Swara Ayurveda

09/01/2025

Wishing you all kindness and compassion and vibrant health and energy in 2025! I am happy to have finally got my website sorted (as much as I am able, after days wrestling with the technology of it all) - check it out! https://www.swaraayurveda.com

I am also creating a MAILING LIST (you can sign up via the website) and also a Swara Ayurveda Membership Hub - which will offer more support through monthly live zooms, weekly emails, priority booking etc. I am requesting a monthly contribution of £10 for this but am not excluding anyone due to financial difficulty. Let me know if you're interested!

I'm also extending my one on one consultations - check out the options on my website. Do get in touch if you have any questions, I look forward to creating a supportive community of Ayurvedic Adventurers this year.

Ayurvedic Health and Lifestyle coaching tailor made to your constitution. Maximise your health and wellbeing with Swara Ayurveda.

29/11/2024

Hi folks! I've not posted for a while, but after a challenging year grieving the death of my partner, I am ready to put more energy into Swara Ayurveda and share my passion for Ayurveda as an inspiring and helpful approach to all aspects of life!

So I am creating a website (not yet completed - but check it out! https://www.swaraayurveda.com) and starting a membership HUB. In this hub, I will share weekly tips and recipes, and offer a once a month live zoom, where I will talk about some aspect of Ayurveda and facilitate a discussion, answer your questions. It is a great way to connect with others and develop your knowledge in a fun way. I am proposing a monthly contribution of £10 which you can set up by standing order to participate in this. You will also get priority booking for any Ayurvedic workshops or events that I offer. Message me to sign up for this.

22/07/2024

Health and the five pathways
Ayurveda takes a very broad view of health. It is not just the absence of disease symptoms, but being in tune with our original nature - the unique constitution we were born with and that gives us our physical, mental and emotional character. It is also about being in harmony with nature in terms of the natural cycles of life - daily cycles of waking, eating, moving, sleeping, seasonal cycles of Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and the impact on our diet and lifestyle, and stages of life - youth, middle age, old age. We have normalised and very limited view of what ‘being healthy’ means, we assume it is normal to feel a bit groggy in the morning, to have low energy, to have digestion issues such as bloating or constipation, to have cravings, interrupted sleep. A person in full health would have purpose and enjoyment in life, enthusiasm, radiance, a clear and bright mind, glowing skin, bright eyes, good communication and healthy relationships. So an Ayurvedic consultation does is not a one way process where the practitioner offers a medicine to the client who obediently swallows it. It is a process of empowerment - working with the client to increase balance in diet and eating habits in terms of times and types of meals, lifestyle - our morning and evening routines, movement and breathing patterns, our self care including therapies the use of oils to nourish our skin, and promote oral and nasal health, and the use of herbs and spices in our daily cooking that suits our constitutions. Sometimes particular Ayurvedic herbs will be recommended - but most of what we can do to bring ourselves back into balance relates to how we live, move, breathe and eat in our daily lives. There are also practices that can focus on mental, emotional and spiritual health - there is no top end! So Ayurveda coaching is not just something to turn to at the last moment when disease symptoms appear, but a way of living our lives that helps deepen our understanding of our unique selves and make adjustments that bring us back into balance and radiant health at all stages of life.

14/07/2024

HOT WATER!
Well, my intention was to post insightful, informative regular posts on a range of Ayurvedic topics on this page. Reality check. It ain’t gonna happen anytime soon. So, I’m opting for a more informal approach. Regular (hopefully) snippets of what inspires me about ayurveda. Let’s see….
Hot water! I used to hate it. Used to start each day with a cup of tea - full blown regular tea. Clipper’s organic. A morning ritual loved by myself and Rajeswar. Dulu cha! In Ayurveda it is recommended to start each day by drinking hot water. This stimulates the metabolism, improves circulation, clears toxins, helps elimination. I started last year and in a short while I actually developed a taste for it. I really like it now. I have a kettle in my bedroom and switch it on while cleaning my teeth, then get back into bed and enjoy. I feel the benefits. I even often have it during the day. Tea often feels too strong for me now - I’m aware of its astringent and bitter qualities. Not that it doesn’t have its benefits - all real foods can be beneficial in Ayurveda at the right time, right quantity for the right constitution..
Warm water stimulates our Agni - digestive fire, while cold water can quench it. Warm water hydrates us better than cold water. It balances our constitution, whereas cold water can aggravate certain types.
Friends who have followed suit have also felt benefits - especially in the ease of elimination zone. What is your experience? Give it a try and let me know.

06/07/2024

The Name Swara:
"Swara" is a beautiful Sanskrit word that has a range of meanings. My favourite interprets it as 'Self Shining' - the true self that shines forth. It can also simply refer to a 'note' particularly the sung by a human voice. Another text describes Svarā (स्वरा, “Sound, Speech”)as one of the female offspring from Mahākālī. Mahākālī is one of the three primary forms of Devī, the other two being Mahālakṣmī and Mahāsarasvatī.

In the mid 1990s, when I first started offering Indian singing with Rajeswar, we called our venture 'Swaramalika' meaning garland of notes. So this is honouring these origins.

06/07/2024

So what is my role as a coach? My previous understanding of Ayurveda was that it was an ‘alternative medicine’, and that it involved seeing an Ayurvedic specialist/doctor, who would make a diagnosis, then give a treatment - maybe medicines or therapies. The ‘patient’ would have a passive role, relying on the expertise of the practitioner, and passively receiving the recommendations, herbs or therapies recommended.

This was before I understood that Ayurveda in its essence, is the birthright of every single human being, a guide to uncovering our own, innate understanding of our human bodies, minds, emotions, spirits, as integral part of the natural environment. At its best, it will help us re-awaken the ‘natural intelligence of our cells’ so that we can intuit what is best for our own unique selves. How to recognise when we begin to go out of balance, and to know how to bring ourselves back.

Yes, there are times when we may need the help of a highly trained doctor or specialist - if our imbalance has become extreme, if disease has really taken hold of us and we need ‘extra-ordinary’ intervention to help us. Even then, there is so much we ourselves can do to make our symptoms and quality of life more manageable and easeful which an Ayurvedic coach can assist with.

As a coach, my role is to help empower you. To be at your side, supporting your journey as you awaken to your own natural wisdom. To really listen to you and hear your own unique story. I am also on that journey. I am very much a ‘work in progress’ myself. I know how hard it is to make even small changes. I also know how some small changes can produce big results.

Learning the wisdom of Ayurveda as it relates to our constitution, the 5 elements, our circadian rhythms, the seasons of the year, the stages of life - all this is like having the scales taken from your eyes - it makes sense, it seems obvious and natural.

Any good coach does not try to impose something alien onto you, but to help you see underneath your own surface, at your own pace, and discover for yourself how to be more fully, vibrantly, radiantly alive.

05/07/2024

Welcome! here you can find information and updates about my Ayurveda Health and Lifestyle practice.

Ayurveda is a comprehensive approach to health and wellbeing that is over 5000 years old, and originated in ancient India. It means 'knowledge/science of life' and is about helping us to realign with natural cycles and rhythms, according to our own unique constitution. It addresses health in its broadest sense - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. The pathways to wellbeing incorporate diet, lifestyle, movement, breath work, voice work and singing, herbal supplements, and therapies.

Ayurveda can help with issues that deplete our overall health such as problems sleeping, low energy, bloating and other digestive issues - it an also help us manage mores serious or chronic conditions better and can work alongside existing allopathic treatments.

As a coach, my role is to empower you in your understanding yourself and being able to take on practices that increase your wellbeing. It focuses on the origins of imbalance, rather than superficial symptoms. Often very simple adjustments have an immediate impact, though in general small, slow steps are the best way to address chronic issues.