how ayurveda found me
It’s been said you don’t find Ayurveda rather, Ayurveda finds you. Ayurveda found me sometime in the year 2016 in the midst of a 3 year break up, a working Masters Degree, full-time work and a major transition in my life prompting me to move the island of O’ahu.
From a young age I developed a close relationship to the intentional act of slow cooking meals with the purpose of nourishing loved ones. Meal time existed as a time to commune and share as my family gathered around the table in full presence. The act of preparing meals passed down to me from my grandmothers and mother was an act of reclaiming my cultural roots and connecting to the ancestral tradition of consciously turning ingredients into nourishment.
While meal time was healing, socioeconomic pressures impacted the health of my family members and I witnessed disease form across both sides of my family. The act of nourishment wasn’t enough as the food lacked in nutrients and the choices available on the shelves lacked in diversity and affordability. I took it upon myself to study the food system and became well-versed on the ethical ins-and-outs of the corruption that exists.
Around 17 I became obsessed with Western diet culture. I dove deep into integrative and functional medicine, I studied and tried the Mediterrenean diet, raw veganism and keto to name a few. I implemented each meal plan into my families diet with the desperate hope to heal and reverse developing illnesses. All to no avail. I myself had become sick with poor digestion, inflammation, and stress related body numbness and tingling. I was on birth control and regularly consuming antibiotics. In my pursuit to deeply understand health and nutrition I found myself completely disconnected from my body’s nature.
Fast forward to 2016, almost 10 years after starting my heath journey, Ayurveda found me in a second-hand book at a thrift store in Portland, OR, and again in a podcast, and again in a yoga class. Suddenly everywhere I looked, I found Ayurveda, or rather, Ayurveda found me.
I began studiously pouring myself into this 5,000 year old system working to align mind, body and spirit. Suddenly everything clicked, like I had woke up from a confusing dream and everything began to make sense. The science was so innate, so obvious, so natural, so in my face. I found Ayurveda in the weather, in my mood, my food, my loved ones, in nature.
Ayurveda (Ayur=science & Veda= life) works with every individual and within the natural world as we are a part of nature itself. Ayurveda provides us the vocabulary to intuitively listen to our bodies, discover and ask questions. It has shaped and changed me to offer me the confidence to live through my intuition and pay deeper attention to my mind, body, and spirit connection.
Formally I have pursued a number of opportunities to gain a deeper and lived understanding of Ayurveda. I have interned with Banyan Botanicals in Southern Oregon, studied Ayurveda and the Goddess with Katie Rose in Byron Bay, Australia, I have studied Ayurvedic culinary arts in Bali, Indonesia and am currently studying with Myra Lewin of Hale Pule, online and in person.
My goal with Bare Hands Ayurveda is to offer my experience and education to assist individuals in reaching their health goals. I have never come across a more true science than that of Ayurveda and my goal is to share this knowledge with anyone interested in working with me.
I have developed a love and deep reverence for sustainable agriculture and have spent the last 5 years on the island of O’ahu reaquainting myself with my relationship to food and where it comes from. I support local wherever I am and farmers consistently.
My dharma in this lifetime is to teach and I have come to find, feed my community. I believe in the magic of food as medicine and the radical reclamation we endeavor on when we choose to take autonomy over our own healing journey. Food and our relationship to food is one part of the puzzle. Learning to eat and cook slowly, intuitively, mindfully, intentionally and engaging all of our senses is what I hope to embody and share in every meal I consciously create. Meals that make you feel at home in your body and the knowing to understand why.
Through Bare Hands I strive to marry my skills and passion of farming, cooking, and teaching by providing home-cooked meals and recipes for clients as well as online and in person consultations and workshops to assist you in reaching your most comfortable physical and mental state.
May we use food as the healing modality it is. May we learn to connect to our nature, eat with our hands and with intention and intuition. May we take autonomy over and reclaim our health and do so by learning the art of slowing down and connecting to our roots.
Love and Light,
Allison Gonzalez