When you are a yoga practitioner, it is only natural that the path of yoga eventually leads you to Ayurveda. If you’d like to know more about what Ayurveda is, you can read all about it on my blog: Ayurveda: How Do You Say That Again?
I’d heard that it was about doshas (body types) and that it was a natural way of supporting the body’s health, but I never truly understood nor appreciated this ancient science, until I needed it for my own life.
My first encounter was at the onset of peri-menopause in my late 40s, when disrupted sleep, digestive issues and sheer exhaustion had become constant companions. I was still raising kids, working full time, running a side business and studying. All the things someone with a lot of Pitta in their constitution would consider perfectly normal!
Through my yoga therapy studies, I met a wonderful Ayurvedic Practitioner who I decided to see privately. That first appointment was confronting. She was very clear that while peri-menopause may have been a factor, my lifestyle (the work, the business, the study, the kids) was the real driver behind my symptoms.
Now, if you know anything about a predominantly Pitta person, you’ll know that being told you’re doing too much is like waving a red flag at a bull. It practically dares them to keep going and to make sure they excel at it while they’re at it! And for several more years, that’s exactly what I did. I took on board some of her herbal recommendations and kept charging ahead.
Then, in the summer of 2025, I was lucky enough to travel to India, somewhere I had wanted to visit for a very long time. When you’ve studied and practised yoga as long as I have, India feels like a pilgrimage. It is the birthplace of both yoga and Ayurveda, and to walk the land where ancient rishis once meditated, giving rise to these two extraordinary philosophies, was nothing short of magical.
A few months after returning home, I still had a lingering cough I’d picked up on the flight and decided it was time to see a doctor. That’s when I received a diagnosis I wasn’t expecting: an autoimmune disease.
Graves’ Disease (the lesser-known cousin of Hashimoto’s) occurs when the immune system causes the thyroid to overproduce thyroid hormone, a condition known as hyperthyroidism. Looking back, the symptoms had all been there:
- heat intolerance
- excessive sweating
- rapid heartbeat
- shortness of breath
- tremors
- anxiety
- digestive changes
- hair loss
- insomnia
- unexplained weight loss
Any woman navigating menopause will look at that list and feel a flash of recognition, because nearly every symptom on it can be attributed to hormonal change. Which is exactly why I’d dismissed them. The weight loss had surprised me, but I’d put it down to travelling in India. It turns out my body had been quietly trying to tell me something for quite some time.
The doctor I was seeing recommended an immediate scan involving radioactive iodine injection, with the possibility of partial or full thyroid removal depending on the results. That path didn’t feel right for me. So I made the decision to try Ayurveda first and found a remarkable practitioner who had herself recovered from Graves’ Disease using a combination of Ayurvedic and western medicine.
This decision also meant taking an honest look at my life. Full-time work in a high-stress role, combined with running a business on the side, was simply not compatible with healing. With the loving support of my husband and some significant lifestyle changes, I stepped away from my full time job to allow me time to focus on my health and my business (like everyone, I still needed an income).
I committed fully to the dietary shifts and dinacharya (daily practices) my practitioner recommended, trusting the process of bringing my body back into balance.
If you are new to Ayurveda, there is something important to understand: the changes are often slow, but slow changes tend to be the ones that last. Over the following three months, my body began to heal. I became largely asymptomatic, with one exception: a persistent pressure behind my eye. Graves’ disease can bring with it a condition called Graves’ orbitopathy, and after careful consideration, I decided it was time to bring western medicine into the picture alongside my Ayurvedic care.
Nearly twelve months on from my diagnosis, and with the support of my Ayurvedic Practitioner, a wonderful new GP, and an Endocrinologist, my Graves’ Disease is all but gone. I no longer need medication and rather than the projected 18 to 24 month course I was initially told to expect, I was on medication for just seven months.
I share this story not to suggest that Ayurveda is a cure-all, or that it should replace western medicine. My own healing was very much a partnership between both. I share it because for so long I ignored the signals my body was sending me, and it took a serious diagnosis to finally make me stop and listen.
Ayurveda gave me the tools and the framework to understand myself more deeply, my constitution, my patterns, the ways I push too hard and burn too bright. It taught me that true health isn’t just the absence of disease; it’s the daily, loving practice of coming back into balance.
This experience changed me in ways I never anticipated, and it lit a fire in me to learn more. I made the decision to formally study Ayurveda so that I could share this incredible science with others. Because if my journey has taught me anything, it’s that so many people are walking around feeling unwell, exhausted or out of balance, and simply don’t know that there is another way. I want to be the person who helps them find it.
If any part of my story resonates with you, whether you’re in the thick of menopause, navigating a health challenge, or simply feeling like something is “off”, I would love to support you on your own journey. Sometimes all it takes is one conversation to start finding your way back to yourself.
For women on the journey through menopause, I have a 4 week course coming up with Ayurvedic and Yogic offerings to help you smooth out the transition. Or if you’d like to work with me one on one, I have my Ayurveda & Yoga for Women’s Health appointments where we focus in on issues specific to you and your life. Of course, if you are not sure what you need, please book in for a 10 minute fact finding call and I can help you figure out what service will be best for you.
