A Millennial’s Journey to Ayurveda

Growing up as a millennial, I used to pride myself on how active and conscious I was about preserving and protecting the environment (I mean I was a Community and Environmental Sociology major in college so I thought I had a pretty good understanding of how to live a healthy life).  I tried my best to eat healthy and live an active lifestyle to the best of my ability.  And growing up in Wisconsin, this was no easy task.  Life there consists of cheese, meat, beer, and sitting on a couch watching some type of sport since it’s too cold to go outside the majority of the time.

Fortunately, I acquired the opportunity to leave the cold, harsh winters of Wisconsin and move to Denver, Colorado.  All that I had ever heard about this place was how it was full of free spirited, down-to-earth people and that everybody in the country is flocking here.  I made a pact with myself that I would get into the best shape of my life and make conscious choices to live a healthy life (which at the time only meant food).  

However, I did not know my life would be turned upside down with how wrong I was about what a healthy life truly meant.

My first few weeks in Denver, the universe aligned and I got a job working for Khus-Khus, a green beauty product business.  This business creates all organic, sustainable products with no chemicals.  I am actually pretty new to the green beauty movement so I had no idea how pure and amazing these products are for society and the environment as a whole.  My first few days on the job consisted of bottling and packaging the products with a minimal understanding of what the products really were.  My boss, Kristi, gave me a book that really made me question how I live my everyday life.

Ayurveda The Science of Self-Healing by Dr. Vasant Lad

Before reading this book I had never heard of Ayurveda.  All I knew about this type of living is that some people spent a lot of their days meditating and doing yoga.  I couldn’t have guessed the amount of knowledge I would gain from reading one book.

The book begins by explaining what Ayurveda is to people that have never heard the term: natural healing. “Ayurveda teaches that man is a microcosm, a universe within himself.” (pg. 18)  This sole passage resonated with me; that we hold the whole universe’s powers within each of ourselves.  However, it goes into great detail about how many people hold imbalances in themselves, which creates diseases and problems that manifest into some serious disorders.  The way to create balance within one’s life is to embrace the practices of Ayurveda.  At first, this was difficult for me to understand.  I had always thought that I was balanced, that my life was in order.  I mean I am health conscious and I workout most days of the week; what could I be doing wrong to create such an imbalance in my life?  However, reading further, I realized all the diseases and illnesses that I was accustomed to were things that I could control with how I chose to live my life.  Growing up I was always sick; I mean almost monthly I had the virus that was plaguing society at the time.  I just assumed that was because my immune system wasn’t the strongest and then would medicate with the various western medicines available at any local pharmacy.  But now thinking back, this may be because I was trying to fix the symptoms, instead of the real cause, which was the imbalance that was happening inside myself.  

The book goes into a lot of detail about the different types of food and holistic medicine that one should take depending on their constitution.  There are three constitutions: vata, pitta, and kapha.  I find myself in the middle of all three.  It also explains how each person travels between every three constitutions depending on the time of day and seasons of the year.  I found this section of the book most interesting because even though you may be considered one constitution, your environment really does play a part in your life.   

While I still have a long way to go on this new journey that I was so fortunate to have found, I am excited to see if I am able to channel this newfound knowledge into a type of healing that doesn’t involve chemical-based medicine, but instead a healing that is found within and that is natural.

Peace,

Jennifer Wildes

KHUS+KHUS modern herbal fusion

Executive Assistant + Denver Transplant + Ayurvedic Newbie