Day 0: Introduction

Ayurveda is a vast, sophisticated, holistic system of medicine from India. Prepare for the course journey with these tips and tools.

Day 1: Ayurveda: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Meditators

Ayurveda provides healthy living strategies to harmonize the mind-body and boost overall wellness--ensuring the meditation practice can thrive. Has your meditation practice ever dwindled due to fatigue, unrest, aches or pains? The five classic meditation obstacles (craving, aversion, restlessness, sleepiness, doubt), can be significantly reduced with Ayurveda’s seasonal diet and lifestyle practices. Learn how this Science of Life can directly support your meditation practice.

Day 2: Cosmic Matter: 5 Elements and 3 Doshas

Understanding the interconnectedness of nature’s macrocosm and humankind’s microcosm is foundational Ayurvedic theory. Discover how the five elements (ether, air, fire, water, earth) join in pairs to form the three doshas (vata, pitta, kapha), which oversee essential body-mind functions. According to Ayurveda, diet choices and lifestyle habits affect the doshas, the doshas then influence bodily systems, and as the body and mind are intimately connected, the state of the bodily systems then affects the mind during meditation. Consider how seasonal living can shape body-mind wellness.

Day 3: Mindful Balance: 10 Pairs of Opposites & the Guna Principle

Ayurveda emphasizes the importance of mindfully observing present-moment qualities in the body-mind, and skillfully choosing foods, substances, and activities with qualities that maintain balance. This requires non-judgmental self-observation, body awareness, and mindful attention to external substances. Ayurvedic living is directly supported by mindfulness—and vice versa. Remaining present and aware is key to skillfully transforming lifestyle habits and patterns, which then affect health and wellness, which then affects the mind during meditation. Learn Ayurveda’s principal tenet for healthy living.

Day 4: Fall & Winter: Vata Dosha’s Functions & Challenges

Meet vata dosha, Ayurveda’s primary energy governing body-mind movements (including arising thoughts during meditation!). When balanced, vata provides cheerful liveliness, unique creativity, expansive contemplation, and stirring enthusiasm. But when vitiated, vata generally gets too much momentum—creating restlessness, fidgeting, scatteredness, and difficulty concentrating. Explore how vata dosha affects your well-being and your meditation practice.

Day 5: Vata Dosha: Balancing Tools & Choices

Happily, elevated vata can be reduced or prevented with Ayurvedic diet and lifestyle choices that favor qualities opposite to vata. Notably, Ayurveda recognizes that the traditional seasonal harvest provides the antidote to each season. Discover the vata-balancing power duo: mindful eating and warming, nourishing, comfort foods. Then explore mindful lifestyle techniques to keep vata dosha balanced and your meditation practice harmonized all winter long.

Day 6: Summer: Pitta Dosha’s Functions & Challenges

Pitta is a fiery dosha, governing mental and physical digestion. When balanced, pitta provides brilliant insightfulness, dazzling astuteness, inspiring willpower, and radiant focus. But when vitiated, pitta tends to get too heated and intense—creating frustration, impatience, inflammation, and judgmental mind. Identify how pitta dosha affects your well-being and your meditation practice.

Day 7: Pitta Dosha: Balancing Tools & Choices

Luckily, extra pitta can be reduced or prevented with Ayurvedic diet and lifestyle choices that favor qualities opposite to pitta. Examine which foods to reduce and which to favor in order to harmonize pitta’s digestive functions and provide luminous clarity during meditation. Also explore refreshing lifestyle techniques to keep pitta dosha cool and collected all summer long.

Day 8: Spring: Kapha Dosha’s Functions & Challenges

Kapha’s the powerhouse--the strong, reliable, protecting dosha governing lubrication, structure, and stability. When balanced, kapha provides peaceful confidence, enduring dependability, robust generosity, and a calm, steady mind. But when vitiated, kapha tends to get too damp and sticky—creating congestion, puffiness, sluggishness, sleepiness, and foggy-headedness. Identify how kapha dosha affects your well-being and your meditation practice.

Day 9: Kapha Dosha: Balancing Tools & Choices

Fortunately, excess kapha can be reduced or prevented with Ayurvedic diet and lifestyle choices that favor qualities opposite to kapha. Examine which foods to reduce and which to favor in order to keep kapha dosha nimble and willowy throughout the foggy, rainy, muddy spring season. Then explore refreshing lifestyle techniques to harmonize kapha’s protecting functions and provide hearty tranquility during meditation.

Day 10: Living in Harmony: Seasonal Ayurveda for Meditators

In our final session, we’ll briefly review foundational Ayurveda principles, then reassess how seasonal, mindful, dosha-balancing approaches in diet and lifestyle can support enhanced well-being on and off the meditation cushion. Reflecting on all that we’ve learned, we’ll contemplate the relationship between Ayurvedic living and mindful living, and establish new action steps for ongoing self-care that supports a thriving meditation practice.