How Gentle Ayurveda Supports the Highly Sensitive Person by Rose Carol
Guest article by Rose Carol, M.A. LPC, Certified Ayurveda Practitioner
Many years ago, when I was in my early 20s I was introduced to a 5000-year-old ancient health care system from India called Ayurveda by my meditation teacher, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. This was in 1985 before the concept of the Highly Sensitive Person was introduced to the world. My Ayurvedic doctor was from India, gently explained to me that I needed to balance air and space in my mind and body called Vata. The element of air and space is dry, cold, unstable, always moving, and in excess, which can create anxiety, insecurity, overstimulation of the senses, insomnia, and constipation. Ayurveda, which means knowledge of lifespan explains that like increases like and the opposite balances. That means that dry uncooked foods, irregular meals, intense over stimuli, and an irregular lifestyle, would all increase the air and space element in my body creating the discomfort and imbalance that I was experiencing.
He recommended that I do the opposite in order to balance and soothe myself. A daily self-body massage called Abhyanga with warm sesame oil infused with calming Ayurvedic herbs of ashwagandha, Brahmi, and rose petals to balance the dryness and coldness that caused a feeling of roughness and jaggedness. In addition, I was recommended to eat warm freshly cooked food consisting of mung bean dhal, a variety of vegetables cooked with ghee (clarified butter), and Vata reducing spices of cumin, ginger, coriander, fennel, and ghee laden saffron basmati rice. To help my sleep, he recommended a warm cup of organic whole milk spiced with cinnamon and cardamon to make it more digestible. He also taught me to take time to rest more often and be more self-referral by regular meditation practice. I was eager to incorporate these recommendations into my life because I was so uncomfortable.
Even from the first days of this loving self-care practice of abhyanga self-massage, I felt very nourished. This was compared to the usual raw electrocuted feeling in my body, constant overthinking in my mind, and a sense of fear in my heart. In a world where no one knew what HSP was, I felt that this ancient body of knowledge, called Ayurveda understood my symptoms as a Vata imbalance and was able to address them.
For a highly sensitive person, I finally felt understood and found a way to help myself. I started to feel less stress, more natural, and increasingly more joy – a type of inner contentment that comes from being relaxed.
Another concept of Ayurveda that I find particularly nourishing and calming for HSPs is our awareness of the connection between the Sun and the Moon. The ancient Ayurvedic textbooks explain the deep interconnection of all life on the Earth and that for well-being we must align ourselves with the very source of life on Earth, the Sun, as well as the influence of the cycles of the Moon. As the Earth is spinning around the Sun and the seasons change, then our diet and lifestyle need adjusting as well as cleansing of our internal organs the accumulated toxins from the previous season. As the Sun is rising, the body should rise and open like a flower each morning. As the sun is setting, there’s a different rhythm in nature that affects our mind and body and it’s recommended that we also begin to settle down to relax (rather than stay up late) and eat a lighter earlier dinner before the sun sets to assist digestion and create better sleep. It’s learning to let go of the activity, thoughts, and feelings of the day and become what Ayurveda calls self-referral.
Self-referral means coming back to the experience of Being. Being is pure awareness, or pure presence, pure aliveness, consciousness awake within itself. Self-referral transcends feeling and thinking, it is a state of innocence, without agenda, a place of no desire but simply a state of peace. The ancient body of knowledge of Ayurveda offers tools for becoming more self-referral, feeling connected to the wholeness rather than getting lost in the parts and aligning ourselves to the rhythms of nature. It is a gentle practice, especially for those who are sensitive.
The beautiful Moon. Ayurveda says that a walk under the full Moon or Moonlight bathing is calming to the mind and is cooling to the fire element called Pitta. In addition, as we follow the monthly cycles of the moon, we become more sensitive to our moods, our digestion, and our energy. We become aware of how this heavenly mass is deeply connected to how we feel and function and thus we can adjust our diet, our schedule when to start a project, and simply attune to what is happening in our environment to create greater ease and make better decisions. This is what Ayurveda means to live in alignment with nature, and the deep interconnection to all of life above and below.
In the past few years, I have condensed and extracted the most relevant information about Ayurveda that I have learned over the past 34 years into either a 3 month or 9-month course of study. The courses are mostly focused on what I gained from my mentor, Vaidya Ramakant Mishra, and the 3000-year-old lineage that he came from. The classes are a unique opportunity to learn more about the tools of Ayurveda especially designed for HSPs and for Julie Bjelland’s HSP Empowerment Community which begins May 9th from 5:30 to 7:45 pm CST. Learning lineage-based Ayurveda carries a transmission to it, unlike learning from a book or other textbook-based course. The courses are available on Teachable which also includes live and recorded lectures via zoom.
In addition, we are offering a 9-month Ayurveda Health Coaching Training for those desiring to learn about Ayurveda and then share it professionally with their friends, family, and clients.
To see the course curriculum and sign up go to https://amritanam.teachable.com/p/ayurveda-health-coach-hsp or contact Rose Carol at 847 636 2744 and please mention that you heard about the course from Julie Bjelland.
Rose Carol is a certified Ayurveda Health Practitioner trained by internationally renowned Ayurvedic healer Vaidya Ramakant Mishra as well as a licensed Professional Counselor with a master’s degree in Clinical Counseling from Pacifica Graduate Institute.
Some men have expressed frustration about my focus on women’s autism experiences, but this emphasis addresses a longstanding research gap that makes women-centered support essential.