SELDA GOODWIN
"My Ayurveda is a model of health for all. It focuses on food and so much more. It's practical, inexpensive and a creative way to find health wisdom. It's called a science, but I see it as understanding truth, a truth that never ends. I encourage everyone to dig a little deeper, start by discovering your dosha and go from there."
Selda Goodwin is a holistic yoga, meditation teacher, and spiritual guide. She has spent fifteen years exploring, travelling and studying the benefits of a yoga lifestyle in the modern world.
A former advertising copywriter, she left the corporate field to develop a vocation in wellbeing. As everything around us appears to be speeding up, Selda believes our bodies and minds are desperately seeking ways in which to slow down. Her hope is therefore to share with as many people as possible, a realistic approach to a balanced life, through bespoke, holistic yoga, meditation and mindfulness experiences.
Having studied with some of the world’s most revered teachers, and collaborated with leading voices in the health food/wellbeing arena, she truly believes that understanding ourselves, through a harmonious body-mind connection, is the beginning of true ease, inner peace and wisdom.
Follow Selda:
www.seldasoulspace.com
Instagram: @seldasoulspace
"I TRY TO EAT MINDFULLY AND SLOWLY. CHEW. CHEW. CHEW. ALWAYS REMINDING MYSELF THAT MY STOMACH HAS NO TEETH!"
Not only is Ayurveda a beautiful word, it's also a beautiful practice that can teach us how to flow with life, understand ourselves and everything around us.
Ayurveda wiggled into my life as naturally as a flower dancing in the breeze. A wonderful Ayurvedic doctor confirmed my extremely Vata tendencies in 2001. She suggested ways to create more fire in my belly, also known as Agni, and incidentally prescribed sex as medicine! Although quite matter of fact in her approach, her ease and humour drew me in. Her simple, practical introduction immediately shone a light onto the areas of my life, even though still quite young at 20, where I had lost touch with a little of my sparkle, my fizz and my spirit.
I already had a yoga practice at this stage, which I've kept close to my heart in deep gratitude ever since. It began fast and physically demanding, but like my dosha prefers, it has blossomed into a slower, more mindful movement of breath and body.
Becoming more refined over the years, now 24 hrs does not pass without a spiritual nod to myself and this world. Meditation has played a magical part in rooting/grounding me as far into the earth as life itself. Proven to shift our blood and brain chemistry it really has increased my ability to see a greater picture, the 360 or holistic approach to a harmonious way of living.
I've been fortunate enough to travel the world, something that changes me ever so slightly each time. Traditions, rituals, ancestral practices and ancient beliefs that have been passed down orally or by hand over the centuries are now very firmly finding their way into our psyche. Why? Because they make sense. Because they work. And because they are simple. Vedic (from AyurVEDA) meditation is now my twice daily offering of stillness and deep relaxation. It's a mantra based meditation, which involves mental repetition of a personal vibrational word. I'm always so fascinated at how accessible and wisdom based Ayurveda is. It correlates with the working nature of humans and its experiential techniques allow for a trusting and a listening as to what is required at any given time. The moment we receive and listen to our body's own intelligence, we begin to very quickly know ourselves. In this way, flowing in our most natural state, we begin to understand the true meaning of Well-being.
Ayurveda supports my lifestyle as there's always a checklist, a tool box or an intuitive whisper that helps me assess what I truly, honestly need. If I'm hormonally imbalanced, I have PCOS and hypermobility EDS, I have a knowing that I require duvets of warmth, I crave slow-ness, I tend inwards and up my dosage of the Indian herb Ashwaganda.
When I'm cold, almost always, I nourish with oils, when inflamed I inhale turmeric and when breakouts, breakout, I cleanse with lemon and warm water.
Seasonal eating has taken some time to land in my pre frontal cortex. I love salads. I love raw. I love juices. But hey, my body doesn't! If you know your dosha (body type) you will very quickly see a change in your body's reaction to foods. My internal system functions on warmth and lubrication. So ghee, coconut oil, veggie curries, turmeric lattes, warm salads, really make my body sing. I now only eat warm foods from Autumn through Spring, and try not to reheat food. Instead I source fresh, local produce, homegrown of available. My go to recipe of choice is a classic, trusted, creamy yellow Mung Dal. Like eating spoonfuls of golden love, it's a tri-doshic dish that balances the body and is easily digestible, so all three types can enjoy. Licking the spoon over and over, I try to eat mindfully and slowly. Chew. Chew. Chew. Always reminding myself that my stomach has no teeth!
My roots are based in Turkish Northern Cyprus where there are many similar practices and rituals. So, even though my immediate family don't specifically practice Ayurveda, there is always a thread of the ancient wisdom that sits at the heart of all we do.