Actionable Ayurveda with Salila

Today on the podcast, I sit down with someone I've admired from afar for years, Katie Silcox, New York Times bestselling author of Healthy, Happy, Sexy and Glow-Worthy and founder of The Shakti School, one of the first and most beloved online Ayurveda certification programs for women.

We talk about what first called Katie to Ayurveda in her twenties. We talk about soma, the subtle nectar of the body and how it shifts through perimenopause and menopause. We talk about Panchakarma not as an exotic luxury but as a daily practice of coming home to yourself. And we go deeper still, into matriarchal wisdom, feminine sovereignty and trusting the lineage that already lives in your body.

This is a conversation about feminine embodiment in its fullest sense - the ashes of Ayurveda, made into flame again.

In this episode, you'll hear:
~ Katie's journey from AI researcher to Ayurvedic teacher and author.

~ What "soma" means and how it changes through perimenopause.

~ Why Panchakarma is Katie's most passionate practice.

~ Matriarchal lineage and reclaiming feminine sovereignty.

~ Self-oiling (abhyanga) as a daily act of love.
~ Grief, mortality and becoming the center of your own universe.

Special Offer

The Shakti School is offering Actionable Ayurveda listeners an exclusive discount to study with Katie and other teachers in the year-long Ayurveda School program, starting January 2027.

Use code POD100 for $100 off any tuition option.

Free gift: Women's Wisdom and Ayurveda Mini-Course

Connect With Katie Silcox

• Katie on Instagram

• Katie on Facebook

Until next time, don't play small and don't stay small.

Sisters, friends, it's time to slow down and heal. 🌾

In this episode, Salila takes you home to Kerala, where an entire month is set aside each monsoon season for one ancestral ritual: eating congee.

Not the Chinese dish most Westerners picture. The original South Indian kanji, the word Portuguese traders carried into English centuries ago.

Salila unpacks why your Agni (digestive fire) craves this predigested, cellular-hydrating bowl of comfort especially when you're feeling bloated, sluggish or just burnt out.

Plus, she shares her own personal longevity congee recipe, born out of pandemic-era pantry creativity and now a staple for clients healing their guts the ancestral way.

In this episode:
* The real origin story of congee - Kerala, not China.
* How every culture on earth independently discovered slow-cooked rice porridge (juk, okayu, lugaw, canja).
* Why low Agni creates AMA and how congee reverses it.
* The Ayurvedic science of cellular hydration through rice-to-water ratios.
* Salila's personal longevity congee recipe: grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, no rules required.

Try this: Swap your heavy evening meal for a warm bowl of congee just 2-3 nights this week. Notice how you sleep. Notice how you wake up.

Cook with love. Eat with awareness. Keep living Ayurvedic.

(Kerala's Congee Month just wrapped for the year but this ritual works anytime, anywhere!)Instagram → @salila.ayurveda

Email → ⁠[email protected]⁠

This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified Ayurvedic or medical practitioner before beginning any herbal protocol, especially if you are pregnant, nursing ormanaging a health condition.

Day 3 of 4 — Pause for Menopause

Your body isn't sabotaging you. It's protecting you. Even the fat it won't let go of, even the fog, even the fatigue. Today Salila breaks down exactly why and hands you the remedies.

In Day 1, we mapped what perimenopause actually does to the body. In Day 2, we found the five places we go wrong. Today, Salila brings the medicine.

You'll learn:

• Why your monthly, yearly and lifetime rhythms were never optional and how honoring them (not hustling through them) protects your youth, your beauty and your brain.
• The real story behind estrogen, progesterone and testosterone dropping and why perimenopause is really your "second PMS".
• Why your adrenals are quietly stealing estrogen from your fat cells and why that unexplained bump or bulge isn't your fault.
• The Ayurvedic concept of Sandhi Kala, the sacred, turbulent transition between two states and why "buckle up and stay put" is the wisest thing you can do for yourself right now.
• Why this decade belongs to Goddess Katyayani, the fierce protector and what she's asking you to finally stop apologizing for.

This isn't about pushing harder. It's about learning to rest like your hormones depend on it, because they do.

🎧 Catch up on Day 1 & Day 2 if you missed them, and come back tomorrow for Day 4, the final day of the series.

If this hit home, hit follow and share it with a woman who needs to hear she isn't losing her mind, she's transitioning into her power.

Instagram → @salila.ayurvedaEmail → [email protected]This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified Ayurvedic or medical practitioner before beginning any herbal protocol, especially if you are pregnant, nursing ormanaging a health condition.

Day 2: Your Tongue Is Lying... Actually, It's Telling You the Truth

Take out your phone. Stick out your tongue. Take a picture.

What you see might explain the brain fog, the exhaustion, the "why can't I just figure this out" feeling that's been following you around. In Day 2 of Pause for Menopause, Salila pulls back the curtain on the real reason perimenopause feels like your body declared war on you and it's not your hormones betraying you. It's Agni, your inner fire, running low.

This is Ayurveda's most radical idea: your sickness didn't come from one broken part. It came from your mind, your emotions, your habits and your gut all talking to each other and it can heal the same way.

Inside this episode:

The tongue test — a 5-second self-diagnosis for your digestive fire.
AMA — the sticky residue behind fog, fatigue and feeling "stuck".

Pragya Aparadha — the sneaky little "crimes against your own common sense" you commit before 9am (yes, the Cheetos count).

The Five-Foundation Framework — how to eat, move and think with your body's natural rhythm instead of against it.
"Reveal it. Feel it. Heal it." — why the emotions you've been pushing down are the ones running the show

Perimenopause isn't the problem. It's the flashlight. Come find out what it's illuminating.

Day 2 of 4 in the Pause for Menopause series with Salila.

Instagram → @salila.ayurvedaEmail → [email protected]

Day 1 of 4 — Recorded live during Salila's "Pause for Menopause" Challenge.

Your labs come back "normal." Your doctor has nothing to offer. And yet you're waking up at 3am, snapping at people you love and wondering if you're losing your mind. You're not, you're being rewired.

In this first session, Salila breaks down what's actually happening in perimenopause through the Ayurvedic lens of the five foundations: Ahara (fuel), Vihara (rhythm), Vikara (mindset), Vyavahara (presence) and Samskara(identity). She explains why estrogen's retreat isn't a malfunction but a redirection of your body's energy and why the intermittent fasting and high-intensity workouts you've relied on for years might now be working against you.

You'll learn how to recognize your dominant dosha pattern (Vata anxiety, Pitta rage or Kapha depression) in your own symptoms and what AMA is: the hidden buildup quietly aging your body faster than it should.

This is the reframe nobody gave you: perimenopause isn't the end of your power. It's the beginning of living entirely for yourself.

🎧 New episode drops every week —subscribe so you don't miss Day 2.

Instagram → @salila.ayurveda

Email → [email protected]

This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified Ayurvedic or medical practitioner before beginning any herbal protocol, especially if you are pregnant, nursing ormanaging a health condition.

If I had a penny for every lovely woman who reached out saying, "My doctor wants me to put me on an antidepressant," I’d be a very rich woman.

When "Devi" started waking up at 3:00 AM with a racing heart and night sweats, her doctor first told her it was just stress. On the second visit, she was handed a prescription for antidepressants. It wasn't until her third visit—a full year later—that anyone even uttered the word perimenopause.

Sound familiar? You are not alone and you are not broken.

In this episode of Actionable Ayurveda, host Salila drops the medical jargon and delves into the huge information gap surrounding perimenopause and HRT. Discover why modern medicine often defaults to symptom-suppression pills and learn what’s actually happening beneath the surface of your body through the lens of ancient Ayurvedic wisdom.

In this episode, we unpack:

• 🌸 The "Devi" Story: Why millions of women in their 40s are being dismissed, misdiagnosed or handed SSRIs instead of real answers.

• 📊 The WHI HRT Scare: The early 2000s study that spooked a generation of doctors and why the narrative is far more nuanced than you were told.

• 🍃 What is Dhatu Kshaya?: How decades of late nights, missed meals and overworking drain your deepest tissues (Rasa & Majja), causing severe perimenopausal distress.

• 🧠 Estrogen, Progesterone & Ojas: Understanding your hormones as metabolic and cooling forces and how your adrenals step in when your ovaries slow down.

• 🧘‍♀️ Your "Second Spring": How to shift your perspective from fear of aging to stepping into your powerful second phase of life with grace and vitality.

Stop treating your body like a broken machine with isolated parts. It's time to activate your inner Ayurvedic Intelligence and reclaim your health on your own terms.

🎙️ Host: Salila | Actionable Ayurveda

🔗 Subscribe & Share: If this episode validated what you've been feeling, pass it along to a sister, friend or mother who needs to hear it today!

Instagram → @salila.ayurveda

Email → [email protected] 

Want Better Gut health? Start here:

https://salilasukumaran.podia.com/nourish-with-the-seasons

This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified Ayurvedic or medical practitioner before beginning any herbal protocol, especially if you are pregnant, nursing or managing a health condition.

In this short reflection, Salila Sukumaran encourages us to curate our digital spaces for better mental and physical well-being. Step away from the comparison trap by letting go of social media accounts that make you feel bad about your body. Instead, step away from the noise, nourish your inner fire, honor your personal rhythm, and treat yourself with radical gentleness.

Listen to the full podcast now to reset your relationship with yourself and protect your peace.

Instagram → @salila.ayurveda

Email → [email protected] 

Description

Waking up drenched at 3:00 AM, heart racing, sheets damp, then wide awake till dawn? You're not broken and it's not "just perimenopause." In this episode of Actionable Ayurveda, Salila unpacks the ancient circadian science behind the 3AM wake-up call and why it hits women in their 40s and 50s harder than almost anyone else.

You'll learn:

• Why your body is executing a "safety release," not malfunctioning and what trapped Pitta heat has to do with it.

• How the Ayurvedic dosha clock (Vata, Pitta, Kapha kalas) maps onto your circadian rhythm and why 3AM sits exactly at the Pitta-to-Vata shift.

• What modern neurobiology says about the hypothalamus, cortisol surges and a narrowing "thermoregulatory zone" during perimenopause.

• A clinically-informed bedtime ritual: a warm nutmeg-ghee-milk elixir that works on your GABA receptors to help you fall and stay asleep.

• The science-backed power of a nightly foot massage (Pada Abhyanga) to calm your nervous system and lower insomnia severity.

This isn't about masking symptoms, it's about understanding why your body is doing this, so you can work with it instead of against it.

If this episode helped, screenshot it and share it with a sister who's struggling with sleep and leave us a review on Spotify. It helps more women find this show.

Next week: Salila gets personal about hormone replacement therapy. what she was offered, what she was warned about and what she's choosing as a perimenopausal woman herself.

✨ New episodes every week

Work with Salila:

Book a free consultation → https://calendly.com/salilasukumaran/recovery

Instagram → @salila.ayurveda

Email → [email protected]

This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified Ayurvedic or medical practitioner before beginning any herbal protocol, especially if you are pregnant, nursing or managing a health condition.

Why Did My Waist Expand Overnight? The Ayurvedic Truth About Menopause Belly Fat

You haven't changed your diet. You haven't stopped working out. So why does your belly suddenly feel heavy, and your favorite jeans won't zip?

In this episode, host Salila Sukumaran, generational Ayurveda wisdom keeper based between Kerala and California, cuts through the frantic, fear-driven wellness noise to explain what's actually happening in your body during perimenopause and menopause.

Salila breaks down the science of visceral fat redistribution as estrogen declines, then reframes it through the Ayurvedic lens of rising Vata, disrupted Agni (digestive fire) and Ama (toxic buildup), showing why this isn't the same belly fat you had in your 20s and why punishing workouts and extreme fasting make it worse, not better.

You'll learn her practical, three-part daily ritual to gently rebuild metabolic fire:
1. Clearing Ama with Triphala before bed.
2. Fueling Agni with warm meals and black salt.
3. Nourishing the body with Abhyanga (warm sesame oil self-massage) and mindful movement.

Plus: the archetypal wisdom of Goddess Katyayani, the divine protector of this life stage and why this season calls for rebuilding, not restricting.

If you've been made to feel broken by mainstream fitness culture, this episode is your permission slip to come home to your own body.

🎧 Leave a review and screenshot it to Salila on Instagram (@salila.ayurveda) for a special gift.
💛 Share with a sister who needs to hear that none of this is her fault.

Nourish your inner fire, honor your personal rhythm and be incredibly gentle with yourself.Work with Salila:

Book a free consultation → https://calendly.com/salilasukumaran/recovery

Instagram → @salila.ayurveda

Email → [email protected] 

Shubhamastu.

What if a plant growing in your neighbor's courtyard could shield your cells from radiation damage and also fix your bloating, your hormones, and that cold you can't shake? Meet Tulsi, the herb Ayurveda calls "the incomparable one".

In this episode of Actionable Ayurveda, Salila Sukumaran, generational Ayurveda wisdom keeper based between Kerala and California unpacks Tulsi (Holy Basil), the herb Sanskrit named "the incomparable one" and Ayurvedic texts call a Rasayana, a rejuvenator that restores the body to wholeness rather than just masking a symptom.

Pulled from six generations of healers in her family's lineage in Kerala, Salila shares the exact home remedies her mother taught her as a child, including:

1. The Monday-morning Tulsi tea that curbs hunger and clears brain fog
2. A 30-second hiccup remedy
3. A quick nausea fix for travel days
4. A 3-ingredient acne face pack
5. Her mother's traditional Tulsi Kashaya for colds, cough, and immunity

If you're running on 47 unread emails, navigating hormonal shifts or just trying to feel like yourself again — this one's for you.

ENJOYED THE EPISODE? Leave us a review, subscribe and share this episode with a sister who needs a little Ayurvedic grounding today. Your story might just be someone else’s permission to heal.🎧 New episodes of Actionable Ayurveda drop weekly. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.Work with Salila:

Book a free consultation → https://calendly.com/salilasukumaran/recovery

Instagram → @salila.ayurveda

Email → [email protected] 

https://inis.iaea.org/records/359fd-yd385

NCBI PMC Full Text: Radioprotective Potential of Plants and Herbs against the Effects of Ionizing Radiation

#Ayurveda #TulsiTea #HolyBasil #WomensHealth #NaturalRemedies #HormoneHealth