Ayurveda’s Healing Trifecta: a Framework for a Balanced Life
Updated: 6 days ago
Create a path to health and healing with Food as Medicine, herbs, and Ayurvedic lifestyle practices for your body, mind, and spirit.
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When we understand our unique pathway to a balanced life – we thrive. This concept is a central part of Ayurveda’s holistic approach to health and healing. But with 5,000 years of ancient wisdom to wrap your head around, getting started can be intimidating.
At Saumya Ayurveda, we provide clarity and direction by breaking your custom Ayurveda plan into three foundational pillars: Food as Medicine, herbs, and Ayurvedic lifestyle practices.
Today, we’re taking a closer look at our “Healing Trifecta” – and how we use the tools within these three pillars to create small shifts that radically transform your life.
Enjoy our video on Healing with Ayurveda.
The Doshas & Personalized Treatment
According to Ayurveda, everything and everyone is comprised of five elements: space, air, water, fire, and earth. These elements combine to form three basic energy properties called doshas. These foundational energies, known as Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, are the building blocks of our universe.
Though we may sometimes forget it, we humans are part of the greater universe. Just as rays of sunlight are not separate from the sun, we are not separate from nature. We are nature. As such, we are made up of the same energetic elements as the world around us.
While all three doshas are present in every one of us, they manifest to varying degrees. Our distinct physical, mental, and spiritual traits are the result of our unique dosha constitution. You can think of it like our energetic fingerprint – no two are the same!
Ayurveda seeks to establish svastha (a state of optimal mental and physical health) by attaining and maintaining balance of the doshas. But since we all have a distinct dosha makeup, there’s no single approach that works for everyone. There's no one size fits all solutions which often fall short. The beauty of Ayurveda lies in it's specificity--seeing you!
While our individual needs might vary, we all follow the same knowledge pillars to svastha. At Saumya Ayurveda, we call these guideposts the “Healing Trifecta.”
What is Ayurveda's Healing Trifecta?
At Saumya Ayurveda, we use the “Healing Trifecta” to establish a framework for the key elements that move us closer to good health. Within these three knowledge pillars, there are countless tools based on 5,000 years of Ayurvedic wisdom.
The hallmark of our Healing Trifecta is its specificity of treatment. Within this vast toolkit lies the best course of action for you – and it’s not the same for everyone. We use the Healing Trifecta to create a clear, personalized, and manageable pathway to your most thriving, vibrant life.
Food as Medicine: In Ayurveda, food is medicine. Your personalized Ayurveda food plan is tailored to your unique dosha picture, goals, concerns, and current life circumstances.
Ayurvedic Herbs: Using Ayurveda’s ancient wisdom, we’ll use medicinal plants to target, heal, and balance specific issues and systems within your body and mind.
Lifestyle Practices: Small tweaks to your daily routine can have a monumental impact. Practices like mudra, meditation, breathwork, and yoga-asana are a compass for the wisdom of life itself.
Our demanding lives are the source of much of our physical, mental, and spiritual turbulence. When it comes to regaining balance, they’re also one of our biggest hurdles. It’s a tricky cycle: life is stressful, and it’s making us sick – but we’re too busy to do anything about it!
The Healing Trifecta helps demystify the path back to your best self. It’s a clear framework, tailored to you, designed to fit your life. And with Veena’s expert guidance every step of the way, you don’t have to walk it alone.
"Veena is a treasure of wisdom, support, and encouragement."
"I have made such progress since working with Veena. Her advice is transformational. In every single conversation and email, I learned such valuable information and gained tools that are helping me be my best and healthiest self. I am so grateful I discovered Veena and took the leap to work with her."
- Jenny Hubbard, New Jersey, USA
Food as Medicine
While Western healthcare has begun to embrace the healing power of diet, Ayurveda has long understood that food is medicine. What (and how and when) we eat can have a profound impact on our bodies, spirits, and minds. Ayurveda offers a holistic approach to diet that honors the unique needs of every individual.
First off… your Food as Medicine program is not a diet
In the West, we tend to think of “diets” in restrictive terms. Cut calories. Banish butter. Quit the carbs. Unfortunately, this mentality starves us both nutritionally and of a healthy relationship with food. We don’t need more deprivation; we need more of what truly nourishes us.
At Saumya Ayurveda, our Food as Medicine programs are designed to balance, heal, nourish, and satiate. Rather than cutting out the “bad,” we focus on the food you should include. With clear and manageable suggestions tailored to your unique needs, it’s easy to weave new habits into your busy life (especially once you start feeling the benefits!).
Your Food as Medicine program is tailored to you
At its core, Food as Medicine is deeply personalized. Your dosha picture, current dosha state, stage of life, and even the geography where you live all influence which food choices are best for you. That’s why experienced and ongoing consultation is so important.
This said, Ayurveda does provide a few Food as Medicine guidelines applicable to most:
Favor fresh, whole foods over highly-processed foods to support prana, the vital life force.
Eating three square meals at the same time each day - with no snacking in between - helps strengthen agni (the digestive fire).
Eat when you’re hungry, stop before you’re full. This nourishes the body without diverting more energy than necessary to digest.
Dinners should be light, and eaten at least three hours before bed, so the body can focus on rest and rejuvenation while you sleep.
Eat slowly and mindfully to connect fully with the energy of the food you’re consuming. (We literally are what we eat, let’s enjoy that perspective.)
Food as Medicine and the Doshas
We were all born with a unique energetic footprint, known as our prakruti. When all is well, our current doshic state, or vikruti, will be the same as our original constitution. However, disturbances to our inner and outer worlds can throw the doshas out of balance.
In Ayurveda, the energetic properties of food (such as hot, moist, or oily) increase like energies in our bodies. Thus, we restore balance to the doshas by consuming foods that have the qualities opposite of the imbalance. For instance:
Pitta
Fiery Pitta is best balanced through naturally sweet foods like sweet fruit, most grains, squash, root vegetables, milk and ghee. The best tastes for balancing Pitta are sweet, bitter, and astringent. Sour, salty, and pungent tastes should be minimized.
Vata
We can counteract Vata’s cold, dry, light nature with foods that are warm (both in temperature and spice), moist, and grounding (like hearty soups and healthy fats). The best tastes for balancing Vata are sweet, sour, and salty. Pungent, bitter, and astringent tastes should be minimized.
Kapha
To balance Kapha’s cool, dense, oily nature, we should favor food that is light, dry, and easy to digest – ideally served warm or hot with invigorating herbs or spices. The best tastes for balancing Kapha are pungent, bitter, and astringent. Sweet, sour, and salty tastes should be minimized.
2. Ayurvedic Herbs
Once a supportive food program is established, we’ll use Ayurvedic herbal medicine to target and support specific tissues, channels, and organs. It’s important to note, however, that your custom herbal protocol isn’t designed to treat specific symptoms. It’s designed to treat the dosha imbalance at the root of your imbalance.
Rather than treating the body, mind, and spirit as separate entities, Ayurveda recognizes the interconnected nature of one’s whole being. While clients may have a long list of health concerns - from poor sleep, to constipation, to menstrual pain - these seemingly unrelated issues are often tied to the same dosha imbalance.
By targeting imbalances at their roots, we restore equilibrium to the whole person. Often, this results in multiple symptoms clearing up at the same time – even those which have been accepted as “part of life.”
Which Ayurvedic herbal remedy is correct for you depends on your constitution, current conditions, location, stage of life, and the season.
As with all herbs, the tenet of Ayurveda is that what works well for one person may be incorrect, imbalancing for another. To know what herbs are correct for you, schedule a consultation with an experienced Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner.
"Ayurveda is gentle and effective because it is not a one size fits all approach. It is a compassionate look at the unique you-body, mind, and spirit, and gaining a clear picture of what is going on for you, then with clarity and specificity, providing you the most supportive and gentle herbal remedies. It's not-- 'everyone take ashwagandha’, ‘it' is about you and only you, and what is optimally supportive of your balance." - Veena, Saumya Ayurveda
“A year ago, after some lab tests, I was told I had an "abnormal" liver. I thought of my mother, who had died young from liver disease. Veena's Ayurveda recommendations, which included herbs and healthy foods, turned things around in less than six months.
My liver was retested, and each lab result was in the "normal" range. This testifies to my long standing mantra: ‘In Veena I Trust."
– Don, Golden Valley, Minnesota
Common Ayurvedic Herbs
Ayurvedic herbal medicine serves a range of purposes, from improving sleep, to boosting immunity, supporting the digestive and reproductive systems, and even reducing stress and anxiety. While some of these herbs are familiar pantry staples - such as cinnamon, cumin, ginger, cardamom, and turmeric - Ayurveda’s knowledge of herbal energetics unlocks their capacity for targeted healing.
On the other hand, the rise in popularity of Ayurvedic herbal medicine has stirred up a great deal of confusion and misinformation. There’s big money in herbs, and the mainstream marketing machine has branded several lesser-known plants as “magic cure alls.”
It’s true, herbs like Shatavari, Brahmi, and Ashwagandha are powerful healers. But the wrong plant can be ineffective - or even harmful - without experienced guidance. That’s why it’s essential to consult an Ayurvedic practitioner before beginning any herbal protocol.
A Gentle Path to Healing
At Saumya Ayurveda, we take a “less is more” approach to herbs. Rather than overwhelming you with an apothecary of expensive supplements, we start with a gentle dose of the plants you need most. Then, we’ll circle back regularly to make any necessary adjustments.
Your herbal needs change based on your response to treatment, changes in your life, and the seasons. This makes ongoing care an important part of your Ayurvedic journey. If it’s been awhile since your last visit, book a follow up to align your protocol with your current reality.
3. Lifestyle Practices
The final pillar of our Healing Trifecta consists of Ayurvedic lifestyle practices. While this phrase can make us a little anxious, it doesn’t mean waking up at four a.m. every day for an hour of silent meditation (though if that works for you, great!). Rather, these 5000-year old lifestyle tools help us tap into the meditative flow of life.
What are Ayurvedic lifestyle practices – and why do they work so well?
We have countless habits that make up our daily routines. We wake up and sleep. We move from place to place. We eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We breathe. These habits are the key to our wellbeing – and how we do them matters.
We don’t need dramatic cleanses or overhauls to radically transform our lives. With Saumya Ayurveda, you’ll learn effective, easy ways to optimize your energy (prana) and focus (concentration dharna) so you can experience more vitality throughout your day.
Time tested practices like breathwork, meditation, and yog-asana help keep us centered, so we can navigate our lives with greater balance, clarity, focus, and vitality. Paired with Ayurveda guidance around how we eat, sleep, and exercise, we begin to build a nourishing daily rhythm known as dinacharya.
“The energies present ebb and flow throughout the day and night. What happens “out there” influences our inner experience; this is part of the unity of all things. Through dinacharya, we create a supportive daily rhythm that brings our natural energies into harmony with the world around us – so we can step into the flow!” - Veena, Saumya Ayurveda
Ayurvedic lifestyle practices aren’t about overhauling your daily routine or restricting “bad” habits. They’re about relaxing into a balanced way of living that doesn’t feel like work. As a monk and meditation teacher, Veena weaves this guidance into every session and every course of treatment – so you can lay lasting foundations for a spiritually fulfilling lifestyle.
“Veena was able to help me regain my energy in just a few months and I’m feeling like my “young” self again!
I love the food plan she designed for me, and all the supporting practices (am/pm routines, breathing techniques, herbs, and spice mixes) are so enjoyable to incorporate into my day. I highly recommend Saumya Ayurveda if you want to feel better and have more vitality.” -Molly Rossini, Minnesota
There is a saying, "The mind is more in the body, than the body is in the mind." The Saumya 3 step meditation process shifts us from fight-flight-freeze mode, to rest-restore-relax mode. Give it a try for forty days and observe the changes. The more grounded and relaxed we are, the smoother life flows.
"The breath is the connection between the mind and body, so by training the breath, we become calm, focused, and grounded, we slow down the aging process by decreasing stress. These practices are so simple and easy to have as part of our daily life. We actually feel and look younger."
- Veena, Saumya Ayurveda
1. Learn Diaphragmatic Breathing and Change Your Life. When we re-learn to breath diaphragmatically, we move from the flight-fight-freeze mode, to rest, restore, relaxation mode from where we want and need to live.
2. Free Daily Guided Practices: 11 minutes in the morning and in the evening, as anchors of your daily Ayurveda routine.
3. Ayurveda Daily Routines: Ayurvedic Morning Routine | 6 Rituals for a Calm and Centered Day
"Choose a couple of practices from the routines that provide you with the greatest support. Perform them while applying our two minute meditation technique and you just transformed into a mellifluous meditation. This is meditation applied to daily life." - Veena, Saumya Ayurveda
Ready to go deeper? Ayurveda Breathwork Pranayama
“I’ve known Veena for close to thirty years and I’ve sought her Ayurvedic counsel to improve my state of well-being. When I was struggling with significant, unremitting, and deteriorating health issues, her Ayurvedic treatment was extremely beneficial.
She has amazing gifts to share, and people should know that. Veena is a great listener whose subtle, penetrating questions effectively bring forward important information. She is also extremely intuitive.
I appreciate her collaborative approach as it results in an Ayurveda plan tailored to my unique symptoms, needs, schedule, and goals.
Veena stays personally engaged, tracking changes, and adjusting for as long as it takes to accomplish maximum healing and health. She is a true healer. I enthusiastically recommend Veena, without hesitation.” --Jim Nelson, Psychologist, Meditation Teacher, MA, author "Running on Empty," Coon Rapids, Minnesota
“Veena has helped me several times at various stages of my life to rebalance my doshas, and to bring me back to greater vitality. Veena’s herbal protocols and food recommendations are easy to follow and effective.
Combined with her beautifully guided relaxation and meditation practices, Veena offers a truly holistic to achieving and maintaining harmony in body, mind, and spirit—and living more peacefully and joyfully in an increasingly more erratic world.”
--Gabrielle Allen, California
Discover the Saumya Ayurveda Way
We all want to be heard, understood, and cared for as whole beings, not a set of isolated symptoms. True health is more than the absence of disease, which is why Western medicine so often leaves us feeling hopeless and unseen.
Deep down, you already know what you’re searching for: a new framework for living – one that brings your entire being back into balance. With Saumya Ayurveda, you’ll receive individualized guidance to create the physically, mentally, and spiritually vibrant life you crave.
Saumya Ayurveda provides concierge, top-notch, award-winning Ayurveda care. We strive to keep it simple, so you can focus on you! Opt for virtual consultations and we'll come to you.
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Veena is a Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner and meditation teacher, and monk.
She is President Emeritus and teaching faculty of the Meditation Center.
Veena fell in love with the traditional medicine used in her family’s home, learning herbal remedies at her grandmother's knee.
These childhood experiences were the seeds of a lifelong passion. For over 30 years, Veena has dedicated her life to the world’s oldest healing system: Ayurveda.
She draws on this ancient wisdom to help others find their compass to a healthy life – and support those left wanting by Western medicine.
An experienced Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner, Veena’s deep, intuitive knowledge of Ayurveda empowers her clients to reclaim their fullest, most vibrant lives –mentally, physically, and spiritually. Veena individualizes treatment plans to each person, rather than offering a one-size-fits-all approach, so it fits your life and becomes woven in your lifestyle, naturally.