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3 Steps Toward Divine Feminine Ayurveda

A Movement Towards True Ayurveda and Healing

Feminine form Ayurveda is the true Ayurveda of ancient India. You might wonder—what does it mean for something to be the true Ayurveda? There are two answers to that question.

The first is that before India came under British rule, Ayurveda flourished not only as a system of medicine, but as a spiritual practice. Healing was known to be a spiritual affair, medicine and spirit were one. The influence of the West in India changed India’s approach to medicine. The wisdom of Ayurveda was all but lost under British rule. For Ayurveda to have legitimacy as a healing system, it needed to conform to allopathic (Western) medicine’s approach. Thus, it was stripped of its spiritual and feminine roots.

Second, it was the women of India who continued to practice the Ayurveda of pre-colonial times. There are two reasons for this: i) woman had always been the communities’ healers, both in the West and in the East. Their knowledge was passed down orally; and ii) In the age of modernization and patriarchy, women were excluded from the healing arts, medicine became institutionalized and one had to study for many years in order to “practice medicine”. This excluded woman who were mostly kept out of higher education and the sciences.

In the West, the eradication of feminine form healing arts was exhaustive due to the millions of women killed during the witch hunts that cycled through Europe and the Americas. We have of our Indian sisters to thank for keeping the flame of feminine form medicine lit for us.

That is why I refer to feminine form Ayurveda, and why my students have now come to call it Divine Feminine Ayurveda. It’s an approach to health that is radically different from the “traditional medicine” that we are familiar with in the West. It even differs from what Indians of the last few hundred years have known due to the Westernization of Ayurveda in India.

Begin Now: Divine Feminine Ayurveda

1. Intentionally cultivate and expand your community. The human Ātman, soul, desperately wants to be seen. Not necessarily fixed or saved, but simply witnessed and loved unconditionally. Organize a potluck and extend the invitation to your outer circle of acquaintances, plan a community activism meeting and get in the habit of regularly volunteering your time to a nonprofit. Feminine medicine comes through the oral tradition, through community, and through relationships. It’s not entirely taught and learned through a textbook, it’s learned through direct experience and relationship.

2. Honor your desires—spring is when we are intuitively most attuned to our deepest driving desires. We learn Divine Feminine Ayurveda not through the pre-frontal cortex alone, but through the back of the brain and body as well. This is foundational because it means that we first heal ourselves and learn the healing arts through our own practice of self-love and self-healing. It means digesting the material IN and WITH the body, not just the intellect.

There exists a culturally imposed need to be very masculine about our approach to health: What pills, what herbs, what’s wrong with me? With a feminine approach to health, we’re not adding anything, instead we are subtracting what isn’t real anymore, what’s not serving us. Divine Feminine Ayurveda ask us to find the place within our being that is already balanced, that needs nothing else, and begin the process of healing from there first.

A practice to connect with your subconscious self:

For 40 days, first thing every morning, write down your dreams. The more you practice this the more you will remember from your dreams. Our beloved Ayurveda father, Dr. Vasant Lad, explains in our Shakti Ayurveda School textbook: "Dreams are a discharge of the nerve cells, the drainage of incomplete thoughts, actions, and feelings. In a dream, you finish unfinished business and the brain is able to restore order”[1].

According to Ayurveda, dreams are classified as vata, pitta, kapha. Vata dreams are very active, includes: flying, death, autumn and are sometimes fearful; pitta dreams are fiery, includes: feeling of having arrived too late, being embarrassed, problem solving, summer; and kapha dreams are often romantic, includes: doing something slowly, eating, spring or winter.  Dr. Lad says “Classify the dreams, then treat the dosha and you will have good results”.⠀

Many times, studying our dreams gives us a window into the subconscious—our deepest anxieties and dreams.

3. Adaptability as health. The adaptability of our nervous and immune system is directly linked to the strength of our Ojas, the subtle energetic honey of our body. Think of Ojas as your psychophysical container or shield. When Ojas is strong, we have abundant energy, strong immunity and can adapt to the ever-changing circumstances of life with ease.

My go-to super ojas building plant is Shatavari (Asparagus racemosus). It’s a staple in my kitchen and I always recommend a student on the path of Ayurveda befriend this unctuous plant. Shatavari builds the tissues and fluids of the body. It’s a nutritive tonic, powerful adaptogen and a wonderful demulcent for vata-type bodies that struggle to retain water. It’s especially recommended for regulating and rejuvenating the female reproductive system. To stay hydrated, strong and lubricated, use Shatavari to make a tea. Let it steep as long as you like (a whole day even!) and then sip it warm, little by little, throughout the day.

Divine Feminine Ayurveda understands that there is no ideal health. That the mind/body complex is never in perfect balance, but always in flux. When we study Shakti, Life Force, we see that she is always shifting and changing. For that reason, she is not reaching for a standard of perfection, but instead concentrating on her own resources of adaptability. Feminine form medicine understands health as your ability to adapt to the changing environment and circumstances of your life.  Divine Feminine Ayurveda is subtle.

The Laws of Nature

Divine Feminine Ayurveda is the ancient wisdom of the body and the cosmos. It reminds us of what we have forgotten--it asks us to remember, Smarana, our ancient knowing. Divine Feminine Ayurveda is deeply connected to nature. It awakens the deep knowing: You Are Nature. You are Already Connected to Nature.

Our society has confused scientific opinions, social media, and advertising, with the limitless knowledge that lives in our hearts. Instead, feminine form medicine asks us to trust ourselves and our bodies. It’s a practice of radical trust, creativity and insight in ourselves: radical self-sovereignty. It asks us to claim our power, our experience and our understanding of our bodies.

Divine Feminine Ayurveda asks us to trust in OWN bodies, as our bodies contain the intelligence of the cosmos, the intelligence of nature. Nothing external can help us if we are not in conscious communion with our body. It posits that we can find balance through our OWN resources.

Divine Feminine Ayurveda bows to nature as the eternal feminine, the most creative and nourishing channel of this world. It is not static or idealistic. It has no preconceived notions of what our body should look like or our minds should be like. It is not authoritarian structures, it is not statistical averages and standards. It is fluid and adaptable.

With this self-sovereignty and trust in nature, feminine form medicine stresses the importance of asking—What do I need now?

It’s a meditation on self-love as the very first step in healing. It’s a mentorship with Self. We are in a moment of revitalization of the feminine. We are remembering Her and finding the courage to live from the heart. We are awakening the Divine Feminine Ayurveda.

 

[1] “Chapter Five Dhātus.” Textbook of Ayurveda, by Vasant Lad, Ayurvedic Press, 2002, pp. 161–162.

A version of this article appeared on Banyan Botanicals blog on June 20, 2018.

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…when you’re in a love affair with your own in …when you’re in a love affair with your own inner best friend, healer or parent and realize that you have a presence within you that offers the guidance, love and acceptance you really long for. 💞 

When you meet this inner companion, the need for outside validation begins to fade. You realize that the most powerful healing force you’ve ever known lies with your relationship to your Higher Self or personal connection to Divinity.

Or maybe you’ve been lucky enough to have one of those few special friends in your life who serves in this role for you—tag someone below who makes you feel this way. 🤝🏽
On the summer solstice, the earth is closest to th On the summer solstice, the earth is closest to the sun. Solar energy reaches a peak, and we can experience this solar energy within us on a subtle level if we pay close attention.⁠
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The solstice is a time to let our UP + OUT energy flow, experience the higher frequencies of celebration and bask in the abundance of light.⁠
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P.S. Go deeper with us into an elemental study of nature and your body’s innate wisdom in our free Women’s Wisdom and Ayurveda mini-course. Comment WISDOM below to get access now. 🌼🌿
Nature always knows how to help us stay balanced, Nature always knows how to help us stay balanced, and Mama Nature is always offering us her health-giving gifts in the form of seasonal produce! Ayurveda teaches us to eat with the seasons—in summertime, that means letting our food nourish and cool us from the inside out.⁠
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Here are my go-to summer fruits and veggies to keep that Pitta calm, your digestion happy and your skin hydrated and glowing:⁠
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🥒 Cucumbers: The ultimate Pitta soother, hydrating and cooling.⁠
🍉 Watermelon: Sweet, juicy and the perfect antidote to summer’s heat.⁠
🍓 Strawberries: Antioxidant-rich, sweet and a little astringent—the optimal light pick me up.⁠
🍑 Peaches: Hydrating and satisfying: Is there anything better than a fat, juicy summer peach!?⁠
🥒 Zucchini (and all your summer squashes): Moist, cooling and easy to digest.⁠
🍒 Cherries: Sweet and astringent goodness with heart-loving benefits.⁠
🌽 Sweet Corn: Grounding and satisfying, a perfect addition to your summer salads.⁠
🫐 Blueberries: Cooling and cleansing, while also supporting overall digestion. Their antioxidant-rich profile is just a bonus!⁠
🍇 Grapes: Grapes are kinda like nature’s perfect summer candy, amiright!? ⁠
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A few little tips I’ll leave you with:⁠
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~ Fruit is best enjoyed on its own (not with heavy meals).⁠
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~ Keep it seasonal and local if you can, even if it doesn’t match this list perfectly!⁠
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~ Mid-morning or afternoon is the ideal time to consume fruit while honoring our agni’s rhythm.⁠
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Ayurveda helps us balance our mind, body and spirit from the inside out with ancient (yet timeless) healing spiritual principles. ⁠
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🌺 If you’re ready to take your journey with Ayurveda to the next level, join us in 2026 and become a certified Ayurvedic Wellness Coach. Learn more about Shakti Ayurveda School at the link in our bio.
The heart chakra is where we get a second pass at The heart chakra is where we get a second pass at our emotions—the sacral chakra says, “How does this make ME feel?” The heart says, “How does this experience affect EVERYONE?”⁠
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When we allow our emotions to rise into the heart, we can hold our own feelings alongside an awareness of the collective.⁠
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We begin to understand that we’re all touched by the same moment in different ways, because we’re each seeing through a unique lens and set of past experiences. ⁠
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Join us on June 26th from 10am-12pm ET for our next Spirit Sessions deep dive into the Heart Chakra! ⁠
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🌿 Curious what last month’s session was like? Catch a sneak peek by listening to the latest Spirit Sessions Podcast episode and get a taste of these monthly spirit-woman gatherings.⁠
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🌹 Catch the podcast and join us for the next Spirit Sessions meeting on June 26th at the link in bio.
When you try to delete your shadow work instead of When you try to delete your shadow work instead of actually doing it… 🫠🗑️

Healing doesn’t happen in one meditation practice (or even one therapy session). True healing is actually a lifetime of learning to love and accept who you really are.

Authentic self-compassion isn’t about deleting our darkness or getting rid of our shadows. It’s about developing our capacity to hold it all. ✨

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