Unlearning

Like many of us, I grew up absorbing a lot of ideas about health without ever really questioning them. They were just… common sense, right? Reinforced by our culture. Repeated often enough that they started to feel like truth.

Recognize any of these?

• We should be members of the clean plate club

• Naps are the best

• Breakfast doesn’t matter if you’re not hungry

• Raw food is always healthier than cooked

• We need protein, protein, protein — the more, the better!

• A thin body is a healthy body

• You can always just “catch up” on sleep on weekends

• Pain is just part of aging

• More intense exercise is better — you gotta WORK (insert RuPaul voice)

I’m not convinced all of these are wrong, per se. Some of them carry bits of truth, depending on context. But what I’m realizing, as I view things through the Ayurveda lens, is how much of what we believe about our bodies is inherited, rather than examined.

Moreover, it seems a lot of it is based on rules instead of our relationship with our bodies.

And lately, I’m more interested in paying attention than in following rules.

I notice how my digestion responds to certain foods.

How my energy shifts when I skip meals and just add more coffee.

How often fatigue, pain, or brain fog are signals that we could listen to — not the guarantees of age.

This way of relating to the body requires curiosity. We experiment gently instead of overriding. We let the body be a source of information, not something to manage or push through.

If any of these beliefs sound familiar, this is an official invitation to notice which ideas you’ve been carrying as truth — and to ask whether they’re actually supporting how you want to feel right now.

Let me know what you discover!