Dr. Asavari interviewed for article "Following Your Health Intuition"

reproduced from: https://www.symptomfind.com/healthy-living/following-your-health-intuition

Following Your Health Intuition

By Sally Wadyka. Medically reviewed by Tom Iarocci, MD. May 7th 2016

Ever get the feeling that something is not right with your body? Well, that’s your intuition talking.

Whether that sixth sense is telling you that the food you just ate is not sitting well or that the nagging headache you’ve been suffering might be a sign of something more serious, there may be good reasons to pay attention.

“Our body gives us signals about the current condition of our health, and how we can improve it by making the right choices,” says Asavari Manvikar, MD, a registered Ayurvedic practitioner at the Faculty Center for Spirituality and Healing, University of Minnesota. “It is the body’s own intelligence that guides us through those intuitive messages.”

Sometimes, intuition is quite literally a gut feeling — one that, for instance, might be influenced by microbes living in your intestines, according to a recent line of research. Not only are you experiencing an inner sensation, but researchers have also identified neurotransmitters in the gut that play a role in sensing these signals and sending corresponding signals to the brain.
Tapping into Your Health Intuition

“Intuition plays a major role in improving health,” says Manvikar. And even if you don’t feel naturally in tune with your intuition, there are ways you can nurture it. Manvikar suggests these practices to help improve your intuition and be better equipped to pay attention to the messages it is trying to send you.

    Trust your instincts and your subconscious mind instead of ignoring them.
    Increase awareness by listening to your heart and paying attention to those intuitive feelings.
    Keep asking yourself questions to generate intuitive thoughts.
    Meditation can help to activate the subconscious mind and concentrate the messages the body and mind are trying to convey.
    Exercise the right side of your brain by dancing, painting and other creative pursuits — that will stimulate the brain’s areas of intuition.

Do Doctors Use Their Intuition?

While there is limited research on doctors’ use of intuition, several studies on intuition’s role in nursing have been done in recent years. Research on nurses’ use of intuition has shown that the more clinical experience and expertise a nurse has, the more likely she is to also factor in her intuition when making healthcare decisions for her patients. “Rather than looking at intuition as lucky guessing or sixth sense, they use their formal knowledge along with their intuition to help the overall well-being of their patients,” explains Manvikar.
Next Steps

Once you start paying more attention to your own intuition, you’ll want to tap into it. For instance, if your intuition is telling you that your headaches are part of a pattern, perhaps related to your hormones, start looking for more evidence. For example, try keeping a headache diary, along with performing research online about hormonal connections to headaches.

That way, when you talk to your doctor, you have some evidence to back up why you feel your intuition may be correct — likewise, your doctor will be armed with more than just a hunch when justifying the cost of tests; in making a formal diagnosis; or in working with you to develop a treatment plan.

Sources:
Manvikar A., MD, a registered Ayurvedic practitioner at the Faculty Center for Spirituality and Healing, University of Minnesota. http://www.csh.umn.edu/about/people/asavari-manvikar/index.htm. Interviewed March 2014.
Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing. “Intuition in Health Care.” http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/intuition-healthcare. Accessed March 2014.
Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing. “How Do Healthcare Providers Use Intuition?” http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/intuition-healthcare/how-do-healthcare-providers-use-intuition. Accessed March 2014.
Mayer E., MD. “Gut Feelings: the Emerging Biology of Gut-Brain Communication.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2011; 12 (8); pages 453-466. http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v12/n8/abs/nrn3071.html. Accessed April 2014.
Forsythe P., Kunze W. “Voices From Within: Gut Microbes and the CNS.” Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences. 2013; 70 (1); pages 55-69. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22638926. Accessed April 2014.

Dr. Vanashree Gadam talks about Ayurveda, Cancer, Arthritis and Psychology

Pictures of Marcia and Asavari from Ayurveda Day 2016

Ayurvedic Approach to Preparation for Pregnancy, Labor and Delivery and Post Partum

If you were unable to join us for our meeting on July 21st, 2016 we have posted the talk done by the wonderful Marcia Meredith of Health Thru Ayurveda. Thank you Marcia!

If you enjoy this presentation and have a desire to learn more about Ayurveda or are an Ayurvedic Practitioner please join us for our next meeting - All are welcome! Check out our events page for details.

Part 1

Part 2

Ayurveda: Ancient Healing Science for Our Modern World

by Marcia Meredith, Ayurveda Practitioner/Nurse Practitioner

For those of you who have not heard of Ayurveda (pronounced eye-yur-vay-da), I want to introduce you to this ancient body of healing knowledge that is one of the oldest in the history of our world. Ayurveda comes from the part of the world that is now India, and is the cultural medicine of India, deeply rooted in tradition. It is, however, much older than the country of India and universal in its concepts. It is a sister science of Yoga, and a complete system of medicine that includes internal medicine; pediatrics; ear nose and throat, or addressing illnesses in the area of the head and neck; surgery; psychiatry; toxicology; rejuvenation; and virulization or recommendations for having healthy progeny.

Ayurveda is often called the ”Mother of All Healing” and the principles of many of the natural healing systems now familiar in the West have their roots in Ayurveda, including Homeopathy, Acupuncture, Aromatherapy, Massage therapy and Polarity therapy. The aim of Ayurveda is to provide guidance regarding diet and lifestyle so that healthy people may remain healthy and those who have health issues will have a way to improve their health. Ayurveda, a Sanskrit word, is a combination of two words, Ayuh meaning life and Veda meaning knowledge: Ayurveda: the knowledge or science of life.

"When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need." ~Ayurvedic proverb

Ayurveda steps into the illness spectrum much earlier than our Western system of medicine, and so it is truly a preventive medicine. A minor symptom that a Western medical provider would not consider serious is very important in Ayurveda. Addressing a symptom early on and resolving it ensures that the potential disorder that may have happened will never blossom into a disease.

Ayurveda addresses health by paying very close attention to the balance in a person’s physical body, mind/emotions and spirit/consciousness. Each individual is unique and because of this unique quality, everyone is treated as an individual in his or her health to illness spectrum.

Preventing illness and disease is greatly emphasized in Ayurveda and is accomplished by maintaining balance through correct diet, lifestyle practices, right thinking and the use of herbs. We are presented with many stressors in our day to day life. Ayurveda teaches us how to shift our perspective from outward looking to inward and examining. What are our options in each moment? What do we need to do to stay centered in ourselves? How do we maintain our balance?

According to Ayurveda, balance is the natural order and imbalance is disorder. In other words, health is order and disease is disorder. Understanding the relationship between these two helps us to maintain health and balance.

How does Ayurveda accomplish this goal of maintaining balance?

Each individual is a unique combination of three energies that are present in everyone and everything. These energies are a coming together of qualities that make up the building blocks of our universe. These building blocks are the 5 elements that Ayurveda and Yoga use for their elemental theory of creation. They are Space, Air, Fire, Water, and Earth. Ayurveda uses these elements to create the doshic or constitutional system of vata, pitta and kapha. This doshic system is used to recognize the uniqueness of each individual and also to identify health problems in the human being. Space and Air = vata. Fire and Water = pitta. Water and Earth = kapha. For our purposes, we will focus on how they present in our human organism.

First is the energy of movement. In our bodies, movement is seen as the blinking of the eyes, the beating of the heart, the nervous and muscular system and even the movement of nutrients in the cellular fluids. This energy of movement is called by its Sanskrit name, vata.

Next is the energy of metabolism. Everything we eat must be metabolized by our digestive system so that we obtain the nutrients and benefit from the food. Also, our brain must metabolize the information we take in so that it is understood. Digestion, absorption, assimilation, and nutrition are all words associated with the energy of metabolism. This energy is called by its Sanskrit name, pitta.

The third and final energy is that of structure. Our bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments provide the structure that holds us together. It also provides the lubrication we need to move with ease in the form of synovial fluid. All the fluids of the body from cerebral spinal fluid to saliva are associated with this energy of structure. It is called by its Sanskrit name, kapha.

All people have these qualities of vata, pitta and kapha. Ayurveda teaches us that how these qualities show up in each individual determines their unique constitution. For some people vata and pitta may be predominant while kapha is less so. Or for others, pitta and kapha may be more predominant while vata is less. This is an ancient way of describing our genetic code, for we obtain our unique combination of vata, pitta and kapha at conception and it does not change for this lifetime.

Knowing our unique constitution helps us to choose the right foods, ways of exercising, how much rest we need etc., and offers us a path to follow to maintain health.

For example, due to the lightness of vata (space and air), and the general rule that opposite qualities balance each other, it benefits the person with a vata constitution to avoid light, raw, rough, cold foods and choose instead warm, cooked, nourishing food. And due to the warmth of pitta (fire and water), it benefits the person with a pitta constitution to avoid hot spicy food and choose cooling, fresh, soothing foods and avoid heated arguments. And finally, due to the heaviness of kapha (water and earth), it is most beneficial for the person with a kapha constitution to choose a light diet and get regular vigorous exercise to counter the heavy quality that may lead to a dull, sluggish feeling.

There is much more to say about Ayurveda, but this brief article offers some introductory remarks that may spur more interest and research. There is much to be found online and in books about Ayurveda. At its heart, Ayurveda is a practical natural system of healing and health. The suggestions it offers are unique to each person, and ultimately helpful in maintaining health and  happiness by understanding what we need to stay healthy in mind, body and spirit.

Marcia Meredith has been a registered nurse for 35 years and a nurse practitioner since 2002. She is a 2006 Ayurvedic Studies Program level 2 graduate of the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico and is forever grateful to Dr. Vasant Lad. She also studied with Maya Tiwari of the Wise Earth School of Ayurveda and offers thanks to Alakananda of the Alandi Ashram in Boulder, CO for her wisdom and teachings. Marcia offers Ayurveda health consultations and other Ayurveda treatments at her Ayurveda practice, Health Through Ayurveda, located in south Minneapolis. Marcia’s website is:www.healththruayurveda.com