“The only purpose for this body to exist is to make you aware of how beautiful you are, and to make you aware that it is possible to live all the values you cherish and create a world of divinity around you.” – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Although I’ve eluded to a 21 day adventure, there are 7 days missing from that count that began in Boone. Before proceeding I must forewarn you, I very much enjoy talking about my first ayurvedic experience. And for someone that talks as much as I do, this is dangerous territory for lengthy conversation. So, if you find yourself wanting more after reading this entry please feel free to feed my obsession by reaching out to me.
Let’s begin with my arrival to North Carolina. First, let it be known that aside from Florida, I’m ashamed to admit this was my first encounter with the east coast. Now, even more than ever, I feel driven to experience more of it!
Back to my arrival.
After a long red eye flight, I had arrived in Charlotte. However, I was still far from my ultimate destination as the retreat center was located just over two hours west of the city. Through the recommendation of the retreat center, I had previously arranged for transportation via the Hickory Hop. I assure you, that the driver and owner of the car service was even more charming than the name of the company.
His name was Mickey. He never revealed his age but from the content of our conversation I assume he was somewhere in his early seventies. He must have been about 5’9 but with the slight hunch he walked with, he lost a couple inches. His blue plaid shirt was neatly tucked into his blue jeans. Grabbing my oversized luggage, he extended his hand and greeted me with a warm welcome coated in a thick southern accent. I returned the greeting with a smile that must have revealed my intrigue. I entered the vehicle along with another travel companion. We then commenced the long trek to Boone.
The first half hour of the ride was spent looking out the window processing all that I had left behind, what lay before me and what was to come. After some time, it dawned on me that part of what I was seeking was connectedness, yet here I was with my headphones intact missing an opportunity to engage with Mickey. Coming to this realization, I quickly removed the buds from my ears and initiated conversation about the weather. From there the conversation evolved. The better portion of the ride was then spent with Mickey recounting his history as we passed the many staples of his life. Other than continual laughter, he offered a window to his past and his present. Now I’m sure he will never know this, as I was one of many of hundreds of people he’s driven over the years, but he will forever remain in my memory.
There was another who shared this car experience: her name was Joana. It would later be revealed that she would be one of two other women that were to join me in the experience of a panchakarma. Mallory would later join us at the retreat center and complete the triad.
Joana was the seasoned one. Despite not being much older than I, this experience would mark ten years since she began partaking in ayurvedic therapies. I took pleasure in hearing of her travels throughout the US and to India. Mallory and I often relied on her knowledge of the practice to understand our own experience. You would often find one of us whispering over to Joana asking her to remind us of the correct pronunciation of terminology or find us looking over for the nod of approval after attempting it ourselves. She was patient, insightful and her maturity in the practice of introspection was apparent.
Mallory and I were the newbies. A bond was quickly created in the similarities that had lead us to the retreat center. Although, however much self-inflicted pressures I have placed on myself to overachieve, Mallory had me beat tenfold. At 28 years of age, she had found herself as a physician in private practice, as a hospitalist and a part-time professor. Despite the anxiety brought on by the conditions of her life, the light and life she could bring to a room was unmatched.
After arriving to the center, we checked into our private rooms and prepared for our initial meeting with Medha, our Ayurvedic Practioner. The room I would call home for the week was simple, inviting and comfortable. Most importantly, it held a breathtaking view of the Blue Ridge National Forest. This was a theme you would see throughout most rooms in the complex.
My first meeting with Medha began. We had spoken previously on the phone, but this would be our first face-to-face interaction. She, like everyone I encountered that worked at the retreat center, held an inexplicable life to her.
She began by reviewing the details of the health questionnaire I had completed months ago, immediately followed by a pulse reading. This was done to assess the health of my dosha’s and determine the imbalance that would guide my individualized treatment plan. However, to reach the core of the self, to truly turn inwards, it would require: disconnecting with electronics, reducing left brain activity and minimizing all outside communication. In other words, you are to remove yourself from the external world and anything that distracts your mind from introspection.
I will do my best to explain the terminologies however I am still very much a student on the matter.
In the practice of Ayurveda there are three doshas (derived from the elements) that signify mind-body types.
Vata – Air and space. Thin body type, fast moving, quick thinkers yet scattered in thought.
Pitta – Fire and water. Moderate body type, sharp minded, driven and often in positions of leadership.
Kapha – Water and earth. Larger body type, kind hearted, easy going personalities.
Everyone has all doshas but there is usually one overarching dosha that causes imbalances. I, for example, am a Pitta with a secondary of Vata. An Ayurvedic Practioner can help identify the imbalances through the use of pulse reading.
Lets back track one more step.
What is Ayurveda? Ayurveda is a 5,000 year old Hindu practice of medicine that seeks health through mind, body and spirit. A large indicator of health is displayed through an individual’s digestion. Health is managed through diet (according to your dosha – it is recommended but not required to be vegetarian), herbal tea, yoga, meditation, breathing exercises and warm oil massage.
A panchakarma is a detoxifying experience to restore balance in the mind, body and spirit (riding it of toxins). It is suggested that everyone partake in a panchakarma at the change of the seasons, more importantly being the turn of spring and fall.
In the days leading up to Virechana my days would consist of Abhyanga, Shirodhara, Marma, steam rooms, rose water, tongue scraping, kitchari, ghee, continual drinking of herbal tea, education hour on ayurveda and prana, yoga, meditation, satang and daily meetings with Medha that sometimes came with homework assignments. My favorite of the homework assignments that I challenge each one of you to reflect on was to answer this: If you were your own best friend, what are the top 5 pieces of advice you would give yourself? (When I told Medha I had listed out 10, she chuckled and said that was a very Pitta thing for me to do)
Virechana – Purgation therapy with the purpose of expelling toxins from the body.
Abhyanga – A full-body warm oil massage. Oils used are pre-herbed according to the dosha you need balanced. The technique of the massage is to help move the toxins in your body to your gut, to prepare you for Virechana.
Shirodhara – Continuous pouring of warm oil on the forehead. After the therapeutic session is complete, your hair is wrapped in a turban to allow the oil to absorb. When you finally wash your hair at the end of the day you feel like you belong in a Vidal Sassoon commercial. **Yes, when I first heard the description I thought it sounded a lot like Chinese water torture also. I assure you that this is nothing of the sort. It is incredible how quickly your body becomes relaxed and the depth of meditative state that you enter. This was my favorite therapy.
Marma – The light pressure on 107 points in the body. Much like acupuncture except the touch is very light that it is almost undetectable.
Kitchari – A tri-doshic meal that consists of yellow mung beans and basmati rice. I love me some kitchari these days!
Prana – Life force energy that permeates through all things in the universe.
Satsang – A peaceful grouping of people. For us, it came in the form of gathering to chant. Chants were guided and were mostly performed in Sanskrit. Instruments were laid out for people to participate in creating harmonious sound. However, it was also an option to enter as a bystander (no judgment is passed in any aspect of the retreat… in fact you are encouraged to release judgment of even yourself. It was a beautiful thing). While satsang was initially uncomfortable, I looked forward to it every evening.
I will leave out the detail of each days experience, otherwise (like I mentioned previously) this will turn into a novel. However, I would like to expound on the events of Virechana.
Virechana
Virechana was the second to the last day of the retreat. All the dieting, mediation, detachment, treatments and homework assignments led up to this. The night before the morning of Virechana, the triad met with Medha over a kitchari dinner. She loosely explained what the following day would look like. We would retreat to our rooms that night to find a container of oil and instructions. We were to follow the instructions closely. She forewarned us that aside from the purgation, the day would be mostly be consumed in silence. We were not to engage in any activity both physical or social. A day free of movement, journaling and even meditation. It would be a day that would be all mind.
After explaining this and seeing the reactions of my panchakarma companions I bluntly asked, “so basically it’s a day where we are to do nothing at all?”
She laughed again in her Medha way and said I was correct. She followed up by saying, “how often to you get the opportunity to do nothing?”
Now I was nervous. Not from the idea that I would be literally purging my body, but from the idea that I would be required to do nothing.
After dinner we attended satsang and retreated to our rooms to find the ever-so-cryptic instructions. Both Joana and Mallory agreed that the instructions read as if it belonged in a 007 movie. I turned off the light and attempted to rest for the coming day.
The morning began early. I grabbed the cup of oil as I was instructed to do and headed to the gym changing room. After covering my body from head-to-toe in the oil I was given, I entered the steam room. After fifteen minutes, I went back to my room, got dressed and met the triad in the breakfast room. Waiting in the breakfast room was our purgation doses. Each of us required a different amount of “the concoction.” I’m still unsure of the exact contents of it, but the consistency was that of a thin mud and the taste was earthy. It wasn’t the worst flavor I’ve encountered but it wasn’t exactly a vanilla shake.
It must have been 7:30am when we finished drinking our concoction and returned to our private rooms. The instructions from there were clear: Drink a cup of tolerably hot water every twenty minutes; however, restart the clock every time you complete a purge. In between purges, you are to sit upright and look out the window and allow your thoughts to flow. No sleeping.
I will recap the physical purge quickly. After the first hour, I thought that I must not have been given a proper dose because I hadn’t experienced any symptoms. After the second hour I discovered I was wrong. After the third hour I seriously questioned my sanity for willfully participating in this experience. By the fourth hour the dust had settled. The fifth and sixth hour my body was free of any symptoms. We were then allowed to have a light meal, sleep upright, shower, attend a silent dinner and retire to bed immediately after. The following day I woke up with a renewed energy that I hadn’t experienced in who knows how long. I felt clean. I felt revived. I felt like myself.
Let’s talk about those six hours of sitting looking out the window. As Joana explained, each person and each panchakarma is different. From what I had learned it was not uncommon for people to experience waves of emotion or to spend the better part of the day sobbing. I had fully expected a similar experience for myself. Afterall, purgation moves beyond the physical. When the physical is released so is the mental.
I won’t share with you every detail of my thought process here: I hold them in reverence and will share them in the proper setting when compelled. In all honesty, I couldn’t release all details even if I wanted to as it now seems like a lucid dream. What I will say is that the time passed quickly and that I very much enjoyed the nothingness. Much to my surprise I did not experience the waves. My sheets were not soaked in tears. What I experienced was immense joy. Peace. Gratitude. The day following Virechana when I had met with Medha I explained that I felt like I had done something wrong. Her reply revealed the gap in wisdom between herself and I.
She explained that the truest state of oneself is joy and that examples can be found in nature. “Look at the makeup of an atom” she replied, “the negative charge is on the outside, but in the core of the atom lives the positivity.”
I cannot say that I left the retreat center with an immovable sense of self incapable of being influenced by the events of daily life. I can say I left changed. I felt recharged, energized to remain at the center of who I am in my most natural state. I left having witnessed the healing powers of ayurveda. I have a respect and desire to learn more on the practice. I left the Art of Living Retreat Center with new friendships and memories to last me for however long I am to remain in this body.
I intend to continue this practice.
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In my reiki course with Julia, she shared her perspective on cups. We have this drive to go around with our full cups, dumping the contents into other people’s cups who are in need. And though our motives are pure, this now means that they are even more people with partially empty cups waiting to get theirs filled. How much better would it be if everyone focused on keeping their own cups full? This isn’t to say that we aren’t to help others. We should! But while we are pouring into others cups we need to ensure that we are simultaneously filling our own. However, in the end, showing up with our cups filled is enough.
My piece of infinity 