Read an Exclusive Excerpt from ‘The Longevity Formula’

Ayurvedic wellness skilled, Avanti Kumar-Singh, MD, is on an vital mission to bridge the traditional therapeutic practices of Ayurveda and the fashionable science behind Western medication to coach her readers (and listeners!) about enhancing longevity. Dr. Kumar-Singh is the host of the highly-rated ‘The Healing Catalyst‘ podcast and writer of ‘The Health Catalyst: How to Harness the Power of Ayurveda to Self-Heal and Achieve Optimal Wellness‘, which got here out in 2022.

Now, she’s again with one other aim: to coach us on the advantages of decreasing irritation and rising mobile restore in her latest ebook, ‘The Longevity Formula‘, which shall be revealed by Sounds True and accessible for buy on December 17, 2024. On this unique excerpt beneath, Dr. Kumar-Singh shares the fundamentals of Ayurveda, the worth of connecting with nature, and the way a severe well being prognosis reminded her of the significance of therapeutic. 

Over 5 thousand years previous, Ayurveda is taken into account one of many oldest programs of therapeutic and was first recorded in India within the Vedic texts in 3000 BCE. The essence of Ayurveda, translated as “the science of life” or “the data of longevity,” is that we aren’t separate from nature; as a substitute, we’re a microcosm of the macrocosm. As a result of it comprises the roots of many different therapeutic programs, together with conventional Chinese language medication and Western medication, Ayurveda is taken into account by many to be the “mom of all therapeutic.”

Whereas Ayurveda has been round for hundreds of years, many people don’t perceive its multitude of longevity and well being advantages. Nowadays, we frequently solely look to and take into account the info and scientific research to inform us what to do to alleviate our signs and reduce sickness. However what if we additionally began to look to collective human expertise to inform us what to do to heal and enhance our general well being?

Associated Tales

In contrast to different modalities, Ayurveda reveals us methods to reside with the every day and seasonal rhythms of nature, methods to use meals as medication, and methods to enhance the circulate of significant vitality, or prana, to steadiness our signs via medical, naturopathic, and anecdotal means. It’s a common, collective reality that has been handed down for 1000’s of years and is part of our important essence and humanity, whether or not you deliberately use it or not.

Opposite to what many individuals consider, nonetheless, Ayurveda isn’t against Western medication. In truth, as a result of it’s holistic, Ayurveda welcomes the mixing of medicine, procedures, and surgical procedures when they are going to assist the affected person. As well as, Ayurveda isn’t synonymous with pure, different, or complementary medication. It could use such therapies, however it additionally makes use of typical therapies.

In 2017, the Nobel Prize was awarded to scientists for analysis on circadian medication, the ideas of that are discovered within the Ayurvedic clock that particulars methods to reside in sync with nature. Proof of the “gut-brain” connection has been duplicated in dozens of research as properly, giving scientific proof that digestion is certainly the seat of well being (extra on this later). And the instruments of yoga are maybe essentially the most well-studied and well-accepted Ayurvedic treatments utilized in immediately’s Western medication. There’s plain proof of the therapeutic results of breath, postures, and meditation on virtually each system within the human physique and thoughts, and Ayurveda has famous these advantages for millennia.

If I requested you what nature is, you’d in all probability inform me that nature is the solar, moon, crops, bushes, lakes, oceans, animals, and bugs, proper? And also you’d be appropriate; nature is all of this stuff. However what if I informed you that we, as human beings, are additionally nature?

In Ayurveda, nature is every part exterior of us, and it additionally is us.

We’re one with all of nature on the most elementary degree as a result of we’re product of the identical uncooked supplies—the 5 components in numerous mixtures—house, air, hearth, water, and earth. In different phrases, we as human beings are a microcosm of the macrocosm of nature.

Sadly, many people have misplaced our connection to nature and, consequently, have misplaced our well being. Many people go to work early within the morning when it’s nonetheless darkish exterior and depart late at night time when it’s darkish once more, fairly actually by no means seeing the sunshine of day. We stare at our telephones and screens all day and turn into blue-light poisonous, which alerts the mistaken hormones and prevents our our bodies from functioning correctly. We eat strawberries and blueberries in winter by freezing them in the summertime. We eat mangoes that don’t develop the place we reside by having them flown into our grocery shops. We cook dinner with microwave ovens and eat meals that’s in bins and wrappers to avoid wasting time. We climb rotating stairs and stroll on shifting belts for train. The record goes on and on. Our days have been designed round know-how and comfort that was meant to enhance our lives however as a substitute has destroyed our well being. All as a result of we’ve misplaced our connection to nature.

One of many keys to therapeutic with Ayurveda is sustaining our connection to nature and residing in concord with its every day and seasonal rhythms which are created by the motion of the earth in relation to the solar—rhythms of nature created by nature. Once we rise, sleep, eat, play, and work in concord with the sunshine of day, the darkish of night time, and the change of seasons, we’re related to what’s exterior of us—the solar and the moon, crops and bushes, lakes and oceans, animals, and bugs . . . all of nature.

Once we don’t reside in concord with nature, we progress from toxin overload to signs to sickness and, lastly, to continual illness. In Ayurveda, the street from well being to sickness isn’t a straight one however as a substitute a development via six phases that lie on a continuum.

Well being and sickness aren’t black and white constructs in Ayurveda however as a substitute have many shades of grey.

The street from well being to sickness begins with the buildup of poisons, and when toxins overwhelm the human system, signs seem. These could be low-grade, nonspecific signs corresponding to “not feeling properly” or “not feeling proper” or extra particular signs corresponding to nervousness, despair, GI misery, weight acquire, complications, sinus congestion, joint ache, and so forth. If we course-correct and start to lower the poisonous load at this stage of the method, we are able to keep away from development to sickness and continual illness. In the end, the journey in Ayurveda is the every day apply in fact correction between toxin elimination, which creates well being, and toxin accumulation, which creates sickness.

Ayurveda takes the 5 components of nature and combines them into three energies (doshas). House and air mix to create the vitality of Vata, which is all about motion. Hearth and water mix to create Pitta, which is the vitality of transformation. And eventually, Kapha is the mix of water and earth, which is the vitality of construction. Every of those energies has a major operate that correlates again to the weather that mix to create it. These three doshas are how a standard Ayurvedic practitioner (Vaidya) classifies a affected person to make suggestions of treatments for imbalances exhibiting up as signs.

I point out this as a result of a lot of my college students inform me that they’ve taken “dosha quizzes” however don’t know methods to use this data. If you happen to haven’t taken a dosha quiz, please resist the temptation. And if you have already got taken a dosha quiz, please ignore the outcomes you acquired for now. On this ebook, I’ve purposely offered these ideas in a approach that’s extra accessible and helpful, emphasizing the qualities as a substitute of the doshas themselves as a result of understanding the qualities is the way you heal with Ayurveda.

So, what does all of this need to do with longevity? I’m attending to it, I promise.

I’ve spent my total life dedicated to the artwork and science of therapeutic, first as a Western physician after which dipping again into my roots as an Ayurvedic practitioner. Although I had already written a ebook about Ayurveda, I began serious about this ebook on longevity as I used to be approaching my fiftieth birthday. I used to be reflecting on my life up to now— the profession path I’d chosen, the apply I’d constructed, the ebook I’d written, the podcast I’d created, the household I’d grown, the buddies I’d made, the relationships I’d maintained, the locations I’d traveled, the experiences I’d had—and I used to be desperate to step into the following section, or period, of my life.

4 months into scripting this ebook, I felt a small nodule in my proper breast.

No different indicators. No different signs. I assumed it was nothing greater than a cyst, as I had a historical past of fibrocystic breasts since my early twenties. Once I went in for my routine mammogram, I wasn’t alarmed when the radiologist stated he needed to do a breast ultrasound, as this was the drill I’d gone via many occasions earlier than with my “dense” breast tissue. Nevertheless, when the radiologist started taking extra photos and measurements throughout the ultrasound than regular, I grew to become more and more nervous as a result of I knew he had discovered one thing mistaken.

Two days later, I had two biopsies in my proper breast and one other in my proper axilla, and per week later, I used to be assembly with a traditional oncologist, an integrative oncologist, and a breast surgeon. A lot to my dismay, my physique was identified with breast most cancers, and instantly, every part I believed was put into query. How did I, somebody who practiced integrative medication, who had so many instruments for therapeutic, who had lived her life primarily based on the ideas on this ebook, now have a breast most cancers prognosis?

I’ve by no means smoked, I hardly drink, I eat a wholesome vegetarian weight loss program, and I handle my stress properly. I’ve no household historical past and no genetic elements for breast most cancers. With this shock prognosis, every part in my world shuddered to a halt. I used to be confused, scared, and overwhelmed by all that comes with the phrase “most cancers.” All we ascribe to it. All that it means in our Western world. As an alternative of panicking, I stilled myself and requested what my physique was attempting to inform me. Had I been so busy constructing a life and a household, writing, instructing, doctoring, and going, going, going that I had stopped being attentive to my therapeutic? Had I inadvertently stopped connecting with nature and myself?

As I examined my life, I spotted that although I built-in wholesome instruments, I additionally lived in a polluted city metropolis that didn’t typically join me to nature each day. I had an elevated poisonous load, a crammed schedule, and extra stress than I in all probability preferred to confess. I had feelings I had by no means handled—anger and loneliness from my childhood, nervousness, and worry from the well being challenges of my now grownup youngsters throughout their teen years, and deep grief and disappointment from the lack of my beloved canine, Mia, simply 4 months earlier than my prognosis. Whereas constructing my profitable life, I’d let slip among the very ideas I do know to be true.

I assumed concerning the development from well being to sickness that Ayurveda teaches: maybe the elimination of poisons via my every day meditation, nutritious diet, and deeply significant work couldn’t hold tempo with the buildup of poisons created by my atmosphere, schedule, stress, and undigested feelings. Whatever the causes behind it, my prognosis was a reminder for me to return to my roots, return to what I do know, and heal my physique and thoughts.

First, I made a decision to clear my schedule of every part—social occasions, affected person consultations, pupil workshops, podcast recordings, and even scripting this ebook. For nearly six weeks, I finished every part and targeted solely on therapy and restoration. In stopping every part, nonetheless, I spotted that I additionally stopped the circulate of life. I had stopped shifting with life and had stopped the circulate of prana, the ever-moving, ever-creating life power vitality that permeates all of us. Like a river, whether it is blocked, it should create new pathways to proceed its path ahead. Whether it is allowed to circulate freely, it should wash away what isn’t wanted and supply water and vitamins to what’s. Once we transfer with nature, we transfer with life. It’s crucial that we transfer with the very important life power vitality that’s inside us and that wishes to circulate via us. That is what creates well being. As a result of all of life is a therapeutic journey.

Longevity requires this motion.

Motion of our bodily our bodies. Motion of our ideas. Motion and evolution of our souls. Longevity additionally requires connection. Connection to nature. Connection to ourselves. Connection to others. Connection to a better energy. Connection to the Common life power vitality, prana. The secrets and techniques to longevity are literally in plain sight once we look to historical therapeutic modalities like Ayurveda.

That is what this ebook will train you. Past the science of longevity and the mechanisms of getting older, you’ll discover ways to transfer the life power inside you to create well being and reside higher longer. It took a most cancers prognosis to remind me how magnificent the physique actually is and the way all of us have the capability to heal, whether or not it’s from a stomachache or a illness.

As I write this, I’m nonetheless in therapy, however I’m assured that I’m studying and re-learning what I must reside an extended, higher, more healthy life and that if I return to what I do know—that I’m nature— the therapeutic will come.

I hope it comes for you too.