Supporting Your Timeline of Transformation: Part 2 of Ayurveda with Balaram Chandra Das

05/28/18 • 76 min

Part 2 of a conversation with the poetic Ayurvedic practitioner Balaram Chandra das, where we dig into some of the challenges of being a responsible teacher, models of education and how they work (or don't) in yoga and Ayurveda, as well as multiple Ayurvedic concepts, including springtime Ayurvedic concepts and care.

• Balaram’s familial history of curanderos (healers), and how he’s stepping into his lineage as a healer through Ayurveda
• Being introduced to Ayurveda through the food science of cooking for best digestion, and learning how to cook for his guru’s Ayurvedic diet
• The unusual experience of his first encounter with an Ayurvedic practitioner
• The impossibility of separating philosophy and practicality of Ayurveda, and the challenges of being a responsible teacher
• Ayurveda’s holistic perception of your experience, including all of your abilities, limitations and culture
• Giving clients the option of perceiving reality differently through consistent regular association and digestible amounts of theory
• I ask Balaram for his “quick and dirty Ayurvedic springtime tips”, and he gives us a wonderful explanation of why there is no one prescription for springtime
• He even carries it through to summertime Ayurvedic practices

www.intelligentedge.yoga

www.intelligentedge.yoga

Previous Episode

Cultivating Something New or Reforming Something Old: Part 1/2 with Balaram Chandra Das

Meet Balarama Chandra das, one of my teachers from Ayurveda school, who is a fascinating person wonderfully capable of expanding on philosophical and Ayurvedic concepts with poetic commentary.

Balarama has many places in his beginning, and many places in his continuing story. Born Boaz Ramos in Arizona, he was driven by inquiry to study with his teacher in an ashram in San Diego, and ultimately followed him to India and then traveled the world with him.

So we hear how Balaram got on his path as it has taken shape the way I know him, but also how...

He questioned the utility of his official university education, and made peace with it once he was pursuing his spiritual education and came to appreciate what it offered him
The development of his perspectives on living a life of service, and how he got involved in activism in border issues near the Mexican/American border
How the anger from his activism had to be balanced and tethered to spiritual practice, and led him to realize he needed to do one with more enthusiasm
How we have two options: cultivate something new, or reform something that exists
Evolving as a student and assistant to his guru, who initiated him into his lineage and gave him his name
He drops a number of cool stories from his education and experiences into our conversation, including the differences between spiritual and material people, and how people see themselves as a part of the whole
The 3 ways in which we can learn things, including the power of stories
How we’re getting education too late, and the education that is specific to us happens later in life as early education is non-personal
There’s always 3s in the Vedic paradigm – and how there are 3 types of personalities

Show Notes at www.intelligentedge.yoga

Next Episode

Pooping Well for a Kinder World: Yoga and Ayurveda for Healthy Bowel Movements

This week I talk about what it means to have healthy bowel movements by modern healthcare's definition, as well as Ayurveda. We learn all about what's reasonable to expect, some interesting facts about feces, the anatomy of defecation, and some practical advice for pooping well.

After devoting a couple of yoga classes to eliminating well, I decided to bring it online to the intelligent edge yoga podcast community. We talk about...

research into whether elimination aids like the Squatty Potty are effective or not
what goes into poop? Literally
what's the physiology of pooping? Why do an elephant and a human poop at the same rate?
which Ayurvedic dosha is responsible for digestion, and what are the four types of digestion (agni) according to Ayurveda
what the pelvic floor muscle is, and why it influences our ability to eliminate well during pregnancy and postpartum
what pelvic floor physiotherapists are concerned about and when you may want to see one
the Squatty Potty
and more interesting, candid, calm facts about eliminating well

Find the show notes, including links to cited articles and books, at www.intelligentedge.yoga