Mar 3, 20213 min read

Ayurveda for Postpartum

Every parent understands how special it is to prepare for their new baby's arrival, and how easily one can set aside household tasks in favor of holding soft tiny fingers and toes.

I invite you to zoom out on this picture. It is clear who is taking care of the baby, and how they are doing it. Who is taking care of the family? How is the postpartum woman being supported so that she can sustain the caregiving needs of her baby, her household, and her self?

WHAT IS AYURVEDA?

Ayurveda is ancient Indian medicine focused on holistic balance and our relationship with nature as a microcosm of the macrocosm. The body systems correlate to different elements, and each imbalance can lead other body systems into a state of dis-ease. We can bring attention to this homeostasis with mindfulness in our nutrition, mindset, and by observance of the world around us.

Tuning into the gunas, or qualities, of each time of day, season, and stage of life we are in allows us to create supportive routines for our own optimal health, for health is greater than the absence of visible disease.

Ayurveda recognizes that we each have a unique Prakruti, a balance of the elements or doshas that when appropriately aligned, brings us our best health. Our Prakruti is determined by the doshic states of our parents at conception, the season and doshas present at our birth. We settle into our Prakruti during our sacred window as newborns, and this balance is what we strive to return to throughout our life practices, if we are aware.

WHAT IS THE SACRED WINDOW?

The sacred window is a kayakalpa lasting approximately 42 days after a woman's birth. This sacred postpartum time is an inherit opportunity for the deepest healing - a time of profound permeability and possibility as we are born into the motherhood chapter with this baby. The saying “42 days for 42 years” implies that whatever love and care we do (or do not) receive during this time will impact our health on a psychosomatic and spiritual level.

WHY AYURVEDIC POSTPARTUM CARE?

Birth is a journey. It carries us beyond limits we understood possible, elevating the state of our vata dosha. Vata dosha is a state in which air and ether elements are elevated, or aggravated compared to the elements of fire, water, and earth. The gunas of vata encompass those of its dominant elements, and possess qualities similar to wind.

Dry, Light, Cold, Rough, Subtle, Mobile, Quick, Clear,

Expansive, Permeable, Contains without needing understanding

Birth is an initiation - a death of one chapter as we move into another. A time of change, transformation, and a time in which our hearts grow beyond measure. The newborn stage of parenting is a time of sleeplessness, space holding, bouncing, rocking, and talking to our babies. All of these things are amazing, healthy, and beautiful. They also all aggravate vata.

Ayurvedic postpartum caregiving supports this time of natural rebalance with the aid of:

providing a spacious container for love and understanding

nutrition, herbal support & attention to digestion

intentional skin care (abhyanga)

conscious breathwork (pranayama)

elevating countering gunas and

employing the subtle essences of sattva (digestion), ojas (immunity), and prana (life force)

Through self awareness, and help from our villages, we can thrive through this important transition, and enter the world at the close of our window with confidence and strength like no other.

This is the birth rite of all mothers.