Students in the Axis Yoga Teacher Training program complete personal experiments as part of their hands-on education. These experiences help students gain a comprehensive understanding of many yogic principles. During study of Ayurveda, yoga’s sister-science, this student added recommended practices to his usual health routine. He found the resulting data to be “insightful and interesting for personal review and evaluation.”
Prior to this experiment I had no idea of my specific dosha, let alone what a dosha is. Upon completion of the self study Ayurvedic dosha matrix I determined my constitution to be primarily Pitta with some Vata and even less Kapha. I know this is not a pure scientific analysis, however, it provided sufficient information for this self study (experiment).
Let me begin with a few lifestyle components that will lend credibility and explanation to this self study/experiment: I am,
Vegetarian (no flesh), gluten free, alcohol free, no tobacco, no substance abuse issues, no sugar (specifically high fructose corn syrup), active lifestyle, clean diet, epsom salt baths, essential oils and regular yoga practice. These are some of the essential considerations and not totally limited to these lifestyle equation components.
The experiment commenced on Monday, May 2, 2011 and terminated on Friday, May 13, 2011. Needless to say the results were not expected to be dramatic, however, still insightful and interesting for personal review and evaluation.
My daily journaling involved food consumption, essential oil application, nightly bathing (shower or Epsom salt bath), waking hour and self massage. Not to be over looked I added fresh limes, room temperature water (not chilled) and a healthy dose of turmeric, cumin, curry and cinnamon to my daily diet. As per Beth’s suggestion I did attend two restorative yoga classes during the self study/experiment. Additionally, I did not attempt to understand or get agitated by any specific situations I found myself involved when the situation seemed somewhat ‘out of control’ or disconnected (ie: line at the bank, line at the grocery store, or any service situation). Remain calm, breathe deeply and just observe.
Days of specific interest:
May 4: First extra session taught by Santosh: Epsom salt bath, essential oils, self massage and reflection on the information (subtle body vayus). Much deeper meditation (pratyhara) after the class and the evening ritual.
May 6: Yoga class taught by Santosh: Work prior to and after yoga practice, Epsom salt bath (very hot), essential oils, self massage. Very hot and unable to cool off after the bath/oils. Restless evening of sleep. Not the typical result after the daily routine. No deep meditation.
May 11 and 12: No caffeine (usually have an AM non-fat latte). Decided to eliminate my token daily treat (one latte). No real adverse effects. No headaches, shakes, abnormal bowel movements or any other noticeable differences (perhaps a little sluggish). Will decide if I eliminate coffee on a regular basis—stay tuned. Just need to exercise moderation.
May 13: Plan on attending Santosh’s 6PM yoga class. No Epsom salt bath. Will apply essential oils. Will work prior to and after the 6 PM yoga class. Will take note of the differences between today’s routine and last Friday’s evening experience.
The doTerra (www.doterra.com) essential oils used in my daily routine: Peppermint, Wild Orange, Lavender, Melaleuca, Balance (spruce, rosewood, frankincense, blue tansy), Aroma Touch (basil, grapefruit, cypress, marjoram, peppermint, lavender), On Guard (wild orange, clove, cinnamon, eucalyptus, rosemary), Deep Blue (wintergreen, camphor, peppermint, blue tansy, german chamomile, helichrysum, osmanthus) and Citrus Blend (wild orange, lemon, grapefruit, mandarin, bergamot, tangerine, Clementine, vanilla).
Once again, this has been a very interesting component of the Axis Yoga Teacher Training program.
As an aside, prior to the Axis YTT program I did complete my certification in the Aroma Touch essential oil massage technique (certified by doTerra, www.doterra.com).
Students agree that one of the most valuable parts of the Axis Yoga Teacher Training program is the personal experiments. These experiments allow students to experience many yogic principles first-hand. This student practiced Panchakarma, a five-part purification process, for her Ayurveda experiment.
I chose to practice panchakarma as my experiment, to try and balance my vata-pitta nature.
For the first three days I practiced internal oleation. The first day I used ghee, which gave me terrible stomach cramps. I contacted Beth, who suggested sesame oil, which was much better. During these 3 days, I also practiced tratak meditation using a ghee flame. This I found very calming and beautiful.
On the fourth day, myself and three classmates practiced Vamana Dhauti, with instruction and guidance from Santosh. This was quite an experience. It was fairly intense, yet left me calm and feeling in somewhat of an altered state for the rest of the day. I took a 3-hour nap this day, which is very uncharacteristic for me. I did have, what I believe was, a somewhat delayed effect from this practice. On days 6-9 I developed what I believe was a vata aggravation. I had a constant, mild-to-severe headache, which after looking in the Ayurvedic Home Remedies book, I found was a vata-type headache. I also became irritable and felt a general sense of imbalance. This, I know, was also a result of me keeping up such a hectic pace in my life since this course began… typical vata-pitta.
On days 4-6, I ate kitchari. On days 5-12, I practiced abhyanga using sesame oil, each night following a hot shower. I did the foot and scalp massage with sesame oil each night as well. I found this practice very calming and warming.
On day 12 I received a Marma massage from Beth, which was lovely and calming. I felt a fairly dramatic shift in the pranic flow during and after the massage. I felt like it really opened my breath and my heart.
While I enjoyed all of these practices, and felt like they helped to calm and balance my vata-pitta nature, I felt like I shifted too far at times. During the second week in particular, I felt quite lethargic. I took several long naps, which again, is uncharacteristic for me. I slept until 10 am on several days, which is also very unusual for me. I abandoned my 5 am sadhana practice, which I have been very consistent with since this course began. If I did practice sadhana, it was much later in the day and fairly half-heartedly.
What I have gained the most from, throughout this entire course, has been the daily sadhana practice. This deep spiritual piece has been so transformational for me. Having lost that during this Ayurveda experiment, has taught me just how important it is for me to try and maintain that piece as part of my daily practice. If I’ve learned nothing else from this experiment, that particular lesson is invaluable to me.
Axis Yoga Teacher Training students have the opportunity to apply specific Ayurvedic practices to their daily lives and track the results of the experience. This student found that the process encouraged the ability to ‘stay conscious.’ And by doing so she was able to learn from healthy practices that had previously fallen away from her routine. Now she reaps the benefits on a continued journey of health.
Quite some time ago, I was introduced to ayurveda, the sister science to yoga, by wonderful teachers in the Denver-Boulder area. But then life took over, and both my yoga and ayurveda practices suffered. While asana stayed in my life much of the time, pranayama, meditation and ayurveda took a back seat, sometimes not even visible in the rear view mirror. Rekindling these practices was a key reason for enrolling in the Axis Yoga Teacher Training program.
My prakruti, or inherent natural state, has consistently been classified as pitta dominant, and this was again confirmed by the questionnaire Beth Sanchez included in her YTTP materials: V2/P3/K2. Pitta personality traits show up quite consistently, including a tendency toward anger (when stressed), perfectionism and successful when focused. And I have many of the typical Pitta physical traits, such as medium build, smaller eyes, yellowish skin and teeth tones, and a metabolism that runs ‘hot’ making it very uncomfortable to be in temperatures over 85 degrees. Even so, in my history, I have also been disposed to being vata-provoked at the emotional level (in terms of feeling personally ungrounded or indecisive), and being kapha-provoked in the form of weight gain. So, there was a definite question as to what to focus on for the personal experiment and what dosha to pacify.
Just as the ayurveda module in the Axis Yoga Teacher Training Program started, an important professional opportunity came up in my legal practice. I ended up spending almost every waking minute to hone my lawyer brain and skills for this engagement and then needed to play catch up on the ayurveda module. So, when we needed to start our personal experiment, I grew weary thinking about the past 10 days and my ongoing tendency to extremes. At first it made sense to keep the experiment simple, something like daily sadhana and abhyanga, self massage. However, after receiving Beth’s input and catching up with the reading, I realized that such a limited experiment was at odds with my intention for this program.
My personal experiment morphed into selecting and creating a checklist around daily practices recommended by Dr. Lad (at least most of them), making dietary changes, and adjusting my pranayama and meditation sadhana. My experiment was to track my practices and my physical and mental states during these practices to identify what changes, if any, I experienced and/or what insights I gained.
In terms of arriving at the experiment, Beth’s specific input was very helpful as it allowed me to create a meaningful yet practical experiment, and this advice will fair me well over the long haul:
* Start with things that are causing the greatest trouble first. For most of us, that is on the gross physical plane. Once a good self-care routine of the physical body is in place, then the subtler energies work more effectively. … It does not do much good to work on enlightenment [if you’re otherwise unstable].
*Generally, follow your dosha, for me, a pitta pacifying diet and, for brain tiredness, eat fruit or complex carbs that are sweet in nature. Remember to take fruit alone.
*The effects of tangible actions involving food, lifestyle changes, self-massage and so forth – will affect the mind because [body, mind and spirit are not …. ] separate but …. distinct. Continue to follow your primary dosha and not adopt vata pacifying measures to deal with, for example, seeming vata tendencies on an emotional level.
* Mostly DEVELOP YOUR AWARENESS. Watch how the mind works and when thoughts that are disempowering arise, notice them and introduce a new thought. Consider thoughts simply as something called “habit energy” and habits have their own momentum. Intervene with awareness and gently direct the mind back to something else.
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The Denver Yoga Underground began in 2003 at the request of dedicated students who wanted to study yoga as a holistic system. Over the years, a diversity of people, seeking education outside of a studio, found a welcome refuge in DYU.
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Derik Eselius ~ 720.934.6934
Training Location:
Sixth Ave. UCC 3250 E. 6th Ave