You are the core of Ayurveda ...
Ayurveda cannot be practiced from the Outside ==> In.
We cannot practice Ayurveda by imposing a set of principles or a diet, as if an innert protocol will heal us of disorders that are largely the result of humans' dissonance with our environment & disconnection from our needs.
Ayurveda asks us first to come closer to ourselves.
What is the current experience of being in your body?
A refined awareness of the experiences of your physical & energetic system is essential when working with any healing Practitioner or are holistically unravelling an imbalance on our own.
I would love to add this Forward to all Ayurveda articles:
Start with figuring out where you are.
The true work of Ayurveda begins with developing a relationship with Self that is sensitive & honest & unencumbered by a glamour of internet - health concepts. If we were to write an Ayurvedic Classic today it would have to start there.
Even those of us who have spent years in meditation, counseling, yoga, movement, & mindfulness practices are quite unclear on how to interpret our own bodily & energetic needs.
Most systems & practices come with implicit concepts about what is good & right to experience, what is acceptable & desirable to express. And most of us have adopted these concepts to manage layers of distortion of our self-awareness coming from families, traumas, popular culture, economics, & personal values. All of these influences can open some door of perception, but close others, shaping us to the practices we engage in. The layers are not just conceptual, but neurological and 'built in' to our sense of ourselves. Through this mechanism we 'embody' the dysfunctions of our collective history & manifest imbalance & disease.
In order to heal we must be in good relationship to our body. It requires growing towards an honest assessment of Self. It also requires compassion & useful dialogue with our selves. We must be-where-we-are with all our bumps & bruises, bad habits & compulsions, fears & false hopes. This of course is a process. I'm sure it will take me the rest of my life.
Luckily it begins simply. You can slip on some new ways-of-being without too much fanfare:
Listen to what your body is telling you now; maybe it is only to shift your weight on your seat a bit, or take a deeper breath & get back at it. Maybe it is to put up the CLOSED sign & head to the beach.
Respect what your body says to you and make the adjustment, get up for a fresh cup of tea, look out the window to rest your eyes for a minute...
Repeat ....