Revitalize Your Health: Transformative Ayurvedic Practices with Dr. Shivani Gupta

Jenny Jones

Welcome back to another episode of the Biohacker Blondie podcast, where we get into all things health, wellness, longevity and of course, biohacking. I'm your host, Jenny Jones, here to guide you through cutting edge world of biohacking and personal optimization. Whether you're a biohacker or just starting your journey to better your health, you will love this podcast. Today I have a truly exciting show lined up for you. Joining us is the incredible Doctor Shivani Gupta, a passionate advocate for integrative health and a pioneer in blending traditional ayurvedic medicine with modern biohacking techniques.

Doctor Gupta brings a wealth of knowledge about holistic wellness, focusing especially on how we can harness the ancient wisdom of ayurveda to solve contemporary health challenges. Doctor Gupta, who holds a PhD in ayurvedic studies, has dedicated her career to understanding the root causes of inflammation and chronic health issues. She's here to share her insights on how natural remedies, when combined with biohacking tools, can dramatically improve our health and vitality. So if you've ever wondered about the benefits of turmeric, the power of circadian fasting, or how to naturally boost your body's resilience, you're in for a treat. So let's get into this episode.

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I love all of them and you will not be disappointed. So now let's get into this amazing episode with Doctor Shivani. Hey. Well, welcome to another episode of the Biohacker Blondie podcast. I am so excited to have Doctor Siobhan Gupta.

Shivani. Doctor Shivani Gupta. Okay, so, yes, I'm super excited to have you on. You are all about ayurvedic medicine and you are all about turmeric and we're going to get all into herbs, spices, healing. I know you have a history of diabetes in your family, so let's get all into that and learn about the healing properties of spices and ayurvedic medicine.

If you can give a little intro into how you got into this space, a little bit history, and we can get into your amazing supplements. So welcome and thank you for taking the time out of your day to be on the Biohacker Bondi podcast. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Yes.

So what is your history? How did you get into this amazing health space? And. Yeah, and we want to hear all the benefits of turmeric. Sure.

Shivani Gupta

So like you mentioned, I grew up in a family. I grew up in Houston, Texas. But I'd go to India pretty much every year of my life. And every time I landed in India, first of all, I was always air sick, seasick, car sick and would catch every cold going by. But also whenever I landed there, I would see my family really struggle with the advanced stages of diabetes.

And I thought to myself, why are we living our life a certain way? But that's leading to the last quarter of our life being really horrible. How is this fair that it's heart attack, stroke, Parkinson's, amputation, all the horrible side effects or after effects of having diabetes in your life that really led me to trying to study what is the immune system, what is gut health, how do I win at my own health? What am I going to do? I ended up learning about ayurveda, which is this entire system of medicine and health and healing from India that's over 5000 years old.

I told my parents, this thing we're doing here, where all we're doing is giving me really strong antibiotics, is obviously not working. We should go try another way. I went on this quest to go study ayurveda and yoga under all the gurus in India. And I realized this system works and it has this entire toolkit we can reach into and apply to our modern day selves to help us prevent disease, reduce inflammation, align to our circadian rhythm and get support. And so I love talking to biohackers like yourself because I'm like, we actually very much believe in the same thing.

You're reaching into a very modern toolkit to achieve the same goals. And how cool is that, that we're saying the same thing but we're expanding the toolkit to do it even better. I love that so much because, yes, I think we have to go back, you know, to nature back to, like, these specific routines of what our bodies were meant to do, like grounding and the circadian rhythm and sleep and seeing sun in the morning and, you know, these certain things and, like, herbs. And then we're now also combining the bio, like, kind of cutting edge biohacks to optimize our body. But I think a lot of people need the basics first, like, and that's why.

And nutrition and herbs and these things are so important because I think also now we're looking so much to supplements and to these, like, biohacks, but we really need to get down to the basics first. And I think nutrition and real food is, like, the core of your health. So what did you learn in India from all the gurus that this is so cool? Because I'm sure you got to discover so many amazing things and learn about so many healing properties of herbs and everything else that they do. So please tell us your journey.

I want to hear all about it. What was your favorite things that you learned? You know, it was really cool because I had met so many beautiful people along the way. So I got to live in Kerala for a couple weeks, and in Kerala, these doctors from this ayurvedic center came to just give me, like, a boot camp on ayurveda and just immerse me in. I got to try all the treatments.

Shivani Gupta

I've stayed in ayurvedic centers and done panchakarma, which is like a profound three week detox of the body, where they really get in every orifice and cleanse and purge you, and it's like colonics and enemas. And Jill Nathy, where they pour saline water up one nostril and it comes out the other. So it was quite an adventure. I was just. I walked in like a guinea pig, ready to try it all so I could understand what worked and what didn't.

And at the end of trying everything, I was like, wow, this stuff really works. I rebooted my gut health, which rebooted my immune system. I felt incredible when I was there. I learned that our dosha, our individual mind body constitution, is decided at birth, and it's the guiding force in our lives in terms of our physical, mental, and emotional traits. And so to understand your dosha, and I have a dosha quiz on my website, but to understand your dosha can kind of be your compass to navigate how you manage yourself through your life to stay more balanced.

Then I learned circadian rhythm, like, let's sleep with the sun. Let's wake up with the sun. And that's part of living the yogic lifestyle is really choosing to be very conscious and intentional about when we wake up, when we sleep, and living by nature's rhythm, which keeps us in flow, as opposed to trying to defy it constantly and getting out of flow with it. So those were two of the key pieces, and another big one was everywhere I went, they had these gardens, and the gardens were medicinal, so every herb had a purpose. They had thulsi, they had ginger and turmeric, of course, which are my favorites.

They had the adaptogens. They reach into Ashwagandha, Brahmi, osmanthus, cardamom, like so many different flowers and plants, have properties that are superfood level benefits. And oftentimes we just don't realize it. Like here in the west, we're like, I ate my blueberries, I ate my spinach, I ate my salmon. I'm such a good kid when the benefits of a lot of those superfoods is their anti inflammatory and antioxidant benefits.

And so if every superfood you're buying is for those two things, that's when I realized, well, the spice cabinet in the indian kitchen has all those powerhouse herbs, and turmeric has all those benefits. And so that's where I really fell in love with turmeric and said, okay, I'm going to study this thing really in depth. And after doing my master's in ayurvedic sciences, I got my PhD on turmeric. So that's what turned me into this crazy evangelist on turmeric. Yeah.

That is so cool. Okay, so you're the expert, the pro. I'm the super nerd on the topic, that's for sure. Okay, so, so many questions, but where is the best tumeric? Is it your supplements?

Shivani Gupta

Well, what I do share with people, because we, you know, food also matters. So a lot of people buy fresh turmeric, and they're like, I juice it and it's great. Fresh turmeric is great. But if we're not going to add in black pepper or healthy fat, we might not be getting all the bioavailability out of that plant. And in ancient India, and India, we don't use raw turmeric very much.

We take it and we dry it into the spice, and that makes it much more concentrated. And so using the spice turmeric in your food is great. I cook with it every day in my house, but we use turmeric with black pepper or a healthy fat for the absorption that's built into indian cooking. We're always going to use ghee in our cooking. And our garam masala already has black pepper built in.

So that's always part of what's going to increase that absorption. And then what most people don't realize is, out of all the turmeric plant, only 3% is the curcuminoids. Only one of those, curcumin is the most effective at reducing inflammation. And so many people are out there taking turmeric powder and putting it in a pill, which is ridiculous, like, what a waste of time and money and effort. Or they're taking the curcuminoids and they're not, they're not extracting it properly, and they're giving you the wrong ratio of those three and they're not driving a result.

So when I finish my PhD. Go ahead, explain the three. The three parts of turmeric. Sure. So out of the entire turmeric plant, only 3% of that plant is the three curcuminoids.

And those out of that 3%, 1%, the curcumin is the most effective at reducing inflammation. Okay, so is turmeric, then curcumin. Turmeric is the plant and curcumin is the extract. Okay, so if we, if you do go to the store and you see curcumin, you should buy that instead of turmeric. Correct.

But what happens is a lot of supplements are very confusing. So if you pick up a supplement label, and it happened to me for like, years, until I finished my PhD, and then even I had a hard time. But if a label says curcuma longa, that just means the plant named turmeric, that's just turmeric. If it says curcuminoids, they're giving you all three. They're not telling you the ratio.

It should say curcumin 95% standardized. So then, you know, at least they standardized it to a certain level, and that's the level of that extract that you're receiving. Wow. Yeah. There's a lot of brand names, there's a lot of patents that people do.

My mentor has told me, don't break off a piece of curcumin and patent it and call it better. Like that's not better. Breaking nature to make a profit doesn't make sense. Keep nature whole and give it in the right proportion as Mother Nature gives it, and that's how you'll create a result in the body. Oh, I love that so much.

Do you think that it's better to find a supplement with black pepper? Absolutely. Always black pepper or even liposomal. Curcumin either makes it better. Liposomal, you said?

Shivani Gupta

Yeah. So like healthy fat, black pepper, either one is beneficial. We know that black pepper increases the absorption of curcumin by 2000%. So we have over 6000 studies, scientific studies that prove that, which is why more people lean that way. But we also know that healthy fat can increase the absorption.

Wow, okay, so did this help you with diabetes, with your ghrelin hormone, with inflammation, what did you see the benefits? And is that kind of your biggest takeaway when you went to India and did this whole retreat was thing that one of your favorite things that like this is, was your favorite herb and had the most impact on your health? Well, when I learned about turmeric, I realized that it's such a powerful anti inflammatory. And we know that inflammation is that root cause behind so many inflammatory diseases, including diabetes. Then it said it's a powerful antioxidant.

Shivani Gupta

And so we know that oxidation is what's aging us. And turmeric will go and reverse the things that are oxidating usually. So it's like preventive for oxidation, not just handling what's in front of it, but going backwards and erasing, which I loved. Then it's antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial. That was the huge part for me because I had had this immune system that just never worked right.

And all of a sudden I felt like I had a defensive shield in place. So if someone walked by and seized, I was like, I'm all good, I have my shield in place. If I was traveling, then I knew that I was protected and my gut was protected, my system was protected. To me, turmeric is like the ultimate super spice because it does so much for us. And when I finished my PhD, I was like, well, it helps with heart health, brain health, gut health, all system health.

This thing works for everything. I'm curious, can I make one that's so potent that I can convince all of western medicine that every time they tell us we're inflamed, that they'll use a supplement instead of other stuff that has side effects? And so that's been my body of work for the last eight years, is working with orthopedics, rheumatology, functional medicine, and convincing each doctor to make that switch. Wow, so you're really trying to promote this with doctors as well and saying, hey, please give this to your patients? Yeah.

And are you seeing amazing results or people like maybe lower blood pressure or diabetes or any of these things? What have you seen improvements on? The biggest improvement I've seen is in orthopedics. So when people have that chronic joint pain, they're like, my knees hurt, my hips hurt, my back hurts, they get relief. And then instead of popping nsaids all day, which just masks their pain and gets them out of pain for just those 6 hours, then we're taking turmeric.

Shivani Gupta

It's going in there and healing the problem at a systemic level and really supporting them over the long haul. Then rheumatology, same thing, that chronic joint pain that has people losing function in their hands and staying in pain. We're seeing that whole group get a lot of support. Then I get a lot of data from my practitioners and the patients. Their patients, they'll say, look, my pain went away.

My big pain, the back pain or hip pain. But then it went and helped with small problems, like allergies or skin conditions that they had, or they were sneezing 20 times, or their breathing has changed. So I love seeing how it attacks the big problem. Then it'll go after the smaller problems, and then the body wants to heal itself. And so turmeric can be taken, just utilized, and then you let go of it.

We don't need to take everything forever. Yeah. So do you. Do you take this daily then, or. I do.

I need my immune system to be protected. Anytime anyone sneezes around me, I'm like, no, no, no, I'm not catching the thing. And then I used. I'm like, oh, I don't want to get sick. Like, what is this?

Like, oh, it's all just still go out even though we're sick, because I guess it's not COVID, but I'm like, I don't want to be sick. I don't want to lose. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, I don't have time. And it's also, you know, it's just.

It makes you a little tired. It makes you, like, you can't function your brain. You're going to, you know. So it's important for people to take care of their health, be preventative, and also do not spread it. Totally.

Shivani Gupta

I agree. I totally agree. Okay, so you take the. Do you also juice tamarik? Do you like?

And you cook with it all the time. No juicing. No juicing. I don't see the point. I think it's a waste of time and money, to be honest.

Shivani Gupta

I do make celery juice in my house in the morning sometimes, but I do see the benefits in celery juice or any great green juice, because I want the greens and I might not be eating enough greens. I just take the turmeric supplement that I made because I know I'm getting exactly the dosage I need for the day and then I'm covered. And then in the diet, it's part of the indian diet, so it's part of my life no matter what. Yeah. Is yours coming from India, then?

Is your supplement? Yeah, the way I designed it, I have two main formulas for inflammation. And all my curcumin comes from India. Pretty much all our herbs come from India or Ecuador. I avoid getting ingredients out of China.

Shivani Gupta

I have a third party tested upon arrival in the US in pre and post production. I make it in the US very specifically because I want full control over my production. So for me, I was very much coming from this ethos of this is me making it and I'm putting it in a doctor's hands for their patients. And then over the years, a lot of people were like, well, I don't go to your doctor that you found. I want to have it for myself.

So we sell it online through our website as well. But I have both worlds. Like, I love working with people on their health and their gut health and their autoimmunity and issues. I'm an Ayurveda coach in that sense, lifestyle coach. And then on the supplement side, it's cool because we're meeting with the biohacking community, with practitioners, with coaches and then everyone else, regular people, to show them what turmeric can do.

Wow. So it comes in a pill form, because I know you also have tea as well. So do you have any teas with this? I did not make a tea out of turmeric because I very much believe that that 500 milligrams of curcumin in the right proportion with 50 milligrams turmeric with the four milligrams black pepper extract is the right dosage. And so when it comes to a tea, I can't predict how much your spoon will pick up or people will do more.

Shivani Gupta

And there are side effects to turmeric. It is a vasodilator, so it's going to increase nitric oxide, it's going to increase blood flow, but we don't want people to like OD. And so I won't take my curcumin and put it in a tea because I'm a little worried about everyone who's like, more is great. I'm like, no, no, no. We're Matt.

Nitric oxide yeah, right. Like, let's. Let's stick to the plan the way I built it. But I do love playing with teas because I do think that, you know, inflammation is one huge problem, but so is our sleep. Like, if we're not going to improve our sleep quality, we're not going to win at inflammation either.

Shivani Gupta

I have a lot of women who reached out with menopause symptoms. I wanted to fix that. A lot of people who are reaching for a glass of wine at the end of the day to chill. So I made a new tea called unwind tea that can just take it down a few notches with adaptogens. So I play with the tea world because ayurveda loves herbs.

Jenny Jones

So now let's take a quick break to share something I'm truly excited about. For everyone out there striving to enhance your health and unlock your full potential for your body and mind, I've crafted a resource just for you. My new book, Biohack for Life, which is now available on Amazon. This book is more than just a guide to health. It's your roadmap to achieving peak physical and mental performance.

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And because I love engaging with all of you and exploring our biohacking journey together, make sure to keep an eye out on my instagram. Iblondy I'm excited to announce that I'll soon be launching a 30 day biohacking challenge. This challenge is designed to help you apply the strategies from the book with daily, actionable steps that will bring you closer to your healthiest self. So now let's dive back into this amazing episode. What's in, like, the sleep tea?

What's in the calming tea? Like every. A lot of people have problems with sleep, and sleep is very important. I kind of even like doing so much lately, I'm kind of realizing my sleep has been disruptive because I have so much on my mind.

That what. Is in this tea? Please tell me. Yeah, I feel your pain. I feel like lately, because I'm doing more, working more, I'm not winding down enough, and so my sleep is disrupted, and I'll wake up at three, and I'm like, oh, yeah, I didn't reply to this thing.

Shivani Gupta

And then my brain is awake. So I have two things for that. I designed deep sleep tea for us to drink right before bedtime. And it's got brahmi, ashwagandha, kardamam, all these herbs that settle the mind and settle the digestive system so we can then focus on sleep. And so that kind of.

It's like a sleep hygiene habit that cues the mind that it's time for bed and relaxes you right before bedtime, and it makes you sleepy, so it'll put you to sleep. And then I created a sleep gummy. That's gaba l theanine and a little melatonin, so that if you do wake up in the middle of the night, you can just take one and then go back to sleep for just a few hours you want, or you can take two to get the perfect night's sleep. Because to me, sleep is, like, number one, I am not a nice person if I don't sleep. And then the unwind tea, I put ashwagandha and prammy, but I added rhodiola and a couple other things.

Spikenard and some different ingredients on a rooibos base. So no caffeine either. And that one's just to calm you down a couple notches. Cause a lot of times in the evening, we're reaching for chocolate or sweets or wine or, like, comfort food. We're trying to get comfortable.

And I think what we're really seeking is, like, drop the anxiety and drop the stress of the day and take it down a year. Like, go from fifth to fourth gear. And so, as a mom and an entrepreneur, I was like, I needed. I needed this for me. And so right around four or five, because I know I can't caffeinate anymore.

After three, I'll switch to that tea. Oh, my gosh, I love this. I love having tea at night. I've been on a licorice root tea, which I just love. It's like I was kind of doing some decaf coffee, whatever, just.

I don't know. And then I was like, I should switch to tea. And so I love it. Or ginger tea is my go to as well. So what did you learn on this ayurvedic?

Do you do, like, colonics regularly? What was, like, your favorite routines? I know they have, like, don't they do this? I've seen this before where they put, like, hot oil on the face. Did you do any, like, spa treatments or anything that you just loved?

I want to hear the whole journey and what you love so much, you know? Yeah. You know, it started with the consultation. Like, when I sat with ayurvedic doctors, they would just look at you and they're like, you're a pitha. I know what you are, and you're like, oh, my God, how do they know?

Shivani Gupta

But they can tell by looking at you. They can tell by your mannerisms. Like, you can understand someone's personality type and body type and then discern their dosha. And so it's just cool to have someone have insight into me and then help me balance because of that. And so when I meet people now, I can kind of tell, like, based on who I'm talking to, usually, which way they go.

So Dosha was key. Yeah. Can you explain the two? I don't know much. Yeah, sure.

So Dosha is mind body constitution, and Dosha means the elements. And so when it comes to the five elements from ayurveda, your mind body constitution is made of any combination of those. So, for example, a Vata person is going to tend to be more air and ether. That's going to be the driving trait in them. So they're going to be thin and wiry.

They're going to have this personality of being, like, a busy body or an energizer bunny and into everything. They might have more artistic tendencies. They're going to be someone who has disrupted sleep and disrupted gut health. Sometimes they can eat like a bird. They can just snack all day.

They don't have to eat a real meal. And so that's one template or one archetype is the vata person, and we pronounce it vata here in the west. And then pitta. We pronounce it pitta, but pitta people are fire with some water. So a pitta person's, like, medium bodied, reddish skin tone, early graying hair, reddish hair.

They're go getters. So they're, like, ambitious, and they're driven, and they have all the pitfalls of, like, volcanic words, like burnout. We explode, we overburn. We're, like, we're hangry, angry people if we're not, like, managing ourselves properly. So I teach everyone, treat your pitta self like a nuclear reactor, and, like, stay calm, stay cool, really manage with self care.

And then you have the pith, the kapha crew, and we pronounce that kapha. But the kapha crew is very much of the earth with water, so they have a tendency towards dampness, congestion. Their body type is strong. They're usually heavier. They have curly hair and, like, rounded features.

They're softer. They're nurturers. They're caretakers. They're very one thing at a time, but they also have slower metabolisms. And so they're not meant to eat cold, raw food.

They're meant to eat cooked food, easy to digest. And our goal with them is to get them moving, to move their energy and metabolism, and then have a lot of self understanding. Like, once a kapha person sits down for the day that's done, they're not getting up again. And so having that, like, compassion and self compassion and self understanding can be really powerful. And so those are the three doshas.

We all have a primary and a secondary dosha. That is so cool. Do you recommend a book if anyone wants to get into this? I really had no idea. I mean, I'm writing a book right now called the Inflammation Ayurveda book.

We don't have the title yet, but it's going to be out next year. Doctor lad is one of my favorite teachers of ayurveda here in the west. His website is amazing. On my website, I have the Dosha quiz, and I love diving into this with people. So it just depends on how far you want to go.

In a lot of times you need a consultation because what you're trying to do is understand what was your dosha at birth? Where are you now? And what is it going to take to go back and get balanced? Wow, I love that so much. Were you brought up on this or did you just, when you went to India, you learned, I'm not sure where you grew up or your family history or anything.

Yeah, no, I grew up here in Texas, but my grandparents would always come and visit us and live with us. So my grandma, anytime I had a problem, she would just mix turmeric with something and give it to us or mix two other spices and give it to us and fix us. And so I always lived in this world where I was like, well, who's right? Is it the indian spices or is it my drugstore on the corner? Like, why do, why do both work but differently?

And how is that going to work? And I'm always one of those curious people who has to understand things. And so once I actually just hung out with my grandma in India a couple weeks ago, and I was like, how did you come up with that recipe called henga pani. I'm changing the whole world with your recipe. And she's like, oh, yeah, my grandma taught it to me, and I was like, wow.

Like, two spices can be game changers for us. Wow, I love that so much. What is your favorite dish? Do you have, like, a favorite go. To out of indian food?

Yeah. Oh, there's one that's really not healthy, but it's called dal makhni. It means, like, dal, which is lentils with, like, butter and cream. But it's so good. It's heavenly.

So do you have any allergies now? Did you heal most of your inflammation and everything? Do you ever deal with any health issues? Now I'm curious. I healed everything, and then I learned from my functional medicine doctor recently.

Shivani Gupta

She's like, you're causing leaky gut. You need to calm down. You can't overdo everything all the time. And I thought, wow, fit the template. Of course, I'm, like, overburning, overdoing.

So I have to manage. But, no, I don't have health issues. I can't eat gluten still. So I need to, like, heal that issue over time. But gluten intolerance, I think, is quite common here because of just the nature of what it is.

I can eat gluten just fine in Europe. Just can't eat it here. Yeah, I think it's a little. The gluten and the wheat is very corrupt here. So it's like.

I'm sure it's not easy to find actual, like, nutrient dense, like, real wheat or gluten. So that's the problem, I think here it's mostly has glyphosate or something on it. So. Yeah. A little contaminated.

Shivani Gupta

Exactly. Do you also do colonics every day? Do you do or. You know, I know some. Some people just love them.

They do coffee enemas. They do. You know, and I know I. That's supposed to be very good for the liver cleansing, detoxing. So that was part of your protocol as well?

Shivani Gupta

Yeah. So Ayurveda teaches us that it's so important to detox at the intersection of seasons. So where spring meets summer, summer meets fall, fall meets winter. At those points in those junctures, the body is clearing the effects of the previous season and its dosha tendency and moving into the next. So, for example, moving into summer, from spring to summer, that's the ideal time for pitha people to detox.

So we don't get overly hot in the summer, and then afterwards, it's good for us to detox. But Ayurveda also teaches about a big annual detox. So I usually just do one big one. And that's when I'll do things like colonics and the way I eliminate my diet down to juice, fasting or different things. Like I always play with my detox or I'll just go somewhere, which makes it easier.

And then when it comes to daily self care, Ayurveda actually teaches twelve daily self care rituals called dinacharya. And Dinachari means those daily rituals we can do that give us vibrant health. And so I like to teach about those because if you do those every day, there's not as much to detox at the annual detox because you've been doing it cumulatively. So we teach things like the copper tongue scraper or oil pulling or dry brushing and how these gentle practices every day are what add up to the results that you want. I love that so much.

Cause it's like that is going to help when you do daily rituals like this than just like one huge workout or, you know, one lymphatic drainage once a month or once every like four months, like the dry brushing, you know, the sauna, like doing these things daily, every other day just will add up. Instead of just that one, you know, excessive moment, like that one work hard workout once a week. Like, it's just like, movement throughout the day is so key. So, like doing these little things every day just really helps, like overall health, you know? Absolutely.

So much so, yeah. So what else do you practice with health and the ayurvedic, do you want us, is there anything else you would like to share about ayurvedic medicine that you do typically? I love dry brushing as well, too. Like I mentioned that. And people are like, oh, I didn't even think of that.

Or even putting pressure, you know, on specific lymphatic areas. And just the kind of rubbing can do wonders. Or rubbing your head, like, you know, massaging your head. We don't touch ourselves in these spots or behind our ears or, you know, and it feels amazing. And we don't do it much because we just go, go, go.

And we don't focus on these pressure points as well, but it can be very healing. So do you do lymphatic drainage? Do you like, what is your typical daily life in ayurvedic medicine? So I have, like, my non negotiables and then I have my ideal day. So in my pretty much non negotiables when I wake up in the morning, I always touch the ground, touch my forehead, and set an intention of like, can I please have.

Shivani Gupta

Usually I want peace. So I'm like, can I please have peace today? And I'll just call that in to my aura, into my field. And then I'll wake up, brush my teeth. I'll always use my copper tongue scraper because I know that when you gently scrape the tongue seven to 14 times, we're igniting the digestive fire, which we call Agni.

We are clearing the toxins in the body. So in ayurveda, we teach that all the organs of the body are reflected on the tongue. Just like in reflexology, they're reflected on. The bottom of the feet. And so seven to 14 times, you're scraping this white film off your tongue.

That's first of all causing you to not taste your food. So it's better for your taste buds, because you're going to open up the taste buds, but also you're going to clear that toxic burden that we're accumulating. So I love my copper tongue scraper. I can't live without it because I'll tell, like, oh, I don't feel as fresh in my mouth. And then I love oil pulling.

Go ahead. Why copper? Copper is like, antibacterial unto itself. So it's like a self cleaning tool, and it has mineralizing benefits. So in ayurveda, we also teach people to take a copper glass and put water in it the night before and then drink it in the morning because it'll be mineralized with the benefits of the copper.

Shivani Gupta

So we're big fans of, like, copper and sesame oil for pretty much everything. And so after you use your copper tongue scraper in the morning, you can do oil pulling. And oil pulling is just taking any food grade organic oil, holding two tablespoons of it in the mouth for five to 20 minutes. But what I love about that one is you can be doing anything while you oil pull. You can shower, you can make your coffee.

You can like anything. You can walk the dog, like, anything. But you just have to make sure that you spit that oil into the trash, not the sink, the shower, or the toilet, or you will clog your house pipes. So a lot of people, a lot. Of people are doing oil pulling.

They're like, I bought my coconut oil. It's awesome. I'm like, please don't kill your house. Please take good care advice, everyone, because it's important. You don't want to have, like, a big plumbing issue because there's oil clogging.

Up everything you were gonna say, like, spit out because of the bacteria, which I also know. But now you're like, also true. I wouldn't think anyone would swallow that. I mean, let me clarify. Spit out the gross oil that now has all the toxins and bacteria from your mouth.

Shivani Gupta

This is your oral microbiome tied to your main gut microbiome. The benefit is, you're clearing the microbiome that's at the beginning of the whole chain. Yeah, yeah. I don't. You know, I just.

Even these things you're saying with ayurvedic medicine, a lot of people don't know. And I just learned kind of those three things. And. And so even with, you know, spitting out the oil, people might not know. You know, I realize this, like, in the biohacking, health, longevity.

But a lot. Most majority do not know, like, a lot of even the basics. So that's what I've realized, that this is always providing knowledge to people, because there's so many people that have no idea about turmeric or that you're supposed to have it with pepper or certain things or be careful of which brand you're buying, you know? Correct. All supplements are not the same.

So, like, you know, but, yeah, so any. And then. So you oil pull in the morning. Yep. And then I always like to sit and meditate, even if it's for a few minutes, because meditation is key to, like, settling in, tuning in.

Shivani Gupta

If I don't get to meditate, I do practice a simple habit called tea time is me time. So all day, I have cups of tea, and that's my time to, like, tune in, check in, ask my intuition some great questions, like, how are you doing today? Are you going to get to eat today? Have you hydrated? Do you feel that headache starting?

Need you to do some things. So tea time is my way to really, like, mindfully check in with myself and have my intuition tell me what I need to be doing. And then by evening, I switch into my evening self care rituals. So about an hour before bed, I'll do dry brushing, a biang massage, which is a full oil massage of yourself. I'll do Epsom salt baths sometimes just to, like, relax and detox.

If I can't do that, I'll just do a quick hot shower. But to raise my temp and then drop it before bed, I'll do deep sleep tea as my big cue before bedtime, just to cue my mind and relax my system. And then I just really honor bedtime as the most important time of day. So I like to read before bed and have my rituals. And so ayurveda has really taught me the power of sleep because now I function way better.

Like, I'm usually last night, for some reason, I had imperfect sleep. But 90% of time I have this perfect sleep where I wake up happy and energized and like, yes, I'm ready to change the world. Like, so joyful and vibrant. So that's always my goal is to show people that we can have a whole different level of health if we use the ayurveda toolkit. Do you sleep 8 hours?

Yeah, I sleep ten to six. Wow. Okay. Yeah, I've been, I've been slacking. And I will say I recently had 8 hours of sleep and I was like, this feels amazing.

And then I went to bed, like, I had so much energy. And I went to bed at like 1230 or something, then woke up like, and then back to my typical five to 6 hours, which is not good because, like, you can tell with your, you know, like, your hormones, your ghrelin hormones, you know, your energy. You're not like, grabbing for food to, like, give you energy, you know, so that sleep is so important, but it is not easy for everyone. So. Yeah, it's not.

Shivani Gupta

So I reach into every tool I need. Like, I. I'm all about every tool on earth for sleep. So I think sleep is the most. Healing time and it's how I build.

Do you do a little melatonin in your tea as well? There's no tea. There's no melatonin in the tea, but there is melatonin in the. And then now I bought a new pemf mat that has infrared in it. So I use that during the day.

Shivani Gupta

So I'm reaching more into the biohacking toolkit to, like, emphasize those results that I want because I don't always get outside, I don't always get my evening walk in to settle. So I need those different tools because I still want the benefit even if I can't figure out a time slot for it. I know I always say these biohacking devices are basically just making up nature again because we're just like inside all the time. So it's like this PMF mat when we could go to the beach or go grounding, but instead something we have inside, you know, or now we have like red light and all this stuff when it's just like we're trying to replicate nature inside our homes. True.

If it's an enhancement. Right? Like, I know I need to get outside and walk, and let's say I get there 75% of the time, then this is the 25%, so I don't miss the benefits. Yeah. Yeah.

I need to get the pMf, Matt. That's something I don't have. And I love my infrared sauna blanket, though. I just. By higher dose.

I love that so much. Like, I love sweating. I've been. I've been slacking lately. We all have our seasons.

Shivani Gupta

I've noticed that the busier I get, the harder it is. And then once I get tired and I get the headaches and I don't feel good, my body's not maintaining the way I need it to, then I'm like, all right, gotta put some, some, some things back in place, get those back in place, and then we'll slack in other things. It's human nature. But I think once you build your non negotiables, and I think you mean, you talk about that so much with your audience from an integrative and holistic health standpoint, then we're always getting better and improving with time. Yeah, I've even, like, I'm just like, my non negotiable is, like, getting movement and first thing in the morning, I don't care how busy I am, I'm just like, it makes me happy.

I feel better. Like, if I don't do that, I know, like, my day is going to be off. Like, I have to do that for myself. Myself, you know, there's just something where I'm like, I need to do these things to keep myself sane. And so in my gratitude, I do my gratitude things.

And just, like, setting intentions, just kind of starting your day that way is very important. And I think people, it's just so easy. Like, I was just listening to another podcast, too. It's just like, people just will stay in bed, look at their phone, and it's not health. Like, it's not healthy.

Just, you want to get outside. You want to, like, do some meditation and start your day that way instead of just, like, reaching to your phone and start working or something, you know? True. No, very true. And sometimes I think if I'm going to be on my phone, just go outside then, and be on your phone.

We need to be. And the sun is everything, which is just like, I love. I'm a morning person, so. But, yeah, this has been so great. Is there anything else you want to tell us about ayurvedic medicine, your favorite herbs or anything?

Is that. I don't know if you want to say anything else that's been helpful for your journey of health?

Shivani Gupta

Yeah, I mean, this was so wonderful. I loved sharing about ayurveda, the doshas. Gut health is Agni, the digestive fire. We really revere Agni and digestive fire and build a whole plan around igniting your digestive fire for the day. We talked about Dinacharya, which is the daily self care rituals, which are so important.

And then we got to share about turmeric, which is my favorite spice on earth. And that's why I built the best turmeric supplement, just so we'd have that support every single day and know that we have immune support and inflammation support. I do think that if we don't use turmeric or a spice like that as a fire extinguisher against the inflammation that's running rampant in our bodies, then we're not going to get to win at our health. And so that's my main message to everyone, is win at inflammation to win at your health. Yeah, I think so.

Many people need help with their immunity with inflammation, gut health, just all of that. And we have, I think, lately, just a very weak immune system, and invaders are able to take over very quickly. Basically, we have less of a guard or we have leaky gut. We have, you know, inflammation now there's just so many toxins, and it's really hard to stay healthy. True type of, like, society lately, because we're not in some jungle around nature and just, you know, we're in these cities.

So it's a whole different world than like, 100 years ago, you know? Absolutely. But so since this is the Biohacker Blondie podcast, if you can mention three biohacks that you love and you want to share with the audience, that would mean so much. Sure. My number one favorite is infrared sauna.

Shivani Gupta

I love it as a detox tool. I love it as a way to heal the body. It does so much so I make sure I fit that in. My pemf mat is my new exciting tool because I can use it at my desk at work every day, and I know I'm getting all the healing benefits of all those frequencies, which is really exciting. It's a lot of energy, right?

Like, you don't realize the PMF, just like, it, like, gives you a lot of energy. Natural, just like. Yeah. Or it can calm you down. There's an anxiety setting just to keep you calm and chill, which is nice.

Love that. Okay. Yeah. My third one would be having sleep metric tools, like the aura ring. I use that to really understand which sleep tools are working and which ones aren't and really keep like presence to what did I do today or not do today and how horribly did it affect my sleep?

Shivani Gupta

Like eating an hour later will trash my sleep. One glass of wine will trash my sleep. So it's just cool to see. It's like wearing a CGM. CGM is also a great data point.

But I love wearing a sleep ring that shows me hey, you better not do that again. And here's why. And here's the data to show it. Yeah, that's why I love the oura ring because it just keeps you accountable and then you get to see what's affecting. Oh, oh yeah.

I did only get 6 hours or 5 hours of sleep. You know, it's just exactly work on that. Okay. And then where can everyone find you and your amazing supplements and soup? Your soon booked to be.

And do. You have a podcast? Sure. So my website I do. So my podcast is called the fusionary health Podcast and I love to interview practitioners who are pioneers in functional medicine and how we can transform our health.

Shivani Gupta

I have my website Shivani gupta.com dot it's shivani gupta.com. So that has the Dosha quiz, my seven day inflammation challenge and my soon to be book. And then on fusionaryformulas.com comma fusionary formulas.com we made a special code for your audience which is biohacker Blondie Blondie and that'll give you 15% off at my website. I love this so much. We all need turmeric in our life.

We all need to reduce inflammation, oxidative stress. So I am so excited for everyone to check out your supplements and your soon to be book. I cannot wait. And thank you again Shivani for coming on here. This was so amazing.

Shivani Gupta

And yes, thank you. Thanks for having me. And just like that, we've come to the end of today's insightful conversation with doctor Shivani Gupta. I hope you found this discussion as enlightening and inspiring as I did, especially in regards to integrating ayurveda with biohacking to enhance your overall health. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with someone you know who might benefit from these powerful insights.

And if you have a moment, please go to Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast and leave a review. Your feedback not only helps me grow, but also helps more people discover this amazing community. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram. I hackerblondi to join the conversation and stay updated on all the latest episodes. I love hearing about your biohacking journeys and success.

I hope you enjoy this episode. And thanks again from the Biohacker Blondie podcast.

Revitalize Your Health: Transformative Ayurvedic Practices with Dr. Shivani Gupta

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1: Introduction to Ayurveda and Dr. Gupta's Journey

2: Understanding Dinacharya and Seasonal Detox

3: Practical Ayurvedic Tips for Daily Living

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