Are you feeling, overheated, overweight, or lethargic? Do you struggle with digestive issues, constipation or chronic inflammation issues? 

Understanding the qualities behind these health issues and what contributes to them, will help you understand how to correct them and create an internal environment for your body and your mind to heal and thrive.

Ayurveda is a life science that has been supporting good health for thousands of years.

The ancient wisdom embodied by Ayurveda teaches us to get in touch with our bodies and our environment so that we easily understand what we need to do with our lifestyle habits to achieve and maintain good health, restful sleep, and a peaceful mind.

Listen to this episode to understand some basic Ayurvedic principles and to learn about resources that you can use to create your healthiest life.

Resources:

Op-Ed: It’s getting clearer — the diet-cancer connection points to sugar and carbs

California College of Ayurveda

Atharva Veda

Read the full transcript:

0:01
This is Laura Lummer, the breast cancer recovery coach. I'm a healthy lifestyle coach, a clinical Ayurveda specialist, a personal trainer, and I'm also a breast cancer survivor. In this podcast, we talk about healthy thinking and mindfulness practices, eating well, moving your body for health and longevity. And we'll also hear from other breast cancer survivors who have reengaged with life, and have incredible stories to share. This podcast is your go to resource for getting back to life after breast cancer.

0:39
Welcome to Episode 17 of the breast cancer recovery coach, I am Laura Lummer. And this episode is called What's a dosha how understanding your body through Ayurveda can lead to a healthier life. But before we get into this episode, I want to extend a really heartfelt thank you to en el Tom's 98. I don't know your real name. But that's the handle that you used to leave a really touching review in the iTunes store for this podcast. And I've got to tell you that when I read that, it just, it just warmed my heart it choked me up a little bit, too. I'm so happy that you found this and, and everything that you said in your review is the whole point of me doing this podcast, I just want you to know you are so not alone. And every survivor out there understands that feeling of even though you're surrounded with love, kind of just feeling like everybody doesn't really get it, you know. And I think it's just something that we understand on a deeper level when you're going through that experience with cancer. So I know what you mean, I'm so happy that you found this podcast, and sending out good energy to you, I hope everything is going well for you and that you know your treatment is successful or has been successful. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave that review. And for anyone else who's listening, if you enjoy this podcast, if you get something good out of it, I would love it. If you could take the time to go to the iTunes Store, leave a review and leave a rating for the show and make it just that much easier for other breast cancer survivors to find as well. So thank you, thank you. Thank you ml Tom's I real ml Thompson 98. I really appreciate it. All right. So I want to also give a little bit of an update before we get into the meat of this episode. I was reading an article in the LA Times the other day. And you're just brought back so much I thought it was really meaningful in relation to my episode 12 podcast, a love affair with sugar. So I want to tell you a little bit about what is in that article. And I want to let you know that I will post the link to that article in the show notes for this episode. Because I want anyone who's interested to be able to go back and read the full text of it, and to check it out yourself. So I'm gonna give you a little bit of synopsis episode 12. a love affair with sugar is where I was talking about, you know how sugar impacts our health, how much we love it and enjoy it for so many reasons. But the real impact that has on our health and the concerns related to cancer and sugar. And so in this article in the LA Times It was published on October 27. And it was reviewing an August 2016 report on cancer and body fat that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. This review was linking 13 separate cancers to being overweight and obese. And among those cancers were ovarian, uterine and breast cancer breast cancer especially in postmenopausal women. So in this article, they went on to say that approximately 631,000 Americans were diagnosed with a body fat related cancer in 2014, which accounted for 40% of all cancers diagnosed that year. That's just huge. That's amazing. Think of how much can be prevented if we switch our attention to the prevention of some of the other things that go on with our body before it gets to that stage of contributing to the growth of cancer. So in this article, the director of the Cancer Center at Weill Cornell medicine, Lewis Cantlie, explained that both obesity and cancer are conditions that are linked to elevated levels of the hormone insulin. And he talked about how having consistently high levels of insulin can promote the growth of tumors both directly and indirectly. Now, interestingly, we think okay, high insulin levels that's because we eat too much

5:00
But what he pointed out here was, it's not that we're eating too much necessarily, but eating too much of the wrong foods that keep our insulin levels elevated consistently over time. And those foods, simple carbohydrates, and especially sugar. So, not all cancers are caused by, you know, elevated levels of insulin, or do you want to point that out, but like we talked about in episode 12, you want to be really aware of how your body is responding to sugar. And even though you don't have to cut sugar completely out of your life, we have to put more effort into creating the awareness of how sugar is affecting us. And intentionally make that an occasional treat by cutting things out of our daily diet like sugary, soft drinks, that was whipped cream topped frappuccinos lot, not just extra calories, but extra calories coming from sugar. So this was a really interesting article. And I just think the more that science comes out with that information, and helping us to be more knowledgeable about what we're putting in our mouth that can contribute and lead to some disease and again, not all disease. And I know some of you out there thinking, Well, I got cancer, and I hardly ever eat sugar. So that's not what we're talking about. Take a look at the article, read through it. And for those of you that it resonates with you, I just think that this really cool scientific information as it comes out, helps us to just kind of create a little different approach and mentality towards some of the things that we eat. So I'll post the link, read it, I hope you like it, I thought it was a great article. Now, we are going to move on to the main part of this podcast, what's a dosha So in my first podcast episode, let your lifestyle be your medicine, I talked about Ayurveda as a part of my whole story that was pretty much where I introduced myself and, and gave you some insights into my background. And one of the things I talked about was being a clinical Ayurveda specialist. Now, I made some other references to your VEDA in different podcasts episodes, but haven't really dug deep into it. And I think this is a really good time, I want to introduce to you this really beautiful science by talking a little more in depth and helping you understand some of the fundamental concepts, and why I think they're important for us as breast cancer survivors, but for everyone, just in creating a healthy lifestyle. So one of the things that I talk about is reconnecting with our body after cancer treatment. And in fact, the subtitle of the book that I'm working on is how reconnecting to your body could save your life. And the reason that I put a lot of emphasis on this is that we as humans have a powerful sense of intuition. And especially as women, we have that. And when we're in a mindful state, when we're tuned into ourselves, and we're aware of what's happening in the moment, otherwise known as being present, then we're able to sense what's working for us mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally. However, when we go through a life threatening, frightening, difficult experience, like cancer, we often tend to tune out of our body, we tune out of our present moment, and we slip into survival mode, it's not uncommon for me to hear and it's certainly was not uncommon for me to say, I just need to get through this, you know, you're in it, you're in treatment, and you have one goal, and that is to live and come out on the other side. So as a health conscious person, or even not as a health conscious person, just as any human being, the last thing you want to have done is have someone pumping toxic chemicals through your veins, and then swallowing a bunch of other chemicals to counteract the side effects of the ones that are being pumped through you, or side effects of radiation or just anesthesia, anything, anything you go through in this kind of a treatment for cancer. But the one thing that you do want is to stay alive. So in my own example, I know that I disconnected somewhat from my core values of living a chemically free life, you know, looking for things that were organic, and only trained to medicine as a last alternative looking for natural cures and keeping my body in balance. But I had to put that aside, because I wanted to live more than I wanted to adhere to that code of living naturally, right. I didn't want to have my breasts cut off. But when the decision came down to me or them, well, they had to go and there's another disconnect, because how do you really deal with that?

10:00
Well, some people are really good at it. Some people not so much. And it's much easier oftentimes to just shut down, let that Waldrop get through doing what you have to do. So you get through treatment, you did what you had to do, which probably included a lot of things that you really didn't want to do. And now here you are, you're living with a body that feels different, it looks different. Maybe it doesn't please you aesthetically, maybe you don't like the way that it feels anymore. So you disconnect a little bit more from it. Maybe you don't look at yourself in the mirror the way that you used to, maybe you don't show yourself off to your partner in the same way that you used to, before you went through cancer treatment. Maybe even your posture begins to change as you subconsciously roll your shoulders forward, either protecting or concealing your surgical area, not feeling proud of it, or being somewhat closed off to it. And some of these things you're not even consciously aware of.

11:08
So there's a huge and beautiful movement out there were a lot of women are trying to create this public awareness for breast cancer survivors, right? They're showing off their mastectomy tattoos. They're parading down catwalks topless after choosing not to have reconstruction after having breast cancer. And you know, they have this beautiful goal of giving breast cancer survivors more confidence of improving their perceived self image. And they are proud to show off these scars, which is great for them. But I also want to point out that a lot of survivors don't relate to that. If you are one of those and you don't relate to that you don't have to feel bad about not relating to that. We're all in a different place. We all have a different message, we all have a different lesson in this life. So wherever you're at, is where you're at. And that is why it's important to reconnect with your body to get a firm grasp of what it is that's important to you of where you're at. And understanding these things will help you know what you need to do to move beyond surviving, and to really thrive in your life. And this is a fascinating and wonderful part of Ayurveda. So that's what we're going to talk about here are your Veda is a Sanskrit word, and it means the science of life. So I'm going to spell it for you because it looks completely different than what it sounds. i Your Veda is spelled AYURVE Da, so VEDA the second half of that word comes from these ancient transcripts, these ancient texts that are over 4000 years old, that are called the Vedas. And I hear a why you are the first part of that word is life. So I your Veda is the science of life. And it dates back more than 4000 years to those texts that I refer to called the Vedas. I read as part of the fourth book of the Vedas, the Atharva Veda, it's one of the world's oldest medical systems. And it's still used by the majority of the population in India and in some other places today. I hear avetta focuses on creating healthy habits that are related to food, herbs, sleep, movement, personal hygiene, and even your personal surroundings, like colors in your house and in your clothing and aromas, aromatherapy, all those kinds of things, and herbal medicines are all wrapped up into your vagina. And the beauty about that is it's very personalized. And we talk about as breast cancer survivors, right, cancer and cancer treatment is very personalized. And this is a beautiful thing about Ayurveda. And why such an ancient practice can still work in our modern lifestyle, because it's very personalized. And it's looking at where your body is, where your life is, where your habits are, and helping to construct and tweak them to make them even healthier. So the history of our VEDA can be a little complex, and it can it includes, you know, Sanskrit words and universal and spiritual ideas that go really beyond the scope of explaining that in one podcast episode. So what I'm going to try to do today is to break this down into its loose, simple essence and help you understand a basic concept. So if you're listening and you're a lover of all things, or your VEDA or you have a very in depth knowledge of this beautiful science, I hope that you forgive the oversimplification that you're about to hear. And please know that I intend to expand much more in Ayurveda in future episodes in bite sized pieces. So we're just going to start to lay the groundwork here with this episode. So incorporating or your Vedic practice

15:00
As into your life, it works to create an environment in your body that maximizes your body's ability to heal itself. So when we gain an understanding of what our body needs, and we understand what it feels like to feel good and to feel imbalance, then we learn to distinguish what being out of balance feels like. And we begin to understand the steps that we need to take to get back to feeling well. So at its very core, Ayurveda looks at the energetic qualities and the interconnectedness of all things, people health, food, relationships and habits. It considers how different energies affect each other, and how they bring about balance or imbalance. And once you learn the philosophy of Iveta, a structure begins to take place. And it paints this beautiful picture of how all the qualities of the world and the universe work together, how they affect each other and build upon each other. And a significant part of the structure is that of life forces or doshas in our Veta there are three doshas. And all three of these exist in everyone and pretty much everything but in different combinations. Now, the doshas, I think can be most easily understood as groups of qualities. So, for example, if you know someone who has a bad temper, you probably refer to that person as a hothead. Or if someone loses their temper, we say they lost their cool or we need them to cool off. So notice those references to hot and cold as qualities of emotions, right as a different energy of an emotion. Let's talk about inflammation. What we hear more and more is, inflammation is the root of many common diseases, including cancer. So what are the qualities of inflammation, they're hot, the red, they're swollen. And in order to treat inflammation, what do we do, we apply ice, we take anti inflammatories, we eat more alkaline foods are things that cool. So this is a very Ayurvedic approach in that are your VEDA believes that opposites bring balance and like increases like. So if you have a cut on your hand, and it's all nasty and infected? What are you going to do, you're not going to take a hot pack and put it on there, right, you're not going to put heat on top of heat. And so that is this wonderful concept of applying something that is the opposite to reduce those qualities that are too high, right? It's too red, it's too hot, it's too swollen, it needs to be cooled off. So doshas are a combination of qualities of the five elements, the five elements being earth, air, fire, water, and ether or space.

17:56
When we're imbalanced, when we feel good, when we have enough energy to get through the day, we're free of digestive and elimination issues that create discomfort for us, we're sleeping soundly. And we wake up feeling refreshed. This is called our proqr, at our natural state of balance, and this is where the energies of our bodies are exactly where they need to be nice, everything's just flowing good. And you're feeling good, your body's in sync and working exactly as it was intended.

18:26
But when we're in a state of disease, or we're overweight, or we're feeling lethargic, or we're in pain, or we're not sleeping soundly, or we're not able to digest food without discomfort, this is called our Vickery tea. This is being in a state of imbalance. So some of the qualities in our body are too high, right? So let's use indigestion again, because digestion is really core to understanding our VEDA. So if we have a lot of heartburn, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammation, this type of thing, then we're looking at qualities of heat being too high in the body. So if you're someone who's prone to heartburn as I am, because I already have which you're going to hear in a little bit. I'm naturally higher in a in a hotter type of dosha.

19:19
I know that if I eat things that have a lot of heat in them if I eat salsas, sometimes if I even eat tomatoes, it depends on where my body's at and what the season is. I am going to suffer from heartburn. If I put heat on top of the heat that's already in me, I'm going to have a problem. So I know that in order to have comfortable digestion, in order to feel good after I eat that I really tend to gravitate more towards cooling foods because that is what my body needs to keep it in balance as it already tends to run hot. So understanding what your balanced dosha or your proclivity is, helps you to be

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Come aware of imbalances, and then you can begin to take the steps to correct them. So the interesting thing between our Veda and Western medicine is that our VEDA isn't looking at symptoms, but it's looking at the quality of symptoms. For example, if you have a headache, you might say that it's a stress headache, because you notice that your shoulders are tight, and you have a lot on your mind. Or you might have a sinus headache, because you're feeling mucousy and congestion and this dull, heavy pressure in your head. But either way, from a Western perspective, you'll take an aspirin or another pain reliever to get rid of that pain. But from an Ayurvedic perspective, you're going to look at the qualities of that headache, and then make a change in diet or nutrition or even use herbal support. So if the headache is dull and congested, then you're going to take different steps than you would if it's hot and sharp and throbbing an intense.

20:57
So even is looking at addressing those underlying energetics of our health that can manifest into different symptoms that we don't want to experience. So let's talk about these mysterious doshas, what is the dosha. And what qualities do they embody? One dosha is called Kapha. It spelled K, a pH, a cough is the combination of earth and water, and all of the qualities of those elements, some of which include being heavy, dense, cold, oily, sticky, liquid, that's just to name a few. And when you think of those qualities, physically, and or emotionally, they may look like being big boned, overweight, having oily skin and hair, but also having thick beautiful skin and hair and nails and teeth, having lots of mucus or congestion just naturally, having a deep voice, having slow digestion, clammy skin, naturally sleeping a lot, also being very loving, very forgiving, and being very attached and possessive of those things that are important to you being very grounded, very stable, firmly rooted in beliefs and being slow to anger or slow to accept change. So, can you see how those qualities of Kapha can be manifested or be a part of all of these different physical and mental attributes? A second dosha is Pitta p i T, T A. Pitta is the combination of fire and water. And the qualities of this energetic combination include things like hot, sharp, mobile, oily, liquid, and light. Some examples of physical and emotional manifestations of Pitta would be a fast metabolism, reddish skin or easily flushed skin. Having a tendency toward heated digestive issues like I just talked about, with heartburn, having sensitive teeth, having a sharp mind a sharp intellect a very probing questioning mind being prone to acne or rashes on the skin, having a medium build with an affinity for things like athleticism, competition, and just being queer having a quick or intense temper. So, thinking of embodying all of these Pitta qualities would be like a type A personality, another dosha. The third dosha is vata and Vata is the combination of space and air. That includes qualities like dry, light, cold, mobile, again, rough and clear. So you hear about how some of these qualities crossover, right because some of those elements crossover and are in more than one dosha. So, vata might look like someone who has dry hair and nails, constipation. Someone who talks really quickly walks really fast, having vivid dreams, being very creative, very flexible with life, living movement and change. But also, anxiousness and fear are vata qualities have been cold hands and features tending to run cold all the time having stiffness. So think about that person, you know, who's naturally very thin and seems to just never stop moving or talking. They're always bouncing their knees and when they're sitting, there's can't sit still. A couple of things that I want to point out about the doshas is that everyone has all three doshas in their body, but we all have them in different combinations. And some qualities are more dominant than others. And some, you know, are similar. It's very rare that everyone has an equal amount of the doshas that would be called tri doshic, when it's balanced to get across all three of them, and doshas also change

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In our bodies with age, with seasons with environmental circumstances, because those qualities are also a part of the seasons, they're part of the lifecycle. They're a part of the energy that we have in food. For instance, let's say that you're naturally high in vata qualities, your thoughts move really quickly, really creative. And you like to move from one thing to the next, you find it difficult maybe to focus on things, or sometimes you find it difficult to even complete a sentence. And then you enter the vital time of life as you age. And you experience more dryness, more stiffness, maybe more rough qualities in your body. And you're in the season of being in late fall, which is the vata season. It's cold and it's windy. And then maybe there's lots of movement, because in the fall, holidays are coming. And you have a lot of stress, because there's so much going on with events and holiday planning, and travel and work parties and whatever else. So you can see, in that scenario, you're already naturally vodka, the season is vodka, the lifecycle is vodka. And the qualities of this dosha are coming at you from everywhere, which has a tendency to make vato way too high in your body and in your mind. So unless you're aware of this, and you're noticing this, and you're consciously and intentionally making an effort to incorporate things like warm, gooey foods, which means like stews, not cinnamon buns, or taking hot relaxing baths, or maybe you can create consistent routines that include rubbing warm oil on your body that help decrease all the vata that's happening in you and around you. Unless you're intentionally doing these things, this vata can accumulate, the qualities accumulate. And then they can result in things like insomnia, constipation, panic attacks, bloating, gassy digestive issues, or even more painful bones and joints. So hopefully, you see from that example, that again, we're talking about like increases like, and that any one dosha or group of qualities when there's too much of it results in experiencing symptoms that are not imbalanced symptoms that create discomfort and can lead to disease. So when we apply nutrition and lifestyle habits to bring ourselves back into balance, those nutrition and lifestyle habits need to have the opposite qualities of what's troubling us. So too much Vasa too much movement, too much anxiousness, fearing, you know, all this going on, then we weren't calm, worn, soothing, grounding, food, lifestyle and thoughts to help us come back into balance makes total sense, right? It's a very common sense type of science. And I love it. I think it's beautiful. So if we disconnect from ourselves, though, if we turn a blind eye to how we're feeling, because we just don't want to deal with it, then those imbalances go deeper and deeper into our systems. And according to IE VEDA, they continue to manifest in more and more severe manifestations, including disease, lots of discomfort. So typically, when I start to explain our VEDA to someone, and we start talking about doshas, the very first thing they want to know is what is my dosha? Right. Are you thinking that? And it's a great question, it's important to understand your dosha. And it can be confusing. So there are some online quizzes that are out there. And one that I like in particular is from a company called Banyan Botanicals. And I'm going to post a link to that. The reason that I like the Banyan Botanicals quiz is, first of all, I love the company, it's a very reputable company. They make a wonderful product, high quality, and I've used them for many years. But the the quiz that they put out is really cool, because the first half of it is asking you questions about what your body has been like most of your life. So like we talked about in the beginning, that's your Prakruti. That's when you felt your best and your healthiest and your most vibrant. That's your state of balance. Then the second half of the quiz will ask about things you may be experiencing now. Maybe you have some things that are out of balance. Maybe you have hot flashes, maybe you have a little more weight on you than you want. Maybe you're having trouble sleeping. So the quiz will ask you about that. That's pointing out your Vic kruti it's pointing out that things are out of balance. And then when you submit it, you get this really cool, like chart kind of thing emailed to you. And so what Banyan will show you is here's what your pro crew T is here where all three doses are out in your body and how they're mixed up and what percentages here's your

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Vickrey T, here's where you're dealing with what's out of balance. And then they give you some awesome advice on nutrition that might help to support where you're at, on lifestyle habits that might support where you're at. And something I love about Banyan Botanicals is not an I'm not getting paid to say this, let me just put it in there, I really value this resource. And that's why I want you to have it, they have just the most robust, comprehensive blog. They're very deeply rooted in the Ayurvedic community. And their website is not only just, you know, selling herbs and medicated oils, and things that are of tremendous benefit to you and a very high quality, but they do a lot of work on educating and inputting information and time into free education for people to get a better understanding of Ayurveda. And how getting your arms around that beautiful science can help to support your body and help to improve your health. So I hope you take that test. Now, of course, the best way to understand your dosha and to begin to develop an Ayurvedic lifestyle program is to go to a trained or a Vedic practitioner. And there are those like me, clinical ru VEDA specialists, there are a Vityaz, who are your Vedic doctors, and that is a much higher level of education and training in our VEDA than I have these are actual, are your Vedic physicians. And they do more than just learning it from an educational academic perspective, but are entrenched in the lineage of Ayurveda that comes from India and have done studying and understanding of making these personalized medicines and purification techniques that are truly just amazing. Absolutely amazing. So I will also post links to a couple of resources where you can look for REO Vedic practitioners, if you're interested in working with someone face to face in your area, because they are all over the country.

31:58
So how does this iron beta and understanding these weird things called doshas relate to you as a cancer survivor? Well, I'm going to circle back to the introduction of this podcast, where I talked about Ayurveda being a beautiful, gentle way of reconnecting to your body and to your life. So it's a way of understanding how our body feels when it's well, and understanding the signals that it sends when something starts to go out of whack. So as survivors, we have a common source of anxiety. And that's just this looming threat of a recurrence. And an excellent way to reduce the anxiety or reduce those thoughts of is this cancer is this cancer is by learning to understand your body and the changes that it goes through. And that way, you can distinguish between signs of having too little rest, or not having enough exercise or eating the wrong foods. And you'll be able to tell the difference between that versus signs that something is actually wrong and needs medical attention. And that's why I say reconnecting to your body can save your life, it can reduce your anxiety, it can help you live a calmer, happier, more balanced life. And it can help you be more aware when something is out of whack and you need attention. Because we always have to be mindful of that. We always want to be reasonable.

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I would love to hear questions or comments about Ayurveda. Again, this is just a snapshot of it. This is one tiny little piece of the very beginning of understanding doshas, and the qualities of doshas and life energies. So, find me on Facebook as Laura Lummer breast cancer recovery coach and share your thoughts or ask your questions of me and of our community of survivors. If you haven't downloaded my book yet, the six habits of healthy happy breast cancer survivors, please go to my website, Laura lummer.com forward slash books, where you can download it for free and become a part of my email list and get in on the interactions that only happen in our email group. I also want to give a shout out to Beautycounter which is a wonderful company on a mission to get safer cosmetics and skincare into the hands of every woman and also to transform the regulations that govern the cosmetic industry so that all companies in the United States are held to a higher standard of safety. I'm very proud to represent Beautycounter and I hope that you check them out on my website [email protected] forward slash Laura Lummer So I look forward to talking to you again in two weeks and until then remember to let your lifestyle be in that

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your mind is clearer than before your heart is full and wanting more your futures

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Give it all you

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know

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Oh have

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you been waiting on

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this