EP#37- A Guide to Ayurvedic Living with Marieke Kouwenhoven, Ayurvedic Practitioner

[Music] Often when I say the word ayurveda, people think about food or they think about Indian herbs. That can be part of ayurveda, but ayurveda is really a way of looking at life from an energetic perspective. Welcome back to Everyday Endorphins. This week we're talking all about ayurveda. I was first introduced to the practice in high school, right as my interest in yoga was growing. I didn't know much about it except for an ayurvedic restaurant I had been to once, which didn't really clarify anything to me about what ayurveda was, and maybe flipping through a coffee table book on ayurveda that I had found at a bookstore. So, when I found out that one of the lectures offered during my yoga teacher training was all about ayurveda and demystifying the practice, I was really excited. This week I'm giving you a little glimpse into what that lecture looked like with Marieke Kuhinhoven. As an ayurvedic practitioner, Marieke works with clients to help them adopt ayurvedic practices into their own life. In this episode, she breaks down the essence of ayurveda, waste, understand your own energetic qualities, and how we can use the practice of ayurveda and an understanding of your own energetic qualities to empower ourselves into making healthy choices. Before we get into the interview, I have a brief message for my sponsor, Inker. Hi, Marieke. Thank you so much for coming on to the podcast. Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm really excited about our conversation. Today, we're here to talk about ayurveda and how to integrate ayurvedic principles into your life. A few weeks ago, when you taught the course with the Peaceful Warriors, yoga teacher training about ayurveda and ayurveda in the yoga practice, I was really blown away by the entire philosophy of ayurveda. I'd love for you to start off by explaining the fundamentals of what ayurveda means and what the most basic philosophy is of the practice. I'm glad you really enjoyed the lecture I gave in the training. Learning about ayurveda really changed my life, so I'm super passionate to share this wisdom with other people. So ayurveda, it's basically the healing system that comes from India, and it's the sister signs of yoga. So the word ayur, it means life, and veda, it means to see or to know. So ayurveda is the science of life, so basically a way to understand everything that you see around you, including yourself. Often when I say the word ayurveda, people think about food, or they think about Indian herbs, and that can be part of ayurveda, but ayurveda is really a way of looking at life from an energetic perspective. Of course, everything in this world is made up of energy, and ayurveda is the system that talks about how this energy moves. We talk about something that's called the dojyas, which is your own energetic blueprint. And if you understand what you are made of, you will be able to respond and make better choices in your life in regards to everything. My only exposure initially to ayurveda was going to some ayurvedic restaurant on the Upper West Side in New York City. There was different types of food, and it was supposed to cater to different elements in your bodies, things that were hot, more cool. And that was my understanding, just purely on food. But I love having this deeper understanding around the energetic side of ayurveda and understanding your constitution. Can you talk a little bit more about the dojyas and our constitution and how our own physical makeup and energetic makeup can influence the environment around us? Yeah, of course. So basically the foundation of ayurveda, we work with the five elements. So ayurveda says, "Everything that you see in this material world is made up out of those five elements. So those elements are earth, water, fire, air, and ether or space. And those elements all have their own different qualities. So fire, for example, it's hot, it's sharp, it's penetrating, it transforms things. Water has very different qualities. So water will always move down. Water is cool, water absorbs. We as human beings, we all have those elements inside of us. And when I say those elements, I don't mean the material, like manifested elements, I just mean the energy behind it. So ayurveda says there are mainly three different energetic types. We call those dojyas and their names are vata, pitta and kafa. So people that have more of a vata constitution, that is people that have more of a dominant air and ether qualities. So if you think of air and ether, it is light, it is mobile, it doesn't have much heat, it is spacious, it is dry. So those qualities will translate into this person's physical manifestation and also in the way their mind works. So those are people that are often quite creative, their build is more slim, more narrow, they're more spacious in their joints, they're open-minded. Are you speaking from your own experience? Being a vata? Very much. Very much so for me, vata is definitely my main constitution, my primary dojya. But I also have a bit of pitta and pitta is fire, mainly fire with a little bit of water. And if you think of a fiery person, for sure they will already come things to mind like how that person will react or how that person will move through life. So those are people that are usually quite driven, they have a goal in mind, they're really good in having a direction on the mental field. Physically in their body, they're more like medium framed, they're usually quite good at sports or being athletic. And then there's kafa, so kafa is more like a mother earth type, they are more dominant in earth and water. And if you think of the qualities of earth and water, it's more dense, it moves slower, it absorbs, it holds onto things. So those people are really great in, they're moving slower but they're very determined, they can keep an eye on the horizon, they will never forget things. They're really nourishing, they're able to hold space for a lot of people. Those are all different characteristics and we in our western world we like to think like, oh, those are good qualities and those are bad qualities. And are your vata just says, no, you have your own set of unique energies, unique qualities. And if you understand who you are, you will be able to make better choices in everything that surrounds you because for you a certain type of food, if you are a pitta and you already have a lot of heat, if you take a food that brings in even more heat, you will go out of balance. Well, for another person that might have a lot less heat, the same food might be their medicine. And that is something that I really, really appreciate about are your vata, is there is no good or bad. Basically we say everything is neutral, just everything has a certain energy. And if you understand that energy, you can decide what your medicine is and that relates of course to food, but also to what music do you listen to, what qualities does your relationship have. What kind of workout do you like to do? Is it something that brings you fire? Is it something that's very creative and more spacious like dancing? Because throughout our day we bring on many different qualities into our life. And by understanding are your vata and understanding those energies, you can use everything around you to bring more balance. I love that, especially the idea that nothing is good or bad, we often tend to prescribe labels to things specifically in food, which can be very dangerous and lead to disordered eating, restrictive patterns when you label things, certain types of food is good versus bad. And I love how an iurveda, one person's medicine is another person's poison, or just doesn't work for them. If you can really tap into understanding your energetic makeup in this case, you can make more conscious choices around what you bring into your own environment to achieve a more balanced state. I remember in our lecture you had talked about people not necessarily always being in balance and that were often identifying with our imbalances. So how can you know when there is an energetic imbalance according to iurveda and what are some things you can do if you know your own dosha to bring things back into a more balanced state. Yeah, very good question. So first of all, I think it's important to understand your neutral state and your neutral state is if you think about when you're in a relaxed state or maybe how you were when you're a child and you're just free to be yourself, how would you behave? Like that would be kind of your neutral point and anything apart from that where you feel like sometimes you feel agitated for example or anxiety or heat in the body like inflammation, like any type of physical imbalances or mental imbalances from iurvedic perspective, those are things that you can balance with everything around you. Out of balance is everything where you're not yourself, where you are not your best self. It's really important to understand like okay, there's this rule, this universal rule that says like increases like. So often we are drawn to things that are the same as we are. So for example, if you're a fiery person, you love to do things with passion, you love everything that you want to do. that has an intensity. So if you know that, you will also see that you will be drawn to like relationships that have that intensity or sports that have that intensity. And part of you really loves that because you feel alive, but too much of a good thing is gonna be your poison. So it's really becoming aware of your patterns and then saying, "Hey, okay, it's summer. I'm already under stress. I'm a fiery person. Maybe I should not eat spicy food today or I should not do this becrum yoga or hot yoga workout because my fire will get too high and I'll get agitated or my inflammation will play up or there are many ways how something can manifest. So it's really understanding who you are and then looking at the qualities of the things that you take in. And some, the most of those things are actually very common sense. Irvita sometimes comes across as having a lot of rules. But like common sense, you can think of a chili pepper brings in heat into the system versus a melon or cucumber. It has cooling qualities. So you can just start off by having a look at your life and think about what are the qualities that you're taking in on a daily basis and is that actually your medicine. That's a great point. Looking at everything that you do in your day or the things that you bring into your environment from the food that you eat, the exercises that you enjoy, the activities that you do for fun maybe. And looking at all those activities and then thinking more about their energetic qualities and whether or not they're compatible with your own constitution and if they bring you into balance. Yeah, and that might also mean that things that bring you balance in summer will be different than things that bring you balance in winter, simply because in the winter, the energetic qualities of your surroundings are very different. Like in the winter that hot yoga class might actually be very beneficial. While in summer you already have enough heat in your system. Maybe, maybe not, but that depends. So being aware and being able to shift depending on what you need. So Ayurveda is very much a seasonal science as in seasonal in your life, seasonal in the actual seasons. So where are you and what you need? It really changes from day to day. But something in order to live more in alignment for everyone is to really look at our circadian rhythm. That's how how Western medicine looks at it. In Ayurveda we work with the same clock. And it's really like, when do you eat? When do you sleep? Like how do you create a routine for yourself that sets you up for balance? Because you have the choice to go with nature or against nature. And if you go with nature, you have much better chances of being healthy and in alignment. Then when you make choices that go against that natural energy that is there. What happens though when life gets in the way of trying to align your natural circadian rhythm with the environment around you? For example, in our lecture you had talked about, I guess it was kind of like the metaphor of a clock or looking at the time in the day and when you should have your lunch or your dinner or how big your meal should be when you should be in bed by. It seems like a lot of information at once that was kind of overwhelming because according to the Ayurvedic philosophy we should be in bed by 10 o'clock. That seems so nice, but how realistic is it to be able to be in bed in a sleep by 10 or 11 p.m. every night when you have a job or you have other responsibilities and things just get to be really stressful and hectic? How can we use the foundation of Ayurveda or the goal of what Ayurveda is trying to achieve and modify those practices to be able to integrate it? To create it. Exactly, because when you had shared that, I was like, here I can be in bed by 10 o'clock. No problem, it gets dark at 6.30, it's perfect by 10 p.m. But then I was thinking back home, how am I going to do that? Yeah, it's very true. There's a big disconnect in the way we live, especially in the bigger cities like New York City. Like the city never sleeps. Exactly. So there is already a big disconnect. And of course, it makes it harder than when you're here in Bali right now, where people live a lot more already in alignment with nature. So for me, it's important to have this more like an 80/20 rule. So it shouldn't be like another thing on your to-do list to check off and to feel bad about if you don't follow those rules. But it's really an understanding and feeling for yourself, yeah, maybe 10 o'clock every day is not doable, but maybe two nights a week it is. And maybe the other nights, it's not going to be 1 a.m. but maybe it's going to be 11. And it's really looking at how does your lifestyle affect you? Because in the city, like there's lots of things to do, there's big social life, people to see, work to do, like when do we sleep? Like sleep doesn't really have our priority. And I think like when we're in our 20s, it doesn't matter that much than when you're in your 50s. Like you have a lot more resilience. I would say that prioritizing your rest is important. However, maybe 10 o'clock is not your thing, but 11.30 is, like just make sure that you don't overrule yourself so much that you go to bed at one or two, and then you wake up at seven and you're depleted. Or maybe if your cycle is, let's say, okay, you sleep six or seven hours a night, and normally you would do that from one to seven. Well, maybe it's actually doable to do that from 12 to six. Then you already move yourself a little bit closer to nature. And of course, it's important to see your friends and to have a job and to live a full city life. But there's always adjustments to be made, if that makes sense. Yeah, so smaller steps, maybe? Not thinking that you have to change every single aspect of your life at once, but focusing maybe on one particular area that's causing maybe the most damage, and then working backwards from there, seeing what changes you can make that are sustainable. Yeah. And that at least allow you to enjoy the other things that are important to you in life. Yeah, that's a good way of saying it. And so for some people, it might be their energy levels. They always feel depleted. OK, then that is something to really focus on. And I would look at sleep and when do you sleep? And how deep do you sleep? And how well do you unwind so your nervous system can actually relax? Well, for some other people, they might have issues with their digestion. I would look at when do you actually eat? And what do you eat? And how do you eat? And really take it from there, because there's so many points as it's such a holistic science. There's so many points that you can focus on. I would really start with what you feel is causing you trouble right now. Or what would you like to improve in your life? And then take just a few things, a few suggestions from Ayurveda and start to experiment with it. And then notice how it makes you feel. Because that's very important that I or another Ayurvedic practitioner is not going to tell you that this is right for you or this is wrong for you, but giving you suggestions. And then your body will always give you feedback. And I think that's very important to understand that it's not like a quick fix or you have a headache and you pop a pill and it's gone. That has its benefits when you have a big presentation at work and you need to function. Yeah, great. But if that migraine is popping up every day or every time you're stressed, there is a deeper underlying root cause that needs to be addressed. And then it's important to listen to the feedback from your body and give yourself time to make some adjustments. So small steps, if you think of 1% improvement every day, like over two months, that's 16%. It really adds up. So better smaller steps over time would be inconsistent with it. Then setting yourself goals that are really unrealistic and you don't reach them, you feel bad about yourself and you just stop altogether. It seems like in Ayurveda, we're trying to learn how to teach our bodies to respond rather than react to the things that we bring into our environment, to the foods that we put into our system, just developing that better bodily awareness or intuition between our mind and our body. Yeah, totally. Because eventually our body knows our mind knows, but we're so distracted and also bombarded with information. If you look only at food, how hard is it to find out what is the best way to eat? They're like 20 people that tell you different things. No, you should eat keto. No, it's intermittent fasting. No, it's no carbs. No, it's raw food. No, you should eat no fruits because there are too much sugar in it, like how to distinguish between that information. And the only way to do that is to listen to your own body because your body will give your feedback. And in regards to food, Ayurveda really sees your digestion as the cornerstone of your health. Because if you take very healthy food, but your body cannot break it down properly, you will still get issues with your digestive system and you won't get optimal nutrients and optimal energy. What food is right for your body, eventually you're the only one who can really feel that. And again, we can give you suggestions on how to eat or what to experiment with. But your body is your teacher and Ayurveda really aims you to become your own guru in that sense that you don't need anyone else to tell you what the best way is for you. - That's very empowering. - Yeah. - Because you have the agency to make the best decision for yourself. What happens when you're a combination of different dochias? For example, I think that I'm pitacafa. (laughs) But there's different energetic qualities associated with both. So if for someone who has two dochias or maybe they're all three, which I think is pretty rare, how can you then cater that information towards creating a better lifestyle for yourself? And how does that also affect your mental health and well-being? Because we also talked a little bit about having different energetic qualities for our physical body, but then also for our mind and our brain. - Yeah. So if you are more of a dual dochia, there are basically two ways that you could go out of balance. And then it's really dependent on your environment. So what's happening in your life right now, which dochia will be more likely to be out of balance. So in your case, if you think that your pitacafa, so pita is mainly ruled by fire, and a kafa is mainly ruled by earth, earth and water. You would have the tendency to understress, for example, in the summer that your pita will be more out of balance, that there will be a lot more thoughts, that there will be like overworking, will be challenging for you, like not to do. You'll keep on going while in winter, or in times where you're not that much stimulated, that kafa tendency of like slowing down, maybe becoming too inert in a certain way, or with mental health issues that can be stagnant energy, like not motivated, sluggish, having a hard time to get out of bed, that can manifest. So it really depends on what is present in your life, and what kind of triggers that. When we also think about our mental health and well-being, how can we create the most optimal environment, and daily habits to enhance our own mental, energetic composition, because that might be different than the dochias that we have for our physical body. Totally. Like for your mind is very important. Like I think for most people that live a city life, one of the biggest challenges is to not let all the energy move up into your head throughout the day. Yes. Very true. Because we just have jobs that we also require our mind to be very active, that there's constant stimulation, and then we have no idea on how to slow down, and how to unwind, and how to let that energy at the end of the day from our head drop back into our body, so we can actually relax, and we can have some deep sleep. Practices to create little pockets of pausing throughout the day. It sounds really simple, but it's actually a very profound practice. Like imagine if you're sitting behind your computer, and every time you see a thing that you have a new email, if every time that happens, you relax your jaw, you breathe into your belly, and you feel your feet on the floor. It's like a reminder of yourself, like, oh, yeah, I also have a body. I almost forgot about it. And if you do that 50 or 100 times throughout the day, at the end of the day, you will feel more embodied. And that's just a small thing. But I think for our mental health, it's super important to create more space, to actually feel where we are, to feel our body, to also to feel what we need, because if there's no space to feel how we are doing, we have also no clue in what do we need. I think sometimes the problem also is that we don't even know what we need, because we're so distracted. That's just, I guess, an example of not being in tune with our own bodies and our minds, because there's so many distractions, so many stress triggers that happen when you're going to job, or you're living in a city, or you're a student at school, there's just so much going on. And so it's important to just take a step back and do a grounding exercise. Exactly. And even how do you start your day, because now with our mobile phones, it's such a habit. And I also need to remind myself very often of this, waking up, look at your phone, maybe just to see the time, and then there's messages. And before you know, you're lost in your phone. It's not a great way to set the tone for your day. So I really try to have a morning ritual, where my phone is not involved, to really take a moment. And it might just be two minutes. I have a four-year-old son that is waking up very early in the morning, so I don't have much time for a long morning routine or meditation and yoga practice and all those things that I would maybe love to do, but it's not realistic. But what I always do is when I wake up is I take a minute or two or five to just feel my body, like how am I feeling today? Because we think we're always the same person. But actually, there's quite some variety from day to day in how we're feeling, and I don't mean just physically, but also mentally and emotionally, like what's moving through us? And then you might start to get to know yourself a little bit better and throughout the day make choices that support you for that day, because you know better what you need. I love that you bring up morning routines, because that was my actually my next question. I wanted to hear a bit more about the ideal morning routine and nighttime routine according to Iard Veda. What are some practices you can bring into your own morning and night routine to gain more balance or at least start the day on a good note and then end the day on a positive note as well? So in the morning, I would say there's basically there's three things that would be important from Iard Veda perspective. The first is some kind of meditation. Simply to tune in with where you are, like I just mentioned. And again, there doesn't have to be a 20 minute silent meditation where you're sitting on your pillow that can just be laying down in bed, taking a few deep breaths, feel your body, notice the energy in your mind, your emotional body, then do some form of movement. And ideally, if you have 20 minutes that would be amazing, simply to get the stagnation moving from the night to get your energetic channels open, so your energy will flow well for the day. And if you don't have 20 minutes, maybe you have five minutes and you have a little trampoline that you can just bounce on to get really some juices flowing or some ropes keeping or something to just get your blood pumping a little bit. And then the third one is to clean your senses because it's through our senses that we experience the world. So if our senses are not clean, it's like you're looking out at the world from a dirty window, from behind a dirty window. So it's scraping your tongue, which is like a special metal or copper tongue scraper. You move it over your tongue and it removes a lot of the ama, like toxins that you overnight got on your tongue and you just rinse your mouth and clean your teeth, rinse your eyes and your nose. There's a practice in yoga that we call netti potting. Yeah, I've done that before, but not on a regular basis. Just like if I am really congested and it's really funny because it just kind of drips out the other side of the nostril. Exactly, yeah. And then you can put some oil in your ears. So that's something, it sounds like a lot, but you can do the practice for your senses in like five minutes, plus five minutes of meditation, plus a little bit of movement. So you start the day from a practice where you are connected with your breath, with your body and your senses are clean. And you can extend that as much as you want, depending on the time that you have. And what I really like to do is to kind of set a goal for the day, like depending on what I have to do, like choose a certain type of energy that I want to bring into the day and throughout the day connect back to that. I would say also maybe waking up earlier would be an alignment with Ayurveda. Just waking up at like six or seven in the morning, having this as part of your morning routine, maybe even journaling too might be helpful, to set your intention for the day, or just having a brain dump of all the thoughts that you have, or you don't even know that you have, and just kind of get that on paper and then move forward with your day. Yeah, yeah, a brain dump, I would do that more in the evening to kind of empty your head out, that everything is on paper and you go to bed with like an empty sheet. And in the morning, it would be more like more intentional journaling and waking up early, like that would always be great. Depending on how early you went to bed the night before, because I would never say like, oh, you have to get up at five or six a.m. Like no, first of all, get enough sleep. And personally, like I go to bed pretty early and I get up pretty early around five because I love to have an hour to myself in the morning before my child wakes up, because I know I just have a better day and I don't mind going to bed earlier because you're in Bali, most people are in bed. Very early, very early, something I've noticed here, especially with the lockdown, you can't be out. So you have nothing else to do but to go to bed early, which is kind of a blessing in disguise. Totally, but if you were in bed by one, I would not recommend to get up at five because it will just create more imbalance. So get up when you're rested, but try to be in bed early so you can wake up a bit earlier. What about at the night time? So when you're winding down for the night, What is the opti- to more routine that you can try to incorporate. - So in the night, I think one thing that we're all struggling with, what is quite important is to put our screens away about an hour before we go to bed. Because first of all, you have, of course, the blue light that makes it hard to sleep to produce melatonin, but also the stimulation of our mind by constantly like social media, all those pop-ups, it releases a lot of dopamine and it's just not great for deep restful sleep. So making a conscious choice to put your screens away no more Netflix, like not falling asleep in front of your series that you're watching, but really like ending the night in a conscious way. So what I like to do is do that with a shower or taking a bath because it kind of breaks the energy. You can use touch, so five minutes of massage. Get some oil that you really like with a coconut oil or sesame oil with some essential oil, maybe, if you enjoy that. And just feel your body. Like put your hands on your body, remind yourself that you have a body because it brings the energy from your head back into your body and the shower or a bath. And then some gentle movement. So if you like yoga, you can just do a few stretches on the ground to get the kings out of your lower back or your hips from sitting in the day, again, to drop into your body. Another great practice for the evening is yoga nidra. - I love yoga nidra. I have an episode on the podcast with Kaylee Alyssa about yoga nidra and it's like the yogi state of sleep. - Yeah. - It's very nice and very deep meditation. - Exactly. - More than just like a normal seated meditation or breath work, it's, you really tap into something quite deep. - Yeah, and the beautiful thing is it changes your brain waves. So it also sets you up for much deeper sleep. You might not have more hours of sleep, but the quality of your sleep will really improve and that will make you feel more rested. So yeah, that's another thing that, especially if you're busy, this is a meditation that is really great to help you improve your sleep. Also, because you can lay down, you don't have to sit up, you can just lay down, be comfortable in bed. Anyone can do it, you just have to follow the instructions. So yeah, those are practices that are very helpful and then of course being in bed as early as you can, like ideally would be around 10. I know that's not always doable, but start to look at where it is possible and be more rested in the morning. - I think that's very nice. And even doing a body scan meditation, 'cause those I think are 10 to 15 minutes, or they can be longer of course, but sometimes the ogenedras can go up to 45 minutes. - Yeah, that's very long. - And that takes, yeah, like a big chunk of time out of your night. So maybe even doing a shorter one, or a 10 minute, 15 minute body scan could be a nice way to rest and relax, and then get ready for the next day. - Totally, yeah, totally. And you can just, like if you're new to this, you can just look up on YouTube or Insights Timer. It's like a meditation app that is free. There are so many ogenedras or body scans that are not that long, because you might do a luxurious long one in the weekend when you have time. But yeah, 10 or 15 minutes, it already can change a lot, because sometimes we think like, oh, what can a practice of 10 or 15 minutes do? But if we're really aware, and we bring our energy and our attention to our body, basically, it's huge. It makes a huge change. - What is something that you'd like for my listeners to take away from understanding Ayurveda 101? Like what is a big takeaway, something very fundamental about Ayurveda that anyone can easily understand, and even if they've had no prior exposure to Ayurveda, or they've been following the philosophy for a while, what is something that can resonate with? - Yeah, yeah. So I think what my main thing in Ayurveda is, is everything is neutral. And the best thing that you can do is to be yourself. So don't try to be anything else than yourself. If you have more of a fiery characteristics, a fiery, you're a fiery person, move through life as fire, because that's your unique quality. Don't try to mold yourself into something that you're not, and understand your own uniqueness and listen to the feedback of your body, because you're your own guru, not everyone around you. And then you will also see that there is a natural intelligence in nature and in your body. And the more you can let go of how things should be, and the more you can tap into how things feel, and how the energy works in the cosmos, you will live a really happy and a light life because you can be yourself. - I love that. Coming back to your authentic. - True self. And there's so much noise in the world. There's so many things that can pull you in one direction or another and it can be very challenging to come back to yourself, because we're so influenced by external factors. We don't even really sometimes realize it. - Yeah, so often we don't know, like there's so many like quarter life crisis in life. Of course, like if you've been in a system that where you never really had time to explore and find out who you are, because there are already so many shoots from a very young age. I think it's great that a lot of young people kind of take a break and try to find themselves and then make choices in a way that are aligned with their nature. And that's the same for food and for relationships. There's no, there's many ways of doing something and listening to your own inner voice. It's just important to know, like, does this desire that I have, does it come from a place of lack? Or does it come from a place of love or a desire? Because a love or a desire, I think it's a great energy to follow. Fear or lack, not so much. Then look for the desire. What is there? - It's a great point. In other words, finding things in your day that bring you a bit of joy and happiness or endorphins to relate it back to the podcast. And on that note, I would love to hear what is something that brings you endorphins. - Ooh, many things, actually. (laughs) I love dancing, so I really, really, really enjoy moving my body and just get lost in the music. And here in Bali, there are quite a lot of aesthetic dances. I don't know if you've been to one. - Yes, I did go to an ecstatic dance. It was definitely very outside of my comfort zone, but I really did enjoy it. I did a yoga class before and then I did an ecstatic dance. It was an event, like a night event. I loved it. - Yeah, so I really like the fact that you can just dance freely. It's not dancing for performance. You're not in a club where people are watching you and that you have to move in a certain way, but just like wild and free, like a child. So that really brings me endorphins, for sure. I can really enjoy delicious food. So I'm a little bit of a foodie. So that brings me endorphins. And what else can I say, like good sex? (laughing) - The simple pleasures. - So nice. - Yeah. - Well, I think those are wonderful answers. And thank you again so much for coming on to the podcast. It's been wonderful having you. - Thank you so much. It was a pleasure talking to you. (upbeat music) - Thank you for listening and remember to like, rate, and review this podcast on whichever listing platform you prefer. Don't forget to keep spreading endorphins and find things that bring you endorphins every day. See you next time. (upbeat music)