Back in 2020 I received a fateful call that would change the next two years of my life. I was settling into bed, winding down for the evening when the phone rang. My husband was on the receiving end of that call telling me that he thought he was having a heart attack and he felt like he wasn’t in his body. I ran out of bed and grabbed my keys and headed across town in the night. I began navigating the 911 call and sped down the dark desolate road. I made it to my husband before the ambulance got there. His coworkers and I placed my husband in the truck and sped down the road to meet the ambulance. They got him in the ambulance and i could see him from the window as they sped away with me following behind them.
I began yelling at the Universe “Your not taking him yet”! I was attempting to grasp ahold of control in that moment when I was quickly reminded that I had none.
This began our 2 year long journey of Drs appointments, no answers, unexplained symptoms, test results coming back normal, and many unclaimed diagnosis.
In the middle of the Covid Pandemic I was navigating ways to help my husband and ways to learn more about his symptoms. I came upon Ayurveda by accident. I had heard about it years prior and was intrigued by learning a deeper level to how the body functions. This seemed to be the right time. The world was shut down, i was working full time from home , and caring for my husband. I would be able to navigate an Ayurveda Program with everything else going on. As the world shut down I was gearing up to learn about Eastern Medicine and how to bring my husband back to health.
And so the Ayurveda Journey began!
I started out in Ayurvedic Yoga learning how bodily movements can impact balance and imbalances in the body system. That is where we started the process of continual stretching and movement exercises on a regular basis. This cut down on muscle pain and tension throughout the body. I wasn’t done yet! I dove into the Ayurveda Foundations program as to take a deeper dive into movement, breathing, and how Ayurveda is a full body system (not just Dosas). Specific breathing and calming strategies helped with bouts of Anxiety when we were cycling with feeling out of control in the body which was frequent and still can be at times. I still wasn’t done! I enrolled in the Ayurveda Health Counselor Program so I could learn the ancient therapies of Ayurveda and how to utilize the elements around me to help my husband. The health counselor track helped us to navigate his symptoms and work to get him back to a place that was more manageable. Granted we still don’t have solid answers from a western medical perspective we did get relief from switching up his eating habits, incorporating in yoga, breathing, stretching, fitness, and changing other lifestyle patterns.
This gave us a moment to breathe.
This gave us a moment to slow down, get simple, and go back to the root of the symptoms. We still have a long road ahead and don’t forsee having answers in the future, but the future looks brighter than it did. It’s all because of Ayurveda. Ayurveda brought my husband back to decent health and brought me into mine.
As the Ayurveda journey unfolds so will the health journey with our relationship.
Candace Machado
Owner Theraexpressions Meditation
www.theraexpressions.com