Many yoga and holistic health writers tell you how they live the lifestyle: Wake with the sun, practice yoga for three hours, meditate, and eat a raw diet as they chant mantras by the riverside.

And while I want to reap the benefits of that lifestyle, I am not that person. Like you, I work full time. While that may seem like it hardly qualifies me to write a blog about holistic health, it actually does because I’m right there with you. I understand the pressures of work-life balance and how to incorporate Ayurvedic practices alongside a 40+ hour workweek.

Years ago, it became clear that if I were to ever stay sane in the tech industry, I’d either have to become an alcoholic, a pathological liar, or try my chances at yoga and Ayurveda.

After practicing yoga for 12 years and completing a year-long 200-hour yoga teacher training, I realized I had the tools to keep stress from eating me alive. Being a tech geek wasn’t enough, I became a yoga geek, too. But that still wasn’t enough. So now I also have nearly four years of school and clinic time learning Ayurveda (India’s system of holistic medicine) from my teacher at Vedika Global Shunya Pratichi Mathur who hails from a 700-year lineage of healers.

While my professional expertise lies in writing, marketing, and social media, I didn’t want to write about the very thing I do every day working for a big tech company.

I want to write about that other thing. The thing that keeps me sane, healthy, and balanced after a long day toiling over my laptop. The very thing that helps me unplug from all things digital.

While I may not wake at 4 a.m. or follow every single practice laid out in the Ayurvedic texts, I’ve learned which yoga poses to do when, how to eat right for my constitution, how to stay in balance, prevent disease, and bring my mind to a calmer place without the use of vodka or sleeping pills.

Wait, what is Ayurveda?

Yes, I knew you’d ask. Let me explain. Ayurveda literally translates from Sanskrit as science of life (ayus means science, veda roughly translates to life). A holistic system of medicine that was born in ancient India, Ayurveda is based on a constitutional model with the aim of keeping mind, body, and spirit healthy. In its most basic sense, Ayurveda says that you are what you eat–your tissues, bones, blood, organs, and skin are built by the very things that you consume. This is why digestion is central to Ayurveda. Many Ayurvedic practices offer guidance around diet and lifestyle, with a considerable focus on preventative medicine, though the Ayurvedic texts also contain page after page of cures for both common and rare diseases.

Written somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago, the Ayurvedic texts (called granthas) contain advanced medical and scientific principles, many that modern science has only just figured out—the presence of atomic and sub-atomic particles, the structure of cells, surgical techniques, kitchen spices that give you glowing skin (and prevent cancer), methods for managing diabetes, and how basic tweaks in diet and lifestyle can cure or prevent many diseases. Interestingly enough, the authors of these texts weren’t just scientists and doctors, but yogis and sages with spiritual wisdom as well. In their eyes, health encompasses, not just the body, but the mind and spirit, too.

Now, I’ve read countless Ayurveda blogs, many written by people who seem to be enlightened and have it all figured out. Some of those blogs are too technical for someone without years of school to comprehend, others are totally inaccurate, some exist solely to sell products, and very few are written accurately, let alone from the standpoint of a Westerner. And even fewer blogs still are written for someone who doesn’t have 18 hours a day to meditate, practice yoga, and sit by the river eating trail mix.

Enter, this blog which is my way of sharing the wisdom I’ve gathered and offer practical advice to busy people like yourself who want to be healthy and better understand Ayurvedic principles for living a good life. I’ll be writing about recipes, practices, ways to heal yourself, things I’ve learned from my studies, and my own findings on what has worked in my life–including my too-often struggles.

All of this information is rooted in the ancient texts, but also steeped in modern life. By sharing this knowledge, I hope to bring peace, health, and wisdom to you. No vodka required.

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