After I discovered yoga, I would come across this thing called Ayurveda. I might’ve heard it spoken in a conversation, or seen it mentioned in a magazine. But, every time I came across it, I found it incredibly intriguing.

After a couple of years of teaching yoga, early in my career, I would sometimes feel myself burnt out, exhausted and therefore my immunity diminished. I might get sick, struggle with congestion or even have my childhood asthma resurface. All of this was very frustrating because it would affect my life’s purpose of teaching yoga.

Eventually, I discovered an Ayurvedic student clinic in Los Angeles where I made an appointment. That visit changed my life. After taking extensive time to check in with my health concerns, ask questions, check my pulse, and look at my tongue, the practitioners guided by the professor, took me on a holistic odyssey involving a four handed oil bath massage, a fresh eucalyptus steam treatment, and a blissful shirodhara where a steady stream of oil is poured onto the center of the forehead.

By the end of the treatment, I felt like my world had been rocked! Imagine the best spa treatment you’ve ever had and multiply that times infinity, and that’s how this treatment felt! Not only did my entire body feel rejuvenated but I felt like my entire being and soul had been recharged.

After the treatments were finished, the practitioners and professor took me into a classroom and handed me a written prescription that included lifestyle recommendations, a specific diet to eat, poses to practice, certain breathing exercises and a meditation protocol that was all geared to my unique situation.

Oh, and written on the white board, were all these foreign words with numbers next to them. The professor, who looked like Gandalf, explained this was my special herbal formula they had created while I was receiving my treatment. They handed me a container of powdered herbs that I was to take home and drink twice daily for the next month.

I had never experienced anything like this before. Seeing a typical Western doctor, I was lucky if there was more than five minutes of face-to-face time. Usually, we spoke quickly about symptoms and then I was given a pharmaceutical drug that would often cause a cascade of other symptoms. And the environment was often cold, sterile with abrasive lighting. When I asked questions about diet and how food might be impacting the illness, the doctors would sometimes even scoff at the idea that food and nutrition impacts your health.

But, didn’t Hippocrates, the founder of Greek Medicine say, “Let food be thy medicine?”

Somewhere along the way our health care system became a sick care system often dominated by greed instead of a true human need — the right to living a life of health and longevity.

Now, to be clear, I want to point out there are many incredible western doctors out there. In the last few years, it’s been great to see a growing movement in holistic health philosophies combining the best of eastern and western medicine. I believe this to be the way of the future.

After the visit to the Ayurveda clinic, I followed the protocol as laid out — my symptoms were alleviated, I found myself achieving greater balance and my health began to soar. This feeling of greater resiliency inspired my yoga teaching on another level.

This experience inspired me to learn more about Ayurveda. I signed up for an introduction class at The American University of Complementary Medicine. I knew by the end of that first class I was all in on Ayurveda. I went on to complete the full 660 hour “Ayurveda Practitioner” certification.

By the time I graduated the program, I opened up an Ayurveda clinic with a fellow student in Venice, California. We provided for people what I had experienced a couple of years prior. Everyone who came through our doors greatly improved. We were able to help people heal in ways that no other modality could through a customized diet, herb, lifestyle and body treatment protocol.

Make sure to check out Travis’ new 30HR Ayurveda Training exclusively on InnerDimensionAcademy.com!

By Travis