Ayurvedic Practitioner Yaeli Stern Q&A

Every Tuesday (1p.m. – 5p.m.) at Baldwins we are happy to host in our store the lovely Ayurvedic practitioner Yaeli Stern.

We threw a few questions at Yaeli to find out just what Ayurvedic Medicine is and what it can offer people in terms of health, happiness and wellbeing.

B: Hi Yaeli, welcome to the Baldwins family, I wonder if you could give us a brief introduction to Ayurvedic medicine?

Y: Ayurveda is traditional Indian medicine. It is thought to be the oldest recorded form of medicine dating back over 6000 years.

The key thing about Ayurveda is how it views life and the universe, how we are all connected to everything, due to being made up of the same 5 elements as everything around us. These being ether, air, fire, water and earth.
The human being is viewed as the microcosm of the macrocosm. We are a reflection of the universe itself. Very beautiful actually.

Less etheric aspects of Ayurveda include the three dosha concept which helps one to understand their own unique constitution, thus maintaining a suitable diet and lifestyle for that individual in order to maintain their own unique balance.
Dosha can be understood as a bodily humour or biological energy which circulates within the body, negating the body’s state of health or disease. These are influenced by our daily routines,food we eat, our age and the seasonal changes, therefore all aspects must be taken into consideration when treating a patient.

B: What drew you in to wanting to become an Ayurvedic practitioner?

Y: After spending time in India, over 10 years ago, i became unwell and began to take an interest in my own health. I read a book about Ayurveda felt as though what i was reading made so much sense it was almost familiar. That was when I knew that Ayurveda was what i needed to do, in order to help people, which is something i knew i always wanted to do.
Prior to that i practiced yoga and meditation, which made Ayurveda easy to integrate into my life as yoga and Ayurveda are sister sciences.

B: How did you go about studying & learning about Ayurvedic Medicine?

Y: Initially I read lots of books. Then in 2007 i enrolled into the Ayurvedic Medicine degree at Middlesex University. After the undergraduate I continued to study for my masters degree in Ayurveda. During that time i was fortunate to get to go to India and study there for 3 months. That was truly amazing!

B: How do you see Ayurvedic practices relating or combining with western herbalist traditions?

Y: It’s possible to apply Ayurvedic principles to western herbal traditions. Its very important to integrate these as we are in Europe and essentially the ideal herbs to use are the ones that are around us, although there always place for herbs that come afar as well.
B: How do you feel AM can help with some of today’s medical problems?

Y: I believe Ayurveda has an important role with the types of medical problems that occur today and occurred thousands of years ago. Ayurveda propogates balance and harmony, so many of the illnesses that we are faced with now are due to stress and not being truly connected with ourselves and what our bodies need. In addition to this, Ayurveda treats the root cause of the problem, helping to eradicate all together, rather than surface symptomatic relief. There is a set of different cleansing therapies in Ayurveda which are aimed at treating the persons imbalances at a very deep level; these are called Pancha Karma, perhaps i can tell you about them more in depth at another time.
B: When are you available in store for short consultations?

Y: I am in every Tuesday from 1pm to 5pm, next date is the 14TH Janaury.

Many thanks to Yaeli for answering our questions. We’re very happy to have her here at Baldwins helping our customers & representing a tradition that it seems we can all learn something from.

Hope to see you soon!

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