Written by Rebecca Anderson, Yoga Therapist, Bowen Therapist and Ayurvedic Lifestyle Consultant.
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 my earlier post, Ayurveda: How Do You Say That Again?
I’d heard Ayurveda was about doshas (body types) and a natural way of supporting the body’s health, but I never truly understood or appreciated this ancient science until I needed it for my own life.
When my body first asked me to slow down
My first encounter with Ayurvedic care came at the onset of perimenopause in my late 40s, when disrupted sleep, digestive issues and sheer exhaustion became constant companions. According to healthdirect, perimenopause symptoms commonly include irregular periods, hot flushes, night sweats, insomnia, muscle and joint pain and mood changes, and at the time, 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 perimenopause 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. For several more years, that’s exactly what I did. I took on board some of her herbal recommendations and kept charging ahead.
A diagnosis I wasn’t expecting
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.
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) is an autoimmune condition in which the immune system causes the thyroid to overproduce thyroid hormone, a state 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 several of these, including sleep disruption, mood changes and general discomfort, also appear on the standard perimenopause symptom list. That overlap is exactly why I’d dismissed my own symptoms for so long. 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 some time.
Choosing my path
My doctor recommended an immediate scan involving a 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 wasn’t a decision I made alone, or in place of medical care. Left untreated, hyperthyroidism can affect heart function, bone health and the eyes, so my doctor knew exactly what I was doing and why. I had regular blood tests throughout to track my thyroid levels, and we agreed that if they started climbing instead of dropping, I’d move straight to medical treatment. Trying Ayurveda first wasn’t about stepping away from medicine. I was using both, carefully, with proper oversight.
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 give myself time to focus on my health and my business, because, like everyone, I still needed an income.
I committed fully to the dietary shifts and dinacharya (daily practices) and herbs my practitioner recommended, trusting the process of bringing my body back into balance.
What changed over three months
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 under control with thyroid levels where they should be. I still need to take my medication, but a very small dose and this is because the medication needs to be in place for 24 months to minimise the return of the disease. That’s also why I continue with my Ayurvedic lifestyle changes to ensure that I don’t go into remission. The changes I’ve made are for life, not just for now.
What I want you to take from this
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, guided by qualified practitioners on each side. 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 I could share this 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 there is another way. I want to be the person who helps them find it.
Where to go from here
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.
If you’d like to have a chat with me about your issues to see if you think I could help, then book a free 10-minute fact-finding call and we can discuss what’s going on for you and if my services can help. If you are keen to book a session, please head to my booking page to book online or call me (see Contact page for details).
