Ep 333 Unlocking Fertility Through the Ancient Wisdom of Ayurveda
On today’s solo episode of The Wholesome Fertility Podcast, I’m sharing one of my greatest passions Ayurveda, and how this ancient healing system can deeply support your fertility journey. Ayurveda, which translates to “the study of life,” is a holistic approach that brings harmony to the body, mind, and spirit. In this episode, I’ll walk you through the three doshas Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, and how understanding your unique body type can empower you to make daily choices that support reproductive health and overall well-being.
You’ll learn how to identify your dominant dosha, how to nourish and balance it with specific foods, yoga practices, and self-care rituals, and why Ayurveda is such a powerful and intuitive tool for restoring balance. Whether you’re new to Ayurveda or looking to integrate it more fully into your life, this episode is filled with practical guidance to help you feel more connected, grounded, and supported on your path to fertility.
Key Takeaways:
Ayurveda is a holistic science that balances the body, mind, and spirit to promote fertility and overall health.
There are three primary doshas Vata (air & ether), Pitta (fire & water), and Kapha (earth & water) each with unique physical, emotional, and energetic characteristics.
Understanding your dosha helps you make personalized lifestyle and nutrition choices that support hormonal balance and reproductive health.
Vata types benefit from warmth, grounding, and healthy fats; Pitta types thrive on cooling, anti-inflammatory foods; and Kapha types need stimulation, lighter foods, and movement.
Daily practices like dry brushing, self-massage, and tailored yoga routines can deeply support nervous system regulation and fertility.
Ayurveda provides intuitive and practical tools you can apply daily to feel more balanced, energised, and connected to your body.
✨ Take the Dosha Quiz here to discover your Ayurvedic body type!
For more information about Michelle, visit: www.michelleoravitz.com
Check out Michelle’s Latest Book: The Way of Fertility!
https://www.michelleoravitz.com/thewayoffertility
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Michelle: [00:00:00] Episode number 333 of the Wholesome Fertility Podcast. Welcome to the Wholesome Fertility Podcast. Today we're diving into the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda and how it can support your fertility journey. Ayurveda is a holistic approach that balances the body, mind, and spirit to optimize overall health as well as reproductive health.
Today I'm gonna cover a couple of different things that you can do to implement Ayurvedic techniques into your daily life, so stay tuned.
Welcome to the Wholesome Fertility Podcast. I'm Michelle, a fertility acupuncturist here to provide you with resources on how to create a wholesome approach to your fertility journey.
Michelle: So the word Ayurveda actually translates to the study of life.
Very similar to [00:01:00] Chinese medicine. It looks at the elements in nature ~~and really what helps balance and create,~~ and really what helps create balance in the body and the mind.
and I will be sharing today how you can apply these concepts in your daily life. So stay tuned.
So Ayurvedic medicine is how I first got started into natural medicine. It is really, really amazing and it is actually a very nurturing type of medicine. There's a lot of aspects to it, = and one of them being nutrition, the other being herbals. Then also there's a lot of body work and also yoga is considered to be part of Ayurvedic medicine is the physical therapy aspect.
So there's a lot of massage type therapies. There's also a lot of enemas that people can do with herbal enemas. and cleaning the nose. There's many, many different aspects of Ayurveda and it truly is a science unto itself. Most of my episodes in the past have been really [00:02:00] geared to Chinese medicine, and although they are cousins and there's a lot of shared details on how they work, it is kind of unique and I will say it actually is a little bit more applicable to your daily life than even traditional Chinese medicine, which.
Many times you have to go in for the acupuncture. You cannot do that for yourself. You could do acupressure. With Ayurveda, they use marma points, so it's kind of very similar. So it's also points, and there are a lot of parallels. So the yoga in Ayurvedic medicine, it could be looked at as the Q go in Chinese medicine.
So truly with Ayurveda at the core, just like in Chinese medicine, we look at the yin and the yang. And with Ayurvedic medicine we look at the doshas, which are three body types, People could either be one of the body types or they could be two or three altogether.
So very few times [00:03:00] people are all equally three, which is called trid Doic. Most of the time they're actually two body types together. Very rarely they are just one.
Ultimately what a person's body type is, is basically containing of elements. So every body type has specific type of elements, and I'm gonna cover all of that.
And how you balance that is you start to eat, incorporate foods or habits or daily routines. That will balance and support that. And in some cases, when you're working with a practitioner, they'll also share and suggest herbs. But that is something that I recommend working with a practitioner on because even though herbs are natural, they are medicine.
So it's important to work with somebody who's really familiar with it.
So, like I mentioned before, with Ayurvedic medicine, there are many different ways to balance [00:04:00] the doshas, and today I'm gonna cover all the different doshas. And also if you would like, I have linked a quiz in the episode notes.
~~That will take you to a quiz and that quiz will help you figure out what type of body type you are. ~~And that quiz will help you figure out what dosha type you are. So the first dosha type that I'm gonna talk about is called the Vata Dosha. ~~And the Vata dosha is, ~~and the Vata dosha has two elements, and that is air and ether.
And the more you hear about this, it might be kind of strange to hear about different elements, but the more you hear about it, it's gonna start feeling very intuitive and it's gonna start making sense. Vata body types are tend to be more thin and they don't really have as much muscle definition unless they're coupled with Pitta, which I'm gonna go over soon.
They're the type of people that tend to be super, super thin and it's very hard for them to gain weight, They also tend to feel a little more anxious, I guess, less grounded because they don't have a lot of [00:05:00] earth and they're all air and ether. So if you, now, this is where the intuitive part comes in, is when people have too much air and ether.
There's sort of, I guess that kind of. Saying they're up in the sky or they're a little more creative and they have a higher imagination 'cause they don't really have earth holding them down. So they do tend to be a little more free spirited, but they also tend to be very anxious.
They also tend to experience more irregularities. And this is, could be irregularities with her menstrual cycle. It could also be irregularities with her diet and. Their ability to digest, so sometimes they're constipated. Most of the time they'll be constipated and they don't have regular bowel movements.
They could also be regular with their sleep. Their sleep is a little bit more shallow, and so they'll tend to wake up easily and startle easily.
~~Vata Dosha, since they're air and ether, they tend to be a little more dry as well. So they will tend to have really dry skin. They'll tend to have very frizzy hair, or at least really dry hair, and they'll tend to be a little more frail. Their energy will spike, but then they get really exhausted. So they don't have as much of that regularity as far as energy as well.~~
~~The next body type is called a Pitta dosha body type Dosha, same thing.~~
~~a Pitta Doha has fire and water as its elements. Pitta tends to be a little more fiery. And, um, going back to do, let me go back, I'm gonna go back to Vata, Vata, ~~Vata body types or doshas also tend to be more cold. the ether and air, again, they don't [00:06:00] have as much fire, so they tend to be a little more cold in their nature.
So you'll see a lot of times there'll be kind of a thin look and they'll always have themselves covered.
So a Pitta Dosha, which is a Pitta body type, is going to have the elements of fire and water. So Pitta body types tend to be a little bit more hot, they'll be a lot more resistant to hot weather and really resistant to hot and humid weather. They tend to have more oily skin.
They tend to break out a little bit more. They also tend to feel emotions of irritability, whereas Vatas a little more anxious. Uh, PTA types will have more feelings of anger or irritability, and they are a little more explosive. They're super sharp mentally and they're really able to express themselves easily.
They're type A personalities, really getting things done, very [00:07:00] executive, and they also tend to have a really good muscle build.
They'll tend to have a little bit more hormonal imbalances when they're imbalanced. and the liver plays a significant role, so the liver also holds onto anger, so they'll tend to kind of have more liver imbalances when it comes to Chinese medicine.
Pitta since they have so much fire, they do tend to be very passionate people, and you'll see that coming out when they're working. They really, really feel a lot of strong emotions.
And then the kafa. Dosha is earth and water. So kafa tend to be a little more slow moving. They tend to be a little bit more introverted. They like to sleep and they like, and they feel like they need a lot of sleep in order to get their energy.
They tend to have a little bit more of a slow metabolism and they will tend to gain a little more weight and it would be harder for them to really take it out and that it'll be harder for them to lose weight. They tend to be a little more [00:08:00] thick boned and kind of bigger. Their hair tends to be a lot more thick and really robust.
They might have like thick eyebrows and big eyes.
They could tend to have more slow circulation, excess mucus, or things like PCOS. They might be a little bit more on the insulin resistant side. Chinese medicine, because they don't have a lot of fire, they could be more of the yang deficiency.
but they do have a tendency to be more stable individuals, so they are really great with relationships and loyalty. They're a little bit more stable, more relaxed, more at ease.
So based on the body types I just mentioned, food also has elements. So this is where Ayurvedic medicine becomes beautiful and like a symphony. So you basically take the tones that are missing in a person or the elements that are missing in a person, in a person's body type, and you will [00:09:00] prescribe as an Ayurvedic practitioner the different things that they should have, whether it's herbs or food or diet.
And diet is much easier, obviously, to implement for people figuring out what they need and then becoming more aware of those. So that is why sometimes even reading books on this and really understanding what your body type is can give you a lot of insight on what foods to choose. So since food has elements as well, what we do as practitioners is we tend to find foods that will balance out.
For example, for Vata body types, since they are air and ether, they will do really well with foods that are a little more warming and that have more earth. So root vegetables would be amazing for Vata body types because they'll bring the energy of Earth and they're a lot more grounding, which is something that batta body types flourish in do really well when they have.
So consider warm foods, things that are warming [00:10:00] in nature, but also like orange soap and carrots, um, root vegetables, dms, sweet potatoes, things that are growing from the earth and even beets. Those kind of things would be great, but they also need cooked foods because they have so much cold that that can be, you don't want too much raw, because raw tends to have, just like we say in Chinese medicine, raw foods tend to have a cold nature, So it's really important to have more warm cooked foods for Vata body types. They also tend to have more digestive problems, so warm cooked foods is the best to nourish their digestive systems.
You also wanna consider since they're so dry, to add oils, healthy fats, so think coconuts, avocados, Coconut oil, olive oil, macadamia nuts. All kinds of nuts as long as you're not allergic as also
Warming herbs such as ginger and [00:11:00] cinnamon.
And they can also do well with a little bit more sweet and a little more fruits because they tend to be so thin they need that extra nourishment. So things like honey, and they could do really well with bananas or dates. Those are really beneficial foods for Vata.
So when it comes to Picto Doha, since they have a lot of fire and water, but they're mostly fire, they do not do well with spicy foods. Spicy food can cause them more inflammation in the body, and they do tend to break out in their skin. so spicy food will just irritate that excess fire.
What's interesting is that pita body types tend to love spicy food, and that is one of the most difficult things to get them off of. They do really well with very cooling foods like cilantro, parsley, cucumbers, and watermelon.
Other fruits like melons and pears are really good as well. And just think green and blue [00:12:00] foods because they are more cooling in nature. So things except for jalapenos. So consider things like dark leafy greens and broccoli cilantro. Mint as well.
They would do really well with things like ghee and coconut milk, but not too too much oil because they do tend to have more of that oily nature, which is one of the things that leads to the acne.
They also do really well with bitter and astringent foods. So dandelion leafs, mung beans are really good. They detoxify the liver and they support their liver as well, and food that is sour in nature as well.
So the Kafa dosha, just similar to Vata, but very different in the fact that they both don't have a lot of fire. So the Kafa, Vata. So the kafa dosha will tend to do really well with foods that are warming. So [00:13:00] things like soups and stews, but not as much on the earth, so not as many root vegetables. So avoiding potatoes, having more lighter vegetables that have more ether air, such as leafy greens.
And vegetables. so think even asparagus, spinach, broccoli. Those are really beneficial. But having them cooked and not raw. And then you wanna do lean proteins, chicken, and this is actually for all of them. Lean proteins a bit specifically lean for Kapha. 'cause they tend to have so much earth.
And then lentils and mung beans would be really beneficial. And then also warming teas, cinnamon cloves, ginger, things that bring in a little more fire will be really good for their digestion. And they are the body type that could. Technically do better with having their breakfast a little later. Whereas most body types we always suggest to do early [00:14:00] breakfast with kafa.
They can actually afford because their digested, because their digestion is so slow and their metabolism is so slow, they could afford a little more exercise and a little, and they can handle not eating right away when they wake up.
So some of the implementations that I learned about and suggested for a lot of my patients is to do an AGA massage. So this is actually self anointing, something that you can do and you can use essential oils, and this is a whole other thing which I teach about, but using essential oils could be very similar to what people do with, What Ayurvedic practitioners do with herbs. So certain essential oils are also very therapeutic and you can use cooling ones for Pitta or heating ones for and grounding ones for Vata, and then heating ones and ones that kind of like are a little more light in the tone for Kapha. And many times I would [00:15:00] blend specific ones, put it in a certain oil, and then use that for the.
Bianca, which is the self anointing or the self massage. And this is something that I often suggest you don't need necessarily if if you don't know as much about the essential oils, then you could just use any moisturizer really. But it's really about activating the body and you can start out before getting in the shower by using a dry brush, which moves the lymph.
It brings a lot of vitality to the body and this is Tri Doic. So in some cases implementations can help all the doshas, and this is when it's called Tri Dosha, basically helps everybody. So you could use the dry brushing.
It is a brush that you buy and it is something that you use before you get in the shower on dry skin, and it moves the lymph and it creates a lot of great circulation in the body. And then after the shower, you can use oils to massage your body. General rule [00:16:00] of thumb is to massage from the outside, so like the most distal feet and hands towards the heart.
So if you're doing it from the feet, you bring it up towards the groin and then you bring this up to the armpits and then you massage your belly and clockwise form and that will get more. And then you can do your lower back. And pretty much anywhere your hands can reach. And this could be a very grounding practice that really supports your nervous system.
Another thing is yoga and meditation. So for a Vata type, they will tend to do better with things like yin yoga, which is a lot more calming or restorative yoga, which really calms their nervous system and helps them with that tendency to have more anxiety.
And Pitta types will tend to need more of that power yoga or something that gives them a little challenge, and they'll tend to like that as well. But they could also benefit with something that calms them down as well, just to kind of ease them [00:17:00] after releasing energy through exercise.
And Kapha will tend to do better with a higher intensity workout. That will definitely stimulate them a little bit more. So even things like hot yoga might tend to benefit a Kapha body type more than a ~~can. A Vata, a~~ Vata body type.
So if you'd like to find out what your dosha body type is, definitely check out the link that I have
for the Ayurvedic dosha body type quiz.
Ayurveda is really an amazing, amazing science, and I absolutely love it. It's something that you can really apply to anything in your life once you know a little more about it. And it's great once you know your body type, because it also explains to you how you feel mentally, and that is really a big part of it.
So you'll understand why you tend to be a little more anxious, whereas maybe your husband is a little bit more. Stable, relaxed and [00:18:00] doesn't get too moved by too much. So it depends on the body type. And then so it explains really how we are wired and what we could do to counteract and balance that. So I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you so much for tuning in.