Ananta Ayurveda

Our society teaches us to go, go, go; drive harder; do better; work more; what we have is never enough. We associate space with laziness. If we slow down or stop, everything will fall apart. Most of us are driven by this ethos, are not living the life that we truly want to be living as a result, and will continue this pattern until & unless the universe dramatically shakes us out of it – often in the form of a physical or emotional trauma that inspires us to shift our perspective and (re)assess our priorities.

As beautifully describes, not living in alignment with our innermost essence promotes emotional & physical stress, and constriction & stagnation in the body. This stress activates the sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight”) which impacts digestion, hormone balance, heart function, inflammatory responses, sleep, & more 😳

Daily gratitude practice is powerful in our culture of “never enough-ness” that often delegates time for joy to “days off” and vacations from daily life.
🙏🏽 Inspires appreciation and acceptance for “what is” vs being focused on “what isn't”
🙏🏽 Encourages presence, which is grounding for our nervous system
🙏🏽 Affirms what is still good and true in this world

Over 2 decades of research on human emotions, found that every person who described themselves as joyful had an active gratitude practice. Having joy does not make people grateful; rather, practicing gratitude invites joy into our lives.

Gratitude practice has been correlated w/ reduced depression symptoms, lower stress & anxiety levels, improved heart health, and better 😴.

Some ways that you can incorporate a tangible gratitude practice into your life:
📝 Gratitude journal – write at least 1 thing you’re thankful for each day
🫙 Gratitude jar – write your daily gratitude on a piece of paper, fold it, and add it to a jar that will be overflowing with things to be thankful for in no time
⏰ Set an alarm for a time when you tend to be alone; say out loud one thing that you’re grateful for
🍽️ At the beginning of a family meal, have everyone at the dinner table say one thing that they are grateful for from that day

Diwali (or Deepavali) marks the beginning of the Hindu new year; it signifies new beginnings and the power of light to overcome darkness.

Deepa = lamps or light / Avali = row or line. Referred to as the “festival of lights,” its name is inspired by the row of clay lamps that people light on Diwali to symbolize the inner light that protects us from spiritual darkness.

Diwali is celebrated over 5 days which this year will begin on Friday 11/10, with Sunday 11/12 - the new moon and the darkest night - being the main day of celebration.

The lighting of candles and lamps outside is meant to inspire the inner light within our beings. Light signifies clarity, and clarity of perception as it relates to your life and the world around you ultimately eliminates murkiness, dark forces and desires, and evils.

Diwali is a reminder of this. It represents the spiritual triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge/clarity over ignorance, levity over inertia.

This time is characterized by a sense of joy and goodness - homes are decorated with candles and lamps; gifts, sweets, and well wishes are exchanged; and firecrackers are burst into the sky as a show of respect to the Gods for all that they give us.

You can celebrate the spirit of Diwali by:

🧽 Cleaning your home
🪔 Lighting all of your candles and lamps on Sunday
🍲 Sharing sweets and meals with family and friends

✨ Throughout this time, carry the intention of inspiring the energy of light and clarity into our individual and collective beings ✨

This post is an homage to my teacher, Dr. Vasant Lad

Before most of you who are reading this were born, his guru asked him to take on the mission of spreading Āyurveda to the Western world.  He has humbly done this and more, moving everyone he touches with the love, grace, and compassion that he embodies 🫶🏽

The second photo is of Dr. Lad and me after our last night together at his city clinic in his hometown of Pune, India (~3 hours outside of Mumbai).  For six weeks last winter, I had the privilege of observing (and occasionally, supporting) him there as he saw +/- 30 patients every evening after a full day of teaching and consulting with panchakarma clients at about an hour outside of the city.

Patients start lining up outside the clinic in the afternoon – some are locals, some travel to Pune from all over India to see him, and some are international…. the clinic is humble, fully donation based, and noone is turned away.  Dr. Lad’s day is full from the morning until 9, 10, sometimes 11pm (whenever the last patient has been seen), and he is just as vibrant and fully present with his last patient as his first.  Notice how tired I look in that second photo compared to him🥱! He says that while his 80 (ish? it’s a mystery) year old physical body may become tired from it all, his patients energize his pranic (energy, or “life force”) body and keep him going strong ✨

At the end of one long, late night, he looked at us, chuckled, and said “This is my vacation, can you imagine?!” This is how he spends four months out of the year when he’s not in the US teaching at or doing webinars, which he also loves…. when his Indian patients lament over him coming back to the States and ask why he doesn’t just stay in India permanently, he says, with a giant smile, “because teaching is my passion.”

I’m honored to call Dr. Lad my teacher and humbled by all that he has taught me - about the art and science of Āyurveda, and about being a human in this world.

(The last photo 🤗 is after my last oral exam with him at the end of a beautiful four years of studying under his graceful guidance)

During this transition out of the heat of the summer “Pitta season” into the Autumn “Vata season,” we are feeling the cold, dry, light, rough, and mobile qualities of Vata increase in our external environments as the air gets cooler, the wind picks up, and the leaves become dry and crunchy.

They’re also increasing in our internal environment. As all transitions (mobile, irregular, scattered) can trigger Vata and this particular one is into the Vata season, our Vata dosha is extra susceptible to becoming increased and aggravated. This might look like low back pain, joint pain in general, earaches, tension headaches, internal or external dryness (constipation, dry skin, dry nose), a feeling of ungroundedness, scattered mind, or insomnia.  

Support a smooth transition into Fall by offsetting those cool, dry, light, rough, and mobile gunas with the opposite qualities in your diet and daily practices:

🍲 Diet – favor warm, cooked, well oleated, well spiced, nourishing food

😴 Sleep – go to bed before 10pm, turn off electronics an hour before bedtime to avoid overstimulation, and target 8 hours of sleep

🍯 Abhyanga - target a weekly practice of this self-massage with warm oil to calm the nervous system, improve sleep, and support internal + external lubrication

👃 Nasya - oil drops in the nose lubricate the nasal passage and protect against external pathogens.   Plain sesame oil can be used for both nasya and abhyanga

🧘🏽‍♀️ Grounding yoga practice - focus on standing poses with an emphasis on rooting down into the ground through your feet, forward folds, cat/cow, savasana

🍂 Walk in nature – literally grounding!  Take a hoodie or light scarf and keep your ears, head, and neck covered when it’s cooler out

💨 Alternate nostril breathing (DM me for instructions if you’re not familiar) – organizes that deregulated Vata energy into its proper direction and rhythm

⏰ Daily rhythm – create a container for that scattered energy with consistent wake, sleep, and meal times. The internal rhythm you’ll create in your system will support optimized digestion and better quality sleep, the benefits of which will positively impact most of your bodily functions!

Ayurveda utilizes this simple law of nature to promote balance: like attracts like, and opposites balance. This is the basic premise of healing in Ayurveda: when similar qualities, or “gunas,” come together, they also tend to increase in quantity. Opposite qualities can be used to create balance.

We apply this principle to the twenty gunas which are inherent in every substance, dosha, therapeutic action, season, environment, activity, etc.

To an extent, we use opposite qualities to intuitively promote balance in our day-to-day lives:
-when we feel cold, we reach for a sweater or hot cup of tea (cold / hot)
-when our mouth feels dry, we drink water (dry / wet)
-when we feel lethargic, we know that eating light foods and exercise will cut the heaviness (heavy / light; static / mobile)
-when we’re multi-tasking and always on the move, taking a break and enjoying a moment of stillness feels immediately grounding (mobile / static)

We can observe the gunas that are out of balance within us and incorporate foods, daily habits and practices, spices, and herbs that possess the opposite qualities to create balance.

The qualities of the doshas are:
💨 Vata (ether + air) – dry, light, cold, rough, subtle, mobile

🔥 Pitta (fire + water) – slightly oily / unctuous, sharp, penetrating, hot, light, liquid, having a “fleshy” smell, spreading

🪨 🌊 Kapha (earth + water) – liquid / oily, cool, heavy, slow, dull, sticky, slimy, smooth, stable, clay-like (can be soft or hard)

When assessing a person’s prakruti (original, balanced state of doshas) and vikruti (current state of doshic imbalance) in an Ayurvedic consultation, I am always observing the gunas that are out of balance within each dosha. I use this information to inform the foods, herbs, and activities / daily practices that I recommend to each client!

The undigested, unprocessed metabolic waste that accumulates in the system as a result of poorly functioning agni is referred to as “āma” in Ayurveda.  Āma can be caused by undigested food substances, improper elimination of wastes (including f***s, urine, sweat), excess or vitiated doshas affecting the tissues, or unresolved and repressed emotions.  It creates stagnation, causing pain and discomfort; and it blocks the channels of the body, hindering the flow and assimilation of nutrition to the tissues and organs.

Accumulated āma can cause generalized symptoms of fatigue, heaviness, pain, low appetite, poor digestion, stagnation of energy flow in a certain area or bodily system, frequent colds and congestion, low libido, brain fog, foul smelling urine / f***s / sweat…. the list goes on. Āma can spread from the GI tract into circulation and lodge in any of our bodily tissues or channels where a pre-existing vulnerability exists due to previous history, illness, trauma, genetics / family history, or even emotions.  

Examples: in the GI tract, āma can manifest as constipation, bad breath, body odor, and a thick coating on the tongue; in the blood, āma can cause hives, rashes, and acne; it can travel to and lodge in the joint spaces, manifesting as rheumatoid arthritis; in the mind, mental āma from undigested experiences can manifest as fear, anger, negativity, confusion, and repetitive thoughts.

Maintaining optimal agni supports the breakdown and elimination of existing āma, prevents the buildup of new āma, and alleviates dis-ease.  There are also specific herbs, foods, and cleansing processes that can support the “burning” of āma while we work on optimizing agni.

Book a consultation with me to receive personalized support on how best to optimize your agni and start cleansing that long lingering āma!

Our agni is our digestive fire, or the energy of transformation within us. It works throughout the body to digest, absorb, and assimilate not only physical input such as food, herbs, and medicines, but also sensory input and emotional experiences.

When the fire is working optimally - it supports vitality, immunity, and harmony within the body and mind.  Nutrients from food are efficiently digested, absorbed, and assimilated to nourish the bodily tissues and support proper functioning of the bodily systems. Sensory and mental input is properly processed and transformed into intellect and self-awareness.  Toxins and waste products of digestion don’t linger in the system and wreak havoc, as agni supports their proper elimination.  

When the fire is weak - improper digestion, absorption, and assimilation of physical and mental input results in poor functioning of the bodily systems and processes, accumulation of toxins (“āma”), and dis-ease in the body and mind.  *Next post will be about āma!

Agni can also be too strong (we tend to see this in our Pitta friends whose constitutions are predominant in the fire element), manifesting with strong appetite but a digestive fire that burns through nutrients before they are able to be properly absorbed and assimilated.

Poorly functioning agni is considered to be the root cause of all dis-ease.

Ayurveda uses diet and lifestyle principles, daily and seasonal routines, herbs, breathwork, yoga asanas, and meditation to support optimal digestive fire. The beauty of Ayurveda is that it is not a “one-size-fits-all” approach.  It recognizes the unique reality of each individual’s natural constitution (“prakruti”), present state of imbalance (“vikruti”), and present state of agni, and understands that substances or activities that promote balance for one person may be harmful to another. Naturally, recommendations are tailored accordingly.

Book a consultation with me to receive personalized support on how best to stoke your digestive fire to encourage overall balance, support immunity, and alleviate dis-ease (booking link in bio).

Ayurveda teaches us that cleansing at the junctions between seasons - when the weather tends to be relatively temperate and lacking in extreme qualities like heat, cold, and moist - is ideal. Cleansing at these times helps to eliminate excess dosha (elements) and ama (toxins) that have accumulated over the season, ultimately strengthening our agni (digestive fire), strength (bala), and vitality (ojas) as we enter a period of transition, which can be a challenging time for agni.

Summer cleansing season is approaching!

For the majority of us that can’t afford a full panchakarma (systematic Ayurvedic cleansing process) multiple times per year, a personalized, closely guided Ayurvedic home cleanse is an effective way to systematically loosen, dislodge, and ultimately eliminate excess dosha and toxins from our system. Herbalized oils, ghees, and herbal formulas used in the cleansing process are customized based on each individual’s prakruti (natural, balanced constitution) and vikruti (current state of imbalance).

Interested in a guided home cleanse? Start by booking a Free Discovery Call (link in bio or at www.anantayurveda.com) to discuss the appropriate timing of a cleanse for you, along with a general overview of how the process would look for you.

Whether you are struggling with a specific health concern(s) or are interested in incorporating Ayurvedic principles and practices to maintain health and support longevity, book a 90-minute Initial Ayurvedic Consultation or a free 10-minute Discovery Call with me to learn more about how Ayurveda can support your journey. Booking links are in bio or at www.anantayurveda.com

🌿 Ayurvedic Consultation - Learn about the most powerful tools for you to alleviate dis-ease, support balance, and improve vitality. In an initial Ayurvedic consultation, I’ll dive into the complete picture of each individual’s background, historical tendencies, current diet, lifestyle, state of digestion, symptoms of dis-ease, and more to determine their unique prakruti (natural, balanced state of doshas) and vikruti (current state of imbalance). I will then provide a unique protocol of recommendations to support their movement towards prakruti, which represents an individual’s balanced state of health.

This protocol will usually start with a focus on optimizing digestion. By nourishing the digestive fire (“agni”), we support its ability to naturally burn the long, lingering toxins that accumulate in the system over time (“ama”) and ultimately cause dis-ease in the body and mind.

Recommendations typically include some combination of: (1) Ayurvedic dietary principles that are appropriate to you, (2) specific habits or exercises to incorporate into your daily or weekly routine, (3) spiritual practices including meditation and breathwork, and (4) customized Ayurvedic herbal formulations.

I endeavor to systematically address the underlying factors of imbalance (such as diet, lifestyle, environment, and thought patterns) over time to ultimately inspire the body’s natural intelligence to return to its state of balance. Along the way, clients are empowered with tools and education to understand and navigate their own journeys, enabling them to take charge of their own health.

According to Ayurveda, each of us is born with a unique constitution: a specific proportion of ether, air, fire, water, and earth elements that represents the perfectly balanced state of each person’s body and mind.

These elements are organized into the three doshas, or energies which are the major governing principles of the body:
💨 Vata (ether and air) - the principle of movement, orchestrating all activities of the body.
🔥 Pitta (fire and water) - the principle of transformation, governing metabolism and processing of sensory input.
🌲 Kapha (earth and water) - the principle of substance, comprising physical structures and bodily fluids.

Your original balance of these doshas is unique to you, and represents your prakruti — your ideal state of perfect health.

Over time, we tend to drift away from this natural state of balance, leading to our current state of imbalance, or vikruti: the root cause of all dis-ease.

Ayurveda understands that nothing is random; various factors such as our diet, lifestyle, thought patterns, and external environment play a role in our movement towards balance or imbalance.

The beauty of Ayurveda lies in this recognition of each individual’s unique and nuanced constitution. Accordingly, Ayurveda is not a “one size fits all” approach – substances and activities that promote balance for one may be harmful to another. Ayurvedic guidance regarding diet, lifestyle / daily routine, breathwork, yoga, herbs, etc is highly customized to each individual, with the ultimate goal of inspiring the body’s natural intelligence to guide itself back to its natural state of balance.

Through Ayurvedic assessment, my approach is to understand the root cause of the imbalances contributing to your health concerns, and to correct them at their core.

You can learn more about my Ayurvedic Consultation process and book a consultation at www.anantayurveda.com (link also in bio)

Hello! I’m Rina Kansagra 👋🏽

I am currently practicing as a Doctor of Ayurveda, both virtually 🌎 and in-person in Albuquerque, NM 🌵⛰️. I have completed four years of Ayurvedic training under the guidance of Dr. Vasant Lad, BAMS, MASc, at the Ayurvedic Institute, which was located in Albuquerque, NM for the last 40 years before moving to Asheville in 2022.

Before embarking on my Ayurvedic path, I studied, lived, and worked in New York City 🏙️ for 15 years until some health challenges impelled me to leave the city and seek a path that inspired balance, wellness, and a deeper sense of fulfillment.
That journey took me to India 🇮🇳, where I began to study 📖 and practice Ayurveda as part of my own path to wellness. It quickly became clear to me that in its approach of understanding the individual from a holistic perspective and through the lens of the doshas and five elements 💨 🔥 💧 🪨, the centuries old wisdom of Ayurveda held the framework to inspire the body’s natural intelligence to bring itself back into balance.

I found the balance ⚖️ that I was seeking through Ayurveda, and I am passionate about sharing and utilizing the teachings of Ayurveda to support others on their own wellness journeys.
Upon completing my program in Asheville, I was called back to the “Land of Enchantment” to set up my home base and endeavor to serve the New Mexico community that the Institute has served for the last 40 years ⛰️🌵. In addition to in-person consultations in Albuquerque, I offer all of my services online 💻 with the exception of Marma therapy.

www.anantayurveda.com
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Ananta Ayurveda Albuquerque, NM based Doctor of Ayurveda providing online and in-person holistic wellness support. Personalized guidance regarding nutrition, herbal remedies, breathwork, meditation, and plant medicine to support digestion, women's health, anxiety, chronic pain, and more. Experience the ancient Indi