Some of them are enormous. But what catches my attention is what’s underneath them — roots pushing through the trail, wrapping around rocks, disappearing back into the earth.
And it occurred to me that we don’t think about our health very differently.
We tend to pay attention to what we can see.
Something hurts, changes, falls out, stops working the way it used to — and that’s where we focus.
But standing among all those roots, I kept thinking:
What if the thing we can see isn’t where the problem began?
Think about hair loss.
When we notice our hair thinning, the natural response is to focus on the hair. Shampoos. Supplements. Serums. Collagen. Biotin.
But hair loss can have many possible contributors — hormonal changes, thyroid dysfunction, nutritional deficiencies, illness, medications, genetics, significant stress and more.
The hair may simply be where something happening elsewhere in the body finally became visible.
Ayurveda has always looked at the body this way.
It describes nourishment as a progression through the body’s tissues — the dhatus — rather than treating each part of us as though it operates independently.
The ancient terminology is different from the language we’d use in modern physiology, and I don’t think we need to pretend they’re identical systems.
But the question Ayurveda asks is remarkably relevant:
What happened upstream?
A symptom doesn’t necessarily begin on the day you notice it.
The point isn’t to decide in advance which one caused the symptom.
The point is to ask the question.
Because bodies compensate remarkably well.
Until they can’t.
And when a symptom finally appears, it’s tempting to silence it without asking what it might be telling us.
I want to be very clear about this.
Symptoms matter.
New or persistent symptoms can require medical evaluation. Treating symptoms can provide enormous relief and sometimes is absolutely necessary.
The problem comes when symptom relief becomes the entire investigation.
If I put something on my scalp and my hair stops shedding, wonderful. But I still want to know why it started shedding.
If I take something and my reflux disappears, wonderful. But why did the reflux develop?
If I’m exhausted every afternoon and caffeine gets me through it, fine. But why am I exhausted every afternoon?
Those are different questions. And we need both.
What’s fascinating to me is that many areas of modern health science are increasingly examining this bigger landscape.
We now talk about circadian rhythms, chronic stress physiology, metabolic health, the microbiome, environmental exposures, nutrient status, genetics and epigenetics.
We understand more than ever that what happens in one system can affect another.
And yet our everyday approach to health can still be remarkably fragmented.
But you don’t live inside a collection of independent departments.
You live inside one body.
The next time your body does something you don’t understand, don’t ignore the symptom.
But before immediately asking:
“How do I make this go away?”
try asking:
“What changed before this began?”
What was happening three months ago?
Six months ago?
A year ago?
How was I sleeping?
How was I eating?
What was happening emotionally?
Had my medication changed?
Had my hormones changed?
Was I sick?
Was I traveling?
Was I caring for someone?
Was I pushing myself harder than usual?
Sometimes there will be an obvious connection. Sometimes there won’t.
And sometimes the answer will require testing, medical evaluation or someone who can help you put the pieces together.
But you’ve done something important simply by changing the question.
You’ve stopped looking at the symptom as an isolated failure of the body. And started looking at it as information.
Your symptom may be the end of the story. The real work is discovering where the story began.
If you’ve been treating a symptom but still don’t understand why it’s happening, that’s exactly the kind of question we explore in a Body Blueprint Session.
We look beyond the symptom — at your constitution and current state, digestion and metabolism, sleep and circadian rhythms, stress, lifestyle, history and the other pieces that make your health uniquely yours.
The Holistic HIghway integrates traditional Western medical practices with Ayurveda medicine, creating a focus on prevention through nutrition, diet, and exercise; use of the latest genetic testing and other diagnostic techniques; and prescribed combinations of botanical medicines, supplements, therapeutic diets, detoxification programs, or stress-management techniques.
Integrative Health Expert | Ayurveda Practitioner | Author | Speaker
Kerry is a globally recognized leader in integrative medicine and the science of health known as Ayurveda. She is passionate about raising awareness of the need for a change in contemporary medicine that focuses on patient empowerment and a health-based (rather than disease-based) medical system.
Kerry is connected with The University of Pittsburgh Center for Integrative Medicine and remains a pioneer in the field of integrative medicine where she has developed a personalized system to manage chronic disorders by incorporating fundamental changes in diet, behavior, and stress while focusing on genetics.
This individualized program is so successful that many of her clients have achieved maximum healing and vitality after years of chronic problems!
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