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Ayurvedic Gut-Heart-Mind Connection with Dr. Sujatha Kekada - 416

Release Date: 10/30/2025

Winter Wellness - An Ayurvedic Perspective with Dr. Sujatha Kekada - 428

Elements of Ayurveda Podcast

Winter is often misunderstood in modern wellness culture as a season to simply endure, yet Ayurveda recognizes it as a powerful time for nourishment, restoration, and deep tissue building. In this episode, Colette is joined by experienced Ayurvedic physician Dr. Sujatha Kekada for a classical and clinical exploration of winter wellness. Together, they move beyond surface-level seasonal advice to examine how winter influences the doshas, dhatus (tissues), srotas (channels), and ojas. Dr. Sujatha explains why aligning diet, routine, and mindset with this season is essential for long-term health...

Ayurveda and Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) - 427

Elements of Ayurveda Podcast

As winter settles in, many of us notice shifts in mood, energy, motivation, and emotional resilience. In this episode, Colette explores Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) through the compassionate lens of Ayurveda, reframing seasonal low mood as a natural response to changes in light, rhythm, digestion, and mental qualities. You’ll learn how winter affects the doshas, digestion, and nervous system, why gut health is central to emotional wellbeing, and how gentle, practical Ayurvedic practices, including a supportive Digestive Reset, can help restore clarity, balance, and resilience during...

Clearing Holiday Season Stagnation With Ayurveda - 426

Elements of Ayurveda Podcast

If you’re feeling heavy, foggy, congested, or more run-down than usual as we move into January, this episode is for you. In Ayurveda, post-holiday sluggishness isn’t just about overindulgence, it’s often a sign that the lymphatic system and rasa dhatu (the body’s primary nourishing fluid) need support. In this episode, we explore why sickness is so common at this time of year and how to gently restore flow, vitality, immunity, and emotional clarity without harsh detoxing. In This Episode, You’ll Learn: How Ayurveda understands the lymphatic system through rasa dhatu Why winter...

Ayurvedic Cleansing for the New Year: Resetting Digestion, Energy and Intention - 425

Elements of Ayurveda Podcast

As we step into a new year, many of us focus on resolutions, but what if a more powerful question is: How do I actually want to feel? In this episode, Colette explores Ayurvedic cleansing not as a quick detox or rigid reset, but as a gentle ritual, a way to digest the past, build resilience, and step into the year ahead with clarity, steadiness, and intention. Rather than pushing or restricting, this conversation invites you to slow down, listen inward, and reconnect with digestion as the foundation of physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. If you’re craving a nourishing fresh start...

Yoga, Meditation and Mental Health with Dr. Ishan Shivanand - 424

Elements of Ayurveda Podcast

Colette is joined by Dr. Ishan Shivanand, mental health researcher, professor, bestselling author, and founder of Yoga of Immortals (YOI). Raised in Indian monasteries within a 21-generation yogic lineage, Dr. Shivanand brings a rare integration of ancient wisdom and modern science. His groundbreaking double-blind RCTs show up to 82% improvement in insomnia, anxiety, depression, and overall quality of life in as little as 4–8 weeks. Together, they explore how meditation, breathwork, Yoga and Ayurveda can transform mental health and how these ancient sciences understood the mind long before...

Ayurvedic Guide to Nourishing Winter Skin - 423

Elements of Ayurveda Podcast

As we move fully into early winter, many of us begin to notice changes in our skin, tightness, dryness, rough patches, or increased sensitivity. In Ayurveda, these seasonal shifts are meaningful clues about what’s happening internally. Winter, especially early winter, increases Vata dosha with its cold, dry, and mobile qualities, which can intensify skin imbalance if we don’t adjust our routines and nourishment. In this episode, we dive into Ayurveda’s full guide to winter skin care. You’ll learn what happens to the skin during early winter, how to identify signs of imbalance for your...

Ayurvedic Wisdom for Blood Sugar Stability - 422

Elements of Ayurveda Podcast

In this episode, we explore how to support steady blood sugar during the holiday season using Ayurvedic wisdom. With more sugar, irregular meals, travel, and stress during the holidays, it’s easy for the body’s metabolic fire (agni) to become overwhelmed. Ayurveda offers practical, gentle tools to keep digestion strong, cravings balanced, and energy steady. We take a deeper look at the pancreas as a home of agni and how its function relates to three key subdoshas: Pachaka Pitta, Kledaka Kapha, and Samana Vayu. You’ll learn how these forces work together to regulate metabolism, mood,...

Slowing Down to Reset: Sónia’s Digestive Reset Cleanse Journey - 421

Elements of Ayurveda Podcast

In this inspiring episode, Colette is joined by her client, Sónia from Flores, a small and remote island in the Azores archipelago off the coast of Portugal. After an overstimulating and energetically demanding Summer season, Sónia felt called to reset her body and mind. She chose to do the private Digestive Reset Cleanse in October, but quickly realised that the cleanse required a pace of life she wasn’t accustomed to. Together, Colette and Sónia explore: Her desire for a full body-mind reset and the initial reluctance to slow down her activity during the cleanse. How awareness slowly...

Ayurvedic Tips for a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season - 420

Elements of Ayurveda Podcast

Holiday season is here and this time of year often brings a beautiful mix of joy, connection, nostalgia and let’s be honest, a little chaos. The festive season can easily throw us off rhythm. We may be travelling, eating differently, staying up later, or navigating emotionally layered gatherings. Ayurveda offers practical tools to support digestion, soothe the nervous system, and help us meet this season with greater steadiness and ease. In this episode Colette shares simple, grounding Ayurvedic tips to help you stay nourished, present, and balanced throughout the festivities. We explore: ...

Navigating Perimenopause with Ayurveda: My Sister Niamh’s Story - 419

Elements of Ayurveda Podcast

In this heartfelt and deeply personal episode of the Elements of Ayurveda Podcast, Colette is joined by her sister, Niamh, an Occupational Therapist who specializes in mental health for children and young adults. Together, they explore Niamh’s honest and vulnerable journey through perimenopause, a time that tested even her professional understanding of the mind and her long-time relationship with Ayurvedic living. Despite her professional knowledge of mental health and years of practicing Ayurvedic principles, Niamh found herself facing out-of-character symptoms and a sense of losing...

More Episodes

Ayurveda teaches that the heart (Hridaya) is not just a physical pump for blood, it is central to our physical, emotional, and psychological wellbeing. Together, we explore how chronic stress, unresolved grief, and emotional trauma can affect both the heart and mind, and how Ayurvedic wisdom can guide us toward healing from the inside out.

We also dive deep into the subdoshas, exploring the subtle energies of Prana Vayu, Sadhaka Pitta, and Tarpaka Kapha, that regulate how we “digest life” and how they link the gut, heart, and mind.

In this episode, we cover:

Dr. Sujatha's perspective of the Hridya (heart) beyond its mechanical function
How the gut–heart–mind connection operates through the subtle doshas and channels (srotas)
The impact of chronic stress, grief, and trauma on Prana Vayu, Sadhaka Pitta, and Tarpaka Kapha
Early signs that your heart–mind connection is under strain
Dr. Sujatha’s favourite Ayurvedic approaches for healing the heart through diet, herbs, therapies, and lifestyle

Resources & Links:

Learn more about Dr. Sujatha and her offerings: AmrtaSiddhi Ayurvedic Clinic
Episode 411 - The Gut–Emotion connection
Episode 274 - Prana Vaha Srotas
Episode 302 - Ayurvedic Herbs for the Mind & Nervous System
Episode 103 - Subdoshas of Vata
Episode 105 - Subdoshas of Pitta
Episode 107 - Subdoshas of Kapha

Visit Colette's website www.elementshealingandwellbeing.com

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