Today’s episode is an Ask Cate Show! Many of you have gone to Yoghealer.com/ask and left me a message. You let me know what YOU want to know. In this episode I play your questions and answer them. We have all sorts of topics to check out, from questions about India to queries about amenorrhea. You’ll learn about what it means to have emotional amas since birth, too.

I’m going to spin a yarn, and I know you’ll get something good out of it because we’re talking about all sorts of things! Just a quick disclaimer here: I’m not giving medical advice. I’m just sharing with you what I know and my point of view. So take care of yourself and learn some new insights about the Ayurvedic perspective!

I rap about the answers to your recent burning questions:

• What it was like studying Ayurveda in India, and what goes down at a rough-n-ready silent meditation retreat, India-style
• What malas are in Ayurveda, how they relate to amenorrhea, and why they aren’t “bad” waste products
• Why you need to heed the call of your natural cycles to gain depth of wisdom and power

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• Learn why Yoga in the United States is a much more athletic experience than the spiritual, transcendent Yoga of India is
• Understand why amenorrhea happens — from an Ayurvedic perspective — and how a vata-pacifying routine can restore the energy needed for this process
• See what the subtle energetic patterns are behind allergies and how excess elements can impact your body

 Links:

• Ask Cate Here!
• Living Ayurveda Course Preview
• Allergy Relief Workshop
• Body Thrive Book

 Related podcasts:

• Strengthen Your Digestion + Eat Wheat with Dr. John Douillard
• Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary on Ama, Pharmaceuticals, and Practicing Ayurveda Today
• Detox, Rejuvenation, + the 3 Causes of Disease

Show Highlights:

• 3:08 – Cate reveals what happened on her 2004 trip for studying Ayurveda in India. She went to study the Yoga of ancient chants and ended up totally rewiring her pranic body before having a strange panchakarma learning experience and enjoying some super no-frills meditation.
• 14:00 – Malas in Ayurveda are functional waste products/tissues that our systems create. They also play a big role in our bodies’ immune responses and cleansing processes. When women have amenorrhea, they lose out on the cleansing cycle that comes with menstruation. It’s a sign of energetic depletion, but deep-level ojas rebuilding is still possible.
• 22:37 – Allergies aren’t a one-size-fits-all thing. In Ayurveda, they can be symptoms of excess elemental energies — water, air, fire. We need to understand how these reactions impact our larger systems and how they relate to our overall health. At the end of the day, with chronic conditions, waste and energy are cycling through us and trying to get out in ways they normally wouldn’t.

Favorite Quotes:

• “This whole life is about choosing your own adventure!” –Cate Stillman
• “Westerners are so good at asking the big ‘why?’ question.” –Cate Stillman
• “Fly by the seat of your pants and just go on an adventure.” –Cate Stillman
• “The natural cycle is always the most powerful.” –Cate Stillman

BIO:

Cate Stillman founded Yogahealer.com in 2001 to guide Yoga people into Ayurveda and Ayurveda people into yoga. Built on the value of both personal and planetary thrive and a deep connect to one’s ecosystem, community and body, Yogahealer grew into a team, 2 podcasts a week, regular blogging, an arsenal of courses to guide people into their potential, an a professional community + certification program Yoga Health Coaching.

Cate wrote and self-published Body Thrive: Uplevel Your Body and Your Life with 10 Habits from Ayurveda and Yoga, an Amazon #1 Bestseller in Ayurveda, which helps people who dig yoga take a giant leap forward in their wellness trajectory with Ayurveda.

Cate have had a blast innovating on the edge of a 5000 year old deep wellness wisdom tradition. Tapping modern culture into ancient traditions is what Yogahealer has always been about and continues to become next!