[laughs]

... um, you know, I'm an Ayurvedic healthcare counselor and a breathwork facilitator and practitioner.

Um, I, uh, originally started out in yoga, so I teach yoga as well.

Uh, I live here in the state of Maine, and this is where I base my practice out of, in the state of Maine and around the Portland, South Portland area, so Nor- um, southern area of Maine.

Um, I've been practicing, uh, this lifestyle, dare I say, um, probably for about 20-some odd years.

Um, you know, it was a time when I first had my daughter, so I kind of jumped in after having children.

And, um, this practice has brought in, um, you know, clients and also colleagues and practitioners alike, um, where we work together.

Mm-hmm.

What brought you on this journey of Ayurvedic medicine?

Sure.

I was, gosh, so long ago, right? So I, uh, began as, you know, a n- normal woman just doing what she thought she was supposed to be doing, right? So living a life, going to school, getting in my-- an education.

That's the path I took, you know, for getting an education, having family.

I was an athlete, so I was very rigorous in, uh, my physical body, right? So I was very about my body.

It was my identity.

It was what provided, uh, what I wanted and needed in my life.

Obviously, to me, it's was a beautiful, easy transition, but definitely not from your wheelhouse, right?

rules or recommendations

that are part of this lifestyle.

Absolutely.

And the interesting thing is it depends on the person that I'm working with.

So it really is a personal and finite practice for you and you only.

What I do as a practitioner or a counselor is I just send you into the direction of where you best fit for yourself in the now, right? So every day is different.

Something can pop up, something new can come along or something unexpected.

know, and just say

yeah you're welcome so how did you get involved in where you are today so tell me your story

sure um you know um let's see i would say about well you know starting off i was always um really interested in um maintaining my own personal health i was an athlete long time athlete did triathlons and long-distance training so I've always had interest in understanding how my body operated and how you know to make it perform at the best that it could over time though you know the the type of training that I did was so extreme, right? So doing the extreme work.

So while doing the extreme work, coming to the realization over time, my body started to show signs of wear and tear and frustration and pain and discomfort.

And it became chronic, became chronic pain.

So, and I just got to the point where I was like, I think I need to stop doing this and find another way.

However, you know, as time wore on and I grew older and decided to start a family, you know, I was finding alternative ways just to feel better.

It really was just wanting to feel better.

And I'm sure you help people with that as well.

Is it usually taking place when you deal with cancer?

Absolutely.

If-- It depends on the stage they're in as well.

It's a very personal experience, and and that is something that I feel we, we really wanna focus on, that it's very personal.

It's a very intimate experience for someone and to go through.

And it is a matter of su- support.

It depends on what they're choosing, what avenue they're taking on in order to prevent and hopefully either live with or try to cure themselves from or be in remission, right? So I ask typically, "What are you doing right now?" And then what we do is we just guide them and provide them with additional support on top of what they're already doing.

... and this is what I was seeing, and this is what we did, and this is what, how it benefited.

So tell the audience, what exactly is it?

Sure.

It's really a lot, you know, like many practices or medicines or holistic indigenous medicines.

It spans like, you know, a vast, huge, you know, subject.

It's a huge subject to tackle.

So basically, you know, I can say that it is a close to a 5000 year old, you know, science subject.

That was what they say realized by a few beings that decided to show humans us here on this earth on how to live and how to treat and take care of our bodies and our minds and our souls and our spirit and so pretty much we consider it a practice based on five elements, which is very similar to some other holistic or other indigenous practices.

Not that simple.

Let's for people who may not be familiar with Ayurveda, what can we explain about what is Ayurveda? Where did it come from? How is it different?

Sure.

Ayurveda is an ancient traditional or indigenous practice or indigenous medicine straight from India.

They say about 5,000 years old, who knows really, but that's what we're estimating.

That's the estimation.

It came on as there were these, as they say, almost similar to Chinese medicine or any ancient indigenous medicine.

It's a human being that came to a realization that this was how we could live and tend to our bodies and take care of ourselves and it stems and it is based around um elements and we all are made out of elements so it's um you know fire water earth air and ether so we are all made out of different combinations of these five elements And it's a very simple, simple understanding to something that could become much bigger and larger, right? And all of us are made out of these elements and different types of combinations of these elements.

what