Healing, Time, Dedication

#Ayurveda #Yoga #Healing #Habitchange #Balancedlife

From one of my most favorite hikes ever!

Everyone this day and age wants the magic pill. Many individuals want to be healthy and balanced, without doing the work. The thing is, it is simply not how that works. I get it though - wouldn't it be nice if we could magically take something that was healthy for us that created perfect balance in our mind, body, and spirit? Hell yes! However, that doesn't exist. I invite you to be very cautious with anything that says otherwise.

Additionally, the only thing we can rely on in this life is change. Change is the only constant. This means that no matter how hard we work to find balance, we are living in an everchanging environment, and our body is constantly changing, so it's just going to go out of balance again, and we will have to do the work again to find the balance.

What does this mean and how is it relevant? The thing with lifestyle changes is that they are exactly that, lifestyle changes. This means we make changes to last through our lifetime, yet those changes may change. :) Those changes, most commonly, are not easy. I'm sure you are aware that there are so many books on habit change, which alone emphasizes the fact that it is a common challenge many of us have. We must have grace with ourselves, which is very hard, especially for high Pitta individuals, but extra important.

On the other side is the fact that putting in effort isn't in everyone's path. We all make choices, and everyone needs to honor those choices. We all have our own path in this life. If an individual refuses to make diet changes, for example, they are making the choice to deal with the consequences. I once worked with an individual who lost their foot to diabetes. They didn't have to. If they had changed how they ate and moved, they wouldn't have lost their foot. However, no matter what any of us practitioners and doctors said, they refused to make any changes, thus they lost the leg. I've worked with people who want to be better, but aren't willing to change their lifestyle- it doesn't work like that. It's our lifestyle that is causing the majority of our health concerns.

I've worked with people in a lot of pain who know they need to do their physical therapy or yoga exercises every day to manage it, but they don't. They say "I know I should..." but then don't do it, and then they are in pain again. The majority of people who have had an injury, or who are in chronic pain, have to dedicate daily time to manage this or it will sneak up to cause discomfort again. It's a practice, and requires dedication.

One thing I love about Ayurveda is the phrase that "Food is our medicine, but medicine cannot be our food." Herbs are meant to be taken for a specific purpose for a specific amount of time - they are not meant to be taken daily for long periods of time. The doshas will not find balance if what we are eating or doing every day is creating imbalance, despite the herbs we may take, which also need to be taken under the guidance of a practitioner.

I'ts important to know that part of this dedication to healing is also that no one is perfect, and lifestlye practices come and go, and that is completely normal. It's come to my awareness the last several years that many people look at who I am and my health right now and assume that is just how I have always been: I must have grown up in a household where I learned to cook, I must have had the perfect lifestyle since I was a kid, I must be so fortunate to just be naturally healthy and grounded, I must have never had traum in my lifetime to hold me back - none of this is true. I've worked hard to be where I am, and there is still, always, work to do. For example, maybe I could have reversed my autoimmune in less time, but for my path I needed the 6-7 years to study, learn, and grow. The strict protocol that finally kicked the last of the antibodies was something that was recommended to me at the beginning. However, at the very beginning it was too much for me to be that strict, so it didn't work out. I'm grateful for that time of learning and growing, and reflecting on myself.

So, in short: Making the lifestyle changes can be hard, but it is well worth it. It takes time. For some people it takes less time for others it takes more time. It's all good wherever you are at. Prevention and maintenance is key. People go on cleanses, or diets, then go back to exactly what they were eating - this does not serve us. People come to me in pain for massage therapy, but then don't return until they are in pain again. If they come for maintenace, they may not be in pain again. However, it takes effort, and money, to schedule those regular (1x/month for example) massages as prevention. Healing also happens when we don't even know it is happening - a lovely blessing. The reverse is also true. You may think you recover just fine from that binge drinking weekend, but it really is affecting the deeper tissues more than you realize. You may not have pain, yet, but massage does so much for the body that you may never feel the effects of.

So, be ok with yourself wherever you are at in your path. However, know that prevention is key, so those lifestyle choices you make every day, every week, and every month make more of a difference than you know. Whether there is dysfunction or you feel great right now, make time for those self-care practices, and those practitioners (acupuncture, Ayurveda, massage, chiropractic, etc.) that can help your body stay healthy. Practice, and keep practicing, to create that healthy balanced body so you can live a full life, while also showing yourself grace and compassion.

Have a beautiful day!