Intuitive Ayurveda to Reset your Health with Nidhi Pandya [Episode #98

Intuitive Ayurveda to Reset your Health with Nidhi Pandya [Episode #983]

This Week’s Episode:

In this episode Kimberly interviews Ayurvedic expert Dr. Nidhi Pandya about her new book, ‘Your Body Already Knows Intuitive Ayurveda.’ They explore the relevance of Ayurveda in modern life, emphasizing the importance of understanding natural rhythms and patterns for overall well-being. Nidhi shares practical steps for integrating Ayurvedic principles into daily life, including meal timing, the significance of intuition, and self-care practices like scalp massage. The discussion also delves into nutritional factors affecting hair health and the healing properties of warm foods, highlighting the holistic approach of Ayurveda to health and wellness. In this enlightening conversation, Nidhi discusses the profound impact of cooking on human evolution, emphasizing the importance of warm and moist foods for our microbiome and overall health. She explores the balance between raw and cooked foods, the significance of fats and spices in cooking, and how Ayurvedic principles can be adapted to various cuisines. Nidhi also shares insights on creating a personal toolkit for maintaining balance in life, the power of breath as a tool for well-being, and the wisdom of aging in relation to biohacking. Ultimately, she empowers listeners to reconnect with their inner wisdom and embrace a holistic approach to health and nutrition.

About Nidhi Pandya

Nidhi Pandya is an Ayurvedic Doctor based in NYC and creator of the Inner Climate® Framework. This groundbreaking approach, which merges ancient wisdom with modern science, represents the essence of her 15 years of dedicated practice and deep understanding of Ayurvedic principles.

Raised in India, Nidhi was immersed in Vedic wisdom from birth, drawing inspiration from her grandfather, a respected Ayurvedic healer. Her journey led her to formal education in holistic health, culminating in her becoming an Ayurvedic Doctor. However, Nidhi soon realized the limitations of a strictly prescriptive approach to health. This insight spurred her to reinterpret Ayurveda through a transformative lens, making ancient knowledge accessible and relevant in today’s world.

Nidhi’s passion lies in empowering women to become self-aware and live intuitively, achieving Mind-Body Balance. She excels in distilling complex ancient scriptures into practical wisdom, applicable to modern lifestyles. Her method, taught globally, focuses on realigning the mind and body, fostering radical transformation in the lives of her students.

An international teacher, coach, speaker and author, Nidhi contributes to various publications and serves as a faculty member at the Shakti School. Her strength lies in her unique ability to bridge the gap between traditional Ayurvedic teachings and the needs of contemporary women, guiding them towards a balanced, empowered life.

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Guest Resources

Book: Your Body Already Knows

Website: https://www.nidhi.me/

Episode Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Ayurveda and Its Relevance Today

03:05 Understanding Rhythms and Patterns in Ayurveda

05:48 Practical Steps to an Ayurvedic Lifestyle

08:53 Intuition vs. Conditioning in Health Choices

11:59 The Importance of Scalp Massage and Hair Care

14:53 Nutritional Factors Affecting Hair Health

17:53 The Role of Warm Foods in Healing

21:00 Balancing Nutritional Intake for Optimal Health

26:10 The Warmth of Cooking and Its Impact on Humanity

28:59 Balancing Raw and Cooked Foods

32:03 The Importance of Fats and Spices in Cooking

34:48 Adapting Ayurvedic Principles to Different Cuisines

37:12 Creating a Personal Toolkit for Balance

40:06 Breath as a Tool for Well-Being

42:55 The Wisdom of Aging and Biohacking

48:57 Empowerment Through Ayurvedic Practices

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Transcript:

Kimberly Snyder (00:01.102)
Hi everyone and welcome back to our Monday interview show. I am so excited for our very special guest here today, Nidhi Bansali Pandya and she has the wonderful new book just out called Your Body Already Knows Intuitive Ayurveda. Nidhi is a Ayurvedic doctor and she has this amazing approach which I appreciate very much of making Ayurveda very accessible for the modern day. She has different coaching programs and she has done an Ayurvedic nutrition course at onecommune.com where I also have a course Nidhi and I, the Commune Center is not so far from here. So it is so wonderful to be connected. Thank you so much for coming on and congratulations on your new book.

Nidhi (00:48.923)
Thank you so much for having me, Kim. It’s such an honor to be here and to be talking to you over your podcast.

Kimberly Snyder (00:54.932)
know, Nidhi, this book is so beautifully written. I love the cover. And there’s just this way that you subdivide this incredibly deep philosophy of Ayurveda in two very doable steps. Can you share before we dive in just a little bit about why you think Ayurveda is really important for our wellbeing in today’s age? We know it’s thousands of years old. It’s the oldest medical science.

Why now in a world where there seems to be so much around biohacking and measurables and wearable devices and blood work? And there’s a place for that too. But where can Ayurveda really come in and create such balance in our lives?

Nidhi (01:43.255)
Absolutely, such a great question. I can say there’s two main reasons for this. And Kim, the first reason is us understanding that what differentiates an animate object from an inanimate object? It’s a rhythm and pattern, whether it’s the vibration of a cell, whether it’s the breath, whether it’s the pumping of a heart, whether it’s the rotation of our planet, the revolution, anything that’s out there in the universe, which has a life of its own, there is a rhythm and there is a pattern. And now more than

ever before mankind. We’ve lost the understanding of these rhythms and patterns. I mean, when you look at anything from weather global warming, when you have a snowfall in spring, or whether you have untimely menopause, or whether we are staying up all night and missing our bowel movements, or we are skipping periods or infertility. Honestly, the underlying basis of all of that is the loss of a certain rhythmic pattern.

Kimberly Snyder (02:37.742)
Bye.

Nidhi (02:38.705)
And Ayurveda is a science that deeply understands that everything that’s living can only be in order when it’s following its rhythmic patterns. Not the rhythmic patterns of the universe and how they connect with each other. I think that is one of the main, you know, and we all realize that somewhere or the other, I see every disorder and it’s things have gone out of rhythm, you know? I mean, that’s one way of saying it, whether somebody has missed a period or…

Kimberly Snyder (02:48.385)
Yes.

Nidhi (03:05.521)
cannot sleep at night or has this kind of fatigue in the middle of the day, it’s untimeliness of our experience. And I would say there is definitely a second reason which I find so important. And most of Ayurveda, unfortunately, start very academically. So most Ayurveda today has lost connection with this main principle of Ayurveda, which says that disease is caused through the loss of wisdom.

Kimberly Snyder (03:12.522)
Bye.

Kimberly Snyder (03:30.487)
Hmm.

Nidhi (03:31.589)
which means that today there is so much information. mean, can you imagine our grandparents, when they had a question about health, they couldn’t type it in in Google or GPT now and get answers, right? But all of that is information. What they had, what we don’t is wisdom. Wisdom is what’s within you. The knowing that you had as a baby that I need to drink from my mother’s breast. Babies never use its mouth. Like a deer doesn’t wake up saying, my God, I have to wake up again in the morning and go to the same jungle and eat the same grass.

They’re just so connected, right? And that’s wisdom. That’s your innate wisdom. And Ayurveda has a way to bring you back to that innate wisdom. And in this era of information overrun, we need that more than we did ever before.

Kimberly Snyder (04:15.38)
I agree. So beautifully said. And correct me if I’m saying this term, is it pranya parata? Crime against wisdom, my future would say. Because again, it’s easy to say, let me just do this, you know, one biohacking tool or I’ll do this or get the IV done. But it doesn’t correct, as you said, this underlying holistic lifestyle approach.

Nidhi (04:21.349)
Yes. Yes. Yes.

Kimberly Snyder (04:42.2)
So today, as you mentioned, people are missing periods. seems like a lot of people are doing IVF or technology. People can’t sleep chronically. There’s so many sleeping pills. There’s so many energy drinks. People are pumped up with caffeine. So what are some of the, and you talk about in the book, meal times, adjusting for seasons. What are some of the, if someone’s listening to this right now and saying, yeah, that’s me. What are some of the very first practices?

that we want to look at to come back to a more balanced, RU-Vedic-inspired lifestyle.

Nidhi (05:18.647)
That’s such a practical question. I love it. But the first thing that I’ll say, it’s just so that anybody who’s listening to this does not take this as just one more prescription. I say the deeper understanding that we are diurnal mammals, which means we are not bats or tigers and or owls. And we have no nighttime vision, which means that before electricity came into urban homes, which is 1930s, we kind of followed the cycle of the sun. You know, when the sun was up, we’re up. You’re not staying with like a million lanterns hosting dinner parties at 10 p.m. We were not.

Kimberly Snyder (05:26.7)
Yes.

Nidhi (05:48.389)
So the first thing to understand is that we are diurnal mammals. And if there’s one thing you want to change is you want to start moving your clock and the way you live and eat. I’ll tell you what more what that looks like according to the cycle of the sun. Remembering that even plants do not they cannot photosynthesize unless the sun is out. So we as human beings have a lot of courage to think that we can actually metabolize at all different hours. So basically, what does that look like is the understanding that in the morning

when the sun is emerging and the earth is still a little cold, a little damp. That’s how our body is. Exactly. That’s how our body is. And our experience of nasal congestion, eye boogers, sluggish joints, you can’t really show off in a yoga class early in the morning because of the sogginess in the body. It’s the same. So morning time is that perfect time to warm up the body, to exercise and eat a light breakfast, not a heavy breakfast. It’s the light.

Kimberly Snyder (06:43.915)
Thank

Nidhi (06:44.485)
warm breakfast because we are warm blooded mammals and you want to support that firing up of your metabolic activity. So you do a light breakfast, warm always. Lunchtime 10 to 2 is when the sun is high, your insulin sensitivity is the highest, your metabolic juices like gastrin and other enzymes are at their peak. Indulge in it. Eat your biggest meal. Whatever it is you want to fantasize about the previous day. Don’t deprive fantasize is what I always say.

fantasize and eat that biggest meal between the hours of 10 and two. As the sun starts to set, you wanna know that your body is setting. It does not want to function, has, have its day times functions. So you wanna reserve the lightest work. And then around six o’clock, you wanna eat a small, you wanna eat your soup, you wanna eat a supper, you wanna eat a light meal. And as many days as possible, you wanna call that a day so you can go to bed by 10 p.m.

Kimberly Snyder (07:15.939)
Yeah.

Kimberly Snyder (07:40.226)
Mm.

Nidhi (07:40.355)
And can just rearrange the order of how you live your day, what you do when you do it. You set one rhythm. And when you set one rhythm, all rhythms fall into place. Eventually, of course, and you want to eat warm foods, and that’s a whole different conversation where we can have that as well. If you do these two things, you’ll see that everything starts falling in place. And one of the first things people notice is that they sleep better. They have a bowel movement in the AM.

Kimberly Snyder (07:44.962)
Yes.

Kimberly Snyder (07:51.118)
Mmm.

Nidhi (08:07.173)
you know, sooner or later, within three to five weeks, they’ll have a bowel movement in the AM. They’ll be like, my God, this is regular and this is timely every single day. And then they’ll start noticing if you’re a woman, you’ll start noticing your period cycles and then you’ll start noticing your moods getting better and then your energy levels getting better. But I’ve always seen that there is a certain math to this madness.

Kimberly Snyder (08:26.226)
Mm-hmm. I love that it feels, for me, it feels very comforting to have a sense of a pattern. And I can see, for example, not to throw him under the bus, but my husband is very, like all over the place. And I try to say, he’s very pit-a, he’s got a lot of fire energy. And he’s like, well, my work is, I have a meeting this hour and then so I don’t need till here and there.

But what would you say to someone, Nidhi, if they’re like, well, I like this idea of rhythm and pattern, but I’ve also heard about listening to your body. so sometimes the different parts of my menstrual cycle, I may not want to eat a lot in the morning or like, there’s shifts and changes based on like individuality. What would Arju Veda say to balance that intuitive, the flux, a little bit of intuitive flux?

Nidhi (09:22.903)
Yeah. So you know, the problem is how far we are from my intuition. I highly value intuition. mean, come on, my book is called Your Body Already Knows. But our intuition is covered with layers of conditioning and denial.

Kimberly Snyder (09:30.294)
Yeah, exactly.

Kimberly Snyder (09:36.982)
Mmm.

Nidhi (09:38.573)
and triggers and just we don’t have access to our intuition the same way simply because you know like for example you know when you know people you may say listen I just want to stay up and watch Netflix and that’s what my intuition says till 2 p.m. but underlying that is actually a procrastination of sorts the the lack of inspiration to get into the bed and get up for your day so usually right somewhere within us we know that that’s not the right

But we say, I’m craving sugar. And there’s an intensity in that craving. There’s not an equilibrium in that craving. So in that lack of equilibrium, in that lack of flow, in that lack of being present in the present moment, anything you experience or you think your intuition is speaking, at that time, it’s probably either it’s a trigger or an anxiety or a conditioning of thoughts that’s coming up. But when you’ve lost sense of time and space, when you’re in flow, when there is no intellect,

Kimberly Snyder (10:30.52)
Right.

Nidhi (10:36.079)
When you know just from a very deep place and there are no thoughts racing in your head, that is intuition. And what my book actually gives you is a framework to actually tap into that understanding of your body. And what is that state where you can actually know that we’re speaking the same language?

Kimberly Snyder (10:49.262)
Right.

Kimberly Snyder (10:57.26)
Yeah, and there’s even, you know, going into some of the, you know, really practical, like how detailed your book is. There was this section and I think a lot, we had a lot of questions even about hair, right? And people are concerned about, you know, there’s stress, there’s hair loss, there’s thinning. And there’s this whole section you have about, you know, hair abianga. And when I read this section, it also reminded me of connecting to your body, even touching.

Nidhi (10:58.106)
Thank

Kimberly Snyder (11:26.092)
our body because it’s very easy to be very mental, right? To go through the day and to look in the mirror, to weigh yourself and to have all these numbers. But something like actually massaging your scalp is such a beautiful practice. And can you talk about that practice on all the layers, like energetically what it does and also practically for hair growth? Because it’s again, these simple practices that feel like real self care to me.

Nidhi (11:52.419)
Absolutely. you know, so this understanding, right, we care so much for our bodies neck down, right? You eat what you’re doing, you’re exercising, et cetera, et cetera. I face yoga is just very new. the other way that we, and the way we care for everything above our neck is always through like cosmetic procedures or even topical applications, even if it’s natural, right? It’s like, what can I put on my skin? What can I do to my face? You know, but

Kimberly Snyder (11:54.83)
Thank

Kimberly Snyder (11:59.374)
Mm.

Kimberly Snyder (12:16.6)
Yeah.

Nidhi (12:20.667)
We don’t understand that there’s a whole system going on here. There’s like this whole ENT, it’s the sinus irrigation system that’s happening here for your mucus and which goes through your eyes, nose, throat. And there’s a brain and the brain is covered by the skull. There’s a hypothalamus, there’s a lot of happening there. And right, so like a whole earth, like think of it as a round earth and there’s so much happening within it.

And right at the edge, right, like is your hair. Think of them as trees coming out of the, you know, out of this whole system that’s within. And that needs to be nourished, right? Like literally every single pore in your hair, in your scalp can have the potential for hair growth that can happen, right? And what happens is that as we start aging, we start losing the oil, you know, the moisture that keeps our hair intact, but we also stop living in a way that

creates raw material for new hair or stronger hair. So this practice, which is essentially using warm oil as far as possible warm, if you can’t do warm, that’s fine. Sesame oil is usually the best, but if you have a medicated hair Abhyanga or hair oiling oil, that’s even better. When I say medicated, I don’t mean chemical medication. What I mean is like herbal, know, like.

Kimberly Snyder (13:35.694)
Yes.

Nidhi (13:36.753)
or bring Raj oil or neem oil. And you basically would apply it to your scalp. Everywhere you say you part your hair, you apply it to the various partings. And then you lovingly massage it in. And this is not only a very loving practice, what it does, and I’m gonna say at the most superficial level, what it does, it replenishes the sebum in your hair follicles. So think of it like a tree which has kind of lost its moisture. It’s so wibbly wobbly, it can just.

lose its roots and fall anytime. And that can happen to us. And that’s what often happens to us as we age. So this kind of goes back. It replenishes that. it also goes and restores the melanin in the cells. You don’t lose color. Your head doesn’t burn out as quickly. But beyond that, it nourishes the brain. It nourishes your, you know, if you all love somebody, most people love somebody running their fingers through their hair.

because it’s such a relaxing practice. So it calms your nervous system. It promotes better sleep. It enhances your memory. You feel more grounded and connected. It lowers anxiety. There’s innumerable benefits. But the one you’ll see very, very quickly is the quality of hair loss, as well as prevention of hair grain.

Kimberly Snyder (14:53.858)
Hmm. And then do we, I’ve heard, you know, sometimes people listen to this and, or hear this and I’ve heard it. I’m like, Whoa, but what if my hair gets really oily and how often do I wash out the oil? it makes me just want to touch my scalp right now as well. It’s so simple. But yeah, but what do we do? Like, do we, are we just oiling our hair and leaving it in?

Nidhi (15:08.562)
Yeah.

Nidhi (15:16.355)
Yeah, no, that’s a great question. So you want to do it, you can do it in many other ways. I’ll be honest with you. When I grew up, like my aunt still, my 74 year old aunt who has pretty much all dark hair still, she would oil her hair and keep it on like a little bit all day long. And you would see her, I’ve never seen her without oil. And she just, she loves that look, that whole shiny look. To her, that’s her job. But I wouldn’t do that. So.

Kimberly Snyder (15:37.55)
Ha

Nidhi (15:41.391)
somebody like me, is what I would do, right? Or this is a good starting place is oil your hair, keep it on for 20 minutes and wash it out. If you don’t mind that, keep it for two hours. So on the day that you’re washing your hair, keep it, you oil your hair, let’s say in the morning and you want to keep it for 20 minutes, stretch it to two hours. If you don’t mind that, you want to start trying to keep it overnight if you can. So you may not step out that day. I mean, if you’re brave enough like me, I’ll occasionally step out with oil in my hair, but

You can oil it at night in that case, and you can get very peaceful, restful sleep. And then you want to wake up the next morning, and then you want to wash your hair. So you can keep it for a couple of nights to one night to 20 minutes to two hours. The idea is to start somewhere and continue to build up your practice. I also tell people that start with just one tablespoon of oil. And even if you want to start with just a few drops, you want to create this relationship with oil, because it is such a

almost all Ayurvedic practices, and that’s a whole different conversation, use oil on this. It’s very scientific why they use oil. But it also promotes the microbiome. Most healthy microbiome is lipophilic, which means they love good fats. So you want to start developing that relationship, but you be gentle. You start with a gentle booing and let it go into a full-fledged relationship. I also want to say one more thing. Oil is detoxifying. It’s beautiful. If anybody who’s tried oil pulling knows that when they’re…

Kimberly Snyder (16:42.211)
Yes.

Kimberly Snyder (16:58.627)
Mm.

Nidhi (17:06.757)
consume thick oil, but by the time they’re swishing, suddenly the oil feels like water. It doesn’t feel like thick, dense oil anymore. And why is that? mean, oil, this is oil. So this is what oil does. Oil has this powerful ability to enter your pores and detox, which means all the grime will be pulled out and the moisture component of the oil will actually stay inside the pores and moisturize. It’s such a cleansing mechanism and a hydrating mechanism altogether.

Kimberly Snyder (17:31.171)
No.

Nidhi (17:36.293)
which is such a rare combination. And the same thing for your hair follicles, it actually cleanses the hair. It’ll bring the grime to the surface and then you can wash it off. I mean, I’ve done this practice. I’m 43 years old. I don’t have a single gray hair and I can attribute it just to hair oil.

Kimberly Snyder (17:45.454)
What?

Kimberly Snyder (17:53.452)
Wow. And I love how you said it’s sort of mix and match, do what you can, because I can say for myself as a busy working mom, I don’t have time to wash my hair that much, but I’ll put the oil in and then if I can leave it in a day or two, it’s more like free flow. And I know there’s rhythms and so I try to do it somewhat regularly, but it’s not so rigid.

Nidhi (18:18.319)
Basically, no, no, very true. And you know what, Kim, I have two daughters as well. So I usually will apply my oil at night and I’ll wash it off in the morning. Or occasionally I’ll do it first thing in the morning. I’ll keep it all day long if I don’t have a lot of meetings and then I’ll keep it at night and I’ll wash it the next day.

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