Navigating Perimenopause with Ayurveda: My Sister Niamh’s Story - 419
Release Date: 11/20/2025
Seasonal Awareness and Spring Equinox: From Accumulation to Renewal - 436
Elements of Ayurveda Podcast
As we approach the Spring Equinox on March 20th, nature reaches a moment of perfect balance, equal light and equal dark. But this shift isn’t just happening around you… it’s happening within you. In Ayurveda, seasonal transitions are considered powerful physiological turning points. The Spring Equinox marks a pivotal moment when winter’s accumulated heaviness begins to melt and move through the body, influencing digestion, energy, emotions, and overall wellbeing. In this episode, you'll learn: The deeper meaning of seasonal awareness in Ayurveda Why the Spring Equinox is a...
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Jenny’s Ayurveda Cleanse: A Story of Reconnection - 435
Elements of Ayurveda Podcast
What happens when we slow down enough to truly listen? In this heartfelt conversation, Colette is joined by her client Jenny, who shares her personal journey with Ayurveda, from her early connection with nature to her recent experience on the Digestive Reset Cleanse. Jenny reflects on how growing up in rural Ireland with a deep love of the natural world quietly shaped her path toward yoga and, eventually, Ayurveda. What began as curiosity evolved into a meaningful relationship with practices that helped her reconnect with her body’s rhythms. In this episode, they explore her experience on...
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Hormone Regulation in Ayurveda with Vaidya Princy Prasad - 434
Elements of Ayurveda Podcast
Hormones influence every system in the body, from mood and metabolism to sleep, fertility, and the transitions of midlife. In this episode, I’m joined by Vaidya Princy Prasad of Kerala Ayurveda Academy to explore hormone regulation through the classical lens of Ayurveda. Rather than viewing hormones in isolation, we discuss how endocrine balance reflects the state of the doshas, agni, the nervous system, and overall resilience, especially in today’s high-stress world. Vaidya Princy shares practical wisdom on building awareness of hormonal fluctuations, supporting the body through stress...
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Rebuilding Trust with Your Body with Ayurveda - 433
Elements of Ayurveda Podcast
In Episode 432, we explored how awareness builds integrity, how listening to the body moment by moment allows coherence to arise naturally. But what happens when awareness feels muted? What if you can’t clearly feel hunger, fatigue, or even your own emotions? What if instead of clarity, there’s numbness, confusion, or second-guessing? In this follow-up episode, Colette explores what happens when body signals have been overridden for years and how Ayurveda offers a gentle, practical path to rebuilding trust with your body. Drawing on the Ayurvedic concept of prajnaparadha (loss...
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Awareness, Integrity and Ayurveda - 432
Elements of Ayurveda Podcast
What if integrity wasn’t about discipline, willpower, or doing the “right” thing, but something that naturally arises from awareness? In this episode, Colette explores one of the most foundational yet often overlooked principles of Ayurveda: awareness. Beneath dosha food lists, routines, herbs, and lifestyle practices lies Ayurveda’s deeper invitation, to notice what is happening in the body, mind, and nervous system, moment by moment, and to respond with honesty and care. This episode explores how awareness builds integrity from the inside out, how integrity is felt somatically in the...
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What Ayurveda Teaches About Love - 431
Elements of Ayurveda Podcast
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, love is everywhere, on our screens, in shop windows, and throughout marketing campaigns. Yet for many of us, this time of year can feel complicated, tender, or even disconnecting. In this episode, Colette explores what Ayurveda really teaches about love, not the fleeting or idealized version we’re often sold, but the steady, nourishing love that begins within. Drawing on Ayurvedic wisdom, this episode reframes love as a state of balance, regulation, and inner union, rather than something we chase or seek outside ourselves. You’ll learn how...
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Ayurveda Q+A: Managing Overwhelm, Perfectionism and Consistency - 430
Elements of Ayurveda Podcast
Ayurveda can feel deeply nourishing and also overwhelming especially when you’ve been learning for a long time and don’t know where to begin, how to stay consistent, or how to soften self-pressure along the way. In this solo Ayurveda Q&A episode, Colette answers thoughtful questions from the Elements of Ayurveda Podcast Community, exploring how to work with overwhelm, perfectionism, and stress through the lens of daily habits, nervous system health, and rhythm rather than rigidity. This episode is an invitation to approach your health with more awareness, curiosity, and compassion, and...
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Trauma-Informed Yoga for Nervous System Healing with Sita Severson - 429
Elements of Ayurveda Podcast
What does it mean to heal when the nervous system no longer feels safe in the body or the world? In this episode, Colette is joined by Sita Severson, Director of the Soul of Yoga Institute in San Diego, Ayurvedic Practitioner, Certified Yoga Therapist, and Vedic counselor. Sita’s work lives at the intersection of ancient wisdom and modern trauma science, supporting people through grief, addiction recovery, burnout, and chronic stress with compassion and practicality. Drawing from her own lived experience as well as decades of teaching and clinical work, Sita shares how Ayurveda, yoga, and...
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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...
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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...
info_outlineIn 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 control, especially during intense hot flushes and cognitive difficulties. This conversation offers a compassionate look at what it means to navigate hormonal shifts when even your best tools seem to fall short.
Colette and Niamh discuss how Ayurveda supported her self-understanding, how she began to view her therapeutic work through a new lens, and how the Ayurvedic Digestive Reset Cleanse helped her find stability amidst the fluctuations of perimenopause. They also talk about Niamh’s integration of hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) as part of her perimenopausal journey.
This episode is a reminder that perimenopause is not just a hormonal transition, it’s an invitation to deepen self-awareness, compassion, and connection to one’s true rhythm.
In this episode, they discuss:
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The impact Ayurveda had on Niamh’s self-understanding
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How she applies Ayurvedic wisdom in her work as an Occupational Therapist
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The out-of-character symptoms that surprised her during perimenopause
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How the Digestive Reset Cleanse helped rebalance her system
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Her ongoing journey integrating Ayurvedic practices with the hormonal support provided by modern medicine
Resources & Links Mentioned:
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Dr. Lisa Mosconi – Neuroscientist specializing in women’s brain health
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Digestive Reset Cleanse – Next group discounted cleanse begins January 23, 2026
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Take the ama (toxin) quiz! - Do I have an accumulation of ama/toxins in my body?
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Elements of Ayurveda Podcast Community – Join the community for connection and seasonal guidance
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Thanks for listening!