that grounds us and provides stability. Imagine the roots of a tree deep within the earth giving the tree strong roots to soar high into the sky. When I started working with my root chakra, I realized that I was usually afraid or fearful that something wouldn’t work out financially in my favor.

Declare Your Needs to Save Your Back

Throughout my real estate career, many close friends or family members would engage me in a conversation about selling or listing real estate. I always assumed that my friends and relatives would use me as their agent when it came time to list or sell their home. In many cases, I would later find out that someone I assumed would work with me to sell their home, would end up choosing to work with someone else. I learned from these experiences, that in life if I fail to declare my authentic needs and allow others’ needs to take precedence over my own, I pay the price. For example, I never signed exclusive buying agreements with close ties because I trusted them. I did not pronounce and stand for my need to get paid and reimbursed for my time. I put friends and family members’ needs above my own self-protection. In one case a relative bought without using a realtor (thus not paying a commission or me after I had offered lots of free help), in another case a relative didn’t want to mix business and family, and in a third situation the financial decision-maker in the family wanted to work with their real own estate contact, after getting lots of free help from me. Over and over again I was devastated by these betrayals. On one occasion, a family member who had asked me to send them listings for months ended up using someone else. When I found out one day over a nonchalant conversation in the kitchen with this family member, my root chakra was on fire, my lower back was debilitated, and I was in crushing pain. This family member was insensitive to the fact that I had skin in the game. I never received an apology or an explanation. When I began to work with my fears, I was able to release the tension in my lower back. The fear statements that I would tell myself is that if you cannot rely on your friends and family, then who can you rely on? These feelings of abandonment were literally putting me into back pain attacks. The lesson I learned is to stand up for myself and to declare my needs. Had I declared my needs and wants, then I could have saved myself a lot of pain.

Dhanvantri – The Divine Healer

Lord Dhanvantri in Ayurveda is the Divine Healer within all of us. Healing back pain requires turning inward, and the best way I can describe this experience is becoming very primal. When my back and neck hurt, if I close my eyes and get on my mat and breathe I find my body instinctively knows what to do next. The breath guides me into the next posture, and the next, and the next. At times I lead my body with the ego, but when I let all that go, and I start with my ujjayi breath and then begin working with the bandhas, the gateway opens into an incredibly deep experience. I typically start in cat cow and breathe into that asana until my body decides what it needs next, usually it is a simple down dog. Don’t ever underestimate the power of a down dog! These two postures alone can be enough to just melt away the stress and bring the necessary ease to turn inward. For all those with back pain, I highly recommend stretching gently, slowly, and to close your eyes and just look within there is a mystery of healing waiting for you. I promise! 

Relieving Pain with Meditation, not Medication

In saving the best for last, one of the best practices for calming down my back problems and bringing me back to ease and a sense of security is finding a state of calm amongst the storm. When my back has flared up, my body has communicated to me that I need to slow down, and if I don’t, it will slow me down by locking my back up. When I have overworked, ran myself into the ground, or overextended myself for others, without honoring myself, I have been crippled by pain. One Christmas I had 16 people coming over for dinner, and my back locked up. I couldn’t cook, clean or manage or do anything. I don’t smoke pot, but I was so desperate that my husband called a friend who brought over pot butter for me to eat to help me unravel and unwind. At Christmas dinner, I proceeded to tell everyone I was high and f*&^# it. I got a few good laughs that year. At the time, I didn’t have a meditation practice to know that I could turn inward to heal. I was still seeking outside relief without knowing the Divine Healer was within. Our body is immensely aware of what we need. Without meditation, I am not able to turn inward and listen to what my body is trying to communicate to me. If I cannot slow down, my body has a way of arresting itself for me.I’ll admit that I am not good at any of these practices. Being a Vata, I resist these practices with every ounce of my being, However, it is through habit evolution that I have learned to honor my body. I crave movement, multitasking, and chasing my next biggest idea – however, nothing can come to fruition when one is arrested by back pain.

Final Tips for Overcoming Back Pain

Slow down long enough to listen to what is really going on inside yourself.

• Focus your attention on your root chakra. Are you afraid of something, angry about something, or feeling out of touch with yourself? Bring your awareness from your crown chakra all the way down to the root chakra, allowing each chakra to feel your attention through your breath and awareness. Acknowledge what you are feeling, and start to meditate and breath into your own body, and allow whatever comes up for you to be released.
• If you have a yoga practice, then bring this awareness into your body and listen to what your body is communicating back to you. If your body isn’t wanting to do an asana or posture, hold back, and do the postures that bring you the most relief. If you are a Vata nature, slow down and move through your practice slowly and methodically. There have been times when I have been in such crippling pain that I could only manage one posture. Find the posture that fuels your entire being, breath, and open up to the whispers of your soul awaiting you.