171 Preparing For Menopause Using Ancient Wisdom with Simmi Latulippe

Simmi Latulippe is a functional medicine consultant, health and wellness coach, Ayurvedic medicine practitioner, and creator of biohacking menopause.

In this conversation we talk about:

🌱 The Principles of Ayurveda and the Importance of Balance
🌱 Understanding the Root Causes of Symptoms
🌱 Ayurvedic Treatment: Pulse Analysis, Tongue Therapy, and Face Reading
🌱 Preparing for Menopause: A Preventative Approach
🌱 Managing Stress During Menopause
🌱 Bringing Vata Dosha Back into Balance
🌱 Food as Medicine and Intuitive Eating
🌱 Being Your Own Best Doctor
🌱 Aging Gracefully and Having Vitality
🌱 Preparing for Menopause in Your 30s

If you’re ready to be inspired by this wonderful conversation, we’re ready to welcome you.

Simmis’s Links:

How to Prepare Body, Mind, and Soul for Peri-Menopause - https://www.menopausebiohackingsecrets.com/peri-menopause

Biohacking Menopause Is A Virtual Masterclass - https://www.menopausebiohackingsecrets.com/

Sally's Links:

[Free] Relaxation Hypnosis Recording:  https://bit.ly/relaxationwithsally

How to Create Phenomenal Self Esteem [£47]:  https://www.sallygarozzo.com/selfesteem

Menopause Wellbeing Practitioner [£127] https://www.sallygarozzo.com/meno

Cold Water Therapy Practitioner [£127] https://www.sallygarozzo.com/cold

Transformational 30 Day Rewire (Includes RTT) [£447]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/rapid-transformational-therapist

Transformational Trauma Informed Coaching [From £197]:  https://www.sallygarozzo.com/transformational-coaching 

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/sallygarozzomindmentor

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallygarozzo/

Send me a voice clip via What’s App - https://wa.me/message/FTARBMO7CRLEL1

Transcript

Sally (00:01.486)
So my guest today is Simi Latulip. Simi is an incredibly experienced practitioner. We're so lucky to have her with us today. She's a functional medicine consultant, a health and wellness coach, an Ayurvedic medicine practitioner, a trauma -informed psychology yoga teacher trainer, a clinical nutritionist, a certified menopause coach, and the creator of biohacking menopause.

She is incredibly passionate and dedicated in her approach to coaching women so that they can find ease and thrive during their menopause. We are so lucky to have you with us. Simi, welcome to the podcast today. How are you doing over there in Canada?

Simmi (00:44.842)
I'm doing very well, Sally. It's lovely to meet you and thank you for the invitation inviting me on your podcast. I'm looking so forward to our conversation today.

Sally (00:54.074)
me too. Your qualifications are just like, you know, keep going. I need a big scroll to read them out. Obviously, you love learning, right? You are a serial learner. When did your passion for learning start?

Simmi (01:10.97)
Well, I think it's always fun to be curious, right? And I don't think we ever in our lifetime stop learning. We have so many opportunities just handed to us. And if we embark on those opportunities, we see where that road may lead. And I have to say, life's been fascinating in the terms of the learning opportunities I've had. Everything from Air Uveta, which is in my family DNA, to going to the American Academy of Anti -Aging Medicine, which is a whole new.

learning experience there, learning from some of the best functional medical doctors in the US. And then of course, just sometimes even just keeping it simple and saying, I think I'll go for my menopause certified coaching certification just because I'm in that realm. So why not?

Sally (01:56.14)
Yeah, why not? So Ayurveda, I would love to talk to you about that and how, what it is, first of all, for people that don't know what Ayurveda is, maybe they've heard about it, maybe they don't quite understand what it is, and how it differs to allopathic medicine. So could we start there?

Simmi (02:17.134)
Yes, I love that question. So Ayurveda is Sanskrit and the English translation is the science of life. I like to say Ayurveda teaches us how to listen to the whispers of our body so that our body never has to scream. So unfortunately, in today's world, we wait for the body to scream and then we react.

Sally (02:36.076)
Mmm. Mmm.

Simmi (02:45.656)
And usually at that time when the body screams is because we're in a chronic stage of illness. And then it of course takes a lot more time to heal and the healing experience is much more difficult. Whereas Ariyavada says, if you can listen to the inner workings and the inner knowings of your body and you do the subtle work that may be required that the body's asking for you,

then the body never has to scream. So imagine a life going through life without having your body scream. You just listen and you tweak along the way, do the work that the body needs you to do, and then you always find that you're in optimal health. Or at least, you you will all have fluctuations in health. That's guaranteed in life. And all those fluctuations are also learning experiences for us. You know, what is the body saying to us?

especially in this world where we're so stressed, Ayurveda really teaches us to find the balance in life. So we don't work on the physical symptom. We have to dig deeper to what the root of that symptom is. And really that's where true healing comes from. And that's how Ayurveda really differentiates itself from allopathic or traditional medicine as we know it. It's not...

Sally (04:04.855)
Mmm.

Simmi (04:09.646)
Ayurveda is not where you go if you break your leg. That's when you go to see an allopathic doctor. I'm sorry, that's when you go see an allopathic doctor, a regular doctor. But Ayurveda teaches us what you can do so you don't have to break your leg. Leg doesn't have to break. So joints are flexible. Joints are mobile. Muscles are flexible. Muscles are mobile. So that the leg doesn't have to break, you may have maybe a little bit of a soreness or an ache.

Sally (04:17.069)
Yeah.

Simmi (04:35.46)
but not an absolute break because you've done the work along the way where the body's saying, hey, something's not right here. You need to pay more attention, maybe do more stretching, do some yoga, pay more attention to what the body's saying to you. So those whispers are the key and really knowing the inner workings of not only the body, but the mind and the soul because we are a total being. not just the physical body. So the physical body is very intertwined to our mind.

Sally (04:50.467)
Hmm.

Simmi (05:04.173)
as well as our soul.

Sally (05:06.21)
Yeah, you're right. think to separate the mind and body seems a bit ridiculous nowadays, especially with all the learning I've done. And I think a lot of our listeners are quite highly educated and I know you are. And to separate it to me seems completely ridiculous, completely stupid because a thought that we think will send a chemical down into the body, a neurotransmitter down into the body. And then that feedback loop goes straight up again. So we can't. And then also bringing the soul.

into it as well which I think is like our inner being, our essence, our feelings and sensations and you know those sort of subtle, the subtleties. So from what I'm garnering from listening to you, Ayurveda is a lifestyle, is a preventative form of medicine, it's, I love what you said, subtle work.

So what might be, if I was coming to you because I want it, I want it, are you an Ayurvedic doctor? Would you say that you are? Practitioner, okay. Is there a difference in hierarchy between a doctor and a, yeah.

Simmi (06:08.09)
Practitioner, practitioner.

Simmi (06:12.858)
Correct, yes, one's more of a PhD level and I probably have a master's level.

Sally (06:17.482)
Okay, so if I wanted to come and see you for an Ayurvedic treatment per se, how would it work? Like what would it look like? What are we going to be doing together? What are you going to be prescribing? Yeah.

Simmi (06:31.152)
So an Ayurvedic treatment is again based on the whole being. So a lot of conversation, so a lot of talking, because I usually my appointments last anywhere from an hour to an hour and half in length, because I really want to get to know the person. I'm also very intuitive. So that's lovely because I can feel a little deeper into what's happening in knowing your inner workings as long as you want to share. So the patient always wants wants to, has to be willing to share what might be a little bit more personal.

And then that's when we start going deeper into the root of what brought you first to see me. So first example, say you came to see me because your digestion was off, you're not feeling well and you have digestive disturbances. Well, that's the physical symptom. But that digestive disturbance, if we work deeper into the root, could be something like stress, could be something like liver energy, could be also due to adrenals and kidney function.

So again, digging deeper into what the root of is. In terms of what I do for diagnostics, I do pulse analysis where I feel your pulse. And your pulse in Ayurvedic medicine has three different levels. So there's the profound level, the subtle level, and then the first level of the pulse. So as you go deeper, I can usually go deeper into a soul of a person.

So thinking, and sometimes it's things I pick up, again, it's what you're sharing with me. Sometimes I can pick up things past lives. Sometimes I can think of childhood things that are still stuck in the tissues. And then that might be the root of where we have to start to relieve the digestive disturbances. So I of course just don't prescribe say a probiotic to help with your digestion. I go deeper into the root and then we work from the root of the problem to find what.

can help heal. And I find the healing might take a little bit longer because you have to do a little bit more work. But the difference is it changes the whole lifetime. It's not just, you know, taking a supplement or a prescription drug for a little bit about a time and then you go get off that and then it comes back. This healing work is deeper and it changes the whole lifetime of that person.

Sally (08:43.822)
you

Sally (08:49.048)
And when people are going through that deep change, what kind of things do they notice in themselves as they might be going through the week or two weeks or three weeks or four weeks and they've got their appointment with you in say four weeks time? What sort of shifts might someone notice within themselves? I'm only asking because sometimes when I've had homeopathy or acupuncture, I'm like, could this be related to the acupuncture? And it's like this kind of weird...

sort of happening, this event that's happened that's actually made me feel better or something like that. There's something working on a very, very different level. Would you say it's the same with Ayurveda?

Simmi (09:31.746)
Yes, very much so. And it is that subtle level. So I did mention subtle, use the word subtle in the beginning of our conversation. And it's those subtle shifts in the body that can have the biggest impact in how we are feeling. So sometimes those subtle shifts can be just changing your diet. And Ayurvedic medicine really believes that food is medicine. And we're not all built the same, so we can't eat the same foods.

Sally (09:46.776)
Yeah.

Simmi (10:00.12)
And especially going back to that patient, maybe with the digestive disturbances, food is probably a critical part of why that person may be suffering. But again, that's not the root of the problem, but that's somewhere that we can work to fix. And doing the work in those two to three weeks would be definitely a change of nutrition. So finding what the triggers may be for that person with the digestive disturbances to start eliminating foods that may be causing that.

Sally (10:13.347)
Mmm.

Simmi (10:27.96)
And then of course, Ayurvedic medicine also works with the doshas. So the doshas are our constitution and that's how we're made. So when I said in the beginning to our inner workings, the doshas are very much of our inner workings. So there's three doshas, there's bata, pitta and kapha. And all three doshas are quite unique and we have all three within us, but of varying consistencies. So doing the pulse analysis,

I can tell where your primary doshia is, so how you were born. I like to think of the doshia as like your blood type. So we're born with a certain blood type and that's our blood type for life. We're born with a certain doshia and that's our doshia for life. We can't change that. But however, the secondary and third doshia will definitely fluctuate depending on our age, our lifestyle, our career, our stress levels, all that can impact our constitution.

So again, it's finding balance in the constitution. And a good example is when we talking about the patient who had the digestive disturbances, a lot of people eat raw salads. There's only one dosha that does well with eating raw salads because raw salads are very difficult to digest, especially that.

Sally (11:44.374)
What dosha is that? What dosha? Because I had a raw salad for lunch and now I'm worried.

Simmi (11:50.288)
Your body will tell you how that raw salad feels. You'll feel it. the pitta dosha is the only one that really does well with eating raw salads except if the salads, the greens especially, are picked fresh. So if, and this goes for any food, if the food is fresh from the farmer or from your garden, then it has living enzymes.

when the food is alive, the body knows exactly what to do with it because our enzymes in the body speak to the food enzymes. So it's easily digested, assimilated, absorbed and then eliminated. But if we buy foods like we do from all over the world that are not having any living enzymes and the salads are perfect example, the body doesn't know what to do with it because there's nothing living. There's nothing talking to the body saying

This is what the food is. This is how you break it down. This is how are you eliminated. So raw salads, for example, for most of the doshas can be quite harmful. And the body feels that feels it by having symptoms like digestive disturbances like bloating, gassiness, acid reflux, heartburn, varying between constipation and diarrhea. All those are digestive disturbances where the body's whispering to you saying, hmm, the food that you ate doesn't really agree.

you. Maybe you should look at, you know, changing something out. And that's a big part because that's knowing the inner workings of ourselves. You know, a lot of times we're just so busy that we don't listen and we continue to do the same thing over and over and over again. And that's when the body screams and says, I'm not doing this anymore. You're going to have to really change or take it as prescription drug, for example.

Sally (13:32.514)
Mmm.

Sally (13:37.262)
of us.

The first port of call really is to slow down, isn't it? So that we can listen to the inner workings of the body and actually understand if what we're eating is good for us. Would you recommend sort of simplifying our meals so that you can tell? Because I had a salad at lunchtime. It was a beautiful organic lettuce from the local shop here. So I know it's local. had organic cucumber, tomatoes, some cheese.

and some eggs and some nuts as well and and some hemp seeds and some pumpkin seeds quite a lot and yeah it was nice and I I have to say there was something in it because I didn't feel a million dollars afterwards and I'm like I wonder if I put too much ingredients in you know maybe simplifying it

Simmi (14:18.98)
Beautiful.

Simmi (14:32.484)
Well, what caught me, Sally, was when you were describing is the protein source. What was the protein source in your salad? Yeah.

Sally (14:38.765)
Okay.

Sally (14:42.656)
well eggs, eggs, cheese and cashew nuts and pecan nuts.

Simmi (14:44.419)
You had eggs, okay?

Okay.

Simmi (14:52.142)
Okay, okay, so you had a good source of protein. Yeah, perfect. Because you know it's a balance, right? So what was the healthy fats? You had some hemp seeds, which are

Sally (14:55.693)
Yeah.

Sally (15:00.046)
Hemp seeds and olive oil. Yeah, so it's just that something, maybe the mixture. I'm just wondering whether it's useful to strip things back and not have too much of a mixture of food. mean, and that's just where my mind's going. I don't know if that's right or not.

Simmi (15:03.544)
And olive oil,

Simmi (15:20.208)
No, no, no, that's very much so. And then Ayurveda also has an art of food combining. So what foods you combine with what foods, right? So not just the typical sources of protein, carbohydrates, fats, but also combining foods. So things like, you know, sometimes meat and cheese don't always go together. And a great example of that is someone who has a pepperoni pizza. I think we all know, especially as we get older, because again,

That pepperoni pizza in our 20s is perfectly fine because we have a strong metabolism, we have strong enzymes, the body knows exactly what to do with that pepperoni pizza. But as we get over the age of 40, when things start to slow down, all of a sudden that pepperoni pizza, that food combining according to Ayurveda of meat and cheese will cause us to bloat for sure.

guaranteed. All of sudden we'll eat that pepperoni pizza and we'll feel like Santa Claus.

Sally (16:22.72)
Yeah, I'll tell my husband that. I don't know if he's affected by it the same way I am, but he does love a pepperoni pizza. I think there's one on the side actually from last night, but gosh. I roll my eyes in disapproval. God, there's so much I want to talk to you about. I am so intrigued by pulses. You know, when people take your pulse, I'm like, what are you actually feeling when you touch someone's wrist?

Tell me.

Simmi (16:52.24)
So in traditional allopathic medicine, the pulse is really used for your heart rate, how strong your heart is, how many beats per minute, et cetera. But in Ayurvedic medicine and in traditional Chinese medicine, which are very similar sister medicines, the pulse tells us everything. So I can see your organs, I can feel your soul, I can feel your dosha imbalances. whether first of all, if you're a...

Sally (16:57.645)
Yeah.

Simmi (17:20.044)
vata, pitta or kapha dominant person, as well as where the imbalances may lie. And that's my starting point for working with the person to get the deeper healing that the person needs is looking at the pulse. But I also do virtual consulting, because of course, since COVID, we've had to shift and pivot our ways of working. And so with virtual consulting, because I can't feel the person's pulse, I look at their tongue.

Sally (17:34.231)
Mmm.

Simmi (17:48.056)
and the tongue tells you a lot about the pulse as well. And so the tongue therapy works well. And there's also an art called are that face reading, where all the lines on your face tell me what's happening inside your body. So each line represents an organ. And so I can see how your adrenals are, I can see your digestive system, I can see your liver, etc, etc. And that also gives me a good indication of where we have to work.

Sally (17:48.152)
Mm.

Sally (18:17.015)
So indicative that it's all connected, isn't it? Like the face is telling a story, the feet are telling a story, the tongue is telling a story of what's actually going on inside and if you've been trained well, you can read it. You just like learning a new language, I suppose, isn't it? Yeah.

Simmi (18:33.828)
That's right. And that's one of the reasons, Sally, I included the face reading. I thought, you know what, I want to include something for the women to be able to also not to give back to themselves, but also give back to family members and friends. And I thought the easiest way one would be face reading because we always look at everyone's face. But if you can see something and again, be preventative by saying, I see something going on in the heart. How are you feeling lately? You know, maybe you should get that checked. Again, it's just a tool.

Sally (18:50.658)
Mmm.

Simmi (19:03.012)
to see for the deeper inner workings of yourself or of someone else to say, hey, you should look into that. There's something going on there. So I thought that would be a good tool to include for, just because as women, we are traditionally the ones who are the caregivers. And as we give care, the more that we can help anybody, ourselves, our family members, our friends, the better that they feel and we feel because you don't have to come into that.

Sally (19:20.621)
Yeah.

Simmi (19:32.496)
place of chronic illness.

Sally (19:34.506)
Yeah, it's all that preventative stuff, isn't it? And it's a gift that we can pass on. So it's beautiful. How did you get into all this, Simi? What's your journey into health, wellbeing? Because everyone's got a story and I've been wondering if it's because of a personal crisis or if it's, you know, if it was just handed down to you and it was just a logical step for you to go into health. I'd love to know.

Simmi (19:37.796)
So.

Simmi (19:43.769)
So.

Simmi (19:57.584)
Well, got, yeah, no, I do have a quite interesting story for sure to share with everybody. So I started, went to university and I did a degree in business management. I came back and I was working for an international bank. when I went to school in Switzerland and when I came back to Canada, I was working for an international bank. And I was in the corporate world for probably good, probably 15 years. And I had my baby daughter.

that birthing experience that when she came into the world, something shifted. And when you say, the universe always talks to you and it's up to us if we listen or we ignore. But that shift I had was, hmm, I can't do this anymore because working in the corporate world, I was working in banking, which is also very male dominant. I felt a piece of myself was missing and that piece of myself was my female energy, my female essence, my yin. I was in such a young,

dominated male masculine industry that I kind of lost that feminine side of me. And so at that point when she was born and I had that shift was the calling was I had to get back to my roots. So I started by I stayed home with my daughter. And then I did go back to school. And I thought, you know, when I have to go back to school, and I have to go back to my roots, which was Ayurvedic medicine, because I come from four generations of family members who were in the Ayurvedic world.

Sally (21:07.598)
Hmm.

Simmi (21:23.914)
And I thought, you know, this, this resonates with me because it's part of my DNA. And that is how it all started. So the shift was the child, yeah, the child being born and then a female and then saying, okay, you have to find your female sense. Cause I felt like it was like I was on that hamster on a wheel that kept going and going and going. And if I didn't jump off that wheel, that's when my body was going to scream. So

Sally (21:30.578)
I've got goosebumps.

Sally (21:49.44)
Yes, you were going to get that screen.

Simmi (21:50.628)
I listened to the whispers. Yeah, I listened to the whispers and I thought, okay, I'm going to have to change because the world of the corporate world is not going to change. has to be me that changes. And I have to find something else where I can also shine and thrive and really find my purpose. And I think that was it. I didn't have a purpose in the corporate world, whereas now I definitely have that sense of purpose in life.

Sally (22:00.088)
Yeah.

Sally (22:14.412)
And it's funny, isn't it? Because I think wellness is seeping into the corporate world now. Not in every area. I think we've still got a lot of work to do to get wellness into the corporate sector. But it's slowly starting to get there as people recognize and realize that, you know, we're not robots. We do have a certain set of requirements that mean we need a slower pace. We need a balance of yin and yang. We need

certain nutritional requirements, certain rest requirements, certain rhythms that our bodies need to stick to. We can't just be go, go, go, go, go all the time. And I reckon if you probably went back into the corporate sector, you might find a bit of wellness in there, maybe not in every company, but it might be that that is the case now as we've evolved and hopefully continue to evolve. Yeah. Yeah.

Simmi (23:06.722)
Why? I think so because I think people are asking for that. Everyone wants the quality of life when they find balance. I don't think anyone can live in a life where all it's go go go all the time because then the body has to scream. We're not made to go go go. I'd be that hamster on a wheel that keeps running and running and running. You can't run forever. Doesn't work. The body won't allow you. Body, mind and soul especially won't allow you.

Sally (23:20.781)
Yeah.

Sally (23:25.772)
Yeah... No... No.

Sally (23:32.694)
Yeah, I think that's what midlife women, menopausal women have got so much to teach the corporate model because of the needs, our self -care needs really escalate during that time. And so we have this real wisdom that comes out at this time that I think we can teach so many aspects of our systems, you know.

Simmi (24:02.394)
That's right. And it's so important that women thrive because I think women are the glue of our society. And that's one of the reasons why I created Biohacking Menopause was to really show women that you can thrive during menopause, but you are not the same as you were in your 20s and 30s and 40s. You have to do the subtle work that the body is asking you to do. And I just created a new one. I haven't even launched yet. It's going to be launching in the next week or two.

Sally (24:05.346)
Yeah.

Mm

Sally (24:26.328)
Yeah.

Simmi (24:32.162)
And again, I came from the lens of Ayurvedic medicine because in our regular medical field, women aren't taught how to prepare themselves for menopause. You we prepare ourselves for our wedding day. We prepare ourselves for giving birth. We prepare ourselves for our final exams at school. But women don't know how to prepare themselves for menopause. So all of a sudden they're thrust into menopause with all these symptoms.

Sally (24:47.182)
You

Simmi (25:00.94)
not knowing what's happening to them. So I created a biohacking menopause and how to prepare body, mind and soul for perimenopause. So aiming at that younger group in their mid 30s to mid 40s to say, hey, maybe you should look at preparing yourself because if you don't and you are that hamster on a wheel and you come into menopause, I guarantee you'll have every symptom known.

Sally (25:11.448)
Hmm.

Simmi (25:29.284)
from weight gain to hot flashes to night sweats to insomnia, because the body's screaming. And the body doesn't have to scream during menopause. You can have a really easy, simple, peaceful menopausal journey, but again, you have to do the work. And I wanna let people know and women know that I wanna help them do the work because I know what work has to be done. And in our traditional medical system, we don't even go there. Unfortunately, a lot of women when they first see their doctor,

Sally (25:45.421)
Yeah.

Simmi (25:57.922)
are misdiagnosed. think they have anxiety or depression and are put on SSRIs to help them cope with hot flashes and such. But that doesn't have to be because that's not the way, especially in Eastern, in the Eastern medicine world and the Eastern, when women were maybe a little bit more quiet. did, our time with our grandmothers and sometimes even our moms.

Sally (26:20.269)
Mm.

Simmi (26:23.93)
They didn't work outside the home so they could really take care of themselves in a different way. They didn't have the same stress levels. And I have to say, think stress is the number one factor in why women don't thrive and suffer during menopause. So if you can reduce the amount of stress that you have and balance body, mind and soul prior to menopause, then you know what? You won't even feel like you're going through menopause because you won't have any symptoms.

Sally (26:30.061)
Yeah.

Sally (26:52.044)
Mmm.

Simmi (26:52.802)
It's like most things in life, the more we prepare ourselves, the better we prepare ourselves, the better the results.

Sally (26:58.882)
Yeah. Absolutely. So what are some of the stress reducing techniques that you would recommend that perhaps you do for yourself on a daily basis to sort of help manage those stress levels? Cause I absolutely agree with you. Stress makes menopause worse. Like full stop, underline, write it in red. You know, if you can remember, if you remember nothing else, just remember that stress makes menopause worse. So

How do you like to manage stress? How do you recommend others do?

Simmi (27:32.858)
So every woman is different and unique. And for them, you have to find what works for them. So for some women, yoga might be perfect. For other women, it could be meditation. For others, it could be simply taking the time to be in nature. You know, there's a term in Japanese, shinrin yoku, which is forest bathing. And really it's bathing yourself with mother nature, bathing yourself in the beauty of forest. And I really do think if we can...

you know, set aside 15 minutes, a half an hour a day just to be in nature. I think that's a game changer for automatically reducing stress levels.

Sally (28:12.534)
Yes, I just went out in nature today actually and I got caught out in the rain but it was really lovely. It was so nice, I was up on the hill and I turned around and the rain came tumbling down on my back. I was absolutely drenched when I got home but you know you're just so surrendered because there's nothing you can do especially when you're out in a field somewhere and honestly I had tingles all over my body. I felt so alive, I felt refreshed, I felt...

Simmi (28:35.247)
I love that.

Sally (28:41.738)
enlivened, yeah, just felt brilliant. So I love that you've said that.

Simmi (28:45.678)
Beautiful. And rain, of course, is very cleansing. So it's also a mechanism also to cleanse. So maybe, you know, to get rid of old things or just to, you know, release unwanted emotions or holdings, whatever it may be. The rain is definitely very cleansing.

Sally (28:58.326)
Yeah.

Sally (29:03.776)
Yeah, I definitely felt it all wash away, especially around my head. It felt great afterwards. And I would just want to dive into a little bit more about the doshas. So it suddenly struck me that you said Pitta, Kaffa and Vata in the probably the terrible accent I've got here. Can you explain a little bit more about about those constitutions and what

Simmi (29:08.693)
I love it.

Simmi (29:20.826)
Correct. Those are the three.

Simmi (29:25.229)
No, that's not.

Sally (29:32.12)
constitutes those constitutions.

Simmi (29:35.713)
So let's start with Vata. So Vata is earth energy, air energy, and Vata tends to be the energy, especially during menopause, that's more disruptive. So I like to think of the Vata type is usually someone who is, might be a little bit taller, very slender and slim. They're the ones who sometimes may have a disconnect.

between mind and body. Because there's so much in their mind that they don't always listen to the feeling body. They're too much into the thinking mind. So the goal for vatas is to make sure that they develop their connection between mind and body. And usually when we're too much in our mind, so the mind is full of chatter and overactive, it's usually because we're not grounded.

So just simply grounding exercises, grounding movements are very essential for vatas. I like to think when people travel, just to remind themselves, they're going to be in a vata state because they've taken on so much air energy from the travel and then they've come into a destination that may have different time zones, definitely may have a different climate. So again, you have to take time to ground into your destination.

And I think organically, we know how to do that. Where we go outside for walks, we go barefoot in the grass or the sand, we get that sunlight when we arrive. All those things are really beneficial and very important for grounding and then for that Vata energy.

Sally (31:16.17)
Hmm. Okay, that makes sense.

Simmi (31:17.9)
And the next one is Pitta. So Pitta is fire. So those are our fiery type of personalities, our type A personalities. For Pitta is the most important thing, especially if you're a Pitta woman, is to make sure you find balance between Yin and Yang. So the male and female energy. The Pitta woman tends to be more on the masculine side. So again, they have to make sure that they come into their female energy.

otherwise they can suffer from sudden types of more masculine ailments like strokes, heart attacks. So that's very predominant because they've lost their balance between male and female.

Sally (32:02.679)
And gallbladder issues as well, perhaps. Because isn't a gall, isn't gallbladder? Yeah.

Simmi (32:05.762)
Yes, gall and liver, Yeah, gallbladder, liver together, because of course our anger, things like being judgmental, condescending, those are all Pitta characteristics. And those are in the corresponding organ would be liver, gallbladder, definitely. So Pitta for them, they have to slow down. That's the thing for them in life. Yeah. And sometimes, you know, that's the hamster on the wheel.

Sally (32:22.602)
Yeah, yeah I think I'm a pitter. Yeah that is my thing.

Simmi (32:33.808)
So they have to learn to jump off that wheel and find that quiet time where they just do nothing. And that's really difficult for Pitta not to not do anything. But at the same time, they can have a strong creative essence. So if they seek that creative side, which is also very female dominant, they can really thrive in their Pitta energy.

Sally (32:44.419)
Yeah.

Sally (32:58.53)
Hmm, that makes sense. Yeah, I've just started to do some really lovely somatic practices actually for my body to slow down. I'm really listening to those whispers because I ended up with quite a bit of joint pain and I was like, you know what? I'm doing too much in the gym. I was lifting too heavy and I'm a big believer in doing a bit of resistance training at menopause for sure because of the sarcopenia that we have at menopause. But I think

I was going too much the other way and I think my body was not enjoying the amount of lifting that I was doing. So I've actually started to counter it with a lot more slowness and slow somatic movement. So I'm loving the validation that I'm getting here.

Simmi (33:41.582)
I love somatic. I teach somatic yoga. So I love somatic. Yeah, because it especially as we get older. It's and then I love somatic too, because you feel the difference between the two sides of your body. You know, if you started doing somatic work on the right side, and then you come into a place of stillness and you feel you feel the difference in the flow of energy and circulation and blood flow all on that right side, and then you match it with the left. So yeah, it's brilliant.

Sally (33:44.216)
to you.

Sally (34:09.443)
Yeah, I'm finding it very releasing, you know, as opposed to holding, which the weight training and the running is all very like holding and yeah, the somatics is all very releasing. So I honestly feel like I could probably do it every day for a whole year and just not bother with any of the other exercise. And I'd probably feel cured after that. So,

Simmi (34:32.686)
No, you need a balance though. You need a balance because you're right. Absolutely. Weight training is very important, but you need a balance between somatic and weight training because you can do those and not every, I wouldn't say every day, especially for the weight training and depending on the somatic, because there's such a vast range of movements that you can do. But again, if you listen to your body, you know, if you go for a big run and you know, your hips are tight, well do some somatic hip releases is magic, right? It just changes everything.

Sally (34:40.451)
Okay.

Sally (34:49.731)
Yeah.

Sally (34:58.381)
Yeah.

Sally (35:02.112)
Yeah, yeah it really does honestly I'm just like I'm so changed by it and inspired by it as well. So then we have Caffa, is that right? Or Captor?

Simmi (35:11.95)
Yes, that's right. Katha is the last one and that is our water element, water earth element. So the Catholic people are the tend to be the caregivers. So they tend to be the ones who are in a career of giving. So nurses, social workers, teachers, they have to remember to give back to themselves. So unfortunately with Katha women, they tend to give and give and give and then they get depleted.

So adrenals and kidney energy for CAFA are very important. And just making sure that they take that time for self -care. CAFA tends also to be more, they tend to carry more mucus in their bodies. So they may suffer a little bit from weight gain or excess weight. So again, managing the energy in terms of making sure that they're always moving and the energy is always circulating is important for CAFA.

Otherwise they will have problems later on in life in terms of excess weight and excess things happening in the body with mucus forming and too much watery retention.

Sally (36:20.862)
Hmm that makes sense. I've definitely had a bit of that actually as well recently with oral thrush that occurred a few months ago yeah. So is it that so you're born with a dosha type and then as you go through life and especially as you hit menopause some of the other doshas within your body can become out of balance is that right? okay.

Simmi (36:27.762)
okay.

Simmi (36:42.124)
all the time. So we were born with our main constitution, so similar to blood type, but the other two doshas, so sometimes we can have a combination, we can be just one dosha, we can be a combination of two of the doshas, and very few people are a combination of all three doshas as primary doshas. We call them pukhrati, your main dosha. But imbalances are always there. So that's where the other two doshas can vary depending on our lifestyle.

Sally (36:47.149)
Mm

Simmi (37:11.97)
our stress levels, our profession, our family life, et cetera. And it's to know where the imbalances are. That's just the key is to know the imbalance so that you can work on healing the imbalances.

Sally (37:24.278)
Yeah, yeah, brilliant. Thank you. You've cleared up a big old mystery for me there. So that's brilliant. And I hope our listeners are like really kind of getting the idea, getting a feel for Ayurveda and how it might actually help them. So if someone is coming for like hot flushes, for example, and they've got a problem with hot flushes, night sweat, there's a lot of heat in the body. What sort of food might you prescribe? What sort of lifestyle medicine?

Simmi (37:29.54)
you

Sally (37:53.0)
might you prescribe for someone like that?

Simmi (37:56.368)
So with a hot flashes specifically and the fire in the body, that all speaks to Pitta energy. So the imbalance would be in the Pitta dosha. So to bring the Pitta dosha back into balance in terms of just using food as medicine, I would say first of all, reduce any acidic foods. So garlic is a big one, tomatoes is another one.

Sally (38:12.622)
Mm -hmm.

Simmi (38:21.37)
Spicy foods, reducing spicy foods is another one and lean to more foods that are more cooling. So things like, you know, cucumbers, things like that are more maybe raw. If it's the season again, more raw foods, perhaps a little bit more fermented foods like sauerkraut. If you can get kimchi that's not too spicy, that would be another one. Having a little bit less meat.

In the diet is also important because meat is very heatening naturally in the system. So going to things that are lighter like more seafood, for example, fish in the diet is another way to help in terms with the hot flashes and such. And we're bringing pitta back into balance.

Sally (39:06.062)
Hmm, that's really interesting. Yeah, really interesting. And you know, this idea that food is medicine. I mean, I believe it 100 % food is absolutely medicine and the way that we approach our food, the type of food that we have, like ultra processed food is lifeless. It's got no energy in it at all. All the energy has been taken out of it because it's so processed. It's not even food anymore. And so the food that is the most healing is

is real food that you pick from your garden or you you grow or you pick up from the local organic veg shop. I mean obviously it's not not all of us have access to that type of food but I do find it incredible that you know I've got I got curious I always like to look at both sides of the story and I got curious about a particular doctor that was sort of he he hated the wellness industry and he was trying to like I don't know

sort of debunk a lot of the things that people in the wellness industry were saying. And he wrote a book called Food Isn't Medicine, which I read. And I agreed with some of the things in there that we shouldn't take things to extreme. But actually, I do believe that food is medicine because I know how I feel after a pepperoni pizza. And I know how I feel after a fresh organic salad. And there's just no, how can it not be medicine? Because...

The way that you feel like it's doing something to you that's making you either feel better or worse. Yeah.

Simmi (40:37.188)
That's right. I always say food can either heal us or food can harm us. So again, that pepperoni pizza may be a harming for some of the dosha, some of the women, can for some people, you know, that salad will be very healing. But also that same raw salad can also be very harmful for some people. So again, just again, it's everyone's so unique, right? We can't say one size fits all because it doesn't, it doesn't work that way.

Sally (41:05.293)
Yeah.

Simmi (41:06.926)
And that's how Ayurvedic medicine really differs from traditional allopathic medicine. It's not one size fits all. It can't be. We are so unique in our own ways that I always feel if, know, the more that we know about the inner workings of ourselves, the better doctors of ourselves we can become because we do have to be our own best doctors, especially with our medical system nowadays. You know, the more that we can say, hey, something's wrong and go to see our doctors.

Sally (41:12.609)
Not one sign.

Simmi (41:37.621)
our medical professionals with our own insights and the strong beliefs that we hold, then I think that's when they can be more caring and more supportive of what's going on.

Sally (41:50.094)
Yeah, that was actually going to be my next question to you was the idea of being your own best doctor. And my dad has always installed that belief. My dad has a real problem solving engineering mind. He's 86 now and he's as fit as a fiddle, know, doing all the right things. But he's always like, I remember when he used to come home from work.

Simmi (42:07.855)
Beautiful.

Sally (42:17.102)
He had his own business, he used to sell motorbikes, he had his own shop, and it was a very physical kind of job. And he would come home and he would lay on the floor, arms out like this, with his chest open, and he'd lay there for like 10 minutes, completely surrendered, doing Shavasana, exactly. And me and my mum thought he was mad. But obviously now I'm in the wellness industry and I'm like, my God, he was so...

Simmi (42:34.054)
Shavasana, Shavasana, yeah.

Sally (42:46.008)
forward thinking and he's always... yeah.

Simmi (42:48.472)
It was receiving. He was receiving like he was open to receiving from the universe. Right? Yeah. I love that.

Sally (42:53.45)
Yeah, absolutely. then he would get up and then he'd cook dinner and you know everything would be well in the world again. And the other thing as well, he had like a bad knee and he did this like he discovered this exercise all by himself. Nobody told him what to do. He just sort of squatted. He was squatting and sending you know blood flow and stretching the muscles and like he said after a week

Simmi (43:17.296)
lubrication lubricating the joints

Sally (43:20.982)
Right, exactly that. After a week, I cured my own knee. I don't need a doctor, I cured my own knee. So I love that. And I think I've been raised with that sort of mentality myself in that you tune into your body, you think about your body logically, like what you know about the body and what you know about feelings and emotions and your intuition as well. Clearly he was...

really plugged into his intuition and I think I am as well to be honest. And you fix it yourself to a certain extent and I think I must have avoided so many doctor's appointments because I'm so reticent to make an appointment with a doctor because I just know how it's going to go. Like I'm not going to be understood. I'm sorry to GPs out there. I know you have limited time and you're

maybe trained differently, maybe don't understand this kind of way of thinking, but, and I also think actually doctors do want us to help ourselves. I think actually, ultimately they really, really do. And to avoid those unnecessary appointments. So yeah, I avoid them like the plague. Sorry, I think you were going to say something there.

Simmi (44:31.684)
I love the eyes, nothing. No, I love that story. And I agree with you so much, Sally. You know, if we can age gracefully, like what a gift that is in life. Right. And I have similar stories with my mom who at the same was, you know, just at the end, you know, not on any medication, you know, was beautiful when she was doing her passing. My sister and I were with her all the way till the end holding her and she brought, probably brought us into the most spiritual.

end of life moment that I wish for everybody because there was no pain, no outside, you know, people or helpers. It was just, you know, in bed with family and she was ready and she orchestrated her dying in a way that we could only wish that we could pass as gracefully. But like your dad, you know, who's still in wonderful health at a beautiful age, that's aging gracefully. That's having vitality.

Sally (45:22.337)
Hmm.

Sally (45:28.546)
Yeah.

Simmi (45:30.144)
at the end of our life. And you know, we look forward to the next day and the next day and you know, that's what we want. That's what we all want. And I think that's our mission as health and wellness gurus or helpers is to make sure that everyone can age gracefully so they don't have to suffer through the end of life. That's not a way to go. That's not, that's not memorable. That's not, nobody wants that.

Sally (45:50.36)
Hmm.

Sally (45:54.434)
And I guess when we put these practices into place earlier on, then the likelihood is we will reinforce those practices as we go through midlife menopause and into post menopause. They will just naturally become a part of our everyday life, like breath work or meditation, eating well. It's just knitted into the fabric of who we are, who we've become. It's in our identity. It's no longer

something that you have to try to do. Yeah.

Simmi (46:26.256)
That's right. That's right. And I think there's a new movement as well called intuitive eating, where your body tells you what it wants to eat. And then as long as you ask the question, you'll get the answer. But usually we don't ask. We open the fridge and we make ourselves whatever we make. But really is that what your body wanted? And if we ask the question, yeah, yeah, yeah. And sometimes you do want that pepperoni pizza.

Sally (46:31.65)
Yeah.

Sally (46:47.106)
That's so true! You've got to ask the question, yeah!

Sally (46:53.388)
That's so truncated.

Simmi (46:56.106)
and you honor that because you're allowed to, right? But you know if you ask the question and then you wait to hear the answer and again it's finding that quiet, that stillness because that's when the answer comes. If we're always going and doing and we're that hamster on the wheel there's no answers because you can't listen to them. You're not that quiet space so it's that you know asking and then waiting for the answer.

Sally (47:16.994)
Yeah. Yeah.

Sally (47:23.616)
Yeah and just for me like just closing my eyes and really feeling my body so feeling what my body feels like and then imagining perhaps eating certain foods and what that might feel like to my body. I'm just thinking what I've got in the fridge. Am I going to make steak and broccoli with onions tonight or am I going to make

an aubergine, because aubergine can be a bit itchy, can make me itchy. It's like, do I feel like I've got the histamine capacity to deal with an aubergine and peppers, you know? So it's like, I do think the more you understand, from the more you've read, the more people you've spoken to, like the more of an understanding, and then you map what you're reading. So what you're taking in from a brain point of view to your body, the way that you feel, and that comes with self awareness.

Simmi (47:50.69)
Interesting.

Simmi (47:55.983)
Right.

Sally (48:13.986)
the more you get into this intuitive eating actually. So it doesn't come.

Simmi (48:14.37)
Yes.

Simmi (48:18.212)
And we're all intuitive beings. We all have our answers. We know that. We know ourselves the best. So we know what we need. But again, it's that believing in your intuition and then listening to the guidance and then working or making your way towards what the guidance says, bringing it into fruition.

Sally (48:25.571)
Yeah.

Sally (48:31.629)
Yeah.

Sally (48:38.934)
Yeah, yeah absolutely. Love it, I have loved this conversation. So just finally then, what advice would you give to a woman say in her early 30s who wants to prepare for menopause? What's some of the advice that you could give to her?

Simmi (48:58.1)
So in my program that I have to prepare bio -acute menopause, preparing body, mind and soul. So the easiest one for most women is the physical. So I would say, you know, ground, make sure you feel grounded and rooted and make sure you have a good connection between mind, body and soul. So if you find that the mind is continuously chattering to you and talking too much, that gives you a sign. That's your indication that says, okay, I need to ground some more. So

Sally (49:08.247)
Hmm.

Simmi (49:27.62)
You know, go into the forest to ground, ask Mother Nature for help, you know, do some yoga, do some meditation, whatever feels best for that person. But grounding is a great one to help reduce the stress and then also to help connection into the feeling body. And the feeling body is our yin energy, is our female essence. So letting go of that busy mind, which is the male energy, the yang energy and

about bringing balance to male and female sides.

Sally (49:58.19)
Yeah, perfect. That's such good advice. I wish I had had in my thirties actually, especially in preparation for what's to come. So any 30 somethings listening to this really take heed. It's such good advice and you know, grounding for me has been something that I do daily. Now, if I don't do it, I feel awful. I have neck pain, head, cause it's all the energies to, to up here, you know? So dumping that energy out, a salt bath is

Wonderful. Turning all the tech off, just laying there in complete silence is great too. Yeah, so get all these practices in early. How can people find out about you, Simi? What have you got on offer for people? Where are you most active on your social media? What's your website? All of that.

Simmi (50:47.664)
Yes, thank you, Sally. So I do have a Facebook page for biohacking menopause and you'll see my name there. So biohacking menopause on Facebook and then in Instagram, it's my first name, Simi and then L -E -L -L -E and 22 is my Instagram handle. And then the website is www .menopausebiohackingsecrets. And there you'll find both the programs for people who are actually in menopause and then how to prepare.

Sally (50:53.048)
Mm

Sally (51:11.63)
effect.

Simmi (51:17.104)
for menopause for the younger generation.

Sally (51:19.523)
that's wonderful. And do you do one to one consultations?

Simmi (51:23.18)
I do, I do virtual one -on -one consultations as well as in person for those who are in Banff, Alberta, Canada. Otherwise, virtual works well for everybody in the world.

Sally (51:33.74)
Yeah, brilliant. Thank you so much, Simi. I have really enjoyed talking to you and getting all your wisdom and just loving your energy. So thank you so much.

Simmi (51:44.466)
thank you, Sally Mutual as well. All the best to you. Continue all the beautiful work that you're doing. You're magic in the world.

Sally (51:52.633)
thank you very much.

Simmi (51:55.044)
Bye bye.