Ayurveda for Everyday Life: A Conversation with Kate O’Donnell 

Through her Everyday Ayurveda book series and the Ayurvedic Living Institute, Kate has made Ayurveda approachable — translating the complexity of an ancient medical system into something that feels like common sense.

I first met Kate years ago when my now-wife practiced Ashtanga yoga with her in Boston. Later, her book The Everyday Ayurveda Cook became a fixture in our kitchen. (Her dosa recipe alone is worth the price.)

In this conversation, we talk about the bridge between yoga and Ayurveda, how an illness in India changed her path, and how anyone — not just spiritual seekers — can use these principles to find rhythm, nourishment, and balance in everyday life.

You’ve been teaching and studying yoga for decades, but Ayurveda became a big part of your work later. How did that shift happen? 

Like a lot of Westerners, I first came to India to study yoga. I was deep into my Ashtanga practice and thought that was the whole thing — asana, breath, discipline. But during one of my early trips to Mysore, I got really sick. My digestion shut down, my energy tanked, and all the usual Western remedies weren’t helping. 

A local friend took me to an Ayurvedic doctor. He didn’t give me a long diagnosis; he just asked a few questions, felt my pulse, and told me to stop eating raw vegetables and cold food. I thought that sounded ridiculous. But within a week, I was better. 

That experience opened my eyes. Yoga was helping me grow spiritually, but Ayurveda helped me actually live. It gave me a framework to understand my body — not as something to control, but as something to care for. That was the beginning of a lifelong study. 

It sounds like Ayurveda met you at a moment when you were really in the body — both through yoga and through being sick. How did those two paths start to weave together for you? 

They’re sister sciences, really. Yoga is about liberation — understanding who you are beyond the body. Ayurveda is about maintaining the body so you can keep walking that path. 

I had been pushing myself hard in yoga — twice-a-day practices, strict diets, no rest days. Ayurveda helped me see that my body wasn’t an obstacle; it was the vehicle. I needed to take care of it if I wanted to sustain my practice, my teaching, and my life. 

That’s when I started bringing Ayurvedic principles into everything I do — my classes, my kitchen, my daily routines. It became the foundation, not the afterthought. 

You used a memorable analogy in our conversation — cooking rice — to describe digestion. Can you share that story and what it teaches us? 

Yes, it’s one of my favorite ways to explain Ayurveda because it’s so simple. Imagine you’re cooking rice. You put one cup of rice and two cups of water in the pot. It’s simmering along, cooking nicely, and then — halfway through — you dump in another half cup of dry rice. Now you’ve got some that’s undercooked, some that’s overcooked, and nothing that’s really edible. 

That’s exactly what happens in your stomach when you eat before your previous meal has finished digesting. You interrupt the process. Your body can’t absorb nutrients properly, and you end up with that feeling of heaviness, gas, or fatigue after meals. 

So one of the simplest and most profound Ayurvedic practices is this: don’t eat until your last meal has digested. Give your body space to finish what it started. It’s not restrictive; it’s respectful. 

Yoga was helping me grow spiritually, but Ayurveda helped me actually live. It gave me a framework to understand my body — not as something to control, but as something to care for. That was the beginning of a lifelong study. 

That respect for the process seems to connect to another key theme in your teaching — the balance between nourishment and purification. What does that mean in a modern context? 

Ayurveda says the foundation of health is balance between nourishment and purification. Nourishment comes from good food, rest, love, and sensory pleasure. Purification comes from elimination, movement, and release — physically and emotionally. 

In the West, we tend to live in extremes. We binge and then we detox. We go hard, then we crash. Ayurveda invites us to bring both sides into every day, in small, consistent ways. 

A simple morning routine — scraping the tongue, rinsing the eyes, applying oil to the skin — is purification. Eating warm, cooked, satisfying meals is nourishment. When we honor both, the system stays clean and strong. That’s what creates resilience. 

You mentioned rhythm a lot — the cycles of the day, the seasons, even the moon. How does Ayurveda help us live in tune with those rhythms? 

Ayurveda is all about relationship — between body and mind, human and nature, self and season. Everything moves in cycles, and we thrive when we move with them. 

Morning is for cleansing and quiet work — meditation, journaling, light movement. Midday is when digestion and focus are strongest, so it’s the best time for your main meal and your most demanding work. Evening is for slowing down, eating light, and turning inward. 

The same applies to the year: spring is cleansing, summer is energizing, autumn is grounding, and winter is nourishing. If you eat and act in harmony with those shifts, you spend less energy fighting your environment and more energy feeling alive in it. 

You describe Ayurveda as being for “householders” — people with jobs, families, responsibilities — not just spiritual seekers. Why is that distinction important? 

Because most of us are not monks. We live in the world — we have children, bills, emails, and relationships to manage. 

Yoga, in its classical form, is a renunciant path. It’s about transcending the material world. Ayurveda says, “No, you’re here for a reason. Let’s help you stay healthy so you can fulfill your purpose.” 

It’s not about escaping life; it’s about inhabiting it fully. Ayurveda gives us tools to live in the world with less friction and more clarity. I think that’s why it resonates so deeply with people who might never consider themselves “spiritual.” It’s about tending to the body so that the soul can do its work. 

The challenge is that consistency doesn’t feel exciting. But it’s where the transformation happens. 

You also talk about food as a spiritual practice. How does that show up in everyday life? 

Food is sacred in Ayurveda. It’s how spirit becomes matter. The way you cook, eat, and digest shapes your energy, your emotions, even your clarity of thought. 

I encourage people to make food beautiful — to use spices, colors, scents, and textures that delight the senses. That’s not indulgence; it’s nourishment. The senses are gateways for the soul, and when they’re well cared for, they support mental and emotional stability. 

So yes, food can be a spiritual practice. But it doesn’t have to be austere or complicated. It’s as simple as taking a few moments before you eat to appreciate what’s in front of you — and to stop eating when you’re satisfied, not stuffed. 

In your experience, what’s the biggest challenge for Westerners who want to bring Ayurveda into their lives? 

Consistency. We love novelty — new supplements, new diets, new routines. Ayurveda is the opposite of that. It’s about rhythm, simplicity, and small, repeatable habits. 

People think they need to overhaul everything, but really, if you just eat at regular times, sleep before 10 p.m., and give your body warm food instead of cold smoothies, you’ll notice huge changes. 

The challenge is that consistency doesn’t feel exciting. But it’s where the transformation happens. 

You also work with a lot of women. Are there particular insights Ayurveda offers around hormonal health or cycles? 

Absolutely. Ayurveda sees the menstrual cycle as a vital sign — it’s like a monthly report card for your whole system. If your cycle is irregular, painful, or exhausting, that’s information. It means something in your lifestyle or diet is out of balance. 

Instead of suppressing symptoms, Ayurveda helps women understand what’s happening — through food, herbs, and timing. For example, rest during menstruation isn’t laziness; it’s medicine. The same way we honor the lunar cycle, we can honor the body’s cycle. 

That’s one of the things I love most about this tradition — it’s deeply respectful of the feminine, of the body’s intelligence. 

Let’s come back to rhythm and sleep. You mentioned the “second wind” that comes around 10 p.m. What’s actually happening there? 

That’s the pitta time of night — between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. It’s when your body naturally shifts into detox mode. Your liver and organs are working to process everything from the day — physically and emotionally. 

If you’re still awake and eating, scrolling, or working during that time, you hijack that process. Your body redirects that energy into mental activity, so you feel wired instead of tired. 

If you go to bed before that second wind — ideally by 9:30 — your body will use that same energy to clean and restore you instead of keeping you awake. You wake up lighter, clearer, and more grounded. 

Ayurveda isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being aware. If I have my chai with gratitude and a quiet moment, it’s medicine. If I’m gulping it while I’m rushing around, it’s poison. The difference is consciousness. 

You’ve spoken about nourishment and purification on a physical level. Does Ayurveda say anything about how we digest our experiences — mentally or emotionally? 

Absolutely. In Ayurveda, digestion isn’t just about food. It’s about everything you take in — conversations, media, emotions. If your system is overloaded, it can’t process those inputs well, and they start to linger as what’s called ama, or undigested residue. 

That can show up as brain fog, irritability, or even physical pain. So part of living Ayurvedically is creating space for mental digestion — quiet time, journaling, being in nature, even a few minutes of silence before switching gears. Those moments of pause are like exhaling after a long day. They keep you clear. 

If someone wanted to start applying Ayurveda today, what’s one simple shift you’d suggest? 

Start with timing. Eat your meals at the same time every day. Go to bed and wake up at consistent times. Rhythm is medicine. 

Once you align your body clock with nature’s clock, everything else — energy, appetite, mood — starts to regulate itself. Then you can start layering in other practices like oil massage, herbal teas, or seasonal eating. But rhythm always comes first. 

And finally — what’s your Ayurvedic “cheat”? The thing you know isn’t perfect for you but brings too much joy to give up. 

Chai. Always chai. It’s got caffeine, which I know pushes my nervous system, but there’s something about the ritual — the spices, the warmth, the smell — that brings me comfort. 

Ayurveda isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being aware. If I have my chai with gratitude and a quiet moment, it’s medicine. If I’m gulping it while I’m rushing around, it’s poison. The difference is consciousness.