Sometimes things happen suddenly or out of the blue: accidents, quantum leaps, seeing someone for the first time, and knowing your life will never be the same again. But usually there's a trajectory to how events unfold. Even a quantum leap arises because of all the momentum that's been gathered before that life-changing moment.
Ayurveda, a complete form of medicine with branches in pediatrics, surgery, old age, sexual rejuvenation and more, acknowledges that illness does sometime happen in an instant. But even then, it describes that unfolding as a collapse of the entire disease process into a a single moment.
Ayurveda has important teachings for us about how disease unfolds. It lays out those prodromal signs and symptoms and offers wise instructions in how to resolve them. That means often, in the early stages, we can turn the disease process around, and regain health before getting sick.
According to Ayurveda, disease arises in six distinct phases, and it's not until stage four that disease manifests in a recognizable way. So if you've ever gone to the doctor "feeling off" only to be told to relax because your blood work is "normal," you now have a system you can lean into where those early whiffs of imbalance are meaningful, and can be treated (relaxing is still a good idea, but you'll also know other steps to take to support your body in getting all the way back to stronger health).
The first two stages in the disease process occur in the digestive tract and include symptoms like:
-Low to medium level indigestion
-Changes in bowel habits and-
Changes in appetite
These signs let you know that your body needs some support. At this stage, fasting on ginger or mint tea, avoiding eating until hunger returns, and then eating only easy to digest foods (the ones that work for well for you) is often all that's needed. (Like anything Ayurvedic, you can get more specific when you understand your unique constitution and digestive type).
Intermittent fasting (after an early light supper, wait to eat until the following day's appetite arrives to eat again) is another simple way to support your body in correcting the imbalance.(It's also helpful to know that in the early stages of a disease process, the body's cravings can be trusted, and when followed, will usually bring you back to balance).
If we ignore the early symptoms, imbalance shifts to stage 3, leaving the GI tract and circulating through your blood stream, looking for a "defective space" in your body-mind to manifest. (Your particular weak links are related to your genetics and to your previous illness or injury).
At stage 3, some symptoms are:
-allergies-
rashes
-hot flashes
-headaches-
muscle aches and joint pain (not due to exercise)
-fever-anxiety
-loss of energy
-insomnia
-loss of appetite and-overall malaise
Your cravings at this point can get distorted, for the farther away from balance you are, the more the imbalance drives your cravings.
If you ignore symptoms at stage 3, or take a medicine to suppress them, those symptoms will move deeper into the bodily tissues, weaken immunity, and eventually manifest an illness that has you down for the count.
Most of us have so much insight into how our body-mind goes out of balance, but we may not have explicitly thought about it, or put it together in a way where we have as strategy to get back on track when we're off. Ayurveda is gold here.
My ayurveda clients learn about their body-types and digestive types, and have a way of understand the early signs of imbalance, and how to treat themselves.
In fact last week, two of the women who just completed my 16 week course, Living Vitality and Balance reported they have no more digestive symptoms, though they had major issues when they began. They were both amazed and grateful at how relatively simple it's been to actually treat their type of digestive imbalance with easy to follow daily practices and shifts in their diet. Neither is taking herbal medicines or pharmaceuticals, though both were throwing lots of things at their symptoms, like enzymes and antacids before, but to no avail.
My teacher, Dr. Vasant Lad, used to say in a moment like that, "All glory to Ayurveda!" And I feel the same!
Would you like to understand how to read your body-mind better, and put the things you've "always known," but perhaps never quite put together into a cohesive picture for yourself? To learn how to identify and then reverse the early stages of imbalance in your body-mind?
I have a short, sweet summer session coming up. It's 9 weeks long. I'll let you know more about it next week. If this sounds good to you you can get on the wait list here, and be the first to hear about what's coming when I'm ready to share.
Love,
Shannon
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