In the Spotlight: Āyurvedic Practitioner Belinda Baer

At The Center for Family Well-Being we believe the journey toward whole person well-being is best traveled with a variety of healing resources for mind, body, and heart.

One of these valuable therapeutic paths is Āyurveda, represented at the Center by Belinda Baer of Wise Woman Ayurveda. Belinda’s work with the Center goes beyond the remarkable treatments she shares with our clients; she also works behind-the-scenes with our therapists, training us and helping us understand anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges through the lens of Āyurveda. 

Here’s your chance to meet Belinda:

Can you tell us a little more about Āyurveda — and why it’s so important?

Āyurveda is a 5,000-year-old science, which comes to us from India. In its current form here in the US, it helps clients find balance within their lives and works as a preventive to many diseases. Have you ever been to the doctor because something has just felt off, but the doctor checks you over and has tests performed and then tells you that you’re fine? That’s where Āyurveda’s specialty comes in: to help identify why we’re feeling off, and to bring the body back towards balance before the imbalance turns into an identifiable disease.

Would you mind sharing a little bit about your own journey — both about how Āyurveda has personally touched your life and about your path to becoming an Āyurvedic practitioner?

I was introduced to Āyurveda when I was recovering from a bad bicycle accident, and it completely changed my life. Little imbalances that were creating discomfort in my body began to dissolve as I started to learn Āyurvedic principles based on my own specific constitution, current state of balance, time of life, and time of year. This healing propelled me forward to study Āyurveda and begin sharing it with others.

I began my study at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Massachusetts, where I completed an intense year-long program in 2011. Since then, I continue my studies at every opportunity I can.

Some of that involves working in India, doesn’t it?

Yes, in India I’ve studied herbs with a doctor in a jungle in Karnataka. And I’ve volunteered giving treatments at JIVA Āyurveda near Delhi and Vaidyagrama in Tamil Nadu.

In 2015, I took a group to India for a spiritual sight-seeing tour. In 2016 and 2017, I took groups to Vaidyagrama in Tamil Nadu for Pañchakārma — an intense 21-28 day detox and rejuvenation program.

And then you lived in India during the peak of covid?

Yes. I was there studying Sanskrit with a teacher and also had a chance to study a new martial arts form of abhyanga (an oil massage treatment). When the pandemic started, I got pleasantly stuck in a small village I was visiting in the Himalayas. I decided to not try any heroics to get myself back to the States after my flight was canceled. So I spent three years living in a small cottage on the side of a mountain. What I learned was the importance of having a very simple life. I would wake up, do my practices, walk to my neighbor’s (a 1/2 mile round trip) to get my fresh milk, make breakfast, eat, wash dishes, read, hike, etc. I was just simply living.

Now you’re back in the States. What does your work with the Center look like? How are our clients benefiting from your Āyurveda treatments in their daily lives? 

I’m now living on an herb farm in Shepherdstown, W. Va., during the week and traveling into DC on the weekends to give consultations and treatments at the Center. The treatments involve a lot of warm oil slathered over the body. The Sanskrit word “Sneha” means oil, and it also means love. So these treatments are full of a lot of love, which I think people really need right now.

How does your Āyurvedic work with our therapists add to their knowledge base — to the skills they use to help themselves and their clients?

Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure to work with the therapists at the Center to teach them Āyurveda basic principles and the Āyurvedic view of the mind. The therapists weave this knowledge into their skills with western psychotherapy and further increase the range of tools they can offer their clients.  They also use the practices on themselves to help maintain a strong container for holding and supporting their clients. The therapists at the Center “walk their talk!” 

What’s your favorite part of your work?

I have two. One is seeing the relaxed looks on my clients’ faces after receiving a treatment. The other is hearing after a consultation that a client has explored the recommendations we discussed and has found significant changes in their quality of life. 

Belinda offers traditional Ayurvedic oil treatments and consultations at The Center for Family Well-Being. Ayurvedic oil treatments soothe the nervous system and mind while nourishing and detoxifying the body. Ayurvedic consultations focus on restoring balance to the body and mind. For more information please contact Belinda@wisewomanayurveda.com or visit her website  www.wisewomanayurveda.com. We know you’ll appreciate her as much as we do!