Let’s shift gears. Things have got a bit rage-y in the world and here on my newsletter. It might be time for an inward-facing wellness exploration.
If my tone seems cynical it’s because I have become a little, shall-we-say, eye-roll-ish about our culture’s obsession with individual wellbeing. I now see it through a collapse lens, a classic feature of final stage civilisational collapse. I outline various descriptions of how this works in this post, which has become the most popular in my two years of Substacking (and saw 426 of you sign up as paid subscribers!)
And shall draw your attention to this line that I dug up for another collapse post:
Oswald Spengler wrote in The Decline of the West in 1918: “The great turning point has come” when a society spends its free time in “philosophies of digestion, nutrition and hygiene. Alcohol questions and vegetarianism are treated with religious earnestness—such being the gravest problems.”
Having spent the past three months in Australia, based at Bondi Beach no less, I have seen all of this in terrifying peak form. As my Dad said when we were walking along the Bondi promenade to the RSL one night, past the outdoor gym writhing in tanned and protein-packed limbs, “Men used to fight for things, now they get tattoos and build massive biceps…and for doing what?”.
Self care is important. The term was coined by the Black feminist activist Audrey Lorde referencing the Black mothers on the frontline fighting for basic freedoms in the 1970s who needed to ensure they went home ate a meal, got some sleep… so they could continue their fight the next day. It wasn’t about optimising their protein ratios and feeling chill. Lorde wrote, “(self care) is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
The point of self care: We take care of ourselves so that we can best take care of our world. We tend to drop off this foundational condition.
This now sufficiently ranted out, let’s talk a wellness modality that has, yes, become somewhat fashionable in recent years, but is is actually well calibrated for taking care of the world: Ayurveda.
I posted a while back about the auto-immune (AI) disease Hashimotos that I was diagnosed with 15 years ago and the best mindsets and consolations for anyone who has it (or any kind of AI disease).
Then I followed up with a post about how I treat it and modulate it - the supplements, exercises, gut aids etc that I personally find work (and had my specialist wade in answering your questions).
A few people in the comments asked whether I use traditional Ayurvedic techniques, too. I do. And so what follows is an overview of this piece in the puzzle. I am aware “alternative medicine” and anything to do with nutrition has to be navigated responsibly. That said, from years of looking into this, Ayurvedic approaches to wellness tend to stack up and have stood the test of many scientific analyses. As always, however, I advise this: complement what I share below with your own research, support from your medical practitioner and a good solid listening to your own body; and once sufficiently healed, get out and help heal the world!
Ayurveda explained
I’ll keep this top-line. If you want to learn more, Deepak Chopra’s book Perfect Health is quite a good start.
Ayurvedic healing is the traditional medicine of India and is said to date back 5000 years (some say 10,000). Buddhism stemmed from it 3000 years ago and yoga and meditation practices as we know them today originate from the Vedic texts of the Ayurvedic tradition. Ditto a lot of modern dietary theory, which I’ll get to.
The three “doshas”
According to Ayurvedic thinking, we’re all made up of three doshas – vata, pitta and kapha. This is less woo-woo than it sounds. It’s simply a way to categorise or describe patternings in our bodies as we respond to weather, climate, food, lifestyle habits etc. It’s not about prescribing, per se.
We all possess all three doshas, but tend to have one that dominates. Our dominant dosha can get out of balance, which causes different digestion/weight, health and emotional issues.
So, generally…
Vata types have: light, flexible bodies and big, protruding teeth; small, recessed, dry eyes; irregular appetite and thirst; often experience digestive and malabsorption problems; easily excited; alert and quick to act without much thinking; to give answers even if they’re incorrect; may give a wrong answer but with great confidence. Their dominant force is wind so do not like sitting idle, and seek constant action. They’re FLIGHTY! Vatas hate cold. Hate, hate, hate it. They need warm, mushy foods to bring them back down to earth. And they love summer.
Pitta types have: a medium frame and weight. They seldom gain or lose much weight. Their eyes are bright but tend to be sensitive to light. Pitta people usually have strong appetite and thirst. They have excellent abilities for learning, understanding and concentrating; highly disciplined; can be judgmental, critical and perfectionistic, and tend to become ANGRY easily; have moderate strength, medium span of life. Their force is fire – so summer is the time when pitta gets easily aggravated. Sunburn, poison ivy, prickly heat and short tempers are common. Pittas need and love cooling foods (salads), and should avoid chilies and hot spices. I’ve noticed pitta men are often bald…too much heat coming out the top of their heads!
Kaphas types have: a strong and large body frame, big eyes, strong teeth and thick, curly hair; thick, smooth, oily and hairy skin; slow digestion and metabolism which often result in weight gain; cravings for sweet and salt; a calm, steady mind; a deep melodious voice and a monotonous pattern of speech. Kapha is a an earthy type and can get heavy – they need firing up. The respond well to coffee and spices. Kapha tends to get aggravated as the moon gets full and during the winter and early spring, when the weather is heavy, wet and cloudy…it makes them too heavy and damp.
To find out what type you are, Deepak Chopra has this “what dosha are you” quiz that you can do. I am vata-pitta, and Indian doctors generally pick this by just looking at me.
The special role of vata
This bit is key: Vata controls the whole lot. And if vata is out of whack, everything goes to pieces. All the doshas become unbalanced.
We live in a very vata world
So this is where we run into trouble. Contemporary life is particularly vata-deranged. The conditions of our world today are vata-esque and they dial up or aggravate vata energy in us, which is making all of us more vata, but also sending all the doshas - so every bit of us - out of whack.
So if we take a closer look at what gets vata grumpy we can see a picture emerge. I’ll bold the things that strike me as particular to modern life, as in it’s stuff that we’re increasingly exposed to, or served up. See if you agree.
Cold weather and exposure to wind or air-conditioning.
Cold foods – iced water, refrigerated foods, green salads
Food that is dry, rough or light (I’m thinking cereals and rice cakes and pretty much everything in the “health food” aisles) and irregular eating habits.
Excessive physical exercise, particularly of a strongly aerobic nature
Lack of proper rest, mental and emotional stress and anything that disturbs the peace or security of a person.
In addition, modern life demands we be more vata. Per the vata description above, we’re expected to be fast, fleety, jumping from one thing to the next, to give answers “even if they’re incorrect”, not concentrating fully, toggling, being thin(!), not settling on one thing, demanding lots of choices…and so on. These are all symptoms I’ve collated from various Ayurvedic texts, including Perfect Health.
To this end, Ayurveda is actually a great framework for seeing how and why the world has become deranged, too. And how by dialling down vata (in our self-care routines and beyond), we can have a chance at healing the chaos, the franticness, the grumpiness more broadly.
The Hashimoto’s connect
When any of our doshas are thrown out of balance, illness ensues. And different dosha imbalances result in different kinds of illness. Kaphic types when thrown off kilter will often get very phlegmy, for instance.
In ayurveda, it is commonly thought auto-immune diseases result from vata dysregulation. (You can draw your own associations between the increase in vata-type conditions in our world and the increase in AIs.)
Here are a bunch of symptoms of vata dysregulation: feeling cold, constipation, lack of energy, loss of sleep, fatigue, abdominal distention with flatulence, defective sensory functioning. Psychological symptoms include fear, anxiety, insecurity, confusion, and aimless talking.
If you have Hashimoto’s they might strike you as quite familiar. But I’d also argue they are symptoms common to a bunch of other contemporary disorders, too.
So what to do?
The Ayurvedic tradition tells us the answer is to simply passify or de-excite our vata when we’re feeling it being whipped up. And you’ll note that much of what is suggested for de-exciting vata correlates with what tends to work for modulating AI.
Below are a few of my practices, drawing on what I’ve learned from visiting practitioners who incorporate Ayurveda into their treatments (and it’s becoming more and more common), as well as what I experienced when I spent almost five weeks in a hospital in India a number of years ago, which I write about in First, We Make the Beast Beautiful. I’ve also written about the experience here.
A few things to consider:
All doshas benefit from following these techniques when you’re feeling overwhelmed by modern life.
These techniques also apply to treating anxiety…deranged vata also dials up anxiety.
Bear in mind vata healing requires patience and consistency over a long period of time. I know, I know…damn hard if you’re a vata. Life’s like that.
The Ayurvedic healing tips (for Hashimotos and beyond)
Stay warm. I wear socks and I protect myself from wind. Scarves are my friend.
Combat dryness with oils. I’ve written about the beauty oils I use here (it’s an old post, but it remains relevant)
Replace the light flutteriness with heaviness - use gravity blankets, wear heavy clothing, for instance.
Be consistent where you can - rise and go to sleep at the same time, develop routines. Skipping meals will dial up vata.
Speaking of sleep, the ideal bed time for vata balance is 10pm. I write about this in a badly complied post here.
Avoid sugar. Quelle surprise. Vata types tend to crave the stuff…but here are some techniques for working with this paradox.
Eat warm, smooth, heavy foods like soups and stews and root vegetables. Sweet potato soup with coconut milk is ideal! I avoid ricecakes or breakfast cereals…dry stuff.
I warm most foods…even just a little. Or eat salad at room temperature if possible.
Turmeric is great for vata balancing. I wrote a post years ago on other spices to cook with which might interest some of you. There’s also this post that includes some recipes and cooking techniques.
The three ayurvedic tastes that help balance vata are sweet, sour and salty – milk, salted toasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds make good snacks. Eat less of the bitter, pungent and astringent tastes. Nuts are wonderful vata-pacifiers. Oily!
Walking is the ideal exercise… gentle, 20 minutes. Yoga is also good. Vigorous, jumpy exercise ain’t good when vata is playing up.
I always drink water as a tea, or at least warm.
Try tea with fennal and licorice, ginger, cardamom and cinnamon. Chai is great.
I eat lots of oils and butter (nothing deep fried, however)
Saunas are great… warm and still!
Be aware that noise will throw you. Don’t be ashamed to turn down volume!
Don’t travel too much…moving about in cars, trains, planes sends vata to pieces. As most of you here would know, I tend to ignore my own advice here.
Avoid flighty, jittery people…which is easier said than done.
Look out for panchakarma treatments. I write about my experience with this here.
Yours in much politically radical, self-caring wellness,
Sarah xx
PMy podcast today is a romping, fun history lesson with the author of Silk Roads, Peter Frankopan (you might have caught him on ABC’s QandA program while he was here in Australia earlier this month?). Peter brings in some great perspectives on how climate tipped previous civilisations…and what we can learn from it as it tips ours. A really fun addition to the discussions we’re having here. And Peter is super talent. Recommend.
PS. Speaking of, I noted Wild has dropped to a 4.8 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating 😩Wanna drop in a 5’er by clicking here or when you go to listen to Peter’s chat?
I, too, am interested in Ayurveda. I’d highly recommend people look at Hale Pule. They have tons of information, a lot specifically aimed at women, that has been really valuable for me. I am Kapha Vata and notice when my vata is in excess I feel absolutely awful. Thanks for the lovely post!
I haven't read all of what you posted today - I will but I have to admit that just prior to seeing your email I had stepped out of the shower after bawling my eyes out because I feel so useless and insignificant - angry and frustrated. The trigger was seeing Clive Palmer talking about spending money on recreating the Titanic when there are so many great people with dynamic ideas who just need some financial assistance to get bring their ideas to fruition and can't get the funding because what they are wanting to do is improve humanity ergo doesn't generate monetary profit.
Then I see you want funding for an Ethics Centre that is going to facilitate academics and people already in leadership positions to have yet another think tank. There are so many ordinary people with common sense and, again, dynamic and practical ideas to improve humanity that can't get a platform because they weren't born into the right families, aren't genetically gifted but work tirelessly at being generous and won't be considered for the board.
This is where my frustration lies - how can the ordinary people be heard?