The Morning Upgrade Podcast with Ryan Cote

#111 - The Benefits of Ayurveda with Bill Hershey

September 18, 2022 Ryan Cote Episode 111
The Morning Upgrade Podcast with Ryan Cote
#111 - The Benefits of Ayurveda with Bill Hershey
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode of the Morning Upgrade podcast I talk with Bill Hershey about his morning routine, the benefits of Ayurveda, physical and mental wellness, the meaning of life and much more. 

Announcer 

Welcome to the Morning Upgrade podcast with Ryan Cote, where we feature casual conversations with entrepreneurs about personal development and growth.


Ryan  

Hey, Bill, welcome to the Morning Upgrade podcast. How's it going?


Bill  

Thanks, Ryan. I'm doing well. Great to be here. Thanks, man. I'm just excited to geek out with you about morning routines.


Ryan 

Yeah, me too. More routines, personal element, maybe we'll go into some business world, we'll see what the journey takes us. But the start of the journey is always you telling everyone you know who you are and what you do for a living, and, I think, give us a win in your life right now.


Bill

Wonderful. So yeah, my name is Bill Hershey. for a living, I help functional health entrepreneurs become profitable in their businesses so that they can truly thrive as entrepreneurs. And part of my backstory, actually, is that I studied Ayurveda. And so I got an irate health counselor certification. And, you know, it may roll that out at some point. But right now, that's just very much informed how I approach my personal and professional life in terms of lifestyle. And the last question was something like a big weigh-in, right? Yes, I gotta say, I'm really excited about it. I'm actually teaching business to IRA folks. We have a 16-week course coming up this summer through California Association, fire Vedic medicine, and really excited to empower them with business skills, money, mindset, and entrepreneur mindset and see what we can do see if we can help this profession, come up in the world come up in the American economy. So that's the big win coming up. It's a win to come.


Ryan  

Just so for anyone listening that doesn't know what it means, what is Ayurveda?


Bill  

I'm glad you're asking that because we can't assume. Ayurveda is an ancient science of health from the Indian subcontinent. It is very much a sister science of yoga. So, you know, the premise is that our body is part of nature. And that when we align our body and our lifestyle with the rhythms and the principles of nature, we're gonna achieve optimum health, optimum wellness, and fulfillment.


Ryan

Okay, and so what is a typical practitioner of it? What are they helping their patients with? Like, what does a typical routine look like?


Bill 

Yeah, it's interesting. You know, Ayurveda is a lifestyle science that you could say, you know, we have a lot of these functional health modalities coming out right now, where there's very much focused on prevention and lifestyle, are innovative, we could say is the original lifestyle science, were recognizing that disease can be completely prevented or mostly prevented or mitigated, simply through adjusting how we live our day. basic routines, which is kind of relevant to what we're talking about here today, you know, involving sleep, eating, movement, exercise, and simple things like breathing. So Ayurveda as a science really excels in presenting these very basic, simple strategies and tools that don't cost a lot of money that can have major, major, major impacts. In fact, you can take the best supplements in the world, seeing the best natural Doctor in the world. And if you're not doing some of these lifestyle interventions, it is really not going to tip the needle in the long run as far as really improving a condition or simply reversing a condition.


Ryan 

Okay, I totally want to get some health strategies from you that were prescribing anything here, but just based on your experience and expertise. I want to come back to that, though. Let's talk about your morning routine. What does that look like?


Bill

Yeah, so you know, a morning routine is actually one of the most important parts of the Ayurvedic system. And I just gotta confess that I am a work in progress, just like most of us, right? But my morning routine, there's my morning routine. In an ideal world, there's my morning routine of what I've been able to do successfully in the past. And then there's my morning routine now, which is definitely, like I said, a work in progress. So, you know, I basically don't have a very consistent wake time right now, which is kind of my biggest struggle. And part of that is because I don't have a consistent evening routine. So what I've discovered is the morning routine is very much dependent on having a solid evening routine because otherwise things will vacillate But currently, you know, the things that I am able to hold down consistently are, you know, basically do a little meditation in the morning before I start my day, even if it's a little groggy, even if it's a little like snooze notation, or it's better than nothing I find. So even if I'm able to just kind of like sit up, get conscious enough to, like, at least have the intention of meditating. If I'm dozing a little bit, it's better than nothing. Once I actually get up, I start moving around or brush my teeth or scrape my tongue with a coppers tongue scraper. That's something that's like the health code Ringworld just kind of been turned on to that routine at this point, I think. And I'll drink some hot boiled water; I'll just sip on it. Of course, you know, you can't just pound that. But it's really I find it to be really soothing for my system kind of opens everything up a little bit. And I'll take my shower. And the one other piece here is that when I have time, I'll do some oil massage. So with some, I use organic, unrefined sesame oil, for I do like a simple head massage and neck massage, and I find that to be really balancing. There's a whole science embedded in that technique as well as part of Ayurveda. That's a whole nother subject. So it sounds like you're intrigued by the hot water part.


Ryan  

That's why I love asking this question because, obviously, I'm really into morning routines, but you'll be, but we’ve released, it'll be well over 100 here. The first guest has mentioned scraping their tongue with a copper or something. And then drinking boiling water, I guess you'd say, sipping your gulp that burns your whole insides. But that's the first time that I've heard that. So it's like so many different traditional stuff like gratitude practice and meditation, which is really important. But then there's always like these different things that you just mentioned that's really intriguing that you can pull from.


Bill 

Yeah, so the hot water thing, like, have you ever woke up and felt like your stomach's just kind of like, like, it's it feels like plumbing with like gunk on the tubes? Right? Have you ever felt like that?


Ryan

Yeah, I'm sure I have. I can think of an exact moment. But yeah, and I don't always wake up feeling like wonderful, you know, like, where I'm just ready to go for it.


Bill

But yeah, the hot water kind of loosens all that and just kind of like it's a nice little like loosening up of the insides especially, you know if someone eats a late meal or a heavy meal, it kind of gets things moving a little bit in the morning. And I didn't mention this goes, but I usually try to time my body rhythms to do a BM in the morning as well. Just kind of like eating before the shower. If I'm in that rhythm, that's pretty ideal. Um, BM would be a bowel movement. Okay, okay. I don't want to go too much into potty talk here with the podcast. But yeah, you know, from a health perspective, it's very helpful. You know that to be in that rhythm. And, you know, that's a whole subject in itself. But starting fresh in the day right before the shower, things are clean. 


Ryan  

Yeah, I'm not sure what question to go to from there. Let's go back to help, like, get some reps prescribing anything, but just based on your experience? What are some healthy habits, health strategies, whatever the best word is, you want to share with my audience?


Bill 

I think consistent with the theme of the morning routine; I think it's really powerful to have like a consistent week time and sleep time. And this is like sort of my mortal weakness. So it's like, I'm needing to kind of preach to myself here. I orbit a doctor, and it's a little bit laughable that every time I see him, it's kind of the same story. It's like, Yeah, still staying up to eight. So the issue is, I'm just kind of a night owl. But you know, to really wrangle that and to have a consistent sleep schedule, everything else can fall in line. It's like that, you know, being on a consistent schedule is probably the best medicine is really interesting because there are Nobel Prize winners who are proving the power of coronal biology. So it's like modern science is now validating these things that Ayurveda has talked about for 1000s of years. And there is a book that I'd like to recommend if anything because this is such a big subject like things that I recommend I would just simply recommend reading this book change your schedule, change your life by Dr. Su Haas. It's all there. Save time, change your schedule, change your life.


Ryan

Sure, that's right. Yes. Change your schedule, change your life. The author is Dr. Su Haas. Years ago, but I don't want to, you know, everybody's gonna be like, how do you spell that? 


Bill

Right? But yeah, if you look it up, if you look up doctors to house change your schedule saying change your life, you will find that book is groundbreaking. This is really, I feel, the future of medicine. So I would say it's maybe one of the most overlooked aspects of functional health, really dialing in consistent sleep times and consistent meal times. So one of the things here is just kind of fasting between meals, not not like snacking between meals that's really important. And yet, you know, unless there's, this gets into individualized medicine or individualized health care, I should say, not medicine, but you know, just in terms of, like, different body types have different nuances and propensities. And so, Ayurveda is not a one size fits all science. It really is geared toward meeting the individual with where they're at. So when I say things like not eating between mealtimes, there are exceptions with that for certain types of folks. So just a little caveat, they're gone. But at the same time and waking up at the same time is interesting because, like, I use the whoop app to track some metrics. And sometimes it gives you advice, too. And oftentimes, I'll see, yeah, you got enough to sleep, Ryan, but you have to be more consistent with your go-to bedtime and your wakeup time. And so even the whoop app is recommending that, recommending that. And so, it seems like it's a doable thing for anyone. I mean, it's hard because of life and just different things fluctuating. But in theory, it should be an easy thing. 


Ryan

Your bedtime is time, and your wait time is this time. And so it seems like it's an attainable health strategy for most people.


Bill

Yeah, it really depends. You know, if someone's single and they're like, a business person working from home, like, like me, yeah, actually, I'm not single, but like, I don't have a family. Right. So it's, like, slightly easier for me to just like vacillate whereas, you know, someone has a family. And they're kind of like, sometimes I think that might actually be a little easier to kind of keep things consistent. I'm not sure. But yeah, you know, there's this thing like jetlag, right? We talked about jetlag and how your rhythm gets thrown off. Social jetlag is actually a very real thing, where if you're up late, and waking up late on the weekends, and part of this thing of like Monday, this feeling like you have a hangover on Monday, even though you didn't like drink or anything, right? I believe a lot of that is actually a function of this social jetlag where your body rhythm has been thrown off, and it's recovering now from, you know, the weekend hours of sleeping differently.


Ryan

Yeah, I just got back from a trip where there was a time difference. And this was like true; jetlag was like a four-hour difference. Took me a while to get back into, like, feeling myself. And so I need to talk a little bit differently, but the same effect, I felt it, and it was for real.


Bill  

It's a big subject, a big subject. And, you know, I think it's more people are going to be talking about it in the next 5-10 years, just the same way that yoga blew up and became a mainstream thing over the course last 20 years, right? 


Ryan

Yes, absolutely. So, Bill, I've got maybe two questions. Quick answer on this one. What's your number one habit?


Bill

Number one habit, I gotta say, it's, you know, if I didn't have my meditation routine, then I'd be in a pretty sad place. So I would say, you know, for me, meditation has become just as important as eating, drinking, and sleeping; it's just part of my survival. And if, if I'm not getting that, I kind of feel like I'm gasping for air kind of thing. So it's like, I would say, that's, that's, that's one of the pillars for me.


Ryan 

Yeah, I agree with you. I look forward to it now. And it's really. It's really important. And I finally think it's a secret anymore. Some people talk about it, and stuff is just a matter of actually creating a habit out of it. So alright, so my last question for you, Bill. And then we're going to wrap up with you sharing how people can reach out to your website or whatever you want to share. My last question for you is about the meaning of life. It's a personal question because your meaning is different than my meaning and vice versa. etc. So through the lens of Bill, what is the meaning of life?


Bill

Yeah, it's always an interesting question. And you know, such a huge subject. So the short answer. For me, when I was like, 18-19 years old, I was a die-hard evangelist, atheist, right? And I am very much coming from a scientific family; I wanted scientific proof for everything. But in college, I took a course on ancient Hinduism and Buddhism. And it opened my eyes to other ways of looking at life. And you know, what I got out of that I didn't necessarily become a Hindu or Buddhist after taking that class. But there's a story that really was very dramatically life-changing for me. And it was the story actually, from the Buddha, someone came to him and asked him to show him God, or higher power or anything like that. And the Buddha remained silent. He didn't say anything. And instead, he taught him how to meditate. And so the lesson here is that this meaning is not something that we can convey in words; it's actually something that we would need to discover through our own perception and experience in order to truly grasp and internalize that, you know, when we're talking about finding meaning in life, I think this is a deeply personal subject and a deeply personal journey that is on us to heed that call, of finding that for ourselves and our perception and our experience. And, you know, it may line up with the shared meaning that others have, you know, that personal firsthand, practical experience of feeling attuned to that deeper meaning of life is not something that communicated with words. It's, it's kind of like the map, you know, the words or the map, but it's you who has to go on the journey. So I hope that helps.


Ryan

It does is a very deep answer, but I understand what you're saying I think part of it starts with just making yourself aware and present, and I'm open to the journey and open to experiences if I'm at that least what I took from what you said. So I appreciate you sharing that, Bill.


Bill 

Yeah, thank you so much. It's been an honor to share this time with you and be able to share some thoughts from my heart. And yeah, hope I hope this was valuable to you and your audience.


Ryan  

Yeah, absolutely. Every episode is. I appreciate your time. If someone was to reach out to you, where should we send them?


Bill 

Yeah, I would say LinkedIn is where I'm most active. You can find me and Bill Hershey on LinkedIn. I'm a business coach and strategic advisor. I help functional health folks become more profitable and pay themselves adequately so they can thrive. Yeah, that's a good place to find me. Eventually, I'll be doing some higher beta stuff in maybe 2023 or 2024. But I'm happy to point folks in the right direction if they're interested in learning more about Ayurveda. 


Ryan

Awesome. Thanks, Bill. Appreciate it.


Bill 

Thank you. Take good care, and thanks again.


Announcer

Thanks for listening to the Morning Upgrade podcast. Please subscribe and review. And don't forget to visit us at morningupgrade.com for more content.