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Whole Harmony Ayurveda, Fernie, BC (2026)

12/01/2025

Satya सत्य is the second of the yamas in aṣṭāṅga yoga अष्टाङ्गः (the eight limbs of yoga) and translates to truth. It is considered the highest rule of morality.

Satya is not just about speaking honestly but also expressing truthfulness through the way you think and act with yourself, as well as with others. It is a way of life. Living in harmony with the law of truth is regarded as a prerequisite for union with the infinite.

This quote in Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar explains how powerful truthfulness can be: “As fire burns impurities and refines gold, so the fire of truth cleanses the yogi and burns up the dross in him.”

Satya goes hand in hand with ahimsā अहिंसा (non-violence). Thinking, speaking and acting in truth must also be expressed in a kind way.

Truth can change in different moments, seasons or stages of life. Although choosing truth is not always the easiest choice, it carries weight. It ensures that you remain present with reality.

Chapter 2, śloka 36 of Patanjali’s yoga sūtras states:

“Satya pratiṣṭhāyām kriyāphalāśrayatvam.”
सत्यप्रतिष्ठायां क्रियाफलाश्रयत्वम्
Translating to: To one established in truthfulness, actions bear fruit.

When someone is rooted in truth, the fruit of the their actions, as well as anything they need, will be received effortlessly.

11/20/2025

Viruddhāhāra (विरुद्धाहार) means incompatible food combinations. It is a concept in āyurveda that explains that foods that have different properties to each other or to a season, place, or time of day are incompatible. Specific dosage or methods of preparations can also be incompatible with certain foods. For example, milk is cooling while fish is heating, honey becomes toxic when heated, and spicy food creates heat so it is not ideal in summer when the hot weather is already increasing body temperature and we want to cool the body instead.

Incompatibility of foods vitiate Agni (digestive capacity) and make it difficult for the body to break down these foods and get nutrition from them. This can manifest as indigestion, bloating, gas, heartburn, sluggishness, fatigue. On a deeper level, it causes Agni to weaken in the long term and toxins to build up which then begin to circulate the body and cause various diseases and imbalances.

The classical texts mention that diseases commonly associated with the intake of wrong food combinations include skin issues, shingles, psychiatric imbalances, anemia, fever and rhinitis.

I just listed a few incompatible combinations but there are a few more. It’s an interesting topic and definitely worth paying attention to as food combining can make all the difference to gut health and overall health. Even modern science is now discovering that certain food combinations can have adverse effects on health. 🍲

11/12/2025

Coffee is delicious, however it has some undesirable effects on the body & mind according to āyurveda. It is uṣna (heating), rukṣa (drying), chala (mobile), tikta (bitter), and acidic in nature. It increase vāta & pitta. Briefly, this means it can make you agitated (body & mind), cause anxiety, cause heartburn, and dehydrate you. So it is best to avoid drinking it black.

Let’s make changes, or rather add to it, to counteract the undesirable effects:

☕️Cardamom- cooling, calming, sattvic & high in prāṇa, calms vāta & pitta. Just use a pinch. Can use powder or pods (pods are fresher & more potent).

☕️Milk of choice and/ or ghee- cooling, unctuous, reduces acidity, reduces vāta & pitta aggravation. (Cow’s milk is cooling & should be boiled first, some other plant-based milks are not cooling but that’s ok, they’re not overly heating & your coffee will still benefit from it). Pro-tip: use a milk frother to mix the ghee into the coffee and or milk.

☕️Sweetener of choice (jaggery, maple syrup, coconut sugar, honey)- cooling, reduces bitterness & astringency, pacifies vāta & pitta. Just use a small amount. Prefer old jaggery. If using honey, make sure you wait at least 15 mins for coffee to cool down and avoid honey during summer or pitta constitution or where there is a lot of pitta heat in the body.

These little additions will make your coffee even more delicious, and make it more tolerable for your body & mind. 🤎

11/04/2025

In āyurveda, warm, cooked foods are preferred to cold and raw foods/ veggies. This is because cooked & warm foods are easier for the digestive system to break down which then makes it easier for the body to absorb & assimilate the nutrients throughout the body to provide nourishment & strength. Digestive strength is referred to as Agni अग्नि and likened to a fire 🔥. When food is cooked first, it gets pre-digested, and gives Agni a head start and helps in keeping it burning strong. On the other hand, raw foods are harder to break down and cold foods (or liquids) will put out the fire and weaken digestive capacity resulting in slower digestion of food or food that does not break down at all which is then unable to nourish the body. This is especially important at this time of year when we want to counterbalance the cold, and emphasize easy to digest foods as vāta predominates.

It is also important to cook foods fresh and avoid leftovers or minimize the amount of time leftovers are kept. Freshly cooked meals are considered sattvic and higher in prāna प्रण (life force energy) which are also easier to digest and impart their light, balanced & harmonious energies onto not just the body but also the mind. Leftovers on the other hand, are tamasic, devoid of prāna and hard to digest. They start losing their nutritional content very quickly and have heavy, dull, sluggish qualities to them which again get transferred to the body & mind when consumed.

So use this tip to keep agni burning strong and maximizing digestive capacity 🧡

10/16/2025

Did you know there’s a whole story behind the Vīrabhadrāsana वीरभद्रासन (warrior) series? It originates from Hindu mythology. Vīrabhadra is the name of a powerful warrior, hence the name. “Vīra” means heroic and “bhadra” means auspicious or friend.

The story goes like this. Shiva married Sati, against her father, Daksha’s will, and when Daksha organized a yajña यज्ञ (a sacred fire ceremony), he purposely did not invite Sati and Shiva. Sati decided to attend the yajña anyway to confront her father, however she ends up enraged and humiliated as her father’s disapproval persists, and she jumps into the fire in frustration.

Struck by grief over Sati’s death, Shiva is overcome by anger and creates Vīrabhadra, a fierce warrior whom he sends to behead Daksha as revenge.

Each of the Vīrabhadrāsana/ warrior āsanas symbolize a different aspect of the myth:

🥀Vīrabhadrāsana 1 (warrior 1): the arrival of Vīrabhadra, emerging from the earth with his swords held high.

🥀Vīrabhadrāsana 2 (warrior 2): with a steady gaze, Vīrabhadra prepares to strike & makes his presence known.

🥀Vīrabhadrāsana 3 (warrior 3): moving swiftly and precisely with his swords, Vīrabhadra beheads Daksha.

In the end, Shiva absorbs Vīrabhadra back into his own form as he feels sorrow at the sight of destruction, and his feelings are transformed into compassion. He brings Daksha back to life with the head of a goat. Overwhelmed by Shiva’s generosity, Daksha calls him “Shankara” (शंकर) kind and benevolent one. Sati is also reborn and her marriage to Shiva is finally accepted.

On a deeper level, each of the āsanas are a metaphor for fighting our own internal battles of ego, ignorance, fear, false perceptions and a distracted mind. They empower us to do so with strength, focus, courage and determination, both on and off the mat.

09/26/2025

Flowing with the changing energies is important in managing the body’s and mind’s responses to seasonal shifts. However, we want to do this in a way that is still pacifying to prakṛti - प्रकृति (predominant dosha combo), and that is still working on vikṛti - विकृति (balancing any doshic imbalances) that there may be.

The macrocosm impacts the microcosm.

Ultimately, ṛtucharyā - ऋतुचर्या contributes towards keeping the doshas and agni happy and balanced (when done right).

We are part of nature and following ṛtucharyā allows us to stay aligned with it. 🌻

08/30/2025

Practising āsanas is training for the physical body but it is more so training for the mind. The physical body gets strong and so does the mind. ✨

08/18/2025

Ahimsā अहिंसा is the first of the five yamas in aṣṭāṅga yoga (the eight limbs of yoga). “A” means not and “himsā” means violence, so ahimsā translates to non-violence.

Violence here refers not only to harmful actions but also to anything that causes pain such as unkind spoken words or harmful, negative thought patterns towards others or towards yourself.

Violence or the causing of pain often comes from fear. To confront fears, courage must be developed.

As important as it is to not cause pain to others and any living being, it is just as important to not be harmful to ourselves, whether that is through how we speak to ourselves or the boundaries that we establish with others etc.

Cultivating self-love and a positive inner dialogue is central in being able to practice ahimsā both towards ourselves but also towards others. The way we treat ourselves is often the way we treat others.

Establishing balance in body & mind is also key in being able to practice ahimsā. When the body or mind is imbalanced, discomfort that is being felt internally can often express itself externally through frustration and anger, such as being “short” with someone etc. Being in a state of balance promotes harmony within, which in turn leads to external harmonious attitudes & behaviours. And this where āyurveda can play a role in supporting to balance the whole being through holistic healthcare.

Sūtra 35 in pada 2 of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras states: Ahimsā pratisthāyām tat sannidhau vaira tyāgah. अहिंसाप्रतिष्ठायां तत्सन्निधौ वैरत्यागः : “In the presence of one firmly established in nonviolence, all hostilities cease.”
When ahimsā is practiced continuously, you emit vibrations of harmony.

In summary, ahimsā has a wider message of love. Love for all living beings and all creation. Hostility disappears when love and gentleness is at the core of our intentions, actions & thoughts. 🤍

Hari ॐ

06/27/2025

Everything is connected. Every system, each dhātu (bodily tissues), all the strotāmsi (channels of the body), the mind and the spirit are all intricately interwoven with each other. Āyurveda is not just about looking at, and treating individual symptoms, but looking at how the body & mind are interacting as a whole. This is a complete holistic approach that creates lasting wellbeing. 🌺

06/19/2025

Summer means pitta season. Making some small pitta friendly diet and lifestyle adjustments to help you stay cool and calm will keep pitta in check. 🩵

06/18/2025

The word “svastha” is comprised of two words; “sva” meaning “self” and “stha” meaning stable, steady, to stay, to be rooted in, to be grounded in. So svastha literally means to be rooted in one’s self. An optimal state of health is when someone is able to be in their own natural state without any imbalances. This is what would be considered a normal state of health & wellbeing for an individual.

And in āyurveda, especially if we look at the definition of health by Suśruta (15.38), good health is when body, mind & spirit are all balanced and functioning optimally, as they are all interconnected.

🧘🏻‍♀️ ॐ

06/13/2025

“It is through the alignment of the body that I discovered the alignment of my mind, self and intelligence.” - B.K.S. Iyengar

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