"Why are vatas terrible at finishing things? I am sooooo good at starting things"
My client texted me that this morning.

Here's the deal: Vatas are great at instigating things, but they suck at finishing them. It's in their nature, but it's not an excuse.

SO! Here's my favorite word I use on myself all the time:

THE WORD IS STAY.
Below are 3 action steps to help you finish what you start.

1) STAY. Do not get up and snack. Do not start another project. Do not start texting or scrolling. Do not squander money. Do not let yourself get pissy, leave the room and pout. Do not grab an energy drink or a coffee. Do not tell yourself you don't have what it takes. 

Instead, STAY focused on the task. STAY off the phone, don't touch it. STAY in the conversation. STAY thru the whole workout. STAY emotionally calm. STAY visualizing the completion of what you are working on.

Then,

2) Set a timer. You're like, "How long do I gotta stay for?" It depends. 15...

There’s VALUE in using your time wisely because we only get so many hours in the day. However there’s also VALUE in consciously creating extra space.

The contrast between the two is this: sometimes we get so busy we feel “wall to wall” with meetings, kids, housework, volunteer, projects, etc.,

And by the time we find a bit of space our mindless go-to is to fritter. TV fritter. Scrolling fritter. Now, Frittering is OK if it’s conscious, but mindlessly zoning out on screens and scrolling will steal your time and tank your productivity. And then we get mad at ourselves, "Like WHY did I spend my time on THAT?"

Now, if you feel that way, cool! That’s your wisdom talking to you, telling you to spend time in a different way.

You might also like episode #43 Stop...

Dang, when we have peace and quiet with our own thoughts, the truth comes OUT!!

I wrote this last night, to myself. It's around my lack of love or adherence to: planning! Planning.

I hate planning (did you see that? negative right there), I'm not good at it (see that? another one), it takes too much time (neggy). Besides I thrive even if I don't plan (closed mind), so I would much rather (ego-based) fly by the seat of my pants (comfort zone).

But my WISDOM says what's in this quote. Dang. I am listening and I will act upon this wisdom.

What do you constantly tell yourself over and over but you're still NOT doing it!?

Go there. USE YOUR WISDOM and DO that thing!!!!! It's probably not as hard as you THINK it is.

Your best life lies where you are too uncomfortable to go right now — so go there.

Big love, Monica B.

For many of us, life just got real busy! A friend of mine wrote me recently in full panic because she found out her kids’ school is out even longer than she thought.

She said, “I want to be my best self, but how can I when all of this is happening around me?! I’m in full on PANIC and I can’t seem to squish it!”

Before we dive into 3 mindset shifts to calm the overwhelm let’s take a sincere moment of gratitude for our jobs, our good health, the roofs over our heads, our family and community, and our mother earth. There is much to be grateful for. *amen*

And still, this is hard. For those of us lucky enough to keep our jobs, we are now working full time and full time homeschooling (as I write, I just shouted, "Denominator means the whole, the whole piece.") as we feel the overload of everything, landing heavily on our shoulders. We are still managing the daily grind (blessing: no commute) and have created pop-up schools on our dining tables, while...

So guys, things just got a LOT slower. Personally, I'm very optimistic and excited because I think we need this for so many reasons. More on that in a future post.

But as we hang out in our homes, we are getting a feel for how slow things can be — and we are just not used to it! We are used to a vata (speedy!) pace of life. 

Because we are not used to it, I've seen people seeking and creating extra things to do to keep up with our usual fast pace like, virtual happy hours, virtual ladies' nights, virtual classrooms, Facetime, and an overwhelming explosion of online content.

Our eyes are glued to the screens as we try to analyze, predict, plan and reach for some kind of certainty and connection. 

On one hand, these are amazing ways to keep the norm, like classrooms, education, and talking to friends. I'm all for that, within a reasonable amount.

On the other hand, the online digital world can and...

I thought this was an appropriate time to talk about immunity, especially since many of ya'll have asked me how to build strong immunity with Ayurveda in the past week or so... ;)

So let's do it! Below is an overview of 'Bringing Ayurveda to Life' podcast episode #36.

First, you have to understand what immunity is and how immunity is created, according to Ayurveda.

Below is an excerpt from my book In Your Elements. 

In Ayurveda, our immunity is called ojas (OH-jus). Ojas is the essential energy of our vitality, immunity, strength, luster and health. Ojas is the pure essence of all bodily tissues. Which means that after all the tissues in the body have gone through their transformative digestive processes, ojas is what is left. Ojas is our immunity and responsible for reproduction and creation. We only have a tiny bit, a few drops, and it lives in the heart. People with good ojas rarely get sick and often avoid even the most contagious office bugs.

When ojas is low,...

This weekend in the United States, some of us move our clock 1 hour forward, which also means we lose 1 hour of sleep. This can mess people up energy-wise and yet some people do just fine with it.

Personally, I think a lot of this has to do with the mindset because a) we are pretty resilient beings b) it's only one hour. You've stayed up one extra hour before and it didn't mess you up.

I have 5 easy Ayurvedic tips to keep in mind as the time change approaches!

1. Control your mind and go with the flow. Don't make the spring time change a bigger deal or worry than it needs to be, because the mind affects the body. If you tell yourself it's going to be bad and you're going to be dragging for two weeks, you'll probably fulfill your prophecy  :) However, you've done this before and have done just fine. Remember that you used to rock out on the occasional Saturday night, losing at least an hour, and then you woke up on Sunday and got your stuff done. No...

Today, we are going to answer the question, "Why am I pooping sad little balls?"

Yes, because you ask me these things...Ya'll have mentioned pooping pellets, rabbit poop or pooping little deer poops or whatever you want to call it. In any case, the poop is coming out in hard little balls, and it's making you sad.

Well, let's make sure that you've got some tools to keep you pooping happy.

So, don't be sad, here's 5 things to help your sad poop balls:

1. More oils. These dry, little, pellet ball poops are happening because it points to dryness and lightness in the body. Right now, they're staying all up in there because they are too dry, too light.

If there is dryness and a lightness, Ayurveda uses the opposite qualities to balance, so then you need heaviness and unctuousness (oiliness) to help pull the poops down and out.

To help, begin adding oils to your diet whether drizzling olive oil over pasta, dipping bread in it, or...

In Ayurveda, one of the three categories for imbalance is: wrong choices or mistaken intellect. 

Examples of this Ayurvedic philosophy (or should I say...daily life lesson) can sneak into our lives in so many different ways. But if you're unaware of it showing up, you might not learn the lessons.

The best Ayurveda is used daily and it's actually simple — you just need to know what to look out for. 

So let's bring some awareness to what mistaken intellect in Ayurveda really is, how to recognize it and how to correct it!

I've been traveling the past 2 weeks eeking out the last bit of summer before my daughter starts school on Monday.

For the second half of our trip I went Wisconsin to see my family and dear friends — I even taught an 'Ayurveda Made Easy' workshop for about 30 students at my friend's yoga studio! 

While prepping for WI, there was ONE main thing I kept top of mind and that was, "Avoid hurting your achilles tendon...

If you are wondering the difference between Western medicine (a.k.a. Modern medicine, Allopathic medicine) and Ayurveda, you've come to the right place. 

You can listen to Episode #14 on Bringing Ayurveda to Life podcast.

If you are wondering the difference between Western medicine (a.k.a. Modern medicine, Allopathic medicine) and Ayurveda, you've come to the right place. 

The philosophies behind Ayurveda and Western medicine are very different, almost opposite, without much overlap, so it is important to keep them in separate buckets.

We can easily get confused when learning Ayurveda because of our current knowledge of how our western medicine works. 

So right now, let go of what you think you know about your health and be open to learning from an Ayurvedic perspective — you're gonna love it :) 

I prefer to view Ayurveda and Western medicine as complements rather than competitors because both have...