Ayurveda Ireland~ Health is a Choice

The difference between Ayurveda and Yoga:

I recently read a post by someone in Ireland that said Ayurveda was a form of Yoga.  To that I said What???  I am both a yoga instructor and an Ayurvedic practitioner and the two are not the same.  Yoga is at it's simplest explanation a form of body postures that aid the body to stay flexible and youthful.  Ayurveda is a medical science that deals with imbalances in the body and treats them through adjusting food, body treatments, adjusting lifestyle and herbs.  The two complement each other and are said to have been taught as a complete system for health and longevity, but they are two completely different things.

 

What style of Ayurveda do you practice?

I was also asked what style of Ayurveda do I practice?  There are no "styles" of ayurveda.  I think people get confused and don't really know what ayurveda is because you have some people giving body treatments while others are suggesting foods.  An Ayurvedic practitioner is one who does both or at least facilitates applying both to an individual client for their health. Ayurvedic therapists are those who give ayurvedic body treatments. 

Ayurveda is unique because it takes all modalities for health into consideration when looking for the best path for a client.  An Ayurvedic practitioner can recommend their client get reflexology, acupuncture, color therapy or a number of other modalities that would help the client.  In addition, ayurveda works hand in hand with regular medical doctors.  There is no reason you can't get treated using Ayurveda as well as seeing your GP.    

Ayurveda is over 5000 years old and offers practicle ways of healing the body that make sense once you understand them.  Regular Western medicine in mearly hundreds of years old and is just discovering many things that Ayurveda has known for thousands of years.  Ayurveda is a science so results can be studied and applied and being done so.

If you have any questions about Ayurveda or want to learn more then email me at edie@ayurvedaireland.ie or post a comment. 

Sleep is one of the most important activities we do each day.  If you are suffering from insomnia or if the quality of sleep that you are getting is not good then it can snow ball into other problems.  It is very important that you try to make sleep important.  Here are my tips to get your sleep back on track.

1. Don't worry about it.  The worst thing you can do is worry about not getting enough sleep.  This will only make the problem worse.  You have to accept that something needs to change and then try things.  Worrying will not help, but make you stay right where you are at.
2. If you wake in the night don't look at the clock.  Looking at the clock triggers in you worry that you aren't going to get enough sleep before you need to wake up.  It also makes you wake up a little more when you look because you are then registering in your head what time it is and how long you have left to sleep.
3. Before bed oil the bottom of your feet and the tip top of your head.  These are energy points in our bodies and oiling those points will allow the energy to dissipate so you can get some rest.
4. Drink a cup of warm milk with some fresh ground nutmeg.  Both the milk and the nutmeg allow the body to relax enough to get a sound sleep.  Just make sure that you don't put too much nutmeg in your milk as it will make you feel groggy in the morning.
5. Give yourself a pre-bedtime routine.  This routine could include meditating, stretching, a warm bath, reflection time, journalling.  Choose activities that are not requiring a lot of mental activity and or physical activity.  You want the body to start being trained into knowing when it is time for bed.

Sometimes we need a little extra help with getting our sleep back on track.  If that is the case for you then I suggest you sign up for my free 30 minute consultation.  You may need a little more help then what I have already provided.  You can email me at edie@ayurvedaireland.ie or go to my websites at www.ayurvedaireland.ie or www.amrutaayurveda.com

My Top 7 Ways to Move Your Bowels Naturally

Before I get to the bulk of my article I want to say that my point of view is the result of my training in Ayurveda and through my own experience.  It is not intended to be used as a diagnosis or to replace a visit with your GP.  If you have concerns about your bowel movements I recommend you visit your GP for a full exam.  

Are you having days when you don’t have a movement?  Do those days sometimes stretch into a week at times?  If so then I want to talk to you. 

What does it mean if you miss a bowel movement?  If you miss having a bowel movement on the very rare occasion I wouldn’t put any thought into it.  But, if you miss having a bowel movement 1-2 times per month and/or it seems to be increasing in how many days you miss then you should really start paying attention.  Also, if you can’t have a bowel movement without the use of a laxative or caffeine then you should also pay attention to this article.  I cannot say enough how important it is that your bowels move on their own every single day.

I used to suffer from constipation (less than 1 bowel movement per day) and I really didn’t think much of it.  I also didn’t know how it was connected to my health and so didn’t see any importance of making sure my bowels were moving.  When I was quit young I suffered from stiff and sore joints, scattered, drifty mind and from extreme mood swings.  What I learned later is that all of these conditions clear up once the bowels move.  Now, some people have regular bowel movements and they still suffer from some of the above symptoms, and if that is you then your body is different, and there is another reason specific for you.  But, if you are not having regular movements AND you have health issues, then moving and getting the bowels in good health will help clear up a lot of your health conditions.

How do I get my bowels moving naturally?

This is the big question.  I will give you some simple, natural ways to get your bowel health back on track, but remember, depending on how long the constipation has been going on, it may take a bit of time to reverse and none of my suggestions include taking supplements.  The following suggestions are for those who aren’t obese.  If you are obese or have a large amount of extra weight then please skip suggestion 1-4 and go straight to suggestions 5-7.

1. Increase the amount of oil in your diet.  Your bowels aren’t moving because you are dried out.  You can replace the dryness by adding good, natural oils to your meals.  This includes eating foods that naturally have oil in them such as avocados, nuts and seeds.  For some people they could be eating these foods but still not having regular movements and to that I would say you still need more oil.
2. Avoid dry foods.  Dry foods require more moisture to digest which means it takes it from your body.  Eat foods that are naturally moist and or cooked but not dry.  The worse foods to eat if your bowels aren’t moving are rice cakes, ryvita, popcorn, dried fruits, granola and museli to name a few.
3. Oil your skin.  If your skin is dry this is a good indicator that internally you are dry and oiling the skin will help bring moisture from the outside in.  Sunflower is a safe oil to put on the outside of your skin.  Don’t worry about pimples or skin eruptions, basically if the oil is of good quality it will be absorbed by the skin and used in the body.
4. Avoid raw food.  If your diet is based mostly of raw foods and you still aren’t having a bowel movement then you should come off the raw food until the bowels are moving again and then start with the raw food in the summer.  It takes a certain enzyme to digest raw food which is completely different than the enzyme we need to break down cooked foods.  During the warmer time of the year we have an easier time adjusting our diets to raw.  Make sure you educate yourself about how to eat healthy if you do want to stay on your raw diet.  You should be having regular full movements if you do eat raw foods and if you are missing bowel movements then I strongly suggest you seek advise or stop and get digestion back on track before you proceed. 

There is yet another category of us who are very heavy and aren’t having regular movements.  Here are my suggestion for you. 

5. Give your body a cleanse.  If you are heavy and have never cleansed your body then my suggestion is that you do.  Cleansing requires some will power and so asking a friend or getting yourself a health coach would be recommended.  You need to have someone you are accountable to in order for the cleanse to work.  There are a few ways of cleaning the body:
   1. Juice fasting: decide to only drink juice (that you make yourself) for a certain number of days.  In the beginning you may want to try 1 or 2 days and then once you know you can do it you may want to increase it to a 5 day juice fast.  I suggest you juice all organic fresh fruits and vegetables for your fast
   2. Fasting: I know this isn’t going to be a popular choice, but fasting once a week has been proven to improve any health condition.  Choose 1 day a week where you will drink only water and eat nothing solid.  This will allow your body a break.  Choose the same day every week to make it simple.
6. Avoid bread, pasta and cereal.  This is high on my list of getting the bowels moving again.  These foods tend to be heavy and create stagnation in the body and make you put on weight.  We become addicted to the simple carbohydrate “highs” but what happens is after the high we have a very deep low and energy plummets.  Avoid this by replacing your bread, pasta or cereal with whole grains.
7. Increase whole grains in your diet.  Whole grains are complex carbohydrates that give us energy over time and are much more efficient fuel to burn.  Whole grains include rice, quinoa, barley, millet, amaranth and oats.  Yes, I said rice and I do mean white rice, but what I don’t mean is Uncle Bens or a quick cooking rice.  Rice only needs about 20 minutes to cook and is one of the simplest food items to digest. 

Ok, there are my top 7 ways to get your bowels moving naturally.  Remember that we are all individual and the best results will be if you are working one on one with a health coach. If you have questions or comments please feel comfortable in leaving them here. Also, if you would like health coaching then you can find me at www.healthcoachingwithedie.com. I coach online so it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, but you do need to speak English. If you are in the Dublin, Ireland area you may want to stop by my clinic or go to my website at www.amrutaayurvedacentre.com You can also email me at edie@ayurvedaireland.ie

 

 

 

 

 

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by Edie O'Reilly

I recently gave a workshop titled the Spiritual Power of Women. Though I had offered this workshop before I decided that the approach I was going to take this time was about allowing what needed to come up to come up without me trying to structure the whole thing. I felt great inspiration from doing that and it has brought me to an awareness of the need for community building especially with and between women.

The connection between one person to another is very important. We are social, spiritual beings regardless if we want to admit it or not. We thrive, if we are able to accept to live in communities. The community opens us up in ways that we can't open on our own. My belief is that we thrive in community because everyone is a reflection of the other person and by seeing our reflections we start to love ourselves on a very deep level. Now, this can go in the other direction in that we don't love what we see in others and so living in a community can be very hard. This is ok and everyone is at their own level of awareness, but I can say that if we can let ourselves experience, without judgment, what it is the community can bring to us then we have a great opportunity for growth.

http://www.NextTopAuthor.com/?aid=1480

You can click on the link above to view my video pitch for my book titled Chi-A Spiritual Being.

I have entered myself into a competition.  This competition is giving me the platform to write my book and I need your votes to get me through the first round.   In addition to your vote, I am asking you to put this link on your facebook, twitter or email list.  Click on the link to vote for my book pitch.

http://www.NextTopAuthor.com/?aid=1480

Many Thanks and blessings!!

Here is an overview for my book.

Book Description: Chi is a young girl who is abused and feeling vulnerable, hopeless and helpless. But, in the summer of her twelth year that all changes. Chi meets a woman who teachs her about who she is- a spiritual being. Chi learns how to slowly gain the power that is within her, the power of self confidence, wisdom and a continuing flow of connection. Once Chi feels this empowerment within herself she then learns that she can change her current situation. And she does. Chi is a part of each of us. We all have times in our lives that we feel lost, hopeless, helpless and vulnerable. You can learn from the story of Chi or you can read for the pleasure of seeing how this child transformed her life. I invite you to learn more about Chi....