Anyone in midlife listen up! Andrea’s been in perimenopause for 7 years and her anxiety, insomnia and indigestion had recently become debilitating. Translation: Fucking hard! Janelle gets the lowdown on Andrea’s new holistic path of Ayurvedic practices and how they’ve changed her life! There’s a nod to Shakti Yoga, Karma Yoga and her Ayurvedic practitioner, Maria Gabriela Guavera., who can be foundat intuitiveayurveda.com You’ll hear:
--How Andrea is fanning the flames of her FIERY Pitta body
--Why Andrea’s trying to mouth tape during the day
--A new definition of self care. Seriously, yo.
--Why a Holistic approach is better than pills for menopause!
--How changing your lifestyle is what matters most
--Why tomatoes can be such bad news
--How ITTY BITTY things can make a big difference
TRANSCRIPT:
Janelle Orion 0:01
Andrea, hi friend, hi friend. And
Andrea Enright 0:03
to the brave hearts listening out there. Welcome to permission to be human. I'm Andrea
Janelle Orion 0:08
and I'm Janelle.
Andrea Enright 0:08
Get ready for some real time relationship. Woo
Janelle Orion 0:11
and wisdom from the front lines with occasional tantrums and tears about
Andrea Enright 0:15
how breaking rules, blurring boundaries and tossing tradition can be catalysts for finding your truth.
Janelle Orion 0:20
Let's debunk the fairy tales we were told as children and create a new map for life. Yes, Disney can go fuck itself if you're seeking permission to choose your own path. Freedom is the new F word. People and want to feel less alone along the way, we got you. Please
Andrea Enright 0:36
note, this is our side of the story. Our partners and metamours have their own individual experiences, and we do not speak for them.
Janelle Orion 0:50
Hey, friend, Hi, friend, I'm so excited for today's episode Bravehearts, because we are going to be talking to Andrea about menopause, other health symptoms, and how she's tried lots of things, but that right now she is trying Ayurvedic practices, and it seems to be working.
Andrea Enright 1:11
And welcome to permission to be human. We are here to chat with you Bravehearts, and I'm excited to tell you about my solution, because it's been a long time coming, and it feels really good and really aligned. And before
Janelle Orion 1:25
we get into it, we just want to remind you that we are hosting Braveheart conversations in real life. Our next one is for women only on November 21 at the goddess temple in Denver, and we also have our very first online Braveheart conversation happening before that November 2, which is a Saturday, from 10 to 2am so check out permission to be human. Dot live forward. Slash events so you can find out more and sign up. Yay.
Andrea Enright 1:53
Can't wait to see you there. Okay, as we dive in. Yes.
Janelle Orion 1:57
So let's go. So Andrea, tell me, what are your symptoms?
Andrea Enright 2:04
Let's see. Well, I've been in perimenopause since I was probably about 767, years, and my symptoms along the way have been hot flashes, insomnia and just a lot of indigestion in general, and GI issues, yeah, those, those are the main things that are just kind of constantly plaguing me in and out, like through different phases, I find a solution and then it doesn't work anymore. I find a solution and then it doesn't work anymore. And so I've tried a lot of lot of different things, but those were the main, the main things. And I would say too, I have a lot of anxiety as part of my personality, but I think it has been elevated during perimenopause, okay. And
Janelle Orion 2:54
so you said you've been experiencing it for six or seven years, just to remind our brave hearts, you are 49 which means that around 42 is when this whole experience started. Yeah, that's true. So why did you start doing Ayurveda practices?
Andrea Enright 3:08
I started chatting with a yoga teacher of mine at karma yoga. Her name is Maria Gabriella guavara, and she runs intuitive Ayurveda. She lives in my neighborhood, and we just started chatting about the yoga class, and she told me what she did, and I'll put all our information in the show notes. But we did this initial meeting, and I told her what I was dealing with in menopause, and she specializes in menopause solutions and treatments. And I after talking with her and feeling really aligned and liking her, presence I was in, I purchased her program. We did an intake, and then now I meet with her every two weeks, she prescribed very specific activities to start, and I communicate minimally with updates to her,
Janelle Orion 4:00
and you meet her in person every
Andrea Enright 4:01
two weeks? Nope, we zoom. Okay, we can. She is open to meeting sometimes in person, because she lives really close to me. I find her very gentle and really embodying radical acceptance, like everything is welcome. She starts every meeting with an extensive meditation that helps me ground and I probably most of all, like, most important to me is that she's very skilled and accepting and absorbing of all of my fiery energy, okay, like she can hold it, like she can hold space for I'm like, Ah, this isn't working. Oh, this hurts. I don't like this. I'm resistant to this. I feel a block around this. And she's very accepting and loving,
Janelle Orion 4:46
okay, amazing. So I know very little about Ayurveda, and so can you give us a basic definition?
Andrea Enright 4:54
So Ayurveda is an ancient Indian science that promotes health and well being by. Balancing the mind, body and spirit. So they focus on natural treatments, nutrition and lifestyle changes. And the word Ayurveda comes from Sanskrit, where Ayu means life and Veda means science or knowledge. So a couple key concepts of Ayurveda is that it's based on each person having a unique balance of three, doshas, pitta, which embodies fire and water, vata, which embodies air and space, and kapha, which embodies earth and water. These are considered life forces, and they are based on age, disposition, ancestry and constitution,
Janelle Orion 5:41
so they can change. Now, I was reading Hearing you say that they're based on age
Andrea Enright 5:46
little bit, yes, so you can def you can shift across time, although it's a little vague whether or not you're really going to shift your your doshas that much. I think what probably what's more true is that when your doshas are out of balance, illness can occur. And so your doshas can be in varying states along your different age path, right? So maybe when I was 25 my doshas were balanced, and then when I was 30, like they became imbalanced because of different factors.
Janelle Orion 6:18
So so the goal is, is to if so if I'm understanding it correctly, is that you have the doshas, they get imbalanced somehow, right? And the goal is to balance them, yes. And
Andrea Enright 6:27
usually, so the literal translation of a dosha is fault or accumulation, which means there's too much of one element in you, right? And so in general, all these elements are consumed and purged. Right? You take in air, you breathe out air, you take in earth, the grounding, and then you like release the grounding. You take in water, and you release the water. And so if you're in balance, there's not enough refreshing of one or the two elements. So in my body, fire or heat tends to accumulate. I have an accumulation of heat and dryness. So heat, which is Pitta and dryness which is vata in my body, so I am part vata and part Pitta. Some people are two and some people are one. Okay, again, Vata, Pitta and Kapha are the three doshas. So you can easily Google Ayurvedic doshas and read through descriptions and identify the one or two that you are
Janelle Orion 7:23
oh, so you don't actually have to go to a doctor to figure it out.
Andrea Enright 7:27
I mean, no, I think just reading through you're gonna say, oh, yeah, that tends to happen to me, or that tends to be what I look like. My eyes are small. I have an itchy scalp, or my skin tends to be more oily, or my tends tends to be more dry. It's gonna be pretty easy to identify where you fall. Okay, what's maybe harder to identify is, like, where your imbalance is.
Janelle Orion 7:47
So then tell me. How does it work? After the intake, did she prescribe things for you
Andrea Enright 7:52
to do? Yeah, she gave me a lot of recommendations, and we take it slow. And I'm like, Okay, give me things to do, and I want to do them right? So I'm like, checking things off, and she said, that's fine, but, you know, this is a long, slow practice, really, because it's a lifestyle change. It's not just taking things, right? And I can go to another doctor and get pills or get a prescription. So as we go through, like, my symptoms and how they've changed, you'll kind of see what she prescribed to me, and some of it makes a lot of sense to me, and other times it's completely counterintuitive. Okay, so I think that's what's what's been one of the aha moments for me about it and so, and
Janelle Orion 8:31
how long have you been doing this so far?
Andrea Enright 8:34
Yeah, I'm about four weeks in, and I'm meeting with her for 12 weeks, okay? And you've already seen a difference in four weeks for sure. Wow, yeah, yeah. And that's, I mean, that's nice and unexpected, actually,
Janelle Orion 8:47
right? Especially for her to say it's a lifestyle change, and so it's going to take a long time. So four weeks, I'm sure it can also feel long, and yet, yes, she's,
Andrea Enright 8:54
she's always like, Oh my gosh, you're totally like, I didn't expect you to be where you are now. Like, and of course, I'm sure that substantive, like, my achievement, like, Oh, I'm doing a good job. But really it's like, Oh no, I can see, I can already see what she means by the change, even if I'm resistant to one of the things she prescribes. Okay, well,
Janelle Orion 9:13
so let's start with like, how has it helped you sleep? Since insomnia is one of your things, yeah. So
Andrea Enright 9:19
I think one of the key things she told me in the beginning is that you're not when you don't digest your day. Sleep is hard, right? And the digestion of your day also impacts the digestion of your food. I've tried something that, of course, I totally feel like I've tried before, but the combination of everything, I think is what's helping. I'm trying yoga, Nidra for sleep. This is just maybe a 22 minute meditation where I someone is talking to me, you know, taking me through a relaxation meditation. I feel like, you know, I like her voice, right? It's all about kind of finding some one of the there's. Are hundreds of yoga nidras out there, probably 1000s that you can find on, you know, SoundCloud or or Spotify
Janelle Orion 10:07
and so, so you're in bed, you've got headphones on sometimes, yes, I
Andrea Enright 10:11
have a I have an earbud in, and I'm listing, and she's basically, like, helping me do a body scan. She's protecting, like, you know, she talks about, like, okay, we're drawing a circle around you. It can be, maybe it's a circle of tree limbs or a circle of flowers or divine light or a wall of clay, but like, I'm kind of just like, kind of curling in, right, and protecting myself from the world. And I do find that it just really does settle me in so one of the things I heard early on about sleep was that if you just don't move for a long period of time, you know that is going to help you relax. I do think that's true, and that's something I have a hard time doing. Like, I'm fidgety, I get hot, and then I get cold, and so every time I move like kind of the spell is broken again, and so this, yeah, this has really helped. I also try to do a little bit of play before sleep, which basically means getting off my phone. I haven't started coloring yet, but that would be an ideal thing to do. Even reading something without screens has really been helpful. I'm embracing more of a nighttime routine. I mean, I've been trying to do that for 20 years, probably like, oh, do a night time routine. I'm like, okay, and then it just never, yeah, it just never worked. I also feel like I get in bed a lot earlier than I did. Say, five years ago. Costa Rica really changed that, because it gets dark there at five, and then it gets light at five. Like, the entire year, we just started going to bed earlier, and we my husband, I still do that now, like we just feel like getting in bed before nine, whereas before that, I would easily stay up until out of bed until 10, like, just doing things around the house. And so I think that is, you know, that's definitely helping. And I think my robe helps, because I really like my robe. I can, like, lay in bed with my robe and my hood, like my head is, like, relaxed into the hood. And there's something very like nurturing
Janelle Orion 12:13
about that cocooning so you're seeping in your robe.
Andrea Enright 12:16
No, I start out in my robe, okay, like, if it's, if it's cold enough, and then I abandon, okay, all right, yes, I sleep naked. Oh, my God. I don't know how anyone sleeps close.
Janelle Orion 12:25
I'm sure you do too naked, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so those are lots of changes, and they're having an impact, yeah,
Andrea Enright 12:36
yeah. And I'd say they're, like, they are changes, but they're, they're small shifts, really, like the yoga nidra is new, but you know, I've been trying to get off my phone for a long time before sleep, and they haven't seemed like a big lift. I would say, Okay, so that's, yeah, that feels it feels good. All right.
Janelle Orion 12:55
So then, how about your morning ritual? How has that changed?
Andrea Enright 12:58
Yeah, so that's the biggest change, because I really have loved my coffee, which is basically me loving sugar, total acknowledgement there it's, like, it's not really the coffee, it's just the cream and sugar that I like. And I still having trouble with that. Like, definitely there's some kind of, like, dopamine hit or sugar addiction that I'm looking for in the morning. And so what I'm drinking instead is a hot drink with lime salt and maple syrup. So this is completely counterintuitive. Like, I don't like, I want to drink a hot drink if it has sugar, but in general, I don't want to drink a hot drink. I know you're not a hot drink, girl, no. And I like the hot lime juice, like, it's not that good. Like a little bit of maple syrup helps, but of course, if you put too much in, then you're just having the sugar again. Yeah, it's okay. I'm getting used to it. So yeah, it's okay. I'm doing some nostril breathing in the morning. So nostril breathing, turns out, can really help with anxiety, because it activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which can help you relax and feel restored. So it helps you breathe more slowly and deeply. It activates the vagus nerve, and this nerve regulates your flight or fight response that helps you feel more calm and relaxed. This is a totally new thing for me, and it though it does relate to your mouth tape thing too, right? You're still mouth taping,
Janelle Orion 14:21
yes, not as consistently, but I still do it.
Andrea Enright 14:24
Do you feel like it's made a difference for you in any way?
Janelle Orion 14:28
I felt it just relaxed me at night. Okay,
Andrea Enright 14:31
so in doing the nostril breathing in the morning, just alternating nostril breaths, you know, box breathing, there's also something called humming, bee breath that one of my old yoga teachers used to do, where you'd breathe in through your nose, and then you cover your ears and you hum out. And there can be a very grounding feeling to that too. It's not my favorite, but I'm feeling into that. I I've not and just a note about mouth tape. Though I have, I never did really like do that on a regular basis. I mean, there is something about something claustrophobic, slightly exciting, slightly scary, about putting, you know, a piece of tape over my mouth when I'm in bed, as though I'm I've been kidnapped, basically. But my friend Greg recently recommended doing it during the day. Oh, like, when you're just like, if you're around the house and you know, you don't need to talk, if you're just like, writing on the computer or doing errands, he's like, it's really just a way to kind of ground in the habit, or integrate the habit of breathing through your nose instead of your mouth. Oh, fascinating, yeah. So I have actually some tape being delivered today that I'm gonna try that. Yeah.
Janelle Orion 15:46
So do you feel that you breathe through your mouth? Mostly,
Andrea Enright 15:53
I think, yeah. I think I probably do. I don't know if most people do or not, yeah, but for me there. The interesting and still sort of puzzling thing about breathing is that I know that I tend to hold my breath when I'm excited or nervous, so I breathe in. And there's some I have some resistance to letting go of the breath, as though I'm not going to breathe in again, like I'm consuming, consuming, consuming, consuming. It's really interesting holding, like, that's what it holds, the control. It's the constriction, exactly. So this has been kind of an aha moment for me, because, you know, I used to do Wim Hof breathing, and I love it, but it's actually not what I need. Like, it's it gives me a high, of course, because holding your breath does give you a high, but this is just creating more constriction and like, it's not great for my nervous system, which is very sad to me, because I love the Wim Hof breathing, but I see how I need to release, right? So I'm learning more about that. Let's see. So what else about my morning ritual has changed? Of course, I'm trying not to look at my phone immediately, and I'm completely failing. Like, I just like, Yeah, I don't know how to do that. If I don't put my phone next to my bed, that definitely helps, but I need the phone for the yoga nidra and so, yeah, there's a little conflict
Janelle Orion 17:21
there, yeah, the conflict of having not wanting to be on your phone and yet your phone being the tool for what we were doing is, like, That's the paradox.
Andrea Enright 17:30
Yeah, it's hard. And then I've started doing short affirmations in the AM. I just literally Googled, like, short meditation on YouTube, and the first thing I come up, I was like, great, like, five minutes, like, she just goes, her name's Cassandra. She just goes through, like, a series of affirmations. I am willing to grow and change. You know, I look in the mirror and I like what I see. I inspire the world by being myself, a handful of others. And those are fun, not fun. Good. They feel good to say out loud. And then sometimes I journal after doing those. And the last thing I do in the morning, actually the first thing I'm supposed to do, but I often forget, is a splash of rose water in my face. She says, To remind me of the Divine I'm using lavender mist right now, because it's what I have, but rose water is more cooling, and I always need to fan my fire.
Janelle Orion 18:29
Okay, so how long does your morning ritual take?
Andrea Enright 18:34
It really doesn't take that long, but I sit, I like to sit on the porch for at least 3030,
Janelle Orion 18:40
minutes. Oh, wow. Okay, you named a lot of things that seemed like seemed like a lot.
Andrea Enright 18:43
Okay, like, Great, yeah, it's really not like the nostril breathing is like five minutes, meditation is five minutes. And drinking my drink, right? Okay, yeah, all right.
Janelle Orion 18:52
So it sounds like there are some bigger changes there for in terms of lifestyle that you're getting used to, but you're navigating that and then, so what about your diet? I know you said no daily coffee,
Andrea Enright 19:03
right? I do have coffee maybe a few times a week as kind of a treat, like, maybe not first thing in the morning. Yeah, it's nice to have that. And they also, like, am less attracted to it because it messes up my stomach. So I have less I've less dairy. I've been trying to reduce my dairy intake for quite a while. I still eat dairy, but I'm a little more intentional with it. I'm trying to hydrate more. It's always been a challenge for me. There's something called nature's Gatorade, and I like Gatorade anyway. So nature's Gatorade is just lemon, lime and maple syrup, so I mix that in my water bottle every day, and that's a little more refreshing. It's cooling, and it makes me drink the water. I started doing more seasonal vegetables. I was doing that already, but I'm just more. Attracted to that. Now I'm roasting the vegetables. I put tahina on them. Maybe I'll have them with some basmati rice. That's a new staple. I'm having for lunch maybe three times a week. I also have overnight oats with figs and apples. No spicy food less nightshades. Nightshades are tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and eggplant. Tomatoes are, like, my favorite fucking vegetable. I know they're mine too, like, especially in the fall, like, and they have so much alkaloid in them, and they're just, they're, they're so bad for anyone with inflammation. And so it's just so sad to me. But I'm basically just having, I'm having less tomatoes, also less mixing fruit with other foods, because fruit digests so much slower. And so what happens? It messes up your digestion when everything else is digesting and the fruit is still hanging on, and so it's it's actually just causing disruption in your digestion by not being digested at the same rate as the other food.
Janelle Orion 20:57
Oh, so I didn't know about this. Yeah, so fruit, all fruits, including tomatoes, but raw
Andrea Enright 21:03
fruit, like you know, if I used to have paleo waffles with blueberries and sun butter, right, right, not great for my digestion. Oh, yeah. So, you know, I don't completely avoid that, but I'm trying to just do less of it. No smoothies. Smoothies are awful for digestion. Why? I mean, I don't know enough about the science. Just like all these things mixed together, just all crushed up, just does, like, they're all digesting at different rates. There's so many different kinds of things we're throwing in a smoothie. Yeah. I mean, the Ayurvedic cookbook that she recommended I get, I got it from the library, is like, like, it has all these like this, like gentle language throughout, right? It's like, so soft and so loving and nurturing. And then it's like smoothies, the nightmare of of eating like they're like, do not drink a smoothie. Very unfortunate, because it's so convenient. Less raw food for me, I need more warmth, which is so counterintuitive, like, I'm full of heat, I tend to be hot, and raw food is actually not great for my gesture. Ingestion, totally disappointing. Like I would just prefer to have, like carrots and peppers and hummus and crackers and then sour foods are not good for me. I love sour foods. I love vinegar, and then more, coriander, cumin, cardamom and ginger, those are the spices that are best for my body, much less garlic and onions also, also very challenging, yeah. So I'm developing a taste for different foods because I'm just so motivated to feel better. Yeah, and with digestion and with my sleep, that it's amazing how I really am shifting. Because I remember looking I've watched people over the years sit as I'm eating something really delicious and pleasurable, and they're like, having this just very simple salad. And I'm like, Oh God, how are you doing that? Like, how are you just, like, denying yourself of all these, like, yummy foods, but I just feel like I'm really, I'm putting my body first, which is a really, a big step for me. Yeah, I mean, I've always worked out, but I definitely have a resistance to health and self care. I think that I developed from an early age that it just like, doesn't matter if you're cold, like looking better is more important, right? It doesn't matter if you're thirsty or hungry, like getting your shit done is more important. And that's a pretty deep belief that's been hard to reverse.
Janelle Orion 23:39
Yeah, I hear you Braveheart breaking through those cultural conditionings. There you go. And so you've been having these symptoms for a long time, six or seven years, and you said you've tried a bunch of things, but do you feel just like at this point is now your desire to feel better is just kicking in?
Andrea Enright 24:00
No, I mean, my desire to feel better was strong for a long time. I haven't had the indigestion for that many years like the indigestion has been more in the last, like, say, one or two years. So that is a stronger motivation. I think I have been motivated to solve my hot flashes for a long time, and those got solved in a different way. I've been motivated to sleep better for a long time, but I think it's a little hard to explain. I think it's this combination of my anxiety plus the menopause, plus lack of sleep plus the indigestion. It's like, kind of everything coming to a head and being like, Oh, so many factors got it impacting my discomfort at this point, right?
Janelle Orion 24:48
It's kind of an accumulative it's not like, you started here seven years ago. I
Andrea Enright 24:52
didn't, yes, I was just like, can't sleep. Okay, what's the problem like? And and then I did solve that in little ways. Now. Now I do think that menopause and anxiety was impacting my lack of sleep, and all of these things are helping both both of those symptoms. And
Janelle Orion 25:10
so now, does your as with this new diet that you're as your stomach feeling better?
Andrea Enright 25:16
Yeah, it really does in so many ways. I mean, I'd say I'm eating with more intention. I can just intuitively tell when I shouldn't eat something now I just know. I'm like, Oh, that's not gonna go well, right? I mean, even just like, something as simple as, like, Mexican food, I'm like, probably not gonna go well. Like, so so fucking sad. Like, I just like, can't even have a taco. Like, there's just too many things in there, there's spiciness, there's tomatoes, there's, like, it's there's too many things going on. And I'm realizing also that when I put caffeine and sugar in my system, it's going to impact the next meal I eat, even if that meal is good, right? So I'll have coffee in the morning with sugar, because this used to happen to me. I would have coffee and sugar in the morning, I would have a totally sensible breakfast, and for lunch, I'd have roasted vegetables and rice, something very healthy, and then my stomach would still be a mess. And it was because the coffee in the morning was making its way into that food as well. Okay, so it just has a long, a long impact. So, is
Janelle Orion 26:28
there anything you haven't tried yet that this ayurvedic doctor has pushed
Andrea Enright 26:32
Yes, Maria has mentioned oil, pulling, oil, massage, hydration, massage, a neti pot from my nose, calming teas. I have yet to do any of that, so there's always new things I can try, but it feels good to draw boundaries as well. Like, she's made a couple suggestions, and I'm like, No, I'm not doing that yet. Like, one routine shift at a time, right? So it's more manageable, yeah. And so is there a philosophy around the Ayurvedic that speaks to you. One is that you should enjoy your food. Okay, so wait, hold
Janelle Orion 27:06
on. So you're saying you've been like, there's so much I can eat, but at the underneath it, the philosophy is though that you should enjoy what you're eating. Yes,
Andrea Enright 27:16
and I think I've had people in my life before that have said, Look, just eat it. Like, it's good for you. Like, who cares if it doesn't taste amazing? And this is always like, not sat well with me. I'm just like, No. I just like, like, I can have preferences, like, you can find healthy stuff that tastes good, I think, and so that just sort of affirms for me that, like, No, I can find foods that are good for me and that tastes good to me. And I think this also gets into the to breaking the belief about just blindly believing some things, like no gluten is just a bad thing. Like no, it's not bad for everyone, and it's not necessarily bad in small amounts. There's just no hard and fast rule about food.
Janelle Orion 28:09
And what I'm actually hearing is you said, you said, is it good for me? Is the taste good? But actually, what this whole conversation, to me is about is, actually, how does it make you feel, which is a different measurement. Yeah,
Andrea Enright 28:22
that's true. Does it taste good? How does it make me feel? Is it good for me? And that is really true. And I know, I mean, I've known that for many, many years now, where I remember at some point it wasn't actually that long ago, maybe, like, maybe five years ago, like, Oh, I feel like shit after eating pizza, but I love pizza, and it's worth it, so who cares, right? And then slowly, you know, it's like, almost gone, like it's almost gone from my life, and it's so sad, but, yeah, I just like, maybe a piece would be fine, but two pieces and like it's over, right? Yeah, so that's true. And then the other thing about Ayurveda is that you should eat your food slowly and with intention, not while looking at your phone, not while being on the computer. I think I've caught myself just not honoring that enough. And then something that Maria mentioned to me was that Ayurvedic solutions do not need to be expensive or trendy, no supplements, no pills. That really appealed to me because for so long I had spoken with nutritionists and people that had recommended like, you need to get these supplements. You need to try this powder. This is really good for you, and, yeah, and that didn't feel good, right? Having to spend a lot of money or take all these pills in the morning. It's just not something I want to embrace. I really want to be intentional, right, about what I'm putting in my body. Yeah,
Janelle Orion 29:56
I love that. That would resonate with me as well. That, like, actually, if you're just. Eating the correct foods and these other things, like, you're just going through life with what's, I don't know, quote, unquote, natural, yeah, in its natural form, maybe I say that, yeah. What about your exercise?
Andrea Enright 30:16
The only thing that's changed there is that I'm supposed to be doing movement in the morning, walking, or maybe walking during the day, just to walk around the block, and I am incredibly resistant.
Janelle Orion 30:27
But you used to run all the time in the morning, yeah. So I
Andrea Enright 30:31
still run like and I mornings not my favorite time to run, but maybe I'll run twice a week in the morning, and that's exercise. But like I'm she wants me to to walk every morning. Oh, okay, and I do not want to get up and walk like I just can't even tell you how much I don't want to do. That is really a challenge for me, so I'm trying to set up some accountability partners to walk with me maybe twice a week.
Janelle Orion 30:59
That will help. How long was the movement that she wants you to do? Want you to do?
Andrea Enright 31:03
Like, 20 minutes. Like, just pretty basic. Ideally, I would work up a sweat, which is also annoying as well, because depending on the day, if I need to shower, like, but still, I do think that helps. I know that getting out into the world is a good thing for me, and I know that movement, I've heard from so many people in menopause that that really helps them feel better. So I believe it, it's just kind of a morning thing, and it also I had just had this sedentary nature, even though that doesn't seem like me, like I'm more of a nesting in the morning, yeah? But even during the day, like when I have a break or, like, between meetings, I just do not want to walk around the block. Like, I don't know what it is, but I so it's, it's something I'm trying and tasting. I've, I've done a little bit more of it lately, and I'm really trying to walk for 20 minutes and not take my phone, and that that actually feels good, like, no podcast, no phone, no music, right? No input, yeah. And that that actually I love, like, I just want to be present on the walk.
Janelle Orion 32:10
I know you've mentioned that you've tried lots of things over time in the past six or seven years. What are some of the other things that you've tried, and are you still doing any of those?
Andrea Enright 32:20
Yeah, so I've tried magnesium, so all the rage from menopause. Really hear a lot about this, different types of magnesium. Take it at night. Take it in a powder form, take it in a gummy form, take it in a pill form. Find the one that's right for you. And this has done nothing for me. Just does not calm me, does not help me sleep. I have used progesterone and estrogen for my hot flashes, and that's been very effective. Progesterone is always also supposed to help you sleep, and did not do much for me. I'm low in vitamin B and D. I think a lot of women are, and so that was something else I tried. I'm actually now getting vitamin B shot boosters from a place in my neighborhood. It's like 20 bucks every two or three weeks. And that works much better for me, because the vitamins can sometimes do a number on my GI. Mm, hmm. So that's been better. I tried gummies, THC, gummies to sleep, very effective, but over time, I developed a tolerance to those. So eventually it was taking like, 15 grams of THC to get 15 milligrams, sorry, and so that was too much. There just was becoming a problem. Also this thing's gummies, Trazodone, there's a lot of anti anxiety meds that actually people have learned help you sleep, even if you're not taking it for anxiety. But all of them are dehydrating, and so Trazodone, the gummies, melatonin, certainly Advil PM, just I wake up, just completely dehydrated. Oh, fascinating. Yeah. So that's just not great for my system either, because I'm already tend to be dry. And of course, things like Advil pm are just like, kind of a last resort for me. Like, if I'm really, like, gone two nights without sleeping, then, you know, I'll do that, but I don't want to be taking that on a regular basis, right? I tried black coach. I've tried other herbs, from apothecary tank turret, a place here in Denver, tea before bed, mushrooms. I think so many of these supplements and herbs do work for a lot of people, and I found that all of them were just not strong enough for my sleep issues, right? Many, this is years ago, right? Tried those. So
Janelle Orion 34:33
what I'm hearing, though, is that Maria is putting together all of these symptoms, like your Sleep Sounds like it's related to your food, yes, which is related to these different mornings and exercises and all these different things. And so if you're just trying to handle your sleep, yeah, then it's, you know, it's like, the whack a mole, like, maybe you got that one thing, but then, yes, something else is actually impacting it.
Andrea Enright 34:58
Yeah. And this is holistic. Approach, right? It feels comprehensive. It feels integrative. Like, yeah, it feels like she's hitting all of the different issues that I've had over the years. I also have, have always had, like, a throat clearing dryness, right? For most of my life, since, at least since my early 20s. And this is also combating that, like, not directly, I haven't seen a change yet. I haven't been paying attention to that specifically, but this is saying, Look, you're dry, like you're hot and dry. How can we fix these things?
Janelle Orion 35:29
Interesting, so I was always wondering, right? We've talked about your throat clearing, yeah, of like you thought, like it's something, but you just never could figure out what it
Andrea Enright 35:36
was. Yeah, I've been to an Earl and throat doctor. I've been to the allergist. Like nothing ever really solved it. And I just feel like this was very aligned with a slow burn toward changing that too. Okay, it feels good.
Janelle Orion 35:49
You know, when you first spoke to her, were you still hesitant about trying something new?
Andrea Enright 35:55
Yeah, and I think partly because I'd already spent a lot of time and money and a lot of solutions, and just thought, I just just was kind of at a loss, like, well, how will this be any different
Janelle Orion 36:09
the last time? And had you heard of Ayurveda before? Yeah, yeah. I
Andrea Enright 36:14
remember I heard about it in my yoga class, my yoga training, many years ago, but I didn't realize how comprehensive or holistic the medicinal part was.
Janelle Orion 36:27
Well, I'm so glad that this is having an impact, and I hope that it continues, obviously women who have the same symptoms that you do, but is there anyone else that you would recommend that they should consider seeing an Ayurvedic practitioner or doctor.
Andrea Enright 36:46
Definitely women in menopause or perimenopause, but I would recommend it for anyone who's really willing to make a lifestyle change and who doesn't want more prescriptions. That's I think that's where I was at, and anyone who's going through classic repetitive issues, dehydration, digestion, migraines, anxiety, inflammation, infections, you know there can be repetitive issues you've had over the course of your life that have then been exacerbated by menopause. Okay, I would recommend it for anyone, anyone like that. And I think it's important to note that I don't know if I could have done this before. Now, I think I needed to amass the wisdom about myself and come to a place where I was ready to pay attention, to slow down, to cook, to spend more time on my self care, because there were many years, but I would never have done this. Would never have taken the time I didn't feel like my body was important enough, or, you know that self care was important enough. So it's been an evolution for me, and we get our medicine when we need it. Yes, well,
Janelle Orion 37:58
thank you for sharing your journey and being an inspiration, for recognizing that, yeah, self care is a hype, but that you've, we've described, is the painful journey of acknowledging that it's important and that your body is important, and that, you know, I see, I think you said you're raised to think that being productive was more important than eating or going to the bathroom, and I can I get it, I get it. And so that's what I hear. You're ready to change that? And so I'm really excited for you. Yay.
Andrea Enright 38:32
Thank you so much. I just urge all of your brave hearts out there to try something new, whatever it is like, pay attention to your body and know that self care is so much more than taking baths and getting massages. I think there is a lot of hype about self care in a trendy way, and the true self care is like paying attention to how you feel, right
Janelle Orion 38:55
well. And then what that really, to me, comes down to, I always believe, is that at at that level, if you're feeling good, right? Or if I'm if I'm feeling good, then that means other people around me get to receive the feeling good Janelle or the feeling good Andrea, which means that I'm not actually being selfish when I'm taking care of myself to feel good, that I'm actually being in service. Yeah. Totally true. Yay, yay. Brave hearts. Thanks for listening. We love you. Do you need permission to be human?
Andrea Enright 39:30
You got it?
Janelle Orion 39:30
Listen, subscribe and review on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about us at permission to be human. Dot live you.