Discover Your Unique Path to Balance and Wellness
“Sometimes life directs you somewhere you didn’t plan on going, and you realize everything happens for a reason.” – Dr. Trupti Gokani
I was absolutely fascinated by my conversation with Dr. Trupti Gokani, an award-winning neurologist who has brilliantly bridged Western medicine with ancient Ayurvedic wisdom. Her journey began during her first year of medical school when debilitating insomnia led her to discover Ayurveda after conventional medicine failed her. What’s remarkable is how she’s developed a three-brain optimization approach (head, gut, and microbiome) that addresses the root causes of chronic conditions instead of just managing symptoms. We explored the three Ayurvedic body types—Vata (air/space), Pitta (fire/water), and Kapha (earth/water)—and how understanding your unique constitution can transform your approach to diet, stress, and health challenges. This conversation offers powerful insights for women feeling disconnected from their bodies or struggling with stress-related conditions like migraines, digestive issues, or autoimmune disorders.
What you’ll learn:
- How Dr. Gokani discovered Ayurvedic medicine after conventional approaches failed to help her insomnia
- The three Ayurvedic body types (Vata, Pitta, Kapha) and how to identify yours
- Why understanding your constitution is foundational to personalized health
- How chronic stress manifests differently based on your body type
- The connection between gut health, emotions, and neurological symptoms
- Simple Ayurvedic techniques that can complement modern medical treatments
- How choosing the right foods for your type can significantly improve symptoms
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[00:00:00] JJ: I am JJ Virgin, PhD Dropout, sorry, mom turned four time New York Times bestselling author. I’m a certified nutrition specialist, fitness Hall of Famer, and I speak at health conferences and trainings around the globe, but I’m driven most of all by my insatiable curiosity and love of science. To keep asking questions, digging for answers, and sharing the information that I uncover with as many people as I can, and that’s where you come in.
[00:00:35] JJ: That’s why I created the Well Beyond 40 podcasts to synthesize and simplify the science of health into actionable strategies to help you thrive. In each episode we’ll talk about what’s working in the world of wellness, from personalized nutrition and healing your metabolism to powerful aging and prescriptive fitness.
[00:00:57] JJ: Join me on the journey to better health so you can love how you look and feel right now and have the energy to play full out. 100. Don’t miss an episode. Subscribe [email protected] to start unlocking your healthiest, most energetic self. When I was in graduate school, I actually took one semester, I had a class on Ayurvedic medicine.
[00:01:24] JJ: I remember being fascinated by it at the time, and I was reminded of that. In today’s interview with Routy Goi, MD because she has combined neurology with Ayurvedic, she’s an award-winning board certified retired neurologist. Now Ayurvedic coach who’s dedicated her life to developing a unique blend of ancient wisdom with modern approaches.
[00:01:51] JJ: It’s really interesting. Her, uh, parents grew up in India. She grew up in the United States. And basically grew up very much in the western world. Went off to medical school studying conventional medicine, and you’ll hear the story of how she came back to her roots and now she’s melded these approaches becoming a highly sought after speaker and coach.
[00:02:14] JJ: She’s spoken for pharmaceutical giants, like she’s really bridged the gap and she works with coaching clients all over the years. She’s been a blog for HuffPo, served on the faculty for the Shift Network and Metagenics. And she has created the three brain optimization program, which allows clients to discover the exact source of their disharmony.
[00:02:35] JJ: And we’re gonna go through that today. We’re gonna talk about the different types. We’re gonna talk about the three brains and some practical advice that you can immediately put into and take an action on and learn your type. And I will be putting all of that at jj virgin.com/troop. And that is T-R-U-P-T-I, and this is a fascinating interview.
[00:02:59] JJ: I’m excited to share it with you, so stay with me. I’ll be right back with Dr. T Trupti. Gani,
[00:03:19] JJ: Dr. Troop de Gilani. Welcome back. I think it’s been like a decade. It has been. Yeah. Has it, I feel like that’s Where have you been? Where have we both been? We’ve been busy. Clearly you’ve been busy, but, um, now we’ve got another book coming out, so you’re back on and so we have to reintroduce you to everybody.
[00:03:40] JJ: Sure. And you’ve got an interesting background as a neurologist and an Ayurvedic practitioner. So how did those two come together? What happened
[00:03:49] Trupti Gokani: was not by choice. It was not by choice because these are two different worlds, completely different worlds. And you know what’s fascinating in life? I think we all have been through this, is sometimes life directs you somewhere and you didn’t plan on going and you realize everything happens for a reason.
[00:04:02] Trupti Gokani: So I was a first year medical student doing my thing. Working hard, studying hard, and suddenly I started struggling with sleep issues and it was a few nights a week and then it was every night. And then before you knew it, I wasn’t sleeping at all. Three months had gone by. My dad physician at that time did my labs told me I was fine.
[00:04:20] Trupti Gokani: You know, labs are fine. You’re healthy. There’s nothing wrong with you. I don’t know what’s going on. Just this will get better with time. And I thought. There’s more to this story. I don’t know what’s going on. So kind of what kind of doctor was he? Primary care internist. Fabulous. Internist. Really well practiced, you know?
[00:04:38] Trupti Gokani: And I think just following conventional medicine. Right? Following the labs. Yeah. And it,
[00:04:41] JJ: well, it’s funny too, like conventional medicine, like what labs would you look at to see in conventional medicine? I,
[00:04:47] Trupti Gokani: I remember he was, he said, do you have, and kind of, this makes sense. Blood sugar issues, right? Hypo, hypoglycemia, interrupting sleep, thyroid issues, you know, uh, those, I remember the two big categories.
[00:05:00] Trupti Gokani: He’s like, you don’t have diabetes or thyroid issues, so you’re fine. You’re fine. But then again, we weren’t doing optimal lab testing like we do now, functional medicine and all these beautiful things. But, but at least, you know, in his frame of mind, he, he’s like, I ruled out those things. Um, your exam is fine.
[00:05:14] Trupti Gokani: You’re a healthy person, you know? And so then where do you go next? You go to the therapist, right? And I go to the therapist and the therapist. Favorite question. I remember this like it was yesterday. She said, do you feel stressed? Now mind you, I, you’re a first year medical student. Medical student. I mean, do you need to even ask the question?
[00:05:31] Trupti Gokani: And I, my answer was no, because you know, what did I know? And, and it was a fascinating thing. I look back at the ME then, you know, 30 years ago or so, and, um, yeah, I, I actually did not think I was stressed. ’cause you know. 30 years ago, what did we, you know, we didn’t really talk about stress, the way we discuss it openly now and coming of an immigrant generation where you work hard, be hard, everything is work, work, work.
[00:05:56] Trupti Gokani: That’s all I knew was that personality, that way of living. So, you know, to me I was like, my family is great. I have a wonderful boyfriend. I’m doing great in school. Check, check, check. I’m not stressed. I’m great. Oh, well, you know, I remember her teaching me a breathing technique and then saying, you’re good.
[00:06:14] Trupti Gokani: There’s nothing wrong with you. So got ruled out by the primary care doctor. My dad ruled out by the therapist, what, where next? So then I decided, ’cause this continued on and I was ready to quit medical school, and I can laugh about it now, but I was actually ready to quit. I was like, I, I can’t function.
[00:06:27] Trupti Gokani: It had been three months of just not sleeping. So then I, my dad said, why don’t I take you to my really dear friend, the psychiatrist. I’m like, all right, let’s go. I’m ready. So, so excited. I actually was excited for this visit. I remember, and I went to this office. I got there a little early, you know, waiting out there, called me in, sat down.
[00:06:49] Trupti Gokani: I was ready to go, 10 minutes and eight questions. He did the Siggy caps, the acronym that’s used for diagnosing depression. Do you feel sad? Do you have insomnia? Do you have any guilt? Do have low energy, low concentration. It goes on and on. I’m saying yes to a lot of these low concentration. Yeah, haven’t slept well.
[00:07:06] Trupti Gokani: If you haven’t slept, of course you have low concentration, low energy, like, how the heck am I gonna have energy if I haven’t slept in? Pretty much. So I, you know, I’m kind of like going through this, wanting to say yes, but he just said yes or no. It was almost like beginning a deposition, yes or no? Don’t gimme an answer.
[00:07:19] Trupti Gokani: I was like, he was like taking notes and he is nodding his head, taking notes and by the end of the, you know, eight questions, I, I said yes to six. And he said, oh, you have depression. Oh, now you get Prozac. Bingo. B, see who needs to go to med school presidency. You’re just like, okay, so, so seriously. 10 minutes, eight questions.
[00:07:37] Trupti Gokani: I mean, I laugh about it now ’cause it’s how many years later and I, I remember just being stunned. I was so, I thought this was gonna be this like really deep introspective, like we’re gonna, I watched Hitchcock back in the day, I got into like deep thinking and I was like, this is gonna be so interesting.
[00:07:51] Trupti Gokani: He’s gonna figure this out. He said, here, Prozac, and you have depression. And I walked out the door. I’m like 24 or so prescription and diagnosis, and so then where did I go at the bookstores and then I found. Ayurvedic medicine. So the long hand handed answer, but how, like, how did
[00:08:08] JJ: you, you went to the bookstore?
[00:08:09] Trupti Gokani: Yeah. Yeah. So here I was in between histology, anatomy, books, and studying and then taking study breaks and going to the self-help section. And I would look at these different books. The first one actually I read was, um, not Ayurvedic. It was, uh, Bernie Siegel Love Medicine and Miracles. Brilliant man recently passed.
[00:08:27] Trupti Gokani: Right. And uh, then I read Andrew Wild, spontaneous Healing. So just kind of getting into that space. And mind you, oh boy, you were going, you were going down that deep rabbit hole. I’m deep. I’m going deep. And mind you don’t tell dad I, and I don’t tell, don’t tell Dad. Right. I’m Western, like Indian of Origin.
[00:08:41] Trupti Gokani: Here I am, born in Africa, kind of kicked outta the country. There’s a whole story there. That’s a different story. Ooh. For another podcast. Okay. I was smuggled out. We’ll, we’ll share that story another time. Oh yeah. There’s a whole crazy story there. Point being, I wasn’t. I’m trained with Eastern Medicine. I was trained, very Western, came to the US at a very young age.
[00:08:59] Trupti Gokani: My mom spoke, you know, only spoke to me in English. She wanted me to speak well. So we were very western. So when I went into that space, that world that I didn’t even know existed. Okay. Um, and we had five channels on the TV station. Like there weren’t a lot of, we’re listening now that’s young. We didn’t have all this Cool.
[00:09:16] Trupti Gokani: Interesting. We didn’t have the internet, we didn’t have all these things. So. I walked into, this is well beyond 40. Everyone
[00:09:22] JJ: knows what
[00:09:22] Trupti Gokani: you
[00:09:23] JJ: have. I’m in my fifties, so everyone remembers my, everyone remembers. Okay. We don’t have the, the, the, the channel going off the air. You know,
[00:09:30] Trupti Gokani: friends might be sharing it with their daughters and others that may not know that world that we lived in.
[00:09:35] Trupti Gokani: Whatcha talking? What is You lived with five channels on your TV that went to like a fuzzy screen at the end of the night. So, so it was interesting because I, I actually didn’t know anything about this world and so I started reading these books and I found them fascinating. Started learning about mind body, spiritual healing and thought, okay, what?
[00:09:51] Trupti Gokani: What is this? And because I was so desperate and so open, because I wasn’t brainwashed, I was only a first year medical student, you know, and I’d never really seen a physician. My dad was my doc, you know? So it was actually a beautiful space to enter into that world. And I started with. Deep book, choppas book Perfect Health, you know, and I did a little, we call it a dosha quiz, learning a mind body type.
[00:10:17] Trupti Gokani: Mm-hmm. Learned that I was extremely Vata imbalanced. That’s wind imbalance. We can go through this in a moment and, uh, my diagnosis was. A Vata imbalance, imbalance of the wind energy, and it wasn’t something that was gonna be easily seen in labs or on an exam, though I had a lot of those features of wind imbalance.
[00:10:38] Trupti Gokani: And so started to follow the protocols, started sleeping really well again, and no medications. Here I am 53, sleeping well and do not have depression, you know, so I’m so grateful that I kind of took that. Path,
[00:10:53] JJ: you know? Okay. So wait a minute. So this is your first year of medical school? Yeah. You read, uh, you read this book?
[00:10:59] JJ: Yeah. You start to look at these different Ayurvedic types. I actually took a Ayurvedic medicine in grad school. Cool. Um, I took a course in it. It was fascinating. I’m trying to remember which type I was, but I can have a guess. It’s Are we, do we have a quiz that everyone can take? There’s actually
[00:11:16] Trupti Gokani: a quiz on my website.
[00:11:17] Trupti Gokani: It’s the stress. Yeah, it’s a stress personality. And they’ll go through like how to do that. We’ll, sure we put that on there so
[00:11:21] JJ: everyone can take their, take their test. But what did, so yeah, but I have to ask like, what did your dad, you read the book, you, you fixed yourself. Yeah. What’d dad say?
[00:11:34] Trupti Gokani: You know, love, love, love my dad.
[00:11:36] Trupti Gokani: He’s a great guy and I think he, uh. I’ll preface it by saying he trained in India, which you’d think, well, that’s great. I mean, shouldn’t he be open to Ayurveda? It’s based in India. The British, when they colonized, they actually shut down that system. They didn’t allow Ayurvedic practitioners to practice, and in fact, a lot of them practiced behind the scenes because the Western system was the more you know.
[00:12:03] Trupti Gokani: Elegant, better system to practice. And so when my dad trained in India and a lot of Indian doctors, it’s just important to know this, there’s a whole generation that trained in India that weren’t exposed to AY Veda, even though it’s 5,000 years old. Wow. Because during that time it was, um, not allowed to be kind of practiced.
[00:12:20] Trupti Gokani: So in 1971 Ha the year that I was born, it actually became back, um, it was allowed back into the healthcare system in India. So there’s an entire generation. So my dad was one of ’em trained in India, didn’t get exposed to it. And what was kind of like. Even today. Today we can think about this. The Western way seemed to be the better way.
[00:12:37] Trupti Gokani: So when I told him about this, he just thought, are your June are your Vedic medicine for yourself? Why? Why would you do that? And there was a lot of skepticism. Yet he was just, you know, happy that I was feeling better and he was happy that I didn’t take a prescription. He didn’t get what I was really doing.
[00:12:54] Trupti Gokani: And I’m happy to share that later though. He didn’t want to argue if it was working. So he is like, okay. I’m not sure I get it, but that’s all right. And I went down my path and yeah. And it has forever transformed me, I mean, entirely. So you went,
[00:13:07] JJ: so you went down your path Yeah. But you became a neurologist.
[00:13:11] JJ: Yeah. How did you, like, were you studying, kind of studying Ayurvedic on the side? Like how did you incorporate the two of them together?
[00:13:19] Trupti Gokani: Yeah, so it’s almost, you know, once you. Yeah, you see you can’t unsee. Yeah. So suddenly as I saw that world, I almost couldn’t not see that world. And so what I started doing, and of course I’m in medical school, I’m just trying to survive, you know, survival mode of just getting through medical school.
[00:13:35] Trupti Gokani: I kind of kept it in my back pocket. I practiced. So one of the things, and I was listening to one of your earlier podcasts and uh, I appreciate that you said this. One of the things that I started doing back in my twenties was yoga and I. Was not a yoga person at all. I was doing, uh, remember Tbo Kickboxing?
[00:13:53] Trupti Gokani: Mm-hmm.
[00:13:54] JJ: Yep. That was my
[00:13:55] Trupti Gokani: thing. Like I put the DVD, the V, you know, VHS and then every day come back from class and do kickboxing. And I was the last person, like honestly, yoga was not in the cards for me. And d book trope run his books would write the importance of meditation, yoga, changing your thought patterns.
[00:14:11] Trupti Gokani: And I said, okay, let’s start. Doing some yoga. I was up anyways. I wasn’t really, I didn’t have the energy honestly, to do a lot of the more aggressive workouts. So I started with the simple kind of techniques of, of, of practicing very, very gentle poses. And what I realized was that I started practicing Ayurveda without really realizing I was practicing Ayurveda.
[00:14:34] Trupti Gokani: So it’s like it was in your DNA? Yeah. Yeah, I felt like I was just called to it. Yeah. It was almost like I had to have that eye-opening, no pun intended experience of being awake all night to get me to see that this is a path that not only it’s important to start to discover for myself, but really share it with as many people as I could.
[00:14:52] Trupti Gokani: So I went through med school. I kept on practicing some yoga, some of those techniques that were taught. Uh, one of the other things is an ABCA massage. And it’s a warm oil massage. And when you do this massage, in fact, I just recently heard a podcast you’d find this interesting about using it for, um, working out and before workouts, massaging your joints with warm oil, which sounds very interesting.
[00:15:15] Trupti Gokani: Why would you do that? But the oils, especially ones that are. Sesame base, they’re warming. Coconut is cooling. So if you’re the windy, we’ll go through the types real quick. But when you’re a certain type, the different oils can help your joints and your bones. And we can discuss that before working out to strengthen.
[00:15:31] Trupti Gokani: Oh, so let’s go through these types. Yeah, let’s go through that. Yeah. So it’s kind of cool. So here I am reading this book. Imagine just kind of this idea of are you’ve had that A-Y-U-R-R Iur means life, vida’s wisdom. The wisdom of life, the wisdom of longevity. And you and I both have heard the longevity is going down and it’s really sad to hear that, you know, we may live longer lives than our kids because of encouraged crisis.
[00:15:54] Trupti Gokani: I know. Hear, hear everyone in
[00:15:56] JJ: India wanted to be, be Western. And I’m like,
[00:15:58] Trupti Gokani: worst health in the world. Worst in the world, you know, try crisis. Right? Our numbers are what, four and a half trillion dollars in healthcare spending going up to 6.28 trillion, you know, probably in 2028. Yeah.
[00:16:08] JJ: And, and we’re the sickest, like I think we’re one of the sickest countries, sickest countries.
[00:16:12] JJ: If not the sickest
[00:16:13] Trupti Gokani: in the, and the highest stressed, and a very, very, very sad situation. And I do a lot of migraine work. And migraine is just, like I mentioned earlier, wrote this book, mysterious Mind, and that was in 2015 and I thought, oh, that’s gonna move on to the next book. You know, it’s coming. And honestly, I’m, I’m spending more time talking about mysterious mind now and migraine because migraines have worsened and vertigo has worsened and all these neurological conditions are worsened.
[00:16:35] Trupti Gokani: And why
[00:16:35] JJ: is that?
[00:16:36] Trupti Gokani: Uh, really, I do think it’s down to the. Kind of picture of us being disconnected with ourselves, which Arvada helps us solve that answer, gut and processed foods and imbalance of digestive function, putting that together. When you’re disconnected, you’re more stressed, you’re more likely to feel stressed, carry stress, and then it impairs the gut microbiome and then it’s top down, bottom up.
[00:16:58] Trupti Gokani: So if we can kind of get to the core of those areas. We can become healthier and live longer lives and not have to worry as much about being dependent on the physicians and the P prescriptions And so are clearly what we’re doing is not
[00:17:11] JJ: working,
[00:17:11] Trupti Gokani: not working. Like all this advanced medical care, it’s absolutely a mess and we’re getting more expensive and everything is getting, I’m just even watching it.
[00:17:19] Trupti Gokani: Uh, I’ll get into Arriva about just for a second in the, in the migraine space, when I practiced early in the years, you know, some simple little tools, you know, medications here and there, abortives here and there would work and we’d kind of. Allow patients to get better and now got these fancy injectables and all these fancy tools.
[00:17:35] Trupti Gokani: And I’m thinking to myself, not that, I mean, I’m happy that we have them. I’m really grateful we have them. Why have we forgotten? You know, some of these simpler methods And we are getting fancier and fancier. And I think it’s important to keep in mind that, uh. Just because something is older doesn’t mean that new is better.
[00:17:52] Trupti Gokani: Right,
[00:17:52] JJ: right.
[00:17:53] Trupti Gokani: And I I just wanna remind, you know, myself even of that, sometimes you get caught up with that like, shiny object thing, right? So, um, Veda takes us back to the ancient roots. And so Veda is based on the concept. Again, Aira means life. Veda is wisdom. The Vedic civilization was in Southeast Asia 5,000, 6,000 years ago.
[00:18:13] Trupti Gokani: Ayurveda when was based kind of by that Vedic civilization. Moving on to India. Homeopathy and traditional Chinese medicine all come from that same civilization. So you’ll hear some themes. It’s all about going back into homeostasis, going back into balance, bringing yourself into alignment, clearing the blocks, be it the blocks in the meridians, blocks in the prana, the channels of energy to create optimal flow and of the mind and the body.
[00:18:38] Trupti Gokani: So how do you like get there? And Ayurveda, the belief is the five elements are air. Space, fire, earth and water. All living things have five elements. A plant, a pet, a human, all have five elements. The unique thing, we have different elemental makeup at birth, so. To keep it simple, we might say someone is born with more of the air and space element as their dominant nature.
[00:19:08] Trupti Gokani: We call that air and space element nature person as a Vata, VATA, Vata type fire and water individual is the Pitta P-I-T-T-A person. I, I think that was what I was, that’s what you are. I was gonna tell you, I’ve known here for a while and the pizzas are fabulous. I’ll go through all three. I mean, they’re all fabulous.
[00:19:26] Trupti Gokani: Of course they are. They’re fabulous. They’re fabulous. Yes. Uh, all are fabulous in different ways. If we keep ’em in harmony and the alert, Laster earth and water is the Kapha. So K-A-P-H-A. So Vata, pta, Kapha, Vata types. Think about if you’re listening to this, who were you when you were younger? And try to think of your nature, right?
[00:19:44] Trupti Gokani: This is the best way to think about this ’cause this is our birth nature. Then we kept thrown off ’cause of life. Vatas are individuals that tend to have longer frames, tend to be longer bone. Usually smaller kind of, I think of Allie McBeal, you know, kind of moving, going. Body is moving mind is moving. Um, very enthusiastic.
[00:20:06] Trupti Gokani: Often the life of the party loves to talk. Uh, very, um, interested in doing new things. Says yes to so many different things and likes to be involved. Um, enjoys being around a lot of creative people and things and doesn’t like to be in one spot. Often choose jobs of sales and creative pursuits. There are artists, they’re musicians.
[00:20:28] Trupti Gokani: That’s the Vatas, right? Vata imbalance is great, creative, spiritual, artistic, move and go. And doing the pittas, more muscular, more driven fire and water element can see how things need to get be done and get done. And really, you wanna put a Pitta in charge like yourself. Of tasks because Pittas are like, I’ll get this done.
[00:20:51] Trupti Gokani: I know exactly how to see this. And you almost help another person find that solution. So Pittas are driven. They’re competitive. They’re often muscular. Pittas tend to be very clear with their words. They love to speak and explain and educate. Pittas are very direct. Vatas can kind of babble and go different directions, lots of thoughts.
[00:21:13] Trupti Gokani: Pittas are direct. Okay and organized. Right. In harmony. Fabulous. Right? Kafa More earth elements. It’s earth and water element. Bigger frame. Bigger body type. Little softer, little more introspective. Connected. Grounded. Homemaker. Loves to cook. Be in the kitchen. Um. One-on-one. Ah, big groups, you know, gimme that one-on-one interaction.
[00:21:36] Trupti Gokani: Gimme the smaller groups. Kafa are more grounded, more connected, so they’re kind of the opposites of the VAs who kind of like to move and go and be in all different situations. Kaphas are very happy and very, you know, kind of comfortable spaces. So out of alignment, this is where things get interesting.
[00:21:55] Trupti Gokani: If the Vata gets out of alignment or we pick up windy tendencies and we can talk about how that happens. That was made back in med school. How do you pick up windy tendencies? You start to disrespect the circadian rhythm, moving, going, doing all the time. Who needs lunch? Who needs dinner? I don’t need to be on schedule, right?
[00:22:14] Trupti Gokani: I can sleep at 3:00 AM and be fine. My schedule got so thrown off because of med school. I was drinking cold drinks. This is where food comes in. I was eating a lot of salads ’cause I thought they were healthy. There’s a lot of interest about kind of Ayurvedic twists on conventional wisdom of what’s healthy and suddenly.
[00:22:32] Trupti Gokani: I was getting more Vata imbalanced because my mom even said to me, Tripti, you talk so fast. I don’t know how your patients are ever gonna understand you. I was talk Vata talk. So what happens is Vatas need a lot of grounding. They not need, not need a lot of like balancing of the circadian rhythm. Their goal is to create kind of, um, I almost a, a pattern of.
[00:22:57] Trupti Gokani: Certainty and comfort. So the mind comes down because if you get two Vata, you go into freeze. And what does freeze? State body gets tight. Neck gets tight, colon gets tight. Constipation, gas, bloating, wind, mind starts to spin. Anxious problems focusing. That’s a classic Vata. And all of us can go into that state.
[00:23:18] Trupti Gokani: I wasn’t born as a Vata though. I started doing those things, skipping kind of the routine, uh, disregarded almost mother nature to some extent and just lived the life that was needed to survive medical school and then doing a lot of cold things. Lived in Chicago, which was cold, you know, during that time, right?
[00:23:34] Trupti Gokani: Mm-hmm. It was February when I got the. Most severity of my sleep issues. Yeah, the Pitta is different. Pitta is more fire. So think of intensity, not necessarily moving in terms of a windy kind of energy, but moving intensely. So if you’re too intense, too, uh, hard on yourself, too perfectionistic, the Pitta energy can come out and that shows up as a fire flight state.
[00:23:59] Trupti Gokani: When you think of freeze, this is fight, angry, irritable. Sharp with the words, right? Reflux, nausea, diarrhea. So that’s how Pitta can get out of alignment. Migraine is a classic presentation, and then neck symptoms tend to tend to fall into Vata, the tight neck, where this one’s more head and and redness and reflux and rashes, autoimmune conditions.
[00:24:20] Trupti Gokani: You’re thinking petta. Yeah, Kapha is a different personality. Kapha or energy kaphas in all of us can become this way. In fact, I’ve noticed a little bit, ’cause we just moved houses and I’ve been kind of in moving mode and I haven’t been as hydrated as I should and I’m noticing, oh, a little more congestion.
[00:24:35] Trupti Gokani: Oh, it’s, it’s kind of the fall, I mean the, the spring here, we’re moving out of cold, dry state into the summer months. This is when the body kind of starts to get a little bit more prone to Kapha imbalances. Cough comes from Kapha, if I’m too. Sedentary or if I’m too dry, I could start getting very Kapha and Kapha energy is sluggish, depressed, heavy.
[00:24:59] Trupti Gokani: So does that make sense? So in all three, mm-hmm. Basically states you get three different gut types and you get three different mind types. The last state is depression, the middle one, peta, the anger, and the first is anxiety.
[00:25:10] JJ: It is. So right on for me, I can tell you.
[00:25:13] Trupti Gokani: You feel it, right?
[00:25:13] JJ: It’s Oh yeah, I totally get that one.
[00:25:15] JJ: Did you
[00:25:15] Trupti Gokani: see if you read all this well, like can you imagine like here I was stuck and I didn’t know why I couldn’t sleep well, and I read this and I was checking off all the boxes in Vata and I was doing every single thing that I thought was. Healthy and right. I was actually wrong. I was, what I thought was being healthy wasn’t really being healthy.
[00:25:29] Trupti Gokani: Right. The kickboxing wasn’t good for me. Think about what my mind was doing when I was kickboxing. I was perceiving danger, you know, I was, whereas I need to kickbox. Yes. Yeah. It depends and, and pit tells Kickbox. If they’re balanced pittas, if you were to or anyone that’s in the state of excess Pitta energy, um, let’s say someone’s getting irritable, starting to notice reflux, starting to have, um, progesterone depletion issues.
[00:25:56] Trupti Gokani: I would say kickboxing. You might wanna be a little careful about the intensity might hurt somebody
[00:26:00] JJ: or yourself.
[00:26:00] Trupti Gokani: You might exactly right. You don’t wanna be too fired up. ’cause it can get into trouble there. And they say violence increases in the summer months and that’s why, because the heat. The heat, we get more pits up, we get more fired up, all of us, you know.
[00:26:12] Trupti Gokani: Wow. Yeah. Fasting stuff. So that’s, so it pulled me in and then I started using it for myself. Got to my practice seeing gra migraine patients opiates. Were starting to be, you know, Oxycontin those days. This is the early two thousands, right. We’re giving out left and right and I said, oh my gosh, wait a second.
[00:26:28] Trupti Gokani: Uh, I know this other science. And then I eventually got certified in So
[00:26:32] JJ: did you not, like when you first went into practice, you were doing more conventional neurology? I was. How long did you do that before you started to go? Wait a minute.
[00:26:42] Trupti Gokani: Oh, not even, I started saying, wait a minute. Within the first like month or two.
[00:26:46] Trupti Gokani: Wow. Because I was in this practice where it was like at the a tertiary headache clinic, Uhhuh, and a lot of medications were being given out. And I was thankfully injecting Botox injections, doing trigger point injections, other things to kind of not have to prescribe so much Though this was in a time where you could refill meds over the phone, you could refill Vicodin over the phone or refill Xanax, you know.
[00:27:03] Trupti Gokani: Wow. And um. Very quickly, I started bringing in some of the lifestyle. I started bringing in integrative, went to some integrative meetings and learned about, you know, food intolerances at that time. Was doing some functional medicine too. And then eventually I said, you know, I loved Veda. That really spoke to me.
[00:27:18] Trupti Gokani: And then after taking my board exams, I went back to turning Veda. My husband’s like, one of these days you’ll be done studying. I said, one of these days. I’m still waiting for that day. Not really. Never. Still waiting for that day. Yeah. Not yet. Right? Yeah, it’s just too much. There’s just too interesting to kind of, as you learn, you just wanna keep on evolving, right.
[00:27:36] Trupti Gokani: I think it’s more
[00:27:36] JJ: exciting now, like there’s, yeah. I am more excited and kind of obsessed with everything than I’ve ever been, like there’s so much great information out there. Right. And what’s so crazy Troop de is that here you are going back.
[00:27:49] Trupti Gokani: Yeah,
[00:27:50] JJ: like s so many of the answers lie in what we did thousands of years ago.
[00:27:55] JJ: Like it’s amazing to me that homeopathic is basically like, it’s almost illegal in the United States. It’s bizarre. Like I go, oh, what? You know, are you kidding?
[00:28:05] Trupti Gokani: I’m no like. And, and some of these simple techniques. My, my son had a femur fracture. He was skiing, this is before pandemic, and we were at this beautiful children’s hospital of, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
[00:28:16] Trupti Gokani: And at in the evening, they would give him an Oxycontin prescription. They also offered on the floor, which is so novel, essential oils. And I still remember them coming in with the little. Cotton ball with one drop of the essential oil saying, now this is how you use this. Make sure when he inhales and giving all these descriptions of how to use that.
[00:28:35] Trupti Gokani: And then here’s Oxycontin. And it’s so fascinating how we’ve kind of forgotten, you know, wow. Not only the power of these ancient tools yet how safe they can be if used wisely. We can really, you know, benefit from them. And they’re very low in toxicity when you think about it.
[00:28:49] JJ: So many of these, it was one of the first things I did with my son when he was in a coma in the hospital and.
[00:28:55] JJ: So we, you know, like when your son’s in a coma, you’re like, people are like, I’ve got this. Like, send it over. Right? Send, you’re like, like, sure, bring it all in. Totally. But, you know, essential oils, that was the first thing that I was able to do to get a response to know he was in there. I mean, I knew who was in there, but, but for him to
[00:29:12] Trupti Gokani: actually respond to you
[00:29:13] JJ: and the doctor’s like, well, we’re just letting you do your little, like your little cute things.
[00:29:18] Trupti Gokani: I’m like, okay. Alright. Okay. It, and it’s, it’s so sad. You know, it’s, it’s really, we have, we have evolved and I was so grateful that they had a sign saying, if you want essential oils, just ask the nurse. I think she was shocked when I asked her for it. I said, she’s like, which one? I said, gimme all of ’em. You know, it was vegar, peppermint, and lavender.
[00:29:34] Trupti Gokani: I’m like, give them all to me. And every hour when he’d wake up with this severe pain, ’cause he, you know, he had this massive compound fracture. He’d wake up and. I would have him just practice the breathing with a different nose. I’d fall back asleep, give him the Oxycontin. Didn’t even touch him, quite frankly, at this time.
[00:29:49] Trupti Gokani: Where, where he was, it was in so much pain and the power out, the breath and the amygdala and quieting down the fear center, right? Yeah. And what that can do to wake up the brain and bring your back. And so that’s kind of where I moved into. We can go into this three brand model if you wanna hear about it.
[00:30:03] Trupti Gokani: Like I kind of moved into this. Yeah, no, I wanna hear about it. This is because it’s so amazing right now. Now like I
[00:30:07] JJ: think we’re finally starting to, and, and I think a lot of it actually is happening ’cause of the aura ring and people talking about HRV and then all of a sudden going, you know, oh, parasympathetic sympathetic being tone, oh, blah, blah, blah.
[00:30:20] JJ: You know? So I think that we’re kind of waking up to some of this stuff.
[00:30:24] Trupti Gokani: Yeah.
[00:30:24] JJ: Um, so yeah, go in. Let’s hear. I love this stuff. It’s so fun. It’s so great,
[00:30:29] Trupti Gokani: isn’t it? It’s so, because you see improvement and, and you see improvement in, in a way that is so much more profound and, and at a deeper level than what we’ve ever seen before.
[00:30:38] Trupti Gokani: Because if we get into the core of this, I looked, you know. Back at my patients and clients over how many years? Couple decades. And I had closed my clinic in 2021 and I decided to do coaching only, you know, and in the time I look back at my patients and I said, you know, who really has succeeded? Who are these like incredible success stories?
[00:30:57] Trupti Gokani: And they were doing things that were very, you know, interesting. And I kind of package into this three brain model just to make it easier to think about. So as a neurologist, we think of the one brain, that brain up here in the head, and that’s what we’re trained to focus on is fixing the circuitry of up here, fix that brain here.
[00:31:13] Trupti Gokani: And a lot of conventional doctors, when you think of neurology, you’re thinking of the brain, um, that’s in the head, the central nervous system. And that’s an important of course, control center. And when you think of the central nervous system instead of the structure and function, how about the processing in terms of executive function of how we think?
[00:31:29] Trupti Gokani: So many people I was meeting in my practice and that we meet day in and day out have an interesting program of how they respond to stress and how they’re naturally geared to view the world. Their model of the world is very much dictated by their early programs. You know, if I grew up with a parent, which I did, we were kicked out of Africa, I mentioned I was smuggled outta the country at a very young age.
[00:31:52] Trupti Gokani: My mom’s mantra was work hard, otherwise you won’t survive. I mean, that was her mantra. So you wonder why I became a perfectionist, hardworking, and eventually had sleep issues in med school. I was just in this kind of mindset. This therapist said, are you stressed? And no. I mean, this is my, this is who I am.
[00:32:08] Trupti Gokani: I was living in a state, so I realized a lot of my patients that were kind of able to break these chronic cycles of pain and sleep issues, a lot of them, what they were doing is realizing I’m waking up to their state. So the first brain to me is understanding what is your model of the world? Is it working for you or against you?
[00:32:25] Trupti Gokani: And how can we change the pattern so you can start to see the reality of yourself and not live in that state? I. And the state is the windy, which is the Vata state, the Pitta, the fired up state, or the earthy kafa state. I’ll even kind of tell you, yesterday I was playing pickleball. Okay. And I playing pickleball and you know, you get on the court and so fascinating to see the personalities that come out right.
[00:32:46] Trupti Gokani: And I’m like, this is my off time. Let’s have a good time. And I’m like hitting the ball and I’m pretty good, you know, I played tennis when I was in high school and on the varsity team and you know, that was fascinating to see. You can be competitive, but you can also be intense. And I was playing against this woman who I played against before, and she was like, bam, bam, bam.
[00:33:03] Trupti Gokani: And just angry. Like, it’s a game. It’s a game. It’s a game. And, and honestly, it, it, it’s fascinating to me because I almost see, I can’t unsee what you see, right? There’s certain states that people bring out to the world, even a pickleball game. And so the first point is just acknowledging if. You are stuck and having symptoms, it’s probably because your state is out of alignment and hey, thankfully Ayurvedic medicine gives you an idea of how to figure out what that state is and maybe give you some ideas of how to get outta that state.
[00:33:32] Trupti Gokani: ’cause I was in that state when I was younger and I didn’t see it, right? ’cause I was in the thick of it. You can’t see the forest through the trees, right? You just like you’re there. So then that’s the first brain central nervous system, second brain. It’s the anterior nervous system, right? The brain within the gut.
[00:33:44] Trupti Gokani: We spent zero time, I mean, barely touched on it in medical school. An enteric nervous system is this complex right array of neurons and neurotransmitters that are created in the gut. You make every single neurotransmitter in the gut that we make in the head, and 90% of the serotonin comes from the gut, and the anterior nervous system is communicating with the third brain, the microbiome.
[00:34:04] Trupti Gokani: To send signals up and there’s more conversation from gut to brain than there is from brain to gut. So I realizing I this within the
[00:34:10] JJ: medical school now, like is it in med school now? Do you know? I
[00:34:14] Trupti Gokani: don’t think that much ’cause I just did some grand rounds at a couple places and um, I did bring up the ENS and I said, how much do you guys know about what is ENS?
[00:34:21] Trupti Gokani: Where, what, what is the function of the ENS? And it’s still kind of, yeah, there’s like, you know, I don’t think the understanding is this, that there’s an emotional. Component. Anterior nervous is the sensing brain. It’s the feeling brain and the importance when it comes to clients and coaching and, and talk, talking to people is are you feeling, are you, do you have an emotive side to you or are you tasking and disconnecting from emotional body?
[00:34:45] Trupti Gokani: Are you veda? And by nature of doing yoga and breath work and slowing down, you start to connect with the emotions underneath the thinking brain. Right. So a lot of the clients, when I started working with them, I started giving them tools, be it breath, give it the oils, give it, you know, they started to kind of.
[00:35:01] Trupti Gokani: Get, connect with your emotional body. I’ve been holding anger towards my dad for a long time. I probably should clear that. Right. And you know, they started to kind of open up to something that was underneath the migraine. Right? And then the third brain with a lot of them working on the diet, which you, I know is you.
[00:35:15] Trupti Gokani: This is your world. The sugar revolution, all the things that you’ve done. Like really understanding the impact of food and don’t disregard the importance that food is. Medicine. Medicine inside food. Like just really take time to think about what you’re putting in your. On your plate and in your body. How are you chewing it?
[00:35:31] Trupti Gokani: What are you bringing in? Is it nourishing? We call it duss, D-H-A-T-U-S, Duss In Ayurveda, the layers of the body, your skin, your subcutaneous tissue, your muscle, your um, bones, uh, these are all nourished by food. You know, you are what you eat. So, so I remember though in
[00:35:50] JJ: Ayurvedic and I’m like, this is like, I’m going back now.
[00:35:54] Trupti Gokani: Yeah.
[00:35:54] JJ: Two decades
[00:35:55] Trupti Gokani: I think.
[00:35:56] JJ: Yes. Um, that there were, you know, warming foods, cooling foods, like the right foods for different types. So, so someone would take this quiz Yeah. And find out the right foods, because that’s the other piece is like something that would work well for me, may not work well for you.
[00:36:16] JJ: Right.
[00:36:17] Trupti Gokani: And that’s what makes it. A little bit tricky and that’s where a lot of individuals get either overwhelmed or lost with Ayurveda. So we’ll try to make it kind of a little simpler to understand and, and at least approachable to start. And I mean, you can always go deeper, starting with the concept will go back to me and the windy energy and proms falling asleep.
[00:36:35] Trupti Gokani: When you’re windy and you’re too excitable, imagine wind blowing on you. You get kind of cold, go back into that freeze state. What you want is like warm, warm cup of tea. You feel the warmth. You know, having a cold iced drink is going to put you more into freeze. So we look into state of food first.
[00:36:56] Trupti Gokani: Whereas if I’m really fired up and heated and angry and I have a hot cup of coffee, may not be a good idea for me. Maybe coconut water, maybe aloe vera juice cooling would be beneficial. You know, think of what’s in a tropical climate when it’s hot. Or you’ve had to remember was a science not based on evidence based, you know, double-blind placebo controlled studies.
[00:37:15] Trupti Gokani: It was based on just look, when you’re a tropical climate, you have these cooling coconuts that come that cool your body down. So aloe vera plants are growing, you know, so it’s the nature gives you. The answer, the antidote to the energy body. Um, Kapha, you know, if you’re getting really congested, I remember my son, he was so, and my kids by nature of just me practicing this at home, they started to kind of follow the principles.
[00:37:38] Trupti Gokani: And I remember my son came home one day and he is like, mom, my throat hurts and I’m congested. Can you gimme some kimchi? Why, why would say kimchi? Because kimchi is spicy and it breaks up the mucus and the congestion. And so they naturally, you know, would turn to those things my kids did because I would kind of guide them.
[00:37:55] Trupti Gokani: And so Ayurveda, a lot of the foods are based on your state. And so if you’re really heated, avoid hot and spicy, no habanero, you know, no spicy margaritas for you. You know, if you’re really cold and windy, don’t drink the ice beverages. You know, if you’re really kafa and earthy. It’s also a state that’s made up of water and earth energy.
[00:38:17] Trupti Gokani: You don’t wanna do anything that’s too heavy or thick, like, you know, having, um. Uh, of really like creamy cappuccino or a, um, heavy drink. Like a milkha would not be good for Kapha or milky drinks ’cause they’re really thick and heavy. And gluten would not be good for Kapha because they’re in a congested state and sticky.
[00:38:36] Trupti Gokani: So lighter grains are better. So it’s kind of first step is just to say, which state am I out of alignment with? Do I need to move into something that’s a different temperature? And then you can go further and say, okay. Now that I’m kind of avoiding the salads because salads are not good in winter in Chicago or anywhere actually, ’cause it’s a cold season.
[00:38:54] Trupti Gokani: What can I do to warm the body up? How about I do a soup instead? I. Really simple, and then you can get into the fancy, okay, which spices? And there’s six different tastes in Ayurveda, sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pun, punch, and astringent. Do I need to add some bitters? Should I add some astringent in? If I’m congested?
[00:39:12] Trupti Gokani: Add some astringent like pomegranate to pull the mucus out so you can start to get fancy with eating. But you can start really simple. Does that make sense? Which,
[00:39:20] JJ: what does this, like, where does this help the most? Like someone listening to this right now? Yeah. Um, what types of conditions.
[00:39:29] Trupti Gokani: Yeah.
[00:39:30] JJ: Should, would they, is this most effective?
[00:39:33] JJ: Most or most? Is it everything?
[00:39:34] Trupti Gokani: I, I, I actually think everything. I think that underneath everything, our body is stressed and we’re stressed to one states. It’s, why
[00:39:41] JJ: wouldn’t you just start by looking at this and kind of giving it, as you know, we’re all trying to find our end of one of what works the best.
[00:39:48] JJ: Right. And when I write. Diet books, I’m always taking people through a process to kind of go, does this work for you and or does it not? Yeah. And this feels like a really good foundational place to go. All right, here’s where we’re gonna start.
[00:40:00] Trupti Gokani: Yeah.
[00:40:00] JJ: And does going through the quiz and assessing this help you kind of see if you’re on track or, or creating more of a disconnect?
[00:40:08] Trupti Gokani: So the quiz is quick and fast to just get a flavor and to get a flavor of, are you windy, earthy. Or are you fired up? What are the specific symptoms and what does that look like? And there’s little videos after that. Explain that. And to start the process of understanding that if you’re out of alignment with your state, then you can address the state first before you address how many proteins, carbs, and fats in your diet.
[00:40:32] Trupti Gokani: Because what I’ve found is happening. Over the years is that there’s a lot of attention, you know, towards, you know, how much protein, which is great. It’s important. And in fact, each of these states, there’s a different expectation of how much protein, fat, and carb, which can get a little bit tricky to do right away versus just start with, are you out of alignment with the state?
[00:40:50] Trupti Gokani: What are some of the simple things you can change in terms of the types of foods, in terms of the temperature of the foods? And then the next thing to start asking is. Am I getting enough nourishing things in the diet that satisfy me? Uh, and, and, and you can get fancy and used more, um, very specific diets that will align to your eating style.
[00:41:07] Trupti Gokani: So if you like to, you’re more pescatarian or you’re more, you like to add more vegetarian, you know, foods. The, the, the key is this, to me is the foundation I believe. To using functional medicine, to using other approaches. ’cause you get a little bit more fine tuned within it. Like whatever you’re using as your favorite diet, you could tweak it, right?
[00:41:24] Trupti Gokani: You could just tweak it and say, I’m doing this kind of diet, but if I know that I’m a windy person, then maybe it’s that salad, the same vegetables, but I’ll, I’ll cook them, you know, and, and saute them or put them in a soup. So you’re still getting the nutrition, but doing it in a little bit of a different way.
[00:41:38] Trupti Gokani: And so it, to me, the quiz gives you a window in. And what I think it helps one do is to see the connection between the emotional body and the physical body, because the emotions and your mind triggers your gut to go out of alignment. If I’m always anxious all the time, I’m gonna feel constipated more frequently because the mind, it’s top down, bottom up.
[00:41:58] Trupti Gokani: If I’m stressed here, it’s gonna create that construction of the gut. If I’m always angry, I’m gonna have looser stools. So instead of going on that, you know, probiotic right away, how about I work on that piece first? Because I’m noticing is that if you do that piece first, everything works much better.
[00:42:12] Trupti Gokani: The diet that’s recommended, the workout you’re given, the probiotic, everything, the medications, the pharmaceuticals, the neuromodulation devices, everything is much more effective. And I tend to get people that have failed. I. I mean, they’re not gonna come to me usually until they’ve failed multiple, usually.
[00:42:27] JJ: And then you have these most basic foundational thi, isn’t it? It’s, it’s kind of
[00:42:31] Trupti Gokani: crazy. It’s kind of cool. And it’s, it’s, it’s exciting to say, you know what, I, if you fix these three things, I bet you that’s all gonna work better. And there’s a lot of like, really? Come on. It’s only been doing, I’ve doing it for two decades now, so I’m gonna tell you it does.
[00:42:42] Trupti Gokani: Like, and this is 5,000 years old, I’d like to say I came up, it’s not mine. I’m just sharing it in a way that can be hopefully tangible. So the quiz gets you kind of in, and then with, with however. How you’re working. Whatever you’re working with, you can blend it with this. That’s the beauty. Yeah. Is it pairs along with it just gives you a little bit deeper of a foundation.
[00:42:58] Trupti Gokani: Does that make sense? Kind of a going into further Yeah.
[00:43:01] JJ: Space
[00:43:02] Trupti Gokani: with it. So
[00:43:02] JJ: now to take the quiz Yep. It’s at on your website? Yep. We’re gonna put [email protected] slash t trupti. And that’s TRU PT I. Um. And then you have your new book out, the Stress RX and neurologist, Ayurvedic Prescription to Happiness and Health.
[00:43:18] JJ: Are you the only Ayurvedic neurologist out there in the United States?
[00:43:23] Trupti Gokani: There used to be one other. She moved to India. I have to check now. I honestly, I, I don’t, I might be, I might be. That’s practicing. Uh, you know, it’s interesting because I think it’s a hard thing to practice both, to do the Western and the Eastern and kind of, you know, and I think the reality is that, uh.
[00:43:42] Trupti Gokani: These worlds are, they seem very different. And yet when you really look at it, they come together. They come together. ’cause now we have, for example, I mentioned neuromodulation devices. There’s so many devices coming out. Mm-hmm. What are they doing, jj? What are they doing? They’re actually helping quiet that excitable nervous system down exactly what they ancient said 5,000, do some yoga or do put on a neuromodulation device.
[00:44:02] Trupti Gokani: You know? So it’s kind of like the Western is kind of meeting up with the Eastern that’s 5,000 years old. It’s kind of cool to watch that. So all this
[00:44:09] JJ: biohacking stuff is sort of like. Yeah. Okay.
[00:44:12] Trupti Gokani: It’s interesting. It’s cool though. It’s cool. I like it. I’m happy to see it come together. I know at some point we, we would not be speaking two different languages, which is why I’m sticking with both.
[00:44:20] Trupti Gokani: ’cause I feel like just got my boards again, recertified last year, every 10 years for neurology. You know, I said I’m gonna stay with it because I do think these worlds are coming together.
[00:44:29] JJ: I sure hope so. ’cause isn’t neurology like one of the highest suicide rates? Because there’s so little you can actually.
[00:44:35] JJ: Like it, it’s so hard to get your patients better with what we have. Like a lot of it’s just managing symptoms and now we have like a foundational thing like,
[00:44:44] Trupti Gokani: yeah,
[00:44:45] JJ: why wouldn’t we use all like, that has never made sense to me. Use all the tools in the toolbox. Like especially when my son was in the hospital and there’s like this clear path one way and I went, all right, you saved his life, but now he’s we’re stuck.
[00:44:59] JJ: Yeah. Like we had to use all and like use all the tools in the toolbox.
[00:45:03] Trupti Gokani: Yeah. All the tools. I think the problem is that most people dunno what those tools are. Right? And if they’re not aware of the tools, they don’t know how to use the tools. And I think that’s my biggest challenge is, um, the resistance to being open.
[00:45:14] Trupti Gokani: A lot of, God bless, I get it. Med school residency boards. You’re just done like afterwards, like I’ve, I’m moving on. I got my, well, the tools that I know, and that’s why I said earlier on, I’m so glad I wasn’t brainwashed early. Yeah. I don’t need to say brainwashed, but, you know, I, I was open, I was more receptive my first year of medical school to all of us.
[00:45:33] Trupti Gokani: The more you practice, the more you kind of see things in a very specific way. We get very polarized and very opinionated as physicians and very much believing that this is the way to do it. It’s hard to see something outside of what you’ve learned and been tested on and your knowledge base. And this is a different world though.
[00:45:49] Trupti Gokani: The beauty is now patience. I love it. Are asking the internet, there’s, you know, Instagram, there’s all these different and follow, um, you know. Uh, influencers that are out there that are speaking up and saying, wait, there’s another way to look at this. And I think the beauty is that, uh, we’re gonna start to really change narrow degenerative diseases.
[00:46:09] Trupti Gokani: We look at Parkinson’s disease, constipation is a first symptom starts 20 years before the first symptom of Parkinson’s. Right? Wow. And it’s that alphas and nucle and leaky gut in the LPS activating the cytokines and allowing alpha-synuclein to move into the brain. But it starts in the gut.
[00:46:24] JJ: And is there a certain, uh, Ayurvedic type that’s more prone to that?
[00:46:29] Trupti Gokani: Think of the, okay, let’s, let me have fun with this. Think about back to the three, um, fight, flight, or freeze. So think of the Vata windy freeze state. What are we doing? I’m kind of moving myself in. Think of the Parkinson’s gate. It’s a shuffled gait. You’re leaning forward, shaking movement too much. Wind energy, excitable energy.
[00:46:49] Trupti Gokani: Mm. So Parkinson’s falls right into excess Vata wind energy, so you can actually start to see the diseases linked to the energetic state imbalance. So my friends out there that have tight necks and constipation. Let’s fast forward 20 years that can lead to Parkinson’s disease. So we want to do some things like, ha, drop the shoulders down away, do some yoga, open up, practice your breath.
[00:47:15] Trupti Gokani: You know, clear all of that excitable energy out of the body by doing slow, gentle movements by warming the body up. You know, these are things that can actually prevent diseases. Isn’t that amazing? It’s autoimmune is like pits on fire. Out of control is, is autoimmune diseases. So, you know, fulfilling, angry.
[00:47:33] Trupti Gokani: Yeah. And that’s, I
[00:47:34] JJ: get a flare if I’m like, you know, do I do, I like, stop it.
[00:47:39] Trupti Gokani: Stop it. I’ve gotten like a severe throbbing, right sided headache, you know, right. When I’m pushing too hard and I’m like, trip, that’s your Pitta coming out, your fire coming out. Right side by the way is fire energy. Left side is wind energy.
[00:47:50] Trupti Gokani: So if you’re thinking about which state is out of alignment, if you’re always getting left-sided things. Wind energy’s out of alignment. If you’re getting right-sided symptoms, that’s fire. And so, you know, um, book one is really more about getting to know you about that book. Two is what’s even deeper than that, because once I saw that there’s these three brains, like the people were, and back to those successful clients, I.
[00:48:10] Trupti Gokani: They were improving every piece of those three brains. They’re improving the way they managed and responded to stress. They worked on their emotional body using the breath and the Ayurvedic work, and they worked on their gut microbiome. Then suddenly these chronic things got so much better suddenly medication start working, and I could even taper some of them, you know, and it was.
[00:48:28] Trupti Gokani: Not so crazy. It’s really not that hard. And it’s fascinating that this 5,000 year old science isn’t in everyone’s back pocket. And to me, why isn’t it? You know, we should all be just right trying these things. ’cause a lot of them are free, you know?
[00:48:42] JJ: Yeah. The most things you’ve talked about here are free. I just think it’s so cool that this really is.
[00:48:49] JJ: In your DNA.
[00:48:51] Trupti Gokani: Yeah.
[00:48:51] JJ: Right. I mean it’s just, it’s so interesting. Now what do your, what do your parents think about this now?
[00:48:57] Trupti Gokani: So now, and God bless, my mom passed a couple years ago. She had severe migraines and she had severe digestive issues and I’m sorry, but the truth gaslit most of her life. And oh, I love her dearly loved her soul.
[00:49:09] Trupti Gokani: She’s there still. And I think that she was my inspiration to like, do this book number two, you know? Mm-hmm. Um, my dad’s a huge fan. He’s 86 years old. He’s. Traveling all over the world. He’s actually in Chile, somewhere in South America right now and can’t even keep up with him. Go dad. And um, daddy’s like a real CFI type.
[00:49:25] Trupti Gokani: Earthy type he can kind of keep up with, with crazy. And what I love is that he’s now kind of more open and seeing that this is something that can really help a lot of people. And uh, the beauty is that the ancient medicine now, I believe because we’re seeing the Western system crashing. A lot of people are going towards what was done thousands of years ago, and, and why do, why is that a longevity science and how can we increase longevity in the us?
[00:49:53] Trupti Gokani: Mm-hmm. And back to, oh, the massage. I don’t wanna forget this. Like something as simple as massaging, right? If your joints, if you have really cracking dry joints. Think of dry as VA wind energy using warm sesame oil and just massaging your joints and you on the wrist, you could circle and kind of, you just kind of go along the length of the bone towards lymphatics.
[00:50:13] Trupti Gokani: You know, for moving the oil. It can actually help you before working out if you’re getting red and inflamed using coconut. ’cause it’s cooling, sesame is warming. It can actually protect your joints and protect your muscles when you’re working out. So. Again, these are thousands of year olds exercises or techniques that were used to allow you to do yoga poses and do all these amazing things long into your life.
[00:50:37] JJ: Yeah, it, let’s be clear, why is there no double blind placebo controlled study? Because there’s no money to do this because it’s not Right. So this is the other side that, you know, these things were around for thousands of years. ’cause they worked. Yeah. They wouldn’t have done them if they hadn’t have worked.
[00:50:54] JJ: Uh, that’s why you look at some of these things and go, you know, same with essential oils. Gosh, how long have they been around?
[00:50:59] Trupti Gokani: And that’s what I tend to say. I’m like, do you really need a study when it’s been around 5,000 years? Right? Because I can tell you right now, if it wasn’t gonna work, it wouldn’t be around 5,000 years.
[00:51:05] Trupti Gokani: Where’s the
[00:51:05] JJ: double blank Placebo controlled studies on aspirin. They’re not there. They’re not there, right. So, I mean, you know, some of this stuff, it’s just people get fed that as a thing. And
[00:51:15] Trupti Gokani: it’s like, I worked in the pharma world for a long time. This is someone that’s coming in a balanced way. I, I was like a faculty trainer.
[00:51:21] Trupti Gokani: I trained doctors for pharmaceutical companies. I was pretty much the faculty trainer for 200 doctors at times. So I, I’m Western. It’s not, there’s a whole only Eastern side to me, I pray, I played in that world for a long time. And reality is that, you know, studies are developed a certain way. You know, they’re created in a certain way.
[00:51:35] Trupti Gokani: The certain population, they didn’t study the chronic daily severe headache patient. They studied the ones that had two to eight migraines per month that were women that had this, that, and the reality is I get that you have to study a certain population in this way though there’s a lot of outliers, a lot of people that don’t fit into that specific.
[00:51:50] Trupti Gokani: And so when we say that got FDA approved, it’s based on the studies very specifically chosen with very specific patients. It doesn’t apply to everybody. And I think, you know, Eastern Medicine and all these different holistic techniques are looking at. The whole spectrum of patients and people because we’re not just gonna fit in a box, right?
[00:52:08] Trupti Gokani: It’d be nice if we did, but we don’t, you know.
[00:52:11] JJ: So you have two books because now like it sounds like you’d be great to have both of them. A Mysterious Mind, which was 10 years ago. Now I’m 10th anniversary nearly. You’ve got the Stress Rx, and we’re gonna put those [email protected] slash t Trupti, along with your website where they can take the quiz and the books are on Amazon.
[00:52:33] JJ: It’s like, I don’t know why everyone wouldn’t just do this as a foundational thing. And it’s bringing me back. I haven’t looked at this in a long time, but I remember when I did study, I had this Ayurvedic class in doctoral school and I went, this is the coolest stuff ever. And then I’m like going, where did, why did it drop off my radar?
[00:52:51] JJ: Right. How did you get back
[00:52:53] Trupti Gokani: into it?
[00:52:54] JJ: I’ll bring you back in, like, I’m gonna go take the quiz, but I know I’m, I know. I remember back then that I was a.
[00:52:59] Trupti Gokani: Pita, I
[00:52:59] JJ: remember it.
[00:53:00] Trupti Gokani: And the reality is just, I also can be
[00:53:02] JJ: a pita at times as well. So we
[00:53:04] Trupti Gokani: all can, and then the beauty is to know that we’re human. We’re gonna pull different directions.
[00:53:08] Trupti Gokani: Just be connected with yourself and then bring yourself back in as fast as you can. Right. And realizing, okay. I feel my energy being pulled this way, but at least we have tools now. Okay. We have tools. We can use diet, we can use breath, we can use exercise. We can exercise the right way. So for example, if I’m doing a cardio intense workout, if I’m feeling really pizza, I might line it up a little bit, do a little bit more stretching, a little bit more breath, a little bit less intensity.
[00:53:29] Trupti Gokani: It doesn’t mean that I don’t work out, I just do it, modify it, right? Based on where I am. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and it’s just about getting to know yourself so you can kind of be your own healer. I think at the end of the day, just
[00:53:38] JJ: really the the end of one and you as your healthcare, CEO is the important thing.
[00:53:44] JJ: Most important thing. And this is just another tool, so. Got it. A foundational tool. Thank you. Love it. I agree.
[00:53:50] Trupti Gokani: Thank you, Routy. Thank you so much for having that. Love you. You’re amazing. Please just keep doing your beautiful thing and helping the world. And you too. Thank you. My friend. Will do.
[00:54:05] JJ: Be sure to join me next time for more tools, tips, and techniques you can incorporate into everyday life. To ensure you look and feel great and are built to last, check me out on Instagram, Facebook, and my website, jj virgin.com. And make sure to follow my [email protected] so you don’t miss us.
[00:54:26] JJ: Single episode. And hey, if you’re loving what you hear, don’t forget to leave a review. Your reviews make a big difference in helping me reach more incredible women just like you, to spread the word about aging powerfully after 40. Thanks for tuning in and I’ll catch you on the next episode.
[00:54:53] JJ: Hey, JJ here, and just a reminder that the Well Beyond 40 Podcast offers health, wellness, fitness, and nutritional information. That’s designed for educational and entertainment purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for, nor does it replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
[00:55:10] JJ: If you have any concerns or questions about your health, you should always consult with a physician or other healthcare professional. Make sure that you do not disregard, avoid, or delay obtaining medical or health related advice from your healthcare professional because of something you may have heard on the show or read in our show notes, the use of any information provided on the show is solely at your own risk.