The Inner Vedic

If someone had told me in my 20s, as a lawyer in New York, that one day I would be living in Singapore riding my bike to an Ayurvedic clinic to see my patients, I would have called her insane.

But if someone had said to me, when I moved out of my Tribeca apartment and into my first home in Williamsburg with my ex-husband, that eight years later we wouldn't know each other...I wouldn't have been entirely surprised.

Tell me while I was prancing around Iceland with my best friend Lisa that she would be gone from cancer three years later, and I might have punched you.

But tell me that shortly after, I would be living in Lisbon, dating the love of my life and feeling happier than I had in over a decade, and I could have said that I felt an expansiveness coming.

This is one of the puzzles of life. We both KNOW and HAVE NO IDEA what's around the bend. I've spent a lot of my life confusing the things I couldn't have known with the things I didn't want to know. While we can't do anything about life's curveballs, we can pay better attention to our inner knowing.

During my marriage, my body developed all sorts of issues, including autoimmune diseases. I can't say for certain what caused what, but I do know that I had become very good at overriding myself. Afterwards, it took me a long time to get back to balance because I had muted my body's whispers. Some of my conditions will never be reversed, and whenever I see them, they are a reminder to me that, when ignored, the body will begin to shout.

I created the Inner Vedic to hold up a mirror to what you may already know: something isn't right here. Perhaps you've clocked some unusual symptoms in your body, although you feel ok overall. Perhaps you have some minor, persistent inflammation, or occasional joint pain, but you've got a handle on it and it's not THAT BAD.

If the Inner Vedic had existed back then, I would have entered "persistent sore throat" and "food won't stay down." Two things I thought were nothing serious. And I might have caught the esophagitis I now actively manage.

I cannot underscore enough the importance of catching things early.

Ayurveda traditionally describes six stages of the progression of disease, known as Shat Kriya Kala. In my own practice, I find it helpful to collapse that progression into three phases, borrowing words we already use loosely in English: Disease → Disorder → Syndrome.

(These aren't clinical definitions, but a way of describing how far along something has travelled.)

Disease: Most health conditions begin with Disease, or disrupted "ease." This period is short term or acute and presents as an abnormal condition in the body, often a result of external factors such as bacteria or virus, that has a clear cure and can be treated. Diseases are isolated, discrete issues with a direct treatment.

Disorder: If diseases are ignored and the acute inflammation, external pathogens or toxins are allowed to fester in the body, the body's normal processes are disrupted and chronic malfunction results. This is what we call a Disorder, and it indicates a systemic issue. Disorders are longer term, chronic, but still reversible.

Syndrome: If attention is not given to reversing the Disorder, the body can transition from a localized problem with one system to a complex, often unpredictable, multi-system dysfunction which we refer to as a Syndrome. This web of secondary problems is typically created when (i) high-dose or long-term medications alter other biological pathways, creating a new cluster of symptoms or (ii) when a single disordered organ forces other organ systems to work overtime to compensate until they too fail. The domino effect. A Syndrome is much harder to reverse, and the work often shifts to managing symptoms and limiting further damage.

Think of something as ordinary as acid reflux. An occasional bout of heartburn may be transient. But when reflux becomes persistent, it can develop into GERD, and over time untreated GERD can sometimes damage the esophagus and lead to complications like esophagitis or Barrett's oesophagus. The point isn't to panic at every symptom. It's to notice when something that was occasional becomes a pattern.

You can make minor changes now to avoid long term battles. The Inner Vedic's Remedy Plan is designed to give you small, practical ways to respond to the patterns you're noticing. Don't ignore that ringing in your ear or that eczema that keeps appearing on your leg. Think of it as your body's way of sending up its first flare.

In my practice, I have seen and heard of so many reversal stories, beyond experiencing my own. So I would encourage you to put your symptoms into the Inner Vedic, even the ones that seem too small to matter. See what patterns emerge and explore the lifestyle changes it suggests. I've purposely programmed the recommendations to be gentle, practical and doable. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And don't forget my motto: give it three, then see. In other words, apply any change consistently for three months before you decide whether it's working.

(For persistent, worsening or concerning symptoms, see a healthcare professional.)

I spent years painfully learning what happens when you stop listening to your body. The Inner Vedic is my attempt to help you listen sooner.