I’m all fired up for a shakti, agni, and Ayurveda question and answer session! For those of you who went to Podcast Q&A and recorded your questions on SpeakPipe, I get to a lot of those questions on today’s show.

We really dive into the energies. What is shakti? What are shiva and the tantric philosophy? We’ll talk about agni and intermittent fasting. We’ll talk about frozen foods and canned foods and Ayurvedic “rules.” We’ll talk about postpartum and deep, deep energetic recovery for when things go…not well. We’ll also talk about stress, shifting from stressful living to easeful living, and what that’s all about in terms of healing your energy body. Are you ready? Let’s get to the first question!

I rap about:

• How shiva and shakti are related and the ways that we can use them to live in alignment with energy to experience more
• Ways that freezing and thawing can impact pranic foods and still promote organ health
• The importance of cooperating with the energies of our physiology and the cosmos to design the physiologies we want

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• Learn how to empower yourself by understanding your energies and live in alignment
• Gain a better understanding of cooperating with your physiology and digestive fire by shifting your habits
• See how devoting yourself to your natural rhythms can make intermittent fasting and meal spacing easier for you — it just takes time!

Links:

• Record Your Question
• Get in the Body Thrive Group
• Perfect Health for Kids by Dr. John Douillard
• Body Thrive Book

Related podcasts:

• 10 Tips for Intermittent Fasting with Ayurvedic Wisdom
• Owning Your Emotional Eating by Transforming Your Fat with Intermittent Fasting
• Productivity + Connectivity Tips for a Dharmic Life
• Birthing Yourself with a Sacred Postpartum Experience in Ayurveda with Reena Jadhav

Show Highlights:

• 1:10 — Alyssa asks about shakti. She isn’t quite sure what it is, but thinks it’s more of an attitude or energy of surrender as opposed to forcing something to happen. We have fluctuations in energy, and we have the ability to observe the energy as it changes. Cate gets in depth about what these impulses are, how shiva and shakti are related, and how we can turn our awareness toward what the quality of our energies can become.
• 4:34 — Joh asks about ama and whether or not we’re completely able to get rid of it. What does it mean for our digestion? We do want to get rid of most of our ama, but we don’t need to become obsessed with it. It’s really hard to stay away from low-quality foods, but most people just don’t have the habits of an ama-free lifestyle. Those habits are what’s important to cultivate, as is eating pranic foods.
• 11:45 — Kim asks about the pranic value of frozen foods. She’s heard Cate talk about freezing gathered plants for later use, and she also wants to know if hunting for meat and freezing it is more ethical or sustainable. Does freezing the food destroy the energy and nutrients? Short answer: not entirely. Nature freezes and thaws foods, and if we eat frozen foods within a 12-month cycle, they’re fine — often you can still feel their pranic energy.
• 15:50 — This listener has heard Cate talk a lot about intermittent fasting and wants to know what Cate recommends for a vata who needs to gain weight but is having trouble, particularly with digestion. People with high vata tend to disperse energy due to their shakti. Vata is mobile, and it can cause us to feel unstable. The real question is whether people with a vata (or any) imbalance can enjoy meal spacing, and there’s no one answer — but there are some key ways to get started.
• 28:10 — A listener asks if it’s okay for kids to do intermittent fasting. Although kids shouldn’t fast intermittently, they can benefit greatly from spacing their meals and by not eating snacks.
• 30:28 — Alyssa asks about healing during postpartum. What happens when you have a vata imbalance, even a year after giving birth? When a mom gets stressed out after giving birth, it sticks with her — it’s on her “record,” and it’s important for her to go back and re-nurture herself, immersing in healing energy.

Favorite Quotes:

• “We become more adept at cooperation and cooperating with the energies we have.” –Cate Stillman
• “We live in a toxic food world.” –Cate Stillman
• “When the sun is highest in the sky, our digestive fire is hottest in our bellies.” –Cate Stillman
• “We don’t want to boost our metabolisms. We want to cooperate with our metabolisms.” –Cate Stillman
• “Have fun out there in those wild woods harvesting and putting food up in the way that people have in the past!” –Cate Stillman
• “When we’re wasting less energy trying to move more nutrients through and digest and absorb, the body can do more with what it’s got.” –Cate Stillman
• “We’re more in tune with our strength, our power, and our ability to make a lot out of a little.” –Cate Stillman
• “Our culture has a vata imbalance.” –Cate Stillman