How to Practice Ayurveda for Self-Care and Social Liberation

PLEASE NOTE: This event will be hosted live online. Instructions on how to join the webinar will be included in your event confirmation email. If you need additional assistance finding or joining the event, please email publicprograms@ciis.edu.

Ayurvedic Medicine is one of the world’s oldest whole-body healing systems. Developed in India over 3,000 years ago, Ayurveda is based on the principle that health and wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind, body, and spirit.

In these tumultuous and transformative times Ayurvedic medicine can support paths to healing and growth through the application of yogic philosophy to promote liberationism and personal robustness during a time of social inequity, ecological degradation, and quarantine. By exploring mindfulness practices, nature-relatedness, Ayurvedic nutrition, and self-realization techniques participants learn supportive ways to face the uncertainty and unrest of this moment.

Join CIIS Integrative Health Studies Professor Megan Lipsett for a workshop exploring self-healing through the practice of Ayurveda. Megan shares techniques designed to support embodying the tradition of yoga as a complete lifestyle practice in order to promote self-healing and self-realization. Weaving together ancient techniques and the Samkhya philosophy of Ayurveda, learn mindsets and practical self-care practices to bring balance to your thoughts, emotions, physical body, relationships, nature-relatedness, and actions in the world.

This experiential online workshop focuses on translating these teachings to practical lifestyle design, considering optimal practices during the various seasons, times of day, and phases of life. Learn about the unique constitutional elements that impact optimally balanced systems.

Explore how Ayurveda’s governing elements can impede the development of chronic dis-ease and help build resilience, belonging, and well-being. Gain insights from Ayurvedic perspectives on anatomy and physiology, meditation, yoga asana sequences, nutrition, and nourishment.

Whether you are new to Ayurveda, or have an established practice, this workshop provides tools and practices to support embodied self-care for optimal well-being.

Megan Lipsett is a CIIS core faculty in the Integrative Health Studies department, where she teaches courses such as "Mindfulness and Stress Physiology" and "Sustainable Health and Ecological Resilience." Megan holds an MA in Integrative Health Studies from CIIS and is a doctoral candidate in Social Health Psychology, conducting research in the Social Affective Neuroscience Lab. As a research psychologist, Megan examines how our perceptions impact physiology (such as inflammatory biomarkers and cortisol), social connection, and long-term health behaviors underlying noncommunicable diseases. Megan has extensive training in Yoga Philosophy and Ayurveda, including a yoga therapy teacher training ("Yog Pravesh") from Yoga Vidya Dham in Nasik, India with Guruji Dr. Vishwas Mandlik. Megan has studied Ayurveda, the "science of life", with Dr. Sarita Shrestha, MD, Dr. Scott Blossom, and Jennifer Taylor. Megan's personal meditation and mindfulness practice is rooted in the Vipassana tradition. Megan has a thriving integrative health coaching practice and is the founder of COPIA Health, a company dedicated to teaching integrative, mindful, and sustainable lifestyle practices for individual, community, and environmental flourishing. Megan has done program development and facilitation for diverse organizations, including integrative medicine centers, transitional women's homes, social worker training centers, environmental awareness groups, benefit corporations, and health and wellness centers. Megan's courses focus on both experiential and scientific knowledge, supporting students in establishing meditative practices, integral lifestyle practices, social and cultural awareness, personal and community empowerment.

If the cost of attending a workshop is a barrier for you, we want to remind you that we always offer scholarships for our workshops. Click here to apply. Please note that scholarship applications are due 10 business days prior to the workshop.