Women's Moon Wisdom Podcast Introduction (00:01):
Stories, teachings and guidance. Welcome to the Women's Moon Wisdom podcast with your host, Rebecca Rankin.
Rebecca Rankin (00:18):
Welcome to this week's show! We have a special guest with us and I'm so excited for this conversation. Kimberly Kubicke is an Ayurvedic practitioner and she's gonna share with us all about Ayurveda and hormonal balance and how to work with it as a, another tool in our tool belt. So welcome to the show, Kimberly!
Kimberly Kubicke (00:36):
Thank you! Thank you so much for having me!
Rebecca Rankin (00:38):
My guess is that some of our listeners are probably familiar with the term Ayurveda, yet maybe don't know exactly what it is or want a little bit more deeper understanding. Can you just share with us first, what is Ayurveda?
Kimberly Kubicke (00:53):
? Yes, I'd love to. So Ayurveda, the word actually literally translates to the science of life. Ayur is life and veda is science of or knowledge of. So it's literally the science of life. It's believed by many to be the oldest system of healing in the world. It's said to be as old as life itself, and it's the traditional medicine of the region that we now know of as India. The same way that traditional Chinese medicine is the traditional medicine of China. In Ayurveda, health is understood to be the result of a whole context of things, including your daily habits, your diet, your lifestyle, your surroundings, your relationships, your stress level, the climate you live in, seasonal changes, the stage of life that you're in. And Ayurveda gives you very personalized guidelines on how to live well based on all these different factors. It teaches you how to come to know and understand your individual body type and your body subtle cues that warn of impending imbalances. It, um, and through, and then through this understanding, you develop a deeper awareness of your biggest triggers and your best remedies. And Ayurveda gives you this way of looking at the world so that cultivating balance within yourself and your surrounding becomes just easy and intuitive. It gives you guidance on how to ensure every day you're taking steps in the right direction to really harness your body's potential to thrive.
Rebecca Rankin (02:42):
Oh man, sign me up. like, yes, all that. That sounds amazing and great. Yes, this is how we should all be living. This is so inflow, and it unfortunately, or just how it is, a lot of us, we don't have this knowledge or we have- this knowledge has not been passed down to us. So how did you per se, how did you get into this? How did your path lead you down Ayurveda?
Kimberly Kubicke (03:09):
Yeah, well, I was living in Vermont. I've always been very drawn to Indian culture and yoga I was already doing and I was living in Vermont and working in mental health, working kind of a stressful job. And that climate, Vermont, is very cold and wet, which is very challenging for my body type. And so you mix that up with a stressful job and I was getting sick a lot and I had a good friend in town, Seva, whose grandfather was an Ayurveda doctor in India. And Seva was just the village healer in our little town there in Montpelier. And when folks would get sick, he would call you up and ask you all these questions, questions that I like, "what does your pee smell like?" Things that I'm just like, what does this have to do with the fact that I have a head cold?
(04:05):
And then he would show up at your door with, I used to call them magic potions and I would drink them and go to sleep and wake up and feel so much better. And I was like, what are you giving me? What is in this? And he said, I can't just tell you the ingredients and that's gonna work every time. It's this whole way of understanding and if you wanna learn that way of understanding, it's called Ayurveda and the person teaching and writing about it in English is Vasant Lad. And so I got all of Dr. Lad's books and just started diving in and studying as much as I could. And Seva gave me a few really simple, basic, easy, free things to adjust in my diet and lifestyle that, I mean, I had struggled with chronic sinus issues and constipation my entire life up to this point.
(05:02):
I was like 22, 23. This was in 2001, so 20 plus years ago. And yeah, I had struggled with these issues my entire life and they really came to a head when I was living in this very cold, wet climate. And he gave me just these simple things to do that pretty much resolved these issues. I mean, there's still weak spots in my body. If I eat enough bread and cheese, I'm gonna get congested and I'm gonna get constipated. But now it's like I know what I need to do if I slip up and eat some birthday cake late at night or something, I know what I need to do the next day to put myself back in check. And I've never needed prescription medication for those conditions ever since then, which before that time it was a pretty regular thing that I was dependent on prescription medication periodically, several times a year I'd get a sinus infection and I'd need antibiotics.
(06:05):
And as a kid growing up, I took laxatives every few days. I had to take laxatives to have a bowel movement. And that was, nobody asked me, "What are you eating?" "Are you drinking enough water?" The doctor was just like, "Here's what's gonna fix that symptom and make it go away". So I felt after getting a little taste of how potent this medicine was, I felt so empowered and had such a deeper understanding of my body from this short and sweet education Seva gave me. And I just wanted to learn as much as I could about it and share this with other people because prior to that, I had kind of identified as a sickly person. And this was so liberating to just realize, no, I'm not a sickly person. My body has the power to heal. I'm just giving it the wrong food at the wrong times and if I change that, it's good to go. Thats ben my- so that was kind of what set me on my journey. And then I studied it just on my own for a good 10 years and dreamed about studying with Dr. Lad. And then finally in 2012, I went and studied with him in Albuquerque and graduated from his institute. And ever since then I've been involved in some kind of further education with it. I've studied with Dr. Claudia Welch and Amadea Morningstar, and several doctors, Ayurvedic doctors in India. So yeah, it's a really central part of my life now, and I'm all the better for it.
Rebecca Rankin (07:41):
Oh my gosh, I can't believe I have full body chills. It's it, it's such in your story particular, but I can see it how it can be reflected in so many of our stories. It's so empowering rather than always just fixing the symptom, getting to the root cause and living a life that is in balance, that's in flow that you're eating things that are gonna support your overall wellbeing and how empowering that is step into your life or you're like, I got this, like you said, ate birthday cake late at night, I know what to do tomorrow so that I'm not regretting that decision. So love it! And then, then do you work with a little bit of hormonal health too? How does that start to weave into your Ayurvedic path?
Kimberly Kubicke (08:35):
Yeah, well, so Dr. Claudia Welch has been one of my teachers from pretty early on, and that's an area of specialty for her. And the way she got into it is because those of us who work in alternative health know that our primary clients are women usually. And a lot of times it's women around age 35, around perimenopause. Things start, our hormones start shifting and decreasing in production and we lose that buffer that we've had to carry us through our youth and we start to feel the effects of how we've been pushing our bodies. So a lot of my clients that were coming to me for Claudia, a lot of the clients she was getting were women with hormone health issues. And then I began to see that in my practice as well pretty soon outta the gate. And so I feel so blessed that I've had her as a guide in deepening my understanding.
(09:44):
She has both a background in Chinese medicine, she's a doctor of Oriental medicine and she's an Ayurveda practitioner. So I've done all of her courses around hormone health and several mentorships with her. And then just through working with clients over the years, it's been one of the primary health concerns I've seen because western medicine doesn't have a great way to address it. And a lot of times, I mean, what we see is that hormone imbalances are bigger than just, you know, need to take hormone replacement. If you wanna get to the root cause it so often is diet and lifestyle and just the way our world operates, it's a very masculine dominated world. It's very go-go-go, like young energy. For those who are familiar with the yin-yang idea in Chinese medicine, Ayurveda has similar concepts, different words, but yin and yang are most familiar.
(10:41):
So I usually use those to explain that we live in this world where yang is glorified, the people who get so much done and can multitask and are achieving so much, they're the ones who are seen as really - we wanna all aspire to them. And that works - that's a lot easier for men to jump in and play that game because testosterone is a hormone that also is very go-go produced. Whereas for women, estrogen is a much more yin hormone. We need rest, we need to tune into our cycle, we need to listen to our bodies and receive more nourishment. But for a lot of women, especially in the past 20, 30 years, it's like they're expected to work full-time and be a mom and be a good partner and take care of their aging parents. And they do it all at the expense of themselves. So to just give hormone replacement therapy isn't really addressing what the root cause is and is just putting a bandaid on something that is gonna catch up with you eventually, whether it be a more devastating disease or some other kind of debilitating condition, it can play out in all kinds of ways.
(12:06):
But yeah, Ayurveda has so much to offer in the way of diet and lifestyle and in terms of balancing these dual forces in life, this yin energy and this yang energy. And I find that western medicine just, it doesn't take the time, it's not set up to really be comprehensive enough to give a full kind of remedy for folks who are in this predicament.
Rebecca Rankin (12:34):
Absolutely. And perpetually productive mindset that we all in our culture, it's just so driven into us. Even at school, it's always produce you, you always do it. And for those of us that have cycles, that have wombs that are our hormones reset every 28 days, we are experiencing time at a different rate than those with male biochemistry. It's like they get the 24 hour clock, ours is 28 days. And so I appreciate that you are really teaching women to see the whole picture of your cycle, honor that cyclical nature, and then use a framework like Ayurveda to help support that. Cause if you think about it, all of us, when we first reached menarche, we were basically told about your period and shamed. It was like - maybe not everyone, maybe some people had great coming of age rituals in their upbringing, but for a lot of us it was just this, oh yeah, sucks to be you type of thing. And then you're led to believe that you're less than because you have a cycle and then all of a sudden you're trying to keep up with the Jones's, trying to keep up with life and not honoring your body actually needs, I love that Ayurveda can offer that zoomed out lens of holistic care.
Kimberly Kubicke (14:04):
Yeah, and it's even, I'd say, you know what you're just describing at menarche, I think it's even more so at menopause. Nobody wants to be talking about, 'hey, I'm going through menopause! This is happening to me!'. And it's just like everyone's gotta just go in their little corner and try to get rid of that hot flash, try to get rid of these mood swings, don't inconvenience anybody with it. And it's, meanwhile, it's a major milestone in life. This is a huge transformation that deserves acknowledgement and community and connection around it. But a lot of women feel really isolated during that time and it's a mystery what's going on, what, what's normal, what's not normal, and where do I ask about these things? Where do I talk about these things?
Rebecca Rankin (14:54):
True. Yeah, so true. And especially like you said, perimenopause starts mid-thirties, and all of a sudden you're like, because no one talks about it, you think you're losing it, right? Because you're like, Oh my gosh, why am I, ...You know, don't, the time it takes to reach menopause and be postmenopausal it, like you said, no one really talks about it. And so we're left in the dark and feeling like we're going a little nuts because you don't, no one's really thought about this progression, how that affects your life, how it affects your emotions, your moods, and just your overall wellbeing. And then you're still trying to do all the things.
Kimberly Kubicke (15:35):
Exactly, exactly that. What I often see is that the women who are doing all the things and basically doing it with the help of coffee and just their brain overriding every signal that their body is giving them. At that time around perimenopause, around our mid thirties, it's like we've been running this credit card of energetic debt through our twenties and just charging it up, charging it up and around perimenopause, the debt collector comes to knock on the door and it's like, I want all that energy back. And then it's like people have all these digestive issues, all of a sudden I can't digest all these things and whose body is this and I can't sleep even though I'm exhausted what is going on? So yeah, I wish that more women in their twenties were curious about this stuff and really getting on board with it before the damage is done. But still, it's better late than never. and there's still a lot that of repair that can be done. But yeah, sadly it's a journey that a lot of women are on and Ayurveda thankfully has kind of a safety net at the end of it for them.
Rebecca Rankin (16:51):
Yeah, I reached my mid thirties and all of a sudden, like the path of so many women, I had some health issues come up related to digestion, relating to many different things and led me to a path of ultimately changed, made some shifts in my lifestyle and gave up coffee and gave up alcohol and other things. Basically started listening to my body's signals. And it's a lot of us, if we're not- body literacy, just understanding these things rather than being like, Oh, 'I have these menstrual cramps, that just goes along with the territory, I'm gonna take pain meds for it.' And it's like, oh no, those are red flags being like, we've got some underlying issues. Lets be telling you now so you can take care of it. So what are some of the approaches through Ayurvedic, through that lens to help with hormonal balance or imbalances rather? What are some of the approaches? Yeah, I'd love for you to share.
Kimberly Kubicke (17:50):
Yeah, yeah, so the term hormone is a more recent one when compared to Ayurveda's original text, the word hormone, I think it was coined in the 19 hundreds sometime. So Ayurveda's been around for thousands of years, so it doesn't, there, the ancient texts don't specifically mention that word, but imbalances in general and hormone imbalances specifically are seen as issues with the body's intelligence or the body's discernment. The hormones, hormonal reactions are a reflection of bodily intelligence. And so this relates to Pitta, Pitta Dosha, for those who are familiar with the doshas in Ayurveda. There's three doshas and they're basically, dosha basically means body type or they're kind of psycho energetic forces in the body. So they affect the body and the mind and they govern a lot of different functions. And so Pitta is the energy that governs transformation, discernment, intelligence, it's kind of how our body makes sense of everything that we take in and sorts out what's information or nutrients that I wanna keep, and what is stuff that I wanna flush outta the body.
(19:15):
So hormone health directly relates to that, to this innate intelligence. And similar to traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda adopts an understanding of duality as the foundation of health. So this yin yang idea that I mentioned and Ayurveda uses different terms, but the premise is simple, similar in that you need an appropriate balance of rest and activity in order to maintain a healthy equilibrium. You just can't get around that and you know, you might be able to circumvent it for a while. Like I said, when we're younger and we've got more of a buffer, we can push our limits more easily, but at a certain point we burn out, quite literally. And so generally for women, hormone imbalances are caused by an excess of activity and a lack of rest. And so Ayurveda has a lot of ways that we can work with that in Ayurveda, everything has the potential to be medicine and everything has the potential to be poison.
(20:19):
It all depends on for whom, when and how much. So when I say we need more rest and nourishment and less activity and stimulation, it doesn't mean that you've gotta take a month off and take a luxurious vacation. I know that that's not accessible for a lot of people, but there are things that you can do on a day to day basis that are very low cost or free and don't take a lot of time to replenish that nourishment and those reserves that you expend with so much activity. So the primary way to support our bodies and maintaining equilibrium - our bodies gift to us is adaptability, right? It's constantly looking to maintain homeostasis in the face of all kinds of things coming at it. Our gift back to our body, our thank you note kind of, is predictability, which basically translate at translates as a good routine.
(21:26):
So waking, eating, sleeping, doing any kind of practices that you do at the same time daily, creating a rhythm for your body is really, really supportive, is really nourishing. And so waking ideally with the sun is very emphasized in the, Ayurvedic texts. That we should wake about an hour, hour and a half before sunrise. And it's interesting, the texts talk about it, they don't give a lot of justifications, the ancient texts anyways. But recently I've been looking more into quantum health and quantum healing and through that I've learned that during the time of sunrise, the widest spectrum of light that we can possibly see is available, that's when there's the most different infrared and all the different layers of light are all present at sunrise. And so to go out and see the sunrise with your naked eyes, even if it's just for 10 minutes, 20 minutes out there, it's like giving your body a download literally.
(22:43):
Because in Ayurveda we recognize that light is a source of intelligence and we are diurnal beings. We are meant to be awake with the sun and sleep in the dark. Through modern technology we can very easily circumvent that. And we all know that artificial light at night can be disruptive to hormones. Well the same is true about the sun. It can be medicine, it can help us to regulate, to realign our bodily intelligence. And so building a relationship with light is a great way to support your hormone health. Rely on natural light when possible, get outside for the sunrise when you can. If you're like, 'What? Oh my god, this lady is crazy!' Try doing it one day a week. Ayurveda is all about slow and steady progression and meeting you where you're at. So we don't want, don't feel guilty. We we're not trying to make these lofty ideals that no one can live up to, but there's probably one day a week, week where you could make that happen.
(23:46):
And so aim to do it one day a week and see how you feel on those days and then maybe try to find another day of the week when you can do it. A lot of times when you do begin doing these practices, the positive feedback that you get is so affirming and it's very motivating then to continue to do it and to prioritize it and make time for it. And with that, in terms of just balancing our relationship with light, shut down your screens by eight o'clock at night, go into dimmer lighting, try to get to bed by 10:00 PM your body does some really powerful internal housekeeping between 10:00 PM and when we wake up around 4 to 6:00 AM, ideally. So when we push, a lot of times if we stay up past 10:00 PM we get a second wind and we can get a bunch of stuff done and doesn't that sound great in this go-go-go kind of mentality.
(24:42):
But what we're doing is we're robbing that energy that our body uses to kind of clean house and keep things in order. So getting a good night's sleep at 10, starting at 10:00 PM is wonderful if you can make that happen. Having regular meal times, like I said. Another beautiful practice of Ayurveda that is so nourishing and has so many benefits it's said to boost immunity, it's said to defy the aging or slow the aging process. It increases flexibility, it calms the nervous system, it promotes sound sleep. This practice is self oil massage. And basically you massage yourself from head to toe with the oil that's appropriate for your body type. You can get fancy like medicated herbal oils, Ayurvedic oils to do this, but you can also just use sesame oil is very warming and very penetrating. So that is really great for folks who are very cold and dry.
(25:47):
Coconut oil is cooling, so that's great for folks who tend to be on the hotter side. And then olive oil is neutral, so can kind of work for anybody. And the way to decide which oil is best for you is just test a little bit on your skin and see which one your skin drinks up the fastest. And that's probably the ideal oil for you. And so you just massage yourself from head to toe with the oil kind of vigorously like using long strokes on the long bones. But really we're looking to get the blood circulating, we're looking to move lymph and then circular motions on the joints. The hair and the feet are beautiful to do, especially if you have trouble sleeping at night, you can just do the head and feet before bed to help you relax and calm down. But you do this whole self oil massage from head to toe before you take a shower and then you get in the shower and the warmth of the shower opens up your pores and allows that oil to penetrate more deeply.
(26:51):
And you just use soap where you need to use soap. You don't try to soap off all the oil, the idea is you wanna let that kind of linger on your skin. And then you get outta the shower and towel off and go about your day. And that practice in and of itself is so nourishing and decadent and it doesn't have to take a lot of time. I mean you can take 20 minutes with it, but you can also just do it in five minutes. And it brings a lot of, it's major benefit I think in terms of hormone health is how much it soothes the nervous system. And so it gives us a little bit more buffer to that stress response that is so easily simulated nowadays. ,
Rebecca Rankin (27:32):
Would you say when you do that, that self massage, is there a timeframe? Do you need to wait before showering or is it just like you can massage once it's kind of in your skin, then you shower right away? Is there any protocol if you will?
Kimberly Kubicke (27:46):
Yes, it's nice if you can let it linger on your skin. I'll usually do the oil massage first and then I'll brush my teeth, I'll do my netty pot, I'll do whatever else I have to do in the bathroom and then get in the shower. So it has maybe five or 10 minutes to linger on my skin. But even if you can't do that, if you have to do the massage and then get in the shower right away, that's still great. And the idea is while you're doing the massage, see it as an act of love. You are anointing yourself, you are appreciating every aspect of your body and giving it gratitude even if you don't love it, even if it's like, Ugh, my thighs are so fat and I hate them or whatever. This part of me I don't like ..
(28:32):
During this practice, it's like just love all of it and bathe yourself in that love. And these kinds of subtle things, they maybe sound a little woo woo, but it really does, it's this subtle stuff that's actually the most powerful, so don't skip out on that part. And it's also meant- this is another way in which we build our self-awareness and our body awareness, which is a central part of Ayurveda, that the idea western medicine, we look to the doctor to tell us what's wrong with us and they're kind of responsible for our health. In eastern medicine it's more on the client, on the patient to be responsible for their health because you're with your body 24/7, nobody else could know it like you. And so this practice is a way to also just build self-awareness around, 'oh there's a little lump over there today' or a little, 'it's sore here and I didn't feel that yesterday'. Or 'this feels a little more cracky than usual' so that we're just kind of touching in every day and feeling how are we actually really physically feeling when we give it attention.
Rebecca Rankin (29:46):
Would you do that practice, obviously, like you said with Ayurveda, it's not meant to put the pressure on you, like 'I must do this every day'. Is it something that, obviously my assumption is if you just do it once a week, it's a great start and the more the better. Is it something that potentially, if you get it into your daily routine that you would do daily?
Kimberly Kubicke (30:07):
Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's recommended to do daily, but do the best you can. Like you said, two times a week, one time a week, three times a week. The classical text say three times a week is the minimum you should do it. Particularly, where I am in the northern hemisphere, we're coming into the fall season and this is really a time of year to do this practice during the fall and the winter because it's getting so cold and dry and our body, you know, probably even notice your lips are a little bit drier than usual. Your hands may be a little bit more dry than they were just a few months ago in the summer. So this is a great way to buffer that. And then into the colder months. Also, fat is what keeps us warm. This oil is fat basically. And so we're putting this insulating layer on that's gonna help our bodies to stay warm.
(31:03):
And then the final, sot of practice that I find really supportive in balancing hormone health in these two opposing energies, the yin yang energy, is a really simple breathing practice, "Alternate Nostril Breathing", which you could Google it and find instructional videos if you haven't already done it. But doing that for 5 to 10 minutes in the morning before you start your day. The idea is to do these self-care things before you start your day so that you're setting this tone for yourself, you're tuning into your body, you're like putting your oxygen mask on first before you assist anybody else. And Alternate Nostril Breathing balances the opposite forces in the body. And so doesn't, its free, you just set a timer on your phone five minutes in the morning and it really offers a centering and grounding to start your day with.
Rebecca Rankin (32:04):
And I love that you mentioned that all these things are, if you do them in the morning, if you allow yourself that the opportunity to wake early and do these before you start your day, because you're taking care of yourself first. Cause I think all, if we don't, we all fall in those traps of the day goes by, then you're like, 'Oh man, I didn't even get to go for a run' or whatever it is that we do to make ourselves feel whole and feel complete. And especially, I have little ones, I think for a lot of us who have little ones, for me at least, it can be challenging to wake up before everyone else knowing that it's gonna be like, oh, as much sleep as I can get yet. I know personally, and I'm sure this others may feel this as well, but when I do wake up before anyone else and do my own self care, you just feel like 'I am a queen right now. I'm just all as well in the world!' Go about your day feeling more resourced.
Kimberly Kubicke (33:06):
For sure. For sure. And these can all be adapted. If it doesn't work for you to do the self oil massage in the morning, do it in the evening after your kids go to bed. Try to give yourself a half hour, 45 minutes of you time and do it then. Or same with the alternate nostril breathing. If it's totally impossible that you, there's no way you can do it in the morning, do it in the evening. Adapt so that you can fit it in when you can. These are the ideal times, but yeah, make it work for you. Other tips I have, diet and what you're exposing yourself to. Cause that's another big thing is women are, we put tons of chemicals on our body. Hair dye makeup, like nail polish, all this stuff that, what would you eat that? Because you are, you're eating it when you put it on your body. So that plays into hormone health as well. What kind of charcoal based cosmetics, definitely wanna stay away from them. And then just eating a diet that's appropriate for your body type. Another key piece kind of from Ayurveda.
Rebecca Rankin (34:15):
Yeah. And how does one, let's back up a little, bit if people are familiar with Ayurveda and how does one figure out their body type? This is I I'd say probably a little more Ayurveda 101, but does your body type shift throughout the seasons, throughout the year? Just a little bit, can you enlighten us there?
Kimberly Kubicke (34:38):
Yeah, well I actually created a body type quiz because I get asked this question a lot. So I have a quiz that I'll give you the link to and that's helpful to take and get a reading on it. But basically your body type doesn't change over your life. These psychoenergetic forces that I mentioned, there's three of them. The three Doshas, Vata, Pitta and Kapha, they're called. We all have all of them within us. They're all necessary for life and they're also all in our surroundings. And we can see their influences. They do, they shift with the times which one is more predominant, potentially shifts with the time of life that you're in. It shifts with the seasons but your actual body type stays the same your entire life. There's just, during the fall time, we're all more prone to dryness and anxiety and hyper mobility. We're on the go, we're running ragged, all that wind and mobility that's happening in the world around us, that that's also happening inside of us more as well.
(36:02):
When we're, old age is also another time of life where, is a time of life where Vata predominates that same psycho energetic force that dominate- predominates in the fall season. It also predominates in our elder years and that's a time when we're drier, we're more brittle, we're a little more fragile a little more on, our nervous system is a little more on edge. Whereas when we're kids, when we're babies, we're these plumped juicy little balls of joy. That's a very Kapha time of life where the body is building and nourishing and growing. And the same is true for the springtime. That's a time of year where everything is growing and building and nourishing. There's a lot of water, there's a lot of moisture, all the snow is melted.
(36:57):
So those of us who are Vata predominant in our body type, the fall is gonna be especially challenging for us. And old age is gonna be especially challenging for us. We're gonna need to really employ all these remedies that Ayurveda has to keep us in balance. But for someone who is Kapha predominant, for instance, the fall might feel great for them because they're finally dried out a little bit. All the congestion and mucus that they usually tend toward is a little bit alleviated. And so yeah, they, there's subtlety there, but your body type and if I don't wanna get, I don't want to make it seem too confusing cuz I feel like each of these things I could probably give a two and a half hour lecture on from trying to summarize it in just a short little bit. But your body type stays the same. And some of the main ways that you can assess what your body type is looking at, the things that don't change about you. Your complexion, you're either fair skinned or you're dark skinned for your race, your hair, it's either straight or curly. It's either thick or thin. Your coloring, your eyes, those all give clues as to what your body type is. The kind of digestion that you have, it gives a really big clue as to what your body type is. The folks who have very erratic, irregular digestion and tend toward dry type constipation where it's like rabbit pellet stool, that is an in indicative of Vata energy. Vata is the energy of movement and change and weathers things away and so dryness.
(38:47):
And the folks who have very fast digestion and are ravenously hungry, have a really strong appetite, can't skip a meal without getting seriously hangry and go to the bathroom, have a bowel movement every day, at least once that's more like Pitta type energy, the more fiery hot of those psycho energetic forces. And then Kapha is all about growth and nourishment and lubrication. And the folks who are Kapha predominant are the folks who tend to have a bigger build just naturally. Their bodies are really good at holding onto and storing energy. So they can easily tend toward conditions of excess, excess weight, diabetes, high cholesterol, that kind of stuff. Things can easily build up in their body and their digestion tends to be a little bit sluggish. So they eat. And then a lot of times they might feel tired after eating and it might take a day or two to have a bowel movement, but when they have the bowel movement, it's like a well formed bowel movement. So those are some of the factors that clue you in. And we all, like I said, have all three of those forces within us. And some of us have two of them that are predominant. Few, very few people have all three that are equally predominant and those folks usually enjoy really good health.
Rebecca Rankin (40:24):
So Great. Thank you for summarizing that for all of us, for our listeners. As an entry point into Ayurveda, where would someone want to begin where we have the quiz, I'll link to it in the show notes for someone to understand their body type.
Kimberly Kubicke (40:42):
I also have a free just guide to Ayurveda's healthy eating guidelines. And it's not about what to eat specifically, it's about how to eat, when to time your meals, when to have your biggest meal, things to pay attention to while you're eating and that I'll share that with you also, these can all be found on my website, indraholistic.com, under the resources tab. But I'll give you the direct links. So I would say, look those over. Think about what I talked about today and choose one thing that feels doable for you and you're excited about trying and start there. That's a great place to start. All of our journeys are gonna look different in in Ayurveda. There's no one size fits all solutions. So start with what you can do right now and get the positive feedback from doing that thing. And then once that becomes a habit, try bringing in something else and making that a habit. Slow and steady wins the race.
Rebecca Rankin (41:47):
Oh, I love it. That's so perfect. And where can the listeners, you mentioned in the show notes, I'll have the links to those resources. How else can our listeners work with you or even just find more about your offerings?
Kimberly Kubicke (42:03):
Yeah, well my website, indraholistic.com, i n d r a holistic.com is a great way to connect with me. You can send it from my newsletter. I send a weekly newsletter with lots of free Ayurveda tips. I do one-on-one consultations for folks who really are ready to dive in and wanna get a personalized plan and a deep understanding of their body type. That's one way we can work together. I also lead guided cleanses in the spring and the fall. We just wrapped one up earlier this week but it's all online. But you have me as a resource throughout the cleanse and it's nine days of taking- going inward. And it's a very Ayurvedic approach to cleansing. You don't, not gonna starve yourself or be exhausted, you're well nourished with very simple, easy to digest food and we bring in some Ayurvedic practices to help the body get rid of toxins and just give yourself, your whole system kind of a reboot, a reset.
(43:16):
And Ayurveda recommends doing this at the change from summer to fall and at the change from winter to spring because our bodies are primed at those times to let go of toxins and to release. And so we harness that power of nature, these cycles that are already happening and we work with that to really give our body a good level up and boost our immunity and our digestion and all that good stuff. So that's another way we can work together is through the cleanse process. And then I also have an online course IAyurveda Made Easy that I run in the spring and the fall also and it may become evergreen in the near future and be available whenever, but that is an eight week course with a really in depth look at Ayurveda . A lot of Ayurveda is very advanced and challenging to understand, but even more of Ayurveda is very practical and simple.
(44:22):
This is a folk medicine, literally. Right. So what I've done is distilled from my 20 plus years of studying and working with Iveta, I've distilled the most practical aspects of it into an online course so that you can get the full gamut of understanding and really be able to adopt Ayurveda's framework. As my friend Sava said, this way of looking at the world, you can leave the course with these Ayurveda glasses on that then you can apply to any health issue that comes up for you, for your family, Whatever it is you, you've got this new understanding.
Rebecca Rankin (45:00):
Thank you so much and thank you so much, Kimberly, for being on the show and sharing all this wonderful, beautiful wisdom with all the listeners here. I really appreciate it.
Kimberly Kubicke (45:10):
Yeah, thanks for having me. My pleasure.
