Australian Yoga Journal – August 2019

26

august/september

2019

yogajournal.com.au

What really happens when you eat according to the seasons

and down ghee straight from the jar every morning?

Yoga Journal’s Samantha Trueheart, reports.

WE TRIED IT

Om

PHOTO: KNAPE/ISTOCK

Ayurvedic

BLISS

I’m grateful for the body I’m in and

lifestyle I live. However, since I was a

teenager, I’ve suffered from irritable

bowel syndrome, painful menstrual

cramps, and acne. After the

implantation of my hormonal IUD a

couple years ago, I noticed an

increase in my symptoms. Worse, I

was feeling anxious, exhausted, and

stressed almost all the time, and I

found myself in a yoga slump.

The creative vinyasa home

practices I usually enjoyed seemed

boring, and my monkey mind was on

overdrive. I didn’t feel like my happy

go-lucky, inspired self anymore. So, I

reached out to John Douillard, a

globally-recognised Ayurvedic doctor

and he recommended I follow an

Ayurvedic diet for a month.

Douillard prescribed nutritional

changes, herbs, and yoga poses he

believed would help balance my body

and mitigate my symptoms. For the

first week, I would complete his short

four-day home cleanse regimen. The

rest of the month I would eat

seasonally, take some supplements

(specifically formulas for digestion,

liver repair, and stress, along with

turmeric, neem, and a probiotic),

and make a homemade beetroot,

apple, and celery juice every

morning. Douillard also told me that

daily Sun Salutations and backbends

would help open my abdomen to get

my sluggish digestion going.

I was nervous about starting; I’d

heard cleanses could be dangerous if

taken to the extreme. Even more

concerning was my tendency to get

“hangry.” However, Douillard

assured me this safe cleanse would

allow me to satisfy my hunger with

veggies, fruits, and even chicken if

needed. For four days, I cooked and

ate only non-fat kitchari with

seasonal vegetables, took my herbs,

and gulped back a teaspoon of ghee

every morning. On day three, I caved

and had a hundred grams of grilled

chicken.

I won’t lie—the first two days

were difficult. Intense sugar cravings

consumed my thoughts, I felt even

more fatigued than usual, and my

digestive woes remained. I took a

restorative yoga class to try to take

the edge off, and the teacher

explained that according to Chinese

medicine, the liver holds anger.

weeks-long exhaustion. But now,

downing a teaspoon of clarified butter

every morning seemed extreme.

Would it really help me feel better?

There was only one way to find out: I

squeezed my eyes shut, held my nose,

and swallowed the congealed fat,

shivering a little as it liquified in my

mouth.

I consider myself a healthy,

physically fit, 26-year-old woman and

I DIPPED A TEASPOON into an oversized

jar of grass-fed, organic ghee and filled

it to the brim, just as I was instructed.

Yet as I held it to my mouth and

caught a whiff of the pungent, good-

for-me fat, I had a strong urge to

abandon this Ayurvedic cleanse, stat.

Why was I about to toss this ghee

down my hatch? I’d turned to an

Ayurvedic doctor for help with my

digestive woes, hormonal acne, and

yj77_24-25 om we tried it ayurvedic bliss.indd 26 19/7/19 12:18 pm

26

august/september

2019

yogajournal.com.au

Whatreallyhappenswhenyoueataccordingtotheseasons

anddowngheestraightfromthejareverymorning?

YogaJournal’sSamanthaTrueheart,reports.

PHOTO: KNAPE/ISTOCK

Ayurvedic

BLISS

I’m grateful for the body I’m in and

lifestyle I live. However, since I was a

teenager, I’ve suffered from irritable

bowel syndrome, painful menstrual

cramps, and acne. After the

implantation of my hormonal IUD a

couple years ago, I noticed an

increase in my symptoms. Worse, I

was feeling anxious, exhausted, and

stressed almost all the time, and I

found myself in a yoga slump.

The creative vinyasa home

practices I usually enjoyed seemed

boring, and my monkey mind was on

overdrive. I didn’t feel like my happy

go-lucky, inspired self anymore. So, I

reached out to John Douillard, a

globally-recognised Ayurvedic doctor

and he recommended I follow an

Ayurvedic diet for a month.

Douillard prescribed nutritional

changes, herbs, and yoga poses he

believed would help balance my body

and mitigate my symptoms. For the

first week, I would complete his short

four-day home cleanse regimen. The

rest of the month I would eat

seasonally, take some supplements

(specifically formulas for digestion,

liver repair, and stress, along with

turmeric, neem, and a probiotic),

and make a homemade beetroot,

apple, and celery juice every

morning. Douillard also told me that

daily Sun Salutations and backbends

would help open my abdomen to get

my sluggish digestion going.

I was nervous about starting; I’d

heard cleanses could be dangerous if

taken to the extreme. Even more

concerning was my tendency to get

“hangry.” However, Douillard

assured me this safe cleanse would

allow me to satisfy my hunger with

veggies, fruits, and even chicken if

needed. For four days, I cooked and

ate only non-fat kitchari with

seasonal vegetables, took my herbs,

and gulped back a teaspoon of ghee

every morning. On day three, I caved

and had a hundred grams of grilled

chicken.

I won’t lie—the first two days

were difficult. Intense sugar cravings

consumed my thoughts, I felt even

more fatigued than usual, and my

digestive woes remained. I took a

restorative yoga class to try to take

the edge off, and the teacher

explained that according to Chinese

medicine, the liver holds anger.

weeks-long exhaustion. But now,

downing a teaspoon of clarified butter

every morning seemed extreme.

Would it really help me feel better?

There was only one way to find out: I

squeezed my eyes shut, held my nose,

and swallowed the congealed fat,

shivering a little as it liquified in my

mouth.

I consider myself a healthy,

physically fit, 26-year-old woman and

I DIPPED A TEASPOON into an oversized

jar of grass-fed, organic ghee and filled

it to the brim, just as I was instructed.

Yet as I held it to my mouth and

caught a whiff of the pungent, good-

for-me fat, I had a strong urge to

abandon this Ayurvedic cleanse, stat.

Why was I about to toss this ghee

down my hatch? I’d turned to an

Ayurvedic doctor for help with my

digestive woes, hormonal acne, and