Our Favorite Ayurveda Books

For those looking to weave Ayurveda into their Yoga practice –

Are you a yoga practitioner that feel as though something may be lacking from your daily practice? Perhaps you hit the yoga mat each morning but find that you are often plagued with fatigue, or a constant runny nose. The answer lies in learning the wisdom of Ayurveda. Kristen Schneider has crafted a beautiful book entitled Your Life Is Medicine- Ayurveda for Yogis that is a perfect compliment to your practice.

This book is incredibly well written, in fact it reads like a novel. I honestly looked forward to cozying up each night and diving in. It felt like I was having a conversation with my best friend about ways to bolster my health. It begins with Kristen’s own health journey that brought her to Ayurveda. From the beaches of Florida to the Ganges, the author has explored Ayurveda in and out.

Kristen provides a phenomenal and accessible explanation of Ayurveda including the history, theory, doshas and how to determine your body type. Her dosha quiz is fun and thought provoking. I imagine families would get a kick out of taking the test together. Once you have discovered your body type, you are taken on an exploration of health. Learning how to balance the doshas and increase your vitality. This is done be creating a daily rhythm as well as making affirmations and weaving in breathing, meditation and yoga techniques.

This book encourages you to make yourself a priority so that you will better be able to serve others. Kristen crafted amazing yoga sequences for each body type. She strongly address the spirit and the psychology of our behavior with a look into emotional eating as well as ways to curb cravings through mindful eating.

You will learn all about what constitutes a well-balanced meal versus what foods are incompatible together or only serve to create heaviness in the body. For those busy yogis, the author has created detailed meal plans for each dosha so that you are all set for the week. She also provide tips for those that don’t love to cook to streamline the whole process.

I’m amazed with the thought and care the author so obviously put into writing this book. You’ll find loads of inspirational quotes sprinkled through its entirety. I’ve been working daily on the affirmations and finding that they have created a subtle, but significant, shift in the way I see the world and show up on my yoga mat each morning.

I highly recommend you give this book a try. It reads like a dream and is incredibly applicable to all. I think it would be a great tool for yoga teachers to incorporate into their classes, perhaps as a class book-group or as suggested reading for a YTT. I promise you will not be disappointed.

For a Creative Way to Slowly Make Lasting Changes-

Are you looking for a way to make some slow, but permanent, changes in your life? Then Monica Bloom’s In Your Elements- A Blooming Ayurvedic Guide to Creating Your Best Life, is the perfect book for you. A long time contributor to Everyday Ayurveda, Monica has truly created a masterpiece. Hands down, this book is by far the most creative and aesthetically pleasing presentation of Ayurveda I have ever witnessed.

The premise of the book is “to learn a whole heck of a lot about you.” Monica is not only a phenomenal teacher of ancient Ayurvedic wisdom, but she is also an incredible cheerleader and inspirational force. Her approach to Ayurveda is accessible to all readers and laced with colloquialisms and imagery that will have you chuckling out loud.

In Your Elements begins with an introduction to Ayurveda, a comparison of Modern and Ayurvedic medicine and then gets into the nitty gritty of what a life in balance actually looks like. The graphics are pure eye candy. To drive her lessons home, throughout the book Monica encourages the reader to spend some time filling in the workbook sections. These questions may include giving examples of how the effects of time has changed you. Perhaps investigating your loved ones and trying to figure out their constitutions, or even looking at your present diet and foods that currently make you feel bad.

Her approach is fresh and extraordinarily helpful to the reader seeking to realign themselves with healthy habits, while also learning a lot about their patterns and behaviors. “The best project you’ll ever have to work on is you!”

Some of the benefits you may reap from working with this delightful book include:

• An uncomplicated basic understanding of Ayurveda- even the Sanskrit is palatable!
• Discovering your own unique balance
• Learning how to adopt a daily routing (and why)
• Exploring how to reduce toxins
• Creating customized nutrition plans

This book can be used by the individual, as a family or even as part of a healthy book group. Bring it to your yoga class and get the whole sangha involved! Pretty soon you will have your whole family meditating, scraping their tongue and practicing “do-it-yourself” therapies. I promise this book will appeal to the masses. It is witty, to the point, creative and interactive. Between the workbook pages, quizzes and beautiful images you will be engaged from cover to cover.

Time to get that body humming with Monica Bloom. After all, “the most effective Ayurveda is logical, cheap, accessible and easy for anyone to incorporate.” True to her word, Monica makes Ayurveda simple and fun. Give it a read!

For Those Looking for a Guided Home Cleanse –

Is your body, mind and spirit feeling a little dull these days? Do you wake up each morning riddled with aches and an overall sense of malaise? Perhaps it is time for an at home Ayurvedic seasonal cleanse. Together Ronly Blau and Adrian Nowland poured their hearts into an amazing guide so you can regain your health and live a life of ease and balance. The Mindbody Cleanse– A 14-day Detox and Rejuvenation Program from Ancient Ayurveda is a must for every Ayurvedic Library.

The Mindbody Cleanse begins with Adrian and Ronly’s personal journey with Ayurveda and how it has profoundly impacted their lives. They go on to give a complete picture of the foundational teachings of Ayurveda as well as what a traditional Panchakarma entails. You’ll find dosha quizzes, over 100 recipes, tips on how to schedule your cleanse as well as a thorough explanation of what to expect in each stage of the cleanse.

Unlike some guided home cleanses, The Mindbody Cleans lives up to its title and treats the entire being – mind, body and spirit. There are journaling exercises as well as yoga sequences, meditations and techniques to create more space and less stress in your life.

There are four phases to this cleanse. Each phase comes with a slew of incredible recipes as well as stress management and self-care practices to weave into your day.

Stage 1. Preparation Phase – 4 days

• Eating a low-fat diet focusing on whole foods
• Increasing intake of vegetables to give the intestines a scrub
• Ingesting a “Liver Flush Smoothie”
• 10-15 Minutes of yoga
• Meal Planning
• Quiet Time

Stage 2. Purification Phase – 7-8 Days

• Eating a mono diet of kitchari
• Oleation with ghee
• Purgation
• Yoga and meditation daily
• Self-oil Massage and steam

Stage 3. Rebuilding Phase – 3 Days

• Simplified diet
• Probiotics
• Yoga
• Relaxation

Stage 4. Rejuvenation  Phase – 7 days to 3 months

• Strengthening digestion
• Increasing rejuvenation food consumption (dates, almonds, coconut oil, ghee, walnuts, lemon, ginger…)
• Yoga, meditation & pranayama
• Self-care

I don’t know about you, but I am psyched to give this cleanse a whirl this fall. If you are in need of a gentle detox but don’t know where, or how, to start, give The Mindbody Cleanse a read.

For Creating Healthy Habits with your Family, Friends, Book Group or Community – 

Cate Stilman, the inspirational Ayurvedic powerhouse, is ready to help you and your loved ones uplevel your body and life with her new book Body Thrive.

Body Thrive provides a solid overview of the foundational essentials of Ayurveda, but in a fun and accessible way. What I love about Cate is the ease at which she can boil down this esoteric and ancient philosophy into layman’s terms. Plus, the cartoon images in the book are hilarious and useful.

Body Thrive aims to “crack the code” on the habits that are currently contributing to one feeling blah, fatigued and uninspired. Each week the reader is presented with a new habit to slowly integrate into their daily routine. What could seem overwhelming if presented all at once is quite simple. These habits include doable shifts such as- eating a lighter dinner, being in bed by 10 PM, performing a self-massage and meditation.

A believer of power in numbers to hold each other accountable, Cate purposely formatted this book so that it can be done in groups. Perhaps invite your family to participate in this 10 week habit reset. Or ask your yoga class to do a book study and meet once a week to discuss results and map progress.

By integrating these 10 Healthy Habits into your daily routine, you may notice you:

• Have more energy
• Sleep solidly through the night
• Gravitate towards healthier foods
• Approach life with more ease and grace

As Cate loves to say- you only have 1 body! Give this book a shot and start feeling vibrant, vivacious and ready to take on the world (in a good way).

For Spontaneous Weight Loss, Whole Health and a Peek into Neurology- 

Struggling with fatigue, weight gain, headaches or simply an overall feeling of malaise? The Prime  by Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary, a contributing writer to Everyday Ayurveda, is a beautifully crafted book. The story begins with a “darkest-hour” tale of rediscovering her roots of Ayurveda.

Dr. Chaudhary was raised in America and during her childhood observed a traditional Indian diet. However, in high-school she started dabbling in the typical western diet. Consuming fast food on the run over rice and lentils with her family. Insidiously, her diet and stressful lifestyle as a medical student, and eventually a integrative neurologist, left her plagued with unbearable headaches and general body aches. She tried some of the pharmaceuticals she prescribes daily to her patients and was horrified at the side effects.

This event was the catalyst for Dr. Chaudhary. She sought relief through her heritage and rediscovered Ayurveda. She began to integrate this knowledge into her neurology practice and saw great results. So great that other doctors implored her to stop “curing her patients” as this was bad for the bottom line.

What Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary has crafted in her book The Prime, is a way to regain control of your life through diet and lifestyle. She beautifully lays out an easy and accessible plan for one to implement into their life while giving a great overview of Ayurveda.

This book is a excellent choice for those interested in boosting their health while also learning more about neurology. Dr. Kulreet Chauhary is a pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, and works with ALS, Parkinson’s disease, diabetic peripheral neruopathy and MS to name a few.

If you would love to learn the Ayurvedic perspective on these diseases as well as give your life an overhaul, pick up The Prime.

Presenting Ayurveda Books for Beginners

Ayurveda books attempt to teach a sophisticated and vast system of medicine that goes far beyond doshas and kitchari.  It is the science of life. A way to explore our relationship with the world around us. To live in harmony with nature and stop swimming upstream. It aims to teach us how to live a life of balance, while celebrating our own unique constitution. 

Whether you are new to Ayurveda books, or have been dabbling for years and yearning to know more, it is difficult to know where to start.  Of course, the classical texts like the Charaka Samhita would be ideal. However, as a westerner and, most likely, not a Vedic scholar, you need something more approachable to get started.

Everyday Ayurveda’s Top 5 Ayurveda Books for Beginners

1. For The Philosopher, The Thinker-

Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution, Dr Robert Svoboda’s original work on the constitutional types in Ayurveda has been considered a classic for many years.  This very readable work not only explains all the basic concepts in details, but it does it with flair, grace and a touch of lightness.  His considerable talent as a storyteller enables the reader to grasp connections and relationships between concepts, which would otherwise be opaque.  I have read and re-read this book many times and I always learn something new.

2. For the Healer, Nurse and Mother-

Ayurveda: The Science of Self Healing: A Practical Guide  is a succinct, wonderfully illustrated practical guide to discovering all aspects of Ayurveda in a clear, concise format. Dr Vasant Lad has been a pioneer in bringing Ayurveda to the West, and reading this book explains why: only someone with such a complete grasp of the material could be able to explain it so simply.  He also includes an extremely practical list of home remedies to common ailments that anyone that takes care of others (and themselves) can use to great effect.

3. For the Cook, The Foodie-

Amadea Morningstar’s The Ayurvedic Cookbook is a excellent introduction into Ayurvedic nutritional theory.  She covers a wide range of cooking styles and discusses the concept of food as a medicine in a friendly, humorous tone. The recipes are simple and delicious.  If you are not generally a fan of Indian cuisine, her other book Ayurvedic Cooking for Westerners: Familiar Western Food Prepared with Ayurvedic Principles might be more to your liking.  One way or another she has a real talent for passing on her passion about health, food and Ayurveda.

4. For The Budding Herbalist-

The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine from prolific author David Frawley, offers a treatise on herbs. An excellent resource for anyone looking to understand herbs and their effects.  It is chock full of information and explanations on how the traditional system of Ayurveda heals using botanicals.  The book includes herb descriptions, names in English, Latin, Sanskrit and Chinese,  indications and clear instructions on how to use the herbs according to your constitution.  A must for any Ayurvedic library.

5. For The Women’s Health Advocate-

Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life: Achieving Optimal Health and Wellness through Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine, and Western Science, Dr Claudia Welch’s first full-length book is a thought-provoking look into the ways women’s bodies are driven, and, often, run into the ground. Readers will find a wealth of information on the sex (yin) and stress (yang) hormones. Advice on how to address specific health issues. Ideas for stress management. Healthy diet options (including recipes), and lifestyle changes.  Dr Welch’s depth of understanding and rigorous research has produced a book that is the definitive work on Women’s health from an Ayurvedic perspective.