Meet Radhika Erving | Ayurvedic Practitioner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Radhika Erving and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Radhika, what do you attribute your success to?
As an Ayurvedic practitioner, I feel that having integrity is the most important quality and that this is what has brought me the most success. This plays out in my career in a few key ways:

I only offer detox to those who would benefit from it. The season detoxification in particular is considered as ‘surgery without cutting someone open’ in Ayurvedic standards. It has to be done with precision and care. Not everyone is eligible to do detoxification and generally, people need to prepare their bodies before engaging in a detox. There are different kinds of detoxification modalities and which kind someone receives matters. There is a lot that goes into it and if it is done incorrectly, it can cause more harm than good.

Similarly, there are contraindications for the various treatment modalities that Ayurveda offers, even Abhyanga (herbal oil application) has contraindications. These treatments are not for everyone. I will not give an Abhyanga to someone if I have not assessed them first to ensure it is a suitable treatment. When it comes to recommending treatments to my clients, I only recommend what I feel they would truly benefit from and what best suits their needs.

If someone has a condition that I think would be better addressed by a different Ayurvedic practitioner, I refer them without hesitation to one of my wonderful colleagues.

Lastly, I will only work with clients who are committed to putting their best foot forward with their Ayurvedic protocol. It cannot be sugar coated — following an Ayurvedic protocol will take effort, habits often need to be changed, lifestyles changed. This is not for everyone. I am always open and honest with my clients about the process and the associated challenges.

This has been an important factor behind my success because my clients know what to expect and receive a high level of care. I am not in this job for the money, by any means. In fact, I do my best to see clients reach their health goals in as few visits as possible, at which point, I rarely see them again unless they are booking an appointment for preventative care. This has led to clients happily referring their friends and connections my way. Integrity is an innate part of my character, and I believe it is an essential characteristic for anyone working in the health and wellness industry.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I am an Ayurvedic practitioner. Ayurveda is a SPIRIT-MIND-BODY approach to wellness. The rishis or seers received the information about Ayurveda from their visions and that information has been passed down through the generations and written in various ancient texts from Charaka Samhita to Sushruta Samhita, and many more. The key concept behind Ayurveda is to live in tune with the cycles and laws of nature. It sounds simple, but when we choose to ignore our natural rhythms, urges, and cues from our bodies, it is easy to lose sight of what we need vs our sense desires. For example, one many of us are guilty of is staying awake when we are tired. Perhaps we want to finish reading a book but it’s late and we are tired, so we stay up and read one more chapter. Maybe we just got our kids to bed and we are tired but we want some time to ourselves before we go to bed. Just like that, you have ignored your bodies need for sleep and pushed yourself to stay up later. Maybe it’s dietary — you eat your meal and are full but you want to eat a sweet. You are full, but you choose to eat the sweet anyways. When we make it a habit to ignore our “inner knowing” it becomes more difficult to discern what our inner knowing is telling us and what is desired to feed an imbalance. This is when problems arise. What sets my practice apart, is that I believe the connection to Self can be restored and that when we are attuned with Self, we will make all the right decisions for our wellbeing. My goal is to restore my clients to balance so that they can come back to that deep connection with Self. For this reason, once my clients are back in balance, I often won’t see them again as they have the tools they need to maintain their wellbeing. To me, this is what makes my business successful. Success depends how you measure it, and to me, seeing my clients restored to balance is a success. This is what brings me the greatest joy.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
San Diego is my happy place! If a friend was visiting, I would bring them to Shell Beach in La Jolla to look for sea glass and then walk over to see the sea lions. Then we would check out some of the whimsical shops in North Park from Gold Dust Collective to Artelexia and Verbatim Books. We would have lunch at San Idli. Then we would visit the zoo. At the end of the day, we would go to Mount Soledad to watch the sunset.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate this Shoutout to all of my amazing clients — You put in the work, and you healed yourself. This is most commendable. Thank you, kindly, for representing my small business through your own healing work and for all the heartfelt referrals.

Website: https://www.ayurvedama.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ayurvedama/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ayurvedama/

Other: https://g.co/kgs/aNx1ae4

Image Credits
Bianca Judy Hemphill