Student Reflections: Education, Ayurveda, and Balance

Student Reflections: Education, Ayurveda, and Balance

by sacredwindowprograms | Conscious Postpartum Caregiving

My conscious act is to acknowledge unbalance as it happens. I’ll try to welcome it when it happens and ask it what it wants to teach me. Aren’t we all sort of walking around unbalanced, in a society that is also unbalanced? Center here I come, but a little less begrudgingly so. – Lee, Sacred Window Studies Student

My Lens

I work in competitive academia; it is both anger inducing and satisfying. Caring for the whole person is not really ‘a thing’ on college campuses. Caring for the whole person is not really ‘a thing’ on college campuses, though I believe that socially concerned campuses strive to embody cura personalis. However, even transparent classrooms, where students know exactly what is expected of them, still use tools that induce anxiety and stress. I notice that simply working at a university creates an unnecessary frenzy and hurriedness. And while I consider myself a lifelong learner, I am a firm believer that learning can happen anywhere. Sometimes structured learning still calls to me, but I need something that is satisfying to the soul. It is important for me to search for courses outside of academia and rely on a spirit-led journey.

This is the lens through which I view any course or training. What I have found to be distinctively different is that the pressure that exists in academia, is not present in the Conscious Postpartum Caregiver Certificate Program. It offers a gentler way to learn and engage with concepts, many of which are new to me, especially all things Ayurveda. The only real test for me will be respectfully and appropriately honoring the lineage of this great wisdom as a cultural outsider.  

Mystery of Ayurveda

Ayurveda concepts and practices are foreign to me. I have no background in Ayurveda and have never even received an authentic Ayurvedic treatment. While I might incorporate what I learn into my current practices by offering balancing food, touch, or techniques, I may never earn the title of Ayurdoula. Yet the seeds have been planted so with careful and conscious study, I hope to water those seeds which will allow me to serve families. It is my hope that I can one day intuitively use what I have learned, but not without study. Study is significant as it is the necessary component of learning for me and a practice that I am conditioned to.

Notions of Balance

In learning the introductory foundations of Ayurveda, it has caused me to reconsider how I view balance and even opposites. Seeking balance carries an unrequired tension. Sometimes it means that if you are out of balance something is terribly wrong. Upon reflecting on course concepts, I believe balance to be an indicator of a figuratively fatiguing muscle and sometimes you must be taken out of balance to achieve something great. Balanced or unbalanced is neither good or bad nor right or wrong but simply just is. So, when recalibrating, I’m resisting the urge to assign negative pressure to a temporary reality.

My conscious act is to acknowledge unbalance as it happens. I’ll try to welcome it when it happens and ask it what it wants to teach me. Aren’t we all sort of walking around unbalanced, in a society that is also unbalanced? Center here I come, but a little less begrudgingly so.

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Here at the Center for Sacred Window Studies, we share voices from many perspectives and backgrounds. We believe that the sacred weeks post birth, and the experience of humanity is experienced in countless ways. We learn by listening to one another and honoring our stories. The views and opinions of our writers do not necessarily reflect the mission, viewpoints or opinions of the Center for Sacred Window Studies.