Let's Talk Wellness Now

Kris shares with Dr. Deb how Ayurvedic medicine can be used to age without pain nor reduce your activities well into your 80’s and 90’s. Learn how this way of life can make the rest of your life amazing! 

Do not miss these highlights:

[06:22] We have to develop a better capacity and skillset to prioritize times of silence in our daily lives

[11:26] There’s no religious dogma in  Ayurveda, it is of nature and nature’s law

[15:23] Keeping our connection with the nature

[17:06]  Ayurveda allows us to really unlock our own healing capacity

[20:32] What is Ayurveda and where does it come from

[22:30 ] Renaissance of Ayurveda in India

[28:03]  There has to be a death of your former identity to become the person you want to be

[36:36] Wherever you’re putting your attention is where you’re prioritizing your life force energy

[37:39] Aging does not have to mean less movement, less activity, it’s about finding what deeply nourishes you in life and being judicious about what gets your energy and attention

[39:05] How does Ayurveda works for pain management

[45:40] A few success stories of people who’ve taken Ayurveda living

Resources Mentioned

What if you could improve your health & increase your productivity? Find out how with the Vibrant Female Coaching Program at https://vibrantfemale.com/traning

About our Guest:

Kris Quinones, LMT, AHC, CYT500 is a wellness & massage educator, licensed muscular therapist, Kripalu certified Ayurvedic Health Counselor and 500-hr Ayurvedic Yoga Specialist, with over 25 years of professional experience in orthopedics, competitive sports, and natural healing.

She offers holistic, natural pain, inflammation & stress management strategies for committed professionals who want to feel better, move better, and function better. If you believe in digging in deep with a method and enjoying vibrancy & joy into your 90’s and beyond…you’ll fit in well here.

Under the direction of Dr. Kuldeep Solanski, BAMS at the Jiva Institute for Vedic Studies (Haryana, India), Kris concentrated on the creation of medicinal, herbal oils and traditional bodywork treatments. She is a professional member and continuing education provider of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association

(NAMA).

http://www.rasa-yana.com (website),

https://form.typeform.com/to/u99eEP (to request a free 30min. Breakthru call).

https://www.facebook.com/RasayanaCOS,

https://twitter.com/KrisQuinonesLMT,

https://www.instagram.com/yogini_q/

Transcription of Episode #143:

Debra Muth 0:02
Welcome to Let’s Talk wellness. Now, I’m your host, Dr. Deb. This is where we talk about everything wellness, and learn to defy aging, and live our lives on our own terms. Have you ever wondered what are you Vedic medicine is? Have you ever wondered what having a tribe of people around you would feel like to support you and to love you and for you to actually be able to put out into the world, everything that you truly want, and have it come back to you? Well, if you have, this is the episode you want to listen to. My guest, Kristin Q nowness is just a wonder of life and peace and happiness. And, and this is what we need in the world today. Right? We need more of this in the world today. So please buckle up, listen to this conversation that we’re having about how you can implement things into your life that can help you change your life, have more peace, have more energy, and reduce inflammation and pain. Today’s episode is brought to you by vibrant female. Now we’re all trying to build a fulfilled life. One that’s exciting, fun, and leaves us fulfilled and energized. But we don’t all have the energy, the drive for the bodies we want. So I’ve created the vibrant female coaching program. And you know, I have just recorded a training on how to supercharge your life with maximum brain function, optimal energy. And yes, I’m going to say it, mind blowing sex and reawaken the female goddess inside of you. Now, who wants this amazing free webinar, if you do, just hop over to vibrant female comm slash training, and be in the show notes here as well. And you can get access to this free program where you can learn all about the things that I did to regenerate my life, get the body that I want. And yes, have mind blowing sex as well, while running a business, taking care of clients and raising my family. So check us out. It’s the vibrant female health program. And it is at vibrant female.com. And for your free webinar training. It’s vibrant female.com/training Welcome back to the show. Again, I’m Dr. W. Your host, and I have Kristen. Q nowness. Did I say that right? Close, close. Kin Jonas. Okay. Well, welcome to the show, Chris it tell us a little bit about yourself.

Kris Quinones 3:06
Well, I’ve been working as a holistic practitioner and ru Veda and muscular therapy for the last 25 years. And before that, you know, I’ve been a passionate recreational and semi pro competitive athlete as a martial artist and how dancer and I really enjoy bringing in my knowledge around movement of the body, and how how people can use the holistic healing systems of Yoga and Ayurveda, which is my more recent background in self healing and to bring some vitality into their lives beyond their 90s Oh, I love that. Yeah, yeah. Kinda it’s it was a series of happy accidents or just trusting my intuition, it even in young adulthood, having a real keen sense of seeing into the future has always been a bit of a strength of mine. And it wasn’t until much later when I studied Ayurveda that I understood, oh, that’s part of my natural constitution. And I have this natural ability to see through things pretty clearly. And as I started to learn more about the way nature works through the lens of Yoga and Ayurveda, more of my own life made sense to me. And with that I could bring healing to much deeper levels in my personal life and with that start to impact those who shared my life with me. And that started to really light my fire in the work that I do now, and really getting women especially feeling better supported, and fortified. For the workload that We really do carry, being able to not just survive and get through it, I think that’s Bo. We want to change the narrative on the aging process and allow enough gas in the tank and vitality for us to get to the things that we love doing and that we’re passionate about in our projects, because that’s really where I think we’ll start healing on a global scale.

Debra Muth 5:24
I love that. And there’s something that you said that really hit with me is that we just have to push through it and deal with it. And I think that’s been our culture for a very long time is that you know, you just suck it up, chin up, get yourself out there, pick yourself up, it doesn’t matter how bad you feel, you just hide it all and get going. I know I was raised that way. I’ve raised my children that way. But you’re right. I think as we get to a certain place in our lives, we’re like, wait a minute, we start to question that, like, is that what we should be doing? Why am I doing that? Do I have to do that? But it’s hard sometimes for people to have a person in their life or a place in their life to actually answer those questions.

Kris Quinones 6:15
Here’s the thing, you know, the answers to those questions. Reside deep within ourselves, we have to develop a better capacity and skill sets to prioritize times of silence in our daily lives, to actually digest it. Right and, and be able to, you know, as the yogi say, you know, use the Budi use the part of our consciousness that allows for the discernment, which will keep us safe from destructive behaviors, patterns, sabotaging beliefs, thoughts, right? And that’s why these are disciplines. These are not fads. These are not tips and tricks that you can whittle down to a quick blog post. I mean, it’s, it’s really an invitation for self study, and to build the framework, truly, to receive deep nourishment on all levels. You know, body, soul, spirit mind. And I think that universally, you know, women are grossly undernourished. And it’s showing, yeah, you know, I just, it’s just not good enough. And I’ve always been so on to say, to call things out, when. And I use that passion to, you know, encourage other women not to just settle. No, and not to just push through that experience is certainly quite common in our culture, but it’s not normal, normal to have, you know, hair thinning and loss coming out in clumps, it’s not normal to enter our menopausal years, exhausted with adrenal fatigue and, you know, digestive disorders and it’s not normal to have as many reproductive challenges and challenges and in knowing what the hell is going on with women’s health. So, you know, it’s really up to us to figure it out for ourselves and I really believe that these systems of IU Veda and yoga and and even what Western allopathic medicine has to offer and some of the new advances with regenerative medicine and in the work that we’re we’re doing an autoimmune disorders now, is becoming that much more integrative because what’s the alternative? Yeah, right. So, yeah, so if I could watch just real me right now.

Debra Muth 8:50
That’s okay. You and I could go on like that for a long time you know, I think you’re so right. Like I I work with a lot of midlife women. And I always have, that’s my specialty. And I still love that. But so many times by the time women reach their 40s and 50s, you’re right, we’re exhausted, we’re burnt out, we’re angry. We’re better. We’ve lost our zest and passion for life. We don’t know what lights us up anymore. And we feel like we have nothing left to give the world or our families and, and that’s a sad part for us. Because in recent history when women matured, they were wise right and not wise in a negative thing or you’re wise and old and crotchety. Okay. You were a wise elder and people came to you for spiritual counseling. They came to you for information, they came to you for advice. And you were willing and capable of sharing your life’s Wisdom with them. And now We’re just kind of all burnt up tossed to the side, and we’re too exhausted to give anything anybody.

Kris Quinones 10:07
It is, there’s so many layers to that right. Now there, there’s certainly those that those cultures like Latino cultures and non white cultures, frankly, yeah, have more experience with multi generational households have more experience with reverence for elder knowledge and tradition. Right? I think there’s just a component that socially, America just didn’t get the memo. And in that we kind of leave our elders in nursing home hallway hallways, you know, there’s not that kind of investments operationally. And that’s where the systems of Yoga and Ayurveda and massage which is, early in my rehab work, I did a lot of manual therapies, you know, really offer an approach to that wisdom, because that don’t work don’t last, right. And systems are 1000s of years old. And yeah, the more fun they’ll be, you know, to some extent, there’s that cultural appropriation as the wisdom expands globally to other parts of the world and other cultures. But you know, what I really one of the many things I love about AI Aveda is that there’s no religious dogma, this is of nature and nature’s law. So if you’re someone who likes being in nature, or feels fortified by nature, or is passionate about protecting our environment on that level, then chances are your Veda is going to speak to you on a really deep level. And that’s one of the things that drew me in other than the somatic experience of getting the bodywork as a massage therapist and thinking. I don’t know what this is, but it’s taken me to another realm. You know, that was a certain point in my career as a massage therapist, and you know, very focused on injury centric work as an orthopedist took a hard left. And so what what are the yogi’s have to say about healing tissue and about the nervous system. And that’s when I started diving into ru VEDA as a system of healing. And it’s, it’s just something that I could and will forever serve, because it has served me so well personally. And I see how it serves those that I share it with, yeah, on whatever level they’re coming from, you know, and that’s the thing, you don’t have to be a yogi. You don’t have to be vegetarian. You don’t have to travel to India, you don’t have you know, you don’t even have to like Indian food, okay, you can study ru VEDA, and still go to your Catholic mass and you can still see your acupuncturist and chiropractor because the approaches of ru VEDA are natural. So it’s not going to go against any natural order or law. You know, the yogi’s knew before we had microscopes, and the technology we have now about physics and about metaphysics and no really advanced, you know, atomic, molecular biology, I mean, really advanced, you know, sciences. So, so it just resonates with so many people, I think for them. Yeah,

Debra Muth 13:47
I think you’re so right. Like, we’ve lost that connection with nature, taboo and, and we’ve lost our connection with humans to a degree, we have that we have a connection, no doubt, we talk to people, we do all of that. But we don’t have that deep connection with living things in nature or living things in our environment. And I think that’s where we’re, we’ve lost a lot by not having that natural, innate community where we reconnect with the earth. I mean, it’s so difficult we, I live in in a country. I live in the country, not in a country in the country, where there’s literally 450 people in the town that I live in. But my husband, I will comment quite often, like we drive around a lot because when you live in a small town, you drive a long ways to go places, but it’s so amazing to me that people are not outdoors anymore. They’re not on their porch. They’re not walking. They’re not I mean, you just don’t see a lot of people outdoors anymore, and it’s sad.

Kris Quinones 14:56
Yeah, it’s what’s making us sick. I mean, yeah, As you know, in we have now a better understanding of circadian rhythms and the night day cycle pact and the seasonal changes and their impact on our health and physiology. And, you know, it’s it’s, again, it’s, it’s up to us. Yeah, rotation is there and some of the work that I do in my clients offers a very systematic way to keep that connection. If you want to thrive. bottom, bottom line is you have to prioritize that connection. Whether it’s bringing plants into your home, scheduling regular periods of silence to just cloud gaze, or stargaze. You know, it’s really we’ve under estimated the nourishment of sleep and rest. Yeah. And, and that’s one of the very first things I work with with my coaching clients is getting them onto a good healthy sleep regimen and sleep schedule. Not until you’re feeling rested at the start of your day, can you start to really take on the other lifestyle design elements that might benefit you, you know, your dragon ass, you’re not gonna think about doing a 21 day cleanse when right? Figure out your kids soccer schedule and who’s zooming and you were still in the this pandemic and there’s still a lot of fear and a lot of unknowns. And so, you know, you really can’t afford to not prioritize your wrist anymore. It’s very true. And, and so, it’s one of the first things we work on but, but you know, I Aveda is for everyone. You don’t have to be a tree hugging hippie to benefit from it. You know, it offers really simple habits that the yogi’s do on a daily and seasonal basis that allows us to really unlock our own healing capacity. You know, are you VEDA the word itself is the science of life the the art of daily living? I use meaning life and VEDA, referring to knowledge or wisdom. And so it’s about how do we live our lives artfully? Beautifully, sensually, intelligently. How do we age skillfully? With this chronic exhaustion, chronic fight or flight state of our nervous system? How do we deeply nourish ourselves? Not adding so much filler in our lives?

Debra Muth 18:06
Yeah, I love that you say that? Because I think that’s what we do. And we don’t realize it we fill our lives with.

Kris Quinones 18:13
And I realize it’s a practice like I said, this is a lifelong practice. You have your, your your layers of evolution. You know, can Ken Wilber writes about this in the spiral of, of human evolution and, you know, you’ve got your layers of habit evolution goes both ways. So you, you can devolve as well. When habits aren’t fortified when you don’t have the right company to keeping the right company you’re being influenced by the different messages coming in through the sense organs. And so you know, you you can really do simple practices and habits to mitigate that assault on our nervous systems every day. And and have enough juice to to get to the pat you know, the people and the projects that matter most to to really be able to not just live mom but to feel great doing and I’m just fortunate enough in my family come from some wood accent centerra sanitarians. Well over 100 years old, great grandparents both lived over 100 years old. They were very mentally sharp into the 90s. My great grandfather, I’m told was still climbing coconut trees in Puerto Rico when he was 97 years.

Debra Muth 19:50
Oh my gosh, that’s great.

Kris Quinones 19:52
Oh, and so I know I’ve got you know, some good genes I’m pulling and and then with these habits That’s in practices, anybody can tap into their genetics and really maximize the gifts. Yeah. That that we all have. And, you know, yeah, also pause there.

Debra Muth 20:15
Okay. So tell us a little bit about actually what it you’ve kind of alluded to what is Ayurvedicic. But where does it come from? And why would somebody want to start to learn about Ayurvedicic medicine?

Kris Quinones 20:32
Yeah, well, I’m beta is holistic medical system from India. It’s a Vedic system, meaning it shares the same philosophy, language and cultural foundation as yoga can so yoga we’re now very much familiar with. And that’s a system of spirituality. It lets the yogi find their enlightenment. Or you beta is the system of medicine. It’s what the yogi’s use to keep their physical bodies strong, and keep their minds clear for the pursuit of yoga. Because you cannot pursue that kind of spiritual evolution and enlightenment, if your body’s not healthy, if the channels are not clear if the tissues are not fortified if you’re not eliminating waste on a regular daily basis. So these kinds of benchmarks offer the definition of what is health other than absence of disease. And so the system’s Ayurveda, classically, is a medical system of eight different specialties. It can be internal medicine, surgery, otolaryngology, psychology, geriatrics are what we would call rejuvenative. That’s the brand that I specialize in as a body worker, specializing in those detox and rejuvenative, bodywork treatments and IE data. And so, you know, in, in India practice a bit differently. You know, it’s, you have medical doctors that have at least five years of medical training in India, those are vi DS, as we refer to them. And a lot of the practices in India, you know, there’s been a bit of a renaissance of ru VEDA in India, because for years and years of British occupation, Ayurveda historically was squashed in western medicine, you know, as the British occupied India and then liberated until, until the mid 40s. I think. So, now,Ayurveda in India is is flourishing again, with these classic Panchakarma clinics that help people through more serious pathologies and diseases, and they can air and treatment. And it involves really much of lifestyle design, and avoiding the factors that cause disease, and then adding in medicine thereafter. And so it can look very involved in where treatments can last anywhere from one to two months. And then here in the West, it’s still becoming a licensed profession. It certainly is a regulated profession with national certification boards and professional regulatory boards, vetting practitioners here. But how it’s practice here and around the globe, really now is more a modern application around our lifestyles and our diets. And those that are looking for classic detox protocols like punch and karma, you’ll find variations and modern adaptations of that here. Some of the classic components require a medical license. And so you know, those that are touting we do in the US, it’s going to be a modified version. I doubt there will be other classic forms, but it certainly is no less therapeutic to say, yeah. Versions of Panchakarma here in the West are no less beneficial for the kinds of diseases where we’re contending with all these autoimmune diseases like chronic fatigue syndrome and irritable bowel syndrome and, you know, fibromyalgia and hypothyroidism and Graves disease. I mean, the list goes on and on and on and we get a dozen more you know, diagnosis in our little PDR manuals, you know, and and Ayurveda, you know? Ayurveda is very accomodating a system and that you can enter it from whatever stage or skill ability you’re at and benefit. And it’s very tough love, it will say, Well, you know, here is a system of studying relationship, cause and effect. Forces interact, how forces Change Energy, metabolize energy, create energy release energy. So what are we trying to do here? And, and you know, it, that’s where the discipline and the community comes in, that these are practices that require a tribe, and require a good teacher and a good leader to get you to your goals a lot faster than going at it alone.

Debra Muth 26:04
Yeah, you know, I think one of the things that Western medicine or Western culture at all has gotten wrong is that we can do everything by ourselves, right? It takes one person, you or maybe one other person, can give you the answers to fix all your problems. And that’s what I love about ru Vedic is that it is a tribe of people it is a tribe of experts is encouraging and empowering and helping the person you to do the things that you need to empower yourself, empower others. And you don’t have to do that alone. Like, you’re not going to walk into someone’s office. And in five minutes, they’re going to say, Do this, this, this and this, see later, come back in four months, and tell us how you did you know, and you’re going to know what they said.

Kris Quinones 27:00
Right? I mean, the first couple years of my practicing ru VEDA was was that exact scenario where clients would follow up three months later, I asked them, so how’d it go? Did you implement anything? And I thought about it a bit. Thinking about it isn’t gonna change anything in your experience? But, um, but yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s certainly a process and, and why I work with my clients for longer periods of time, and in really asks for that commitment, and in the time and even in the financial resource to, to get to work. You know, and and to know that you can’t do it alone.

Debra Muth 27:44
No one can no one can know.

Kris Quinones 27:47
And who wants to be real here? You know? wakening, ugly people. They aren’t pretty, they’re messy, and they will exhausted and gutted That’s the point, there has to be a certain death. Yeah. Or former identity in order for you to become the person you want to be. Yeah, that’s where coaching and having that tribe and community, we’ll, we’ll help you. Because it’s counterculture to be a yogi, or to practice this quick counterculture of our lives. So how we define our lives around socializing and eating really late and eating too much, or, you know, having our, our wine or weed or craft beers or, you know, whatever it is that we’re, we’re soothing with. Yeah, right and we’re just babies at this.

Kris Quinones 27:58
Very new very new.

Kris Quinones 28:32
We had this info 1000 for 1000s of years. So if you’re listening to this feeling like there’s no hope, please don’t feel that way.

Kris Quinones 29:07
Everybody, and even if you did, feel a little pinky toe in that ocean of knowledge, I’m promise you, you will benefit and want more. If you go into it with an open heart, then there’s just no other way of experiencing it, I believe and that’s been my, you know, my experience with it.

Debra Muth 29:31
And I would say this to people listening, you know, we’re talking about the shedding process and life changes and things like that. And it can be scary, right? Like, a lot of our listeners, they hear me talk about this a lot, but I, I did my first women’s retreat. The fall before the shutdown. It’s getting so long. I’m having a hard time remember how long ago it was, but I remember doing ceremonies and there was one point particular one that we were doing, where we were inviting one of the goddesses in, that causes disruption. And I stood outside the temple door, I was the last one to go in, I kept moving to the back of the line. And I stood outside the temple door. And I think I stood there for almost five minutes, I did not want to go in because I was like, I’m inviting her to disrupt my life as I know it. And I know when I do that, something’s going to change forever. And I wasn’t ready for that. I didn’t want that. Like, trust me, I have enough disruption in my life. I shed like all the time and on earth, what I want to invite this.

Kris Quinones 30:50
Yeah, I mean, you got to know timing is everything. And are you data says that, you know, the timing of the medicine is just as important as the dosage you know, if something substances given at the wrong time, uh huh. Medicine? Right. Okay. Can be into something non beneficial.

Debra Muth 31:12
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Kris Quinones 31:16
And that’s a lot. I love that though. Because the reality of being human, right, is, you’re always gonna help this stuff.So, you know, this is the natural pulsation of the universe, the yogi’s, like, you know, the Tantra, yogi’s, who refer to it as spawn dots, like the, the natural contraction and expansion, that the universe pulsates. And practices that are contemplative in nature, like yoga, like meditation, like, down and just doing some deep belly breaths for two to three minutes. Right? Like, you don’t have to master to do that. Yeah, no, set your phone, set a timer on your phone, done two minutes sitting in traffic at the red light, boom, deep belly breaths, ease kinds of practices are really going to allow for that fortification of the nervous system to then do the peeling of the layers. Right? It’s all that’s armoring. It’s just conditioning? It is. Really it is, you know, and and if it took you decades to build up, what makes you think you’re going to undo it in a 45 minute session with someone?

Debra Muth 32:34
Yeah. And that it’s not going to be painful, emotionally or something right are scary.

Kris Quinones 32:39
Yes. Unknown. Yeah, the unknown is a couple of things, you know, the unknown. I also, in the work with my clients, and even personally, in my own evolution have experienced when we self sabotage, because we are afraid of leaving loved ones behind with our newfound values and belief systems. That happens a lot. Yeah. You know, I have lots of, I treat mostly women in their, you know, mid 30s to mid 60s. And you know, and as these layers are being peeled back, this is where real powerful life changing stuff starts to happen. Because then you start to realize your true needs and your truth. And that filler doesn’t become so justifiable or milling anymore.

Debra Muth 33:36
Yeah, It doesn’t serve its purpose anymore for us. And, and that’s why we see so many women in their mid 50s Go through significant life changes, you know, they decide to leave a 25 year marriage, they decide to leave a 30 year old job. They move across the country, you’ll see big upheavals like that and women because they finally realize those pillars don’t serve them anymore. And they want something different for the rest of their lives. That’s left. Yeah.

Kris Quinones 34:09
And those are the women I want to meet and talk to the movers and the shakers, you know, because that that’s what the world needs. And that’s what historically have always been, I might point out to yes, no, you know, it’s just a, you know, real push to meet the need right now. And the need is that women need help the world needs women help. Yes, women needs the world’s help. It’s like help us help you. That’s right, you’re exhausted, doing the heavy lifting at the householding doing you know, all the extra work in our careers to not be paid equally to have the experiences that we now are perhaps culturally a bit more aware about, or at least talking more openly about. And and in these systems, Keep you’re human, to your humanity, because we need that and we’re losing our mental health. Yeah, you know, and people are struggling and, and, and, and these are really accessible ways that are free. You know, you don’t have to buy supplements, you don’t have to travel across the world, you know, informations out there and hours not enough. You really need a bigger? Why, yeah. To what it is you’re trying to do. You need the right people around you without the things. It’s you’re just, you’re spinning your wheels and to get far.

Debra Muth 35:50
Absolutely. You know, it is the people we surround ourselves with that make up who we are and what we do. And that’s poor. That’s important. You know, I heard somebody say, this morning when I was listening to them, and this is really powerful is that show me the five people that you surround your life with? And I’ll describe your character. And it’s not just character, but it it is, what do we embrace? Do we embrace chaos and negativity? Do we embrace love and peace, sensuality and healthy living? something in between. But that that is how we define ourselves. And that’s how we go forward in the world. And that’s the energy we put out into the world.

Kris Quinones 36:32
What you feed is what flourishes. So the yogi’s say where the mind goes prana flows. So wherever you’re putting your attention is where you’re prioritizing your lifeforce energy. Yeah. And the beauty is we get to choose, we really do. Mm hmm.

Debra Muth 36:51
Yeah. And every day we get to choose,

Kris Quinones 36:55
You wake up with that gift of breath and life.

Debra Muth 36:58
Yeah that’s so powerful.

Kris Quinones 37:04
It’s also, you know, as easy as it can be for me to, you know, wax poetic philosophically, like I and I get it like I’m a business owner who, you know, struggled to stay open during pandemic, you know, I moved myself across country, big life change. Lots of stuff that is just on the daily part of modern life. And, and I think you can have both, you know, and to those who say, you can kind of go full on.

Debra Muth 37:37
Yeah, I want to

Kris Quinones 37:39
Say that aging is about getting stiff and feeling more pain and doing moving less than their body. Only if you choose it, really. And as tough love and insensitive as that might sound. I’m trying to save people time here. And, you know, the here’s, here’s how we can age skillfully. And actually have some fun along the way. Yeah. Chanting, you know, it’s about finding what deeply nourishes you in life. And being judicious about what gets your energy and attention. Because if you’re not, you’re going to just burnout.

Debra Muth 38:20
Yeah, and I love that because you’re absolutely right, we have an opportunity to change the way people think about aging. It does not have to mean less movement, less activity, I decided to wait till I retired to do this, but now I’m just too old. I can’t do that. It doesn’t have to be that that’s limiting in our own minds. So I want to ask you to because you deal a lot with ayurvedic healing for pain management. And, and since that’s what the majority of us think our second half of life is, is managing pain. How does that work?

Kris Quinones 39:03
You know, in many holistic systems, we would say that pain is the absence of flow, that something’s not flowing, whether blood or nutrients to the tissues or consciousness to the cells, you know, or just limp you know, moving out metabolic waste, and it’s from our system. And there are so many different reasons for why there will be compromised flow in our lives. Yeah, no, we, mainly as we age, we enter a stage of life after the menopausal years and for both men and women where our hormones change our tissue hydration changes, our ability to manage your energy changes. And I think The common complaints as we age in the body or that, as I hear them is pain and stiffness in the joints, and stiffness in the joints that are low back pain. And we say you’re only as old as your spine, and Ayurveda, right. And as we age tissues dry out, if we keep these tissues hydrated, we keep these structures lubricated, as we are designed to do.

Kris Quinones 40:34
Then we’ll enjoy mobility and pain free movement, way into later years and decades, to our lives. And that importance of the liquidity in the body, the yogi’s refer to as rasa, rasa is the first of seven tissues in the in the body. According to ayurvedic medicine, it’s a result of the breakdown of the food that we eat, and represents all the liquid in our body that is life nourishing and giving. And so the quality of that one tissue determines the quality of each subsequent tissue that is built after that. And so as we age, we have less of that liquid naturally in the tissue. And IU beta offers daily and seasonal practices, like oiling the body and doing oil massage as a practice, which is more than just moisturizing the skin when it becomes a daily habit over decades or years law. And we start to develop connective tissue that is a lot more resilient, a lot more plastic, a lot less prone to injuries and falls, which are concerned as we age. And the practices of yoga asana and other fun movements like dancing or Pilates and moving into our bodies in different ways will allow for that tissue to stay hydrated. And so we’re learning a lot more now about the components of help for fascia, and more about the effects of our modern agricultural methods and the impact of that on food and they actually get nutrients into our diets. And then third component is his self accountability in terms of like, what he would what part of the solution are you contributing toward behaviorally or socially are your values, you know, and sometimes, I think even as a good practice, it’s good to re evaluate your values. We often inherit them from other people in our lives. And don’t always stop to think if maybe they’ve outgrown a particular belief or value. And that kind of self observation as a practice built in to yoga, and Ayurveda, you know, really allows for you to make better decisions. So keep also flowing, keeping the body’s tissues moist and liquid by eating seasonal foods, affecting intervals with your eating and fasting times between meals, and really learning about your truest nature and what your body needs. Because ayurveda being the system of nature recognizes that these forces are dynamic, and that they’re unique in each individual and its expression. So, you may have two different people with the same constitution, but they express very differently. So one person who may be dominant with the vata Mind Body principle in Ayurveda, this is a principle of movement and creativity and lightness. And if healthy, when it becomes excessive and imbalance, we become anxious and have disruptive sleep, and calm the patient, the body gets very dry. And so by understanding these characteristics of these forces and understanding your dominant forces, then you know better where you may go out of balance. And I don’t hesitate when I use the word balance because I think it’s just been.

Debra Muth 44:47
Oh right.

Kris Quinones 44:51
And holistic wellness. It also sets people up I think for for thinking they failed, right? Like yeah, big metric, free spectrum then they’ve somehow bailed. So what I mean by balance is it’s beneficial to you, whatever your needs are. And if it’s not beneficial, it’s out of balance that’s out of the laws of creation, which are, which is the language of opposition for creating and destroying, you know? Yeah. Did that answer your question?

Debra Muth 45:25
That was Yes. Amazing. Thank you. Thank you. That was so good. So, can you share a few success stories with us that you’ve seen in people who’ve taken on are you Vedic living?

Kris Quinones 45:39
Yeah, sure. I think I had it a handful of ayurveda babies, as I like to call them women who are having trouble conceiving, or planning to conceive and wanted to work with me to do some of the preparation work before their fair attempts. And, and every single one of these women came to me completely and utterly exhausted, you know, with, with really a depletion, where we would work together for at least six months, six months, it guess get them back to baseline, to where their cycles were more regulated, where they could start to enjoy lovemaking again, because they weren’t so exhausted and fighting with their partner. And, you know, and certainly supporting those couples that would go the IVF route, because a whole different element of support and domain in that process. Yeah. And, you know, thankfully, so far, I’ve only worked with about five women in that scenario, but all of them are have healthy babies now. And they’re awesome about that. I had another client who was survivor of trauma, and abuse coming from a war torn country, and dealing with a lot of PTSD. And so this individual, I worked with both not so much with a diet and lifestyle at this point. I hadn’t yet had that training was more still in the body work niche. And so I did a series of work with her with classic ayurvedic bodywork treatments to to nurse her nervous system. So that that’s supported the work she was doing with her professional health counselor. And with that, within two ayurvedic bodywork sessions, and the help of her psychologist, she was able to get off her Ativan. And she had stopped having violent nightmares every night, just within two sessions. Wow, that’s great. I continue to work with her for a number of years as as one member of her team. And now she’s driving. You know, she’s very successful as a scientist and Boston area and really doing well. And so it’s nice to see. To see people thrive. Yeah. And so that that’s a particular meaning for me, knowing her history, and as traumatic as it had been.

Debra Muth 48:25
Absolutely. Oh, those are great stories. Thank you for sharing that.

Kris Quinones 48:29
Yeah. And one more Yeah. Like, you know, I also worked with individuals who are healthy, right? To be sick or injured, to benefit from or practice ayurveda. And so I’ve worked also with a lot of recreational or pro athletes, that are maybe training for a race or an upcoming events, or recovering or preparing for a surgery. And so we can work together to help speed along the recovery process, reduce surgical complications, all by cleaning up the gut, issues a bit preparing that connective tissue that can be done, and I’ve worked with people like that who go from good to great, you know, if you want peak performance, we can go there. We’ll start from wherever you’re at.

Debra Muth 49:24
That’s awesome. That was so great. Here. So this is such a great conversation. I’m sure there are people who are listening to you, they’re resonating with you and they want to embark on learning that are evading living. How do they do that? How do they get in touch with you?

Kris Quinones 49:40
Yeah, reach out to me go to my website at rasa-yana.com. There’s a contact form right on my homepage to emails me directly. And I’d be happy to set up a zoom consultation one on one talk about what some of your goals are and what’s getting in the way of you reaching them. And whether or not I think I can help start a program, you know, that I think will will work for you, then I’ll extend an invitation for you to join that. My next group will be launching mid January. So this is now a great time where I’m available to talk with people about whether or not this approach would be beneficial to them. And I’m on all the social media channels. So you can find me Kris with a K Quinones, and my, my practice is called Rasayana. That eight branch in medicine, that rejuvenation branch, the word itself actually translates to remedy. And love that sounds great.

Debra Muth 50:50
Well, thank you. So for those of you who are listening, and you may be driving or you’re working out while you listen to us, don’t worry about that at all, we will have all of her contact information in the show notes. So you could just hop on over take a look at that and link directly to her social pages and her website. Thank you so much for being with us today. Any last words you want to share?

Kris Quinones 51:16
I will say Be gentle, gentle with yourself. Be gentle with those you interact with, even for the remainder of today from whenever you’re hearing this. Think about how you want people to feel after they’ve interacted with you. And and just do that as your your sadhana, your practice of awareness and softening a bit. I think you’ll find at the end of the day, you’ll you’ll have more energy.

Debra Muth 51:48
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining us. This has been such a fantastic conversation with Chris Quinonez. And I I knew our Vedic medicine a little bit before this conversation, but now it makes me want to go out and really study and learn more about Ayurvedic medicine and get a deeper depth of what this can do for us and how we can have this enlightenment. So I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. If you did, go ahead and like and share below. And we’ll talk to you next week on Let’s Talk Wellness Now. Hey, it has been really great sharing this time with you guys on the let’s talk wellness now podcast. If this episode has helped you or you feel as though this episode would help someone else we’d love for you to leave us a review. Share this podcast and if you don’t want to miss the most exciting episodes we have coming. We’d love for you to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes or Google Play. Until next time, live every day to the fullest.