I have a cold. There, I said it.  I feel shame in my humanity in times like this. I am an Ayurvedic practitioner and teacher and should be immune to all forms of disease suffered by mere mortals.  In the rejuvenation & longevity scenario, I will live forever, right? Ageless body?  Well, today my body feels its age.  And I caught a cold – runny nose, sneezing, coughing… the works. So, let me deconstruct this debacle.

The holidays – Time in travel, close quarters, unfamiliar foods, and, well, revelry.  These factors disrupted my daily routines and weakened my stellar immunity leaving me susceptible to the foreign viral invaders. But did they do it without my help?  Sometimes I crave the shrugging off of the morning routine and careful consideration of my daily choices to live life moment to moment in the bliss of ignorance of what the impact of these choices may be.  I revert to a more wholesome version of my former self.  I let the waiter put ice in my drinks and don’t stop eating at the first burp. Scandalous! But the piper must be paid and, after about a week of non-stop traveling, parties, and play, I came down with a cold.  

I tell people that we Ayurvedic types still get colds, but we have more fun getting over them.  I also notice that my colds don’t last as long.  I am on day 3 now and it is mostly gone, except for that last little bout of sniffles. So, let me tell you about my regime for working with a cold.

• Food: I had no appetite for the first couple of days.  I made a big batch of congee, loaded up with garlic and ginger and lived on that for the first two days.  I also made a fresh juice of apple, pomegranate, and ginger.  Delicious.  Today, I am thinking either kichari or a soup.  I started the day with chai and ghee.
• Herbs: Elderberry extract is my friend.   I have been taking multiple doses of that daily along with a batch of antiviral tea (Echinacea, Burdock, Pau d’Arco, Cinnamon).  I have an amla/turmeric tea that I take in the morning regularly and that helped, too, I bet.  (Maybe setting this aside while I traveled was a part of my problem…hmmm)
• Lifestyle: Rest.  So many times, when we discuss the respiratory system, we hear that the best treatment of all is rest and let the body do its immune system thing. The first day I slept a lot.  I cancelled appointments for all three days.  Today, I will do a little bit.  Maybe *sigh* laundry.  The key is, do less so the immune system can do more. 
• Supplements: This time I took a little extra vitamin C and vitamin B to support the liver after the stress of travel.  I didn’t have zinc on hand, but I usually throw that into the mix. 

I’m sure you have some secrets for dealing with a cold. The key point is, of course, to support the immune system to do its work.  When we suppress symptoms, we suffer the consequence of longer duration of disease.  

Owning our own vulnerability and susceptibility to infections with our clients helps to remind them (and us) that we are humans.  It is not the cold that is the problem – the symptoms are actually the indicator that the immune system is working on the problem, it is our response to it that separates us from other, non-Ayurvedic, people.  This is an excellent time to discuss their expectations about the promise of Ayurveda.  It will help them build immunity, but it doesn’t make them invulnerable to opportunistic infections of all types. 

After this cold is fully gone, I’ll restock my virus fighting arsenal.  Another bottle of elderberry, a fresh batch of tea, and vitamins ready for the inevitable next cold.  If I keep my routines in place and pay attention to the early warning signs, I fully believe I can avoid falling victim to the cold virus but if I do, I expect my next cold will go as quickly as this one.