My Journey into Ayurveda

This is my journey into Ayurveda. As I type this, the first thing I notice is that “Ayurveda” isn’t in my computer’s dictionary. This will be very telling for the future, as Ayurveda isn’t in my body’s dictionary, either.

I am writing this blog to chronicle my experiences as I transition into a new way of eating, living and thinking known as Ayurveda, or the “yoga of eating.” My name is Victoria Russell, I live in Los Angeles, and I have a sweet tooth. Someone said recently that having a sweet tooth in LA is like harboring an addiction to crack. They’re right. In this land of bleached blondes and boob jobs, it’s really difficult for us regular gals to watch television, go to the grocery store or even take a walk without being bombarded with images of how thin we aren’t, or how fit we aren’t. We’re also sent messages constantly of how our jobs, relationships, homes and cars would all be better, if we were a little better ourselves. And by better I mean thinner.

But we’ve heard all this before, so I won’t spend this blog discussing the media and its cruel treatment of women. Instead, I’ll focus on this woman and my journey away from all those messages of inferiority, to a lifestyle that reminds me I am inherently unique—there is NO ONE else on the planet that can have my exact body/mind/spirit and I can’t have anyone else’s either—so stop trying. It will NEVER work.

Note: (This blog will discuss ayurvedic principles and ideas, but should not be taken as a substitute for a consultation with an ayurvedic specialist, or published books on the subject. To learn more, visit my consultant’s website www.maryalicequinn.com or simply Google ‘Ayurveda’).

Ayurveda tells us that each person has a constitution or body type that is a mixture of three overall constitutions or “doshas.” Although everyone has some of all three, no one has exactly the same amount of all three. This was so freeing for me because I was one of those women who bought into the notion “if there’s an amount of money, an amount of exercise, an amount of prayer that I can do, I will have the body of the following—Vanessa Marcil, Peta Wilson, Sarah Shahi, Evangeline Lily—and any other woman that I’ve watched on television and admired.” Let me tell you, that’d be one hell of a plastic surgeon that could turn me into a 6’2” Australian white girl!

So basically, I’m stuck with me. I’m stuck with this face, this body, these bones, this body constitution and I can’t have anyone else’s no matter how hard I try. This 5,000 year old traditional Indian medicine that has been proven for all this time is telling me to let go of the fantasy and obsession that I can be someone else. I can still have a great home, career and relationship, just being who I am.

To a lot of people (including me) at first this sounded like a lot of mumbo jumbo. But last year I got fed up with being fat. No pun intended. And I decided (having never heard of Ayurveda at this point) to just start living my life, fat be damned. I’d done a lot of exciting things already and it was my new year’s resolution to keep it up. So I decided to try at least once, everything that I’d been waiting until I was skinny to try. I started taking salsa lessons that I stuck with for 9 months and am hoping to get back into very soon. I also took a class at City Yoga in West Hollywood (www.cityyoga.com) and got on their mailing list. It was here that I first learned about Ayurveda.

Cut to 10 months later—I hadn’t stuck with the yoga classes but I’d rented some DVDs, bought some mats and props such as bricks, a belt and bolsters, and developed an occasional yoga practice at home. The benefits of the yoga practice were amazing, but I allowed my crazy schedule of 3 jobs and social life to remain more important than my individual health. So despite a year of making an effort to live a different life, I was living the SAME life—just with more shit in general to do.

I became run down, tired, lethargic, and having hardly any energy to do the things I loved. I retreated into a lifestyle of crap food, going to bed late, getting up early, and dragging myself from meeting to meeting, job to job, and complaining on the phone to all my friends about how my pathetic life was going nowhere. Then I got an email about the ‘Yoga of Eating.’

Let’s back up here a second and give you just a brief insight into Miss Vicki Leigh. I love to eat—I love the entire ritual of it from thinking about the food to deciding what I’m going to eat, when, where, and how much. Sometimes even that is enough to make me happy. Food is a great pal of mine. I would eat when I was upset, eat to celebrate, eat to mark the time, eat because the sun is shining, eat because it’s raining, eat because the food is here. I used to have a hard time admitting that I do this, but now I realize that sharing it breaks down walls for others, and allows them to get real. But I digress.

I saw this work shop and decided to go. I went down to the yoga studio in person to sign up—I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss this. A week went by, and my enthusiasm about the class diminished as I fell back into my routine. But then I went, sat down on a yoga mat and bolster for three hours, and got introduced to something that I truly believe will save and change my life forever.

After the workshop I got Mary Alice’s information and set up a meeting with her. Two weeks later, I was sitting in her office and spent three hours telling her every thing about myself. Ayurveda isn’t just about eating—it’s about your mind, body and spirit working together to keep you in balance, or in perfect health. It’s a life long journey to reach balance, but most of us are so far out of balance that being even a little bit closer can bring us much more satisfaction with life and overall health. After my therapy session, I decided to make the commitment to give Ayurveda a try.

Victoria—this southern girl who loves her fried chicken, cheese cake, and potato chips, will give up these foods and bring in new practices to increase the balance in her life. And she’s going to chronicle it here….