We don’t blame you if you’re a little tired of hearing the word immunity.
Everyone with an immune system has been on high alert for over a year now, contemplating complex ideas around an already complex topic like: herd immunity, being immunocompromised, and post-infection immunity.
It’s only natural that some, if not all of us, are feeling that familiar friend burnout creeping up. But did you know that even burnout itself can be a sign of a depleted immune system?
What we know from Ayurveda is that the virility of our immune system depends on quite a few things, like the efficiency of our digestive system and how well our liver is functioning. Because the immune system touches nearly every inch of our bodies -- governing the respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive, and nervous system, too -- the symptoms of an immune system struggling to keep up can manifest in a variety of ways.
Signs Your Immunity Is Depleted
- Your stress levels have been sky high
- You get the common cold frequently
- You have frequent abdominal discomfort like gas, bloating, constipation, aches and pains
- Your wounds are slow to heal
- You get frequent infections
- You feel tired all the time
Everyone gets tired, everyone gets a cold here and there, and pretty much everyone goes through periods of sky-high stress -- those are normal parts of life.
But when one or all of these six signs goes from being an occasional occurrence to an expected part of your daily routine, that’s your cue to give your immune system some much-needed TLC.
Thankfully, one of the many gifts Ayurveda gives us is a practical approach for tending to your immune system. Through the lens of this ancient science, an astonishingly thorough approach to bolstering immunity through the whole body emerges -- one that complements our modern understanding of how the immune system interacts with every part of our physical selves.
(Plus - getting some new perspective can be a great remedy for burnout, too!)
Vasant Lad, globally-admired spiritual teacher and renowned Ayurvedic practitioner, offers a few easy-to-integrate tips from Ayurveda to boost immunity and support the body’s natural ability to heal and recover from illness.
3 Immune-Boosting Tips from Ayurveda
1. Starting with a familiar ally, one of the most accessible immune-boosters Ayurveda has to offer is ginger!
This immune support is easier to get your hands on now more than ever. Available online, and in most health foods stores, ginger comes in tea, powder, and raw, fresh root form -- you can even find ginger tinctures in some stores!
Some viral infections have been known to lodge in the stomach and other organs; ginger taken through the digestive system acts as a powerful cleansing aid, boosting your stomach's natural ability to destroy and burn through toxins.
2. Triphala, a crowd favorite for those of us entwined with Ayurveda, is an ancient herbal preparation of three powerful berries: amalaki, bibhitaki, haritaki. Native to India, this balanced formula earned its popularity as an immune booster by being high in antioxidant enzymes, reducing agni, having a gentle laxative effect, and for burning toxins in our digestive systems.
Ready to show your immune system a little love via triphala? Vasant Lad BAM&S MASc recommends one teaspoon at night with warm water, daily in his webinar on an Ayurvedic Approach to Immunity.
3. Warm Brahmin milk with ghee and turmeric, because medicine for the body can be medicine for the heart, too. If you’re new to herbal preparations, or just need something easy and soothing to integrate into your daily self care routines, this immune boosting cup of delight is the way to go.
Don’t worry if you’re not in an area of the world that has reliable access to milk from Brahmin cows -- per Vasant Lad’s suggestion, you can substitute with more readily available alternatives like almond milk, goat milk, or rice milk. Make it vegan, if you wish, by swapping the ghee for sesame butter! But please, no margarine.
Not only will this warm, sunshine-y cousin of hot cocoa help boost your immune system with the anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric, but the healthy fat in the ghee and milk can help promote more restful sleep. Which can be, of course, a huge relief to an overstimulated immune system!
Thanks to the keen insight and decades of experience that Vasant Lad shares with us, we -- and now you, too! -- have 3 accessible, practical tools to empower you to support the health of your immune system right here, right now.
But, of course, the fun doesn’t stop there! The dynamic and all-inclusive nature of an Ayurvedic approach means that when we look to support the immune system, we are really looking to support the whole body. It doesn’t have to be overwhelming, though, thanks again to beloved teacher and practitioner, Vasant Lad!
Come hang out with us on July 9th, 2021 -- the AyurPrana team is hosting a live 2-hour webinar session with Vasant Lad for an in-depth look at Ayurveda’s practical approaches to immunity. Stay a little while too, for the live Q&A with Lad himself!
(Don’t worry if you can’t make it -- the webinar will be available to replay as many times as your heart, or immune system, desires.)
