Meet Asha Patel of Old Town Ayurveda in Orange

Today we’d like to introduce you to Asha Patel.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I am a natural healer. Coming from an Indian background, natural remedies are a part of my life. My passionate relationship with natural health and their remedies started when my youngest daughter was two years of age. She had developed asthma and had to use inhalers regularly. Soon after, she started having fainting spells. These were not ordinary fainting spells because they made her turn blue. After many tests and visits to several of the LA area hospitals, she was diagnosed with a rare heart condition. While it was a relief to have a diagnosis, my parental nightmare was just beginning. Every time she had an asthma attack, she had to be hospitalized since the asthma medicine did the exact opposite of the heart medication. She was also very limited as to what she could take for any illness due to the fact the most medications tend to instigate fainting spells for her. While she had wonderful doctors, they were only trained in western medicine which she could not take. Over the years, I was regularly researching alternate remedies I could give her when she was sick. I did my research, we would take it to her doctors and then they would do their research and together we would come up with a treatment plan for her. Many of the remedies were holistic based, mainly following the Ayurvedic principles. I observed that for her there were many environmental triggers. On a cold day if I let her go swimming, she would catch a cold. On hot days, when she would not drink enough water, she would pass out from her blood pressure getting to low due to dehydration. The many observations that I made over the years to help her have all proven true according to Ayurveda. Over the years my knowledge base kept expanding. When she finally graduated from high school and moved away to college, I decided to formalize my knowledge base by studying to becoming an Ayurvedic practitioner. I studied with Kerala Ayurveda, then continued with Dr. Lad and did some practical work in India. I studied about the body and its relationship with the environment, emotions, and lifestyles and where the imbalance for the ailment is stemming from. Marma therapy taught me to feel to for blocked energies. Yoga taught me that it is not just exercise but is a mind – body connection. Pranayama taught me the importance of the breath to life. Meditation taught me to connect to the bigger picture in the universe. Ayurveda, which is a 5000-year-old science based out of India, is a system of self-care. It taught me that while it is natural to get sick, the sickness general arises from our lifestyle. It taught me to take care of my body through diet and lifestyle, mind through yoga and soul through meditation. I started out of my house and now have a wonderful cottage that not only is my office but also my classroom. Here I help people learn how to take charge of their lives. I have restorative yoga classes, which include pranayama and meditation. Twice a month I have a group of women that meet up on the new moon and full moon, and we discuss the power of each of phases on our bodies. I also hold classes on different subject matters that could affect our health. Along with all of this, I also go to corporate luncheons and speak on how they can improve their health by making some simple lifestyle changes. I am doing what I love and feel is my calling in this life. Teaching people self-care!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
After my studies were complete, I was so excited to share my expertise with everyone. There was one major problem. You see, while I was helping others I forgot to take care of myself. My life, like many of my peers, was a life of over indulgence which lead me to develop high blood pressure, which lead to diabetes, which lead to high cholesterol. It was a rude awakening. Here I was an expert (or so I thought at the time) getting all these metabolic disorders. Needless to say, “It was my wakeup call”! I treated myself through my diet, lifestyle, mental health strategies that I use on my patients and am happy to say that today I am free of all these ailments and 40lbs lighter. This changed my whole life. While the changes took work to maintain, the end results proved that they were worth it. This change helps me to reinforce to my clients that it really is their choice whether they want to commit and get better or continue down their path of self destruction. All of my clients come to me by word of mouth. I do zero advertising. I explain to every single one of them that it is a change of life treatment that they need to commit to. Sometimes I will lose a client because they cannot commit to the change that is required to improve their health. While I am very effective at what I do, getting new clients and marketing myself to the general public is a challenge for me.

Old Town Ayurveda – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Old Town Ayurveda is a holistic business. Ayurveda specializes in helping individuals to recognize where their ailments are stemming from and what they can do to fix it. There are several aspects to it. They come in for an initial consultation which takes 2-3hours. It questions every avenue of life. From there, I come up with a treatment plan that includes herbs, weekly consultations and yoga classes along with meditation and breathing classes. Depending on the individual this course is followed for anywhere from 3 months to a year. I specialize in helping women see themselves for who they really are. I also specialize in digestive issues as well as depression issues, but see clients with all types of ailments. I have helped several clients who have made serious commitments to achieve their goals to get better. This has helped them to where their doctors have either taken them off their medications or lowered the doses dramatically. My business is very hands on and I am very connected to each and every one of my clients. I am available to them and they all feel very much at home with me. This practice has improved the lives of not only my clients but their families as well. The best gift that I can give my clients is a happier, healthier life that they can enjoy with their families.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I recently had a client who came to me through one of their family members. This client, Lily, was suffering from severe mold exposure. Lily had been seeking treatment for the past three years through the conventional medicine system. Unfortunately, instead of getting better, she was steadily getting worse. When Lily finally came to my office, she was at a point to where she barely got out of bed. She was on disability leave from work. She had all the standard symptoms but all of them were very exaggerated. She was not able to work or function doing daily activities for any given length of time. She was so tired of being sick and taking medications that made her feel worse that her family was very concerned. I explained to her how Ayurveda works with the whole body. I also told her that this was not an over-night fix. It had taken years for her body to get to where it was and would take months to fix it. She listened and understood what I was explaining. I gave Lily instructions for the first week and sent her home. The next week, Lily showed up and had written down all the changes that she had made (she is an excellent student). Every word of advice I had given was taken and implemented strictly into her daily life. She has stuck to the change in her diet, her lifestyle, and has come to weekly counseling. After building up her reserve strength for two months she started coming to my yoga class. She never gave up. In the last five months, Lily has not only gotten back to living life but is in the process of registering to become a nurse so that they can help other individuals. While I was able to guide her back to her health, it was also due to her diligence that she is where she is today. Lily took Ayurveda to heart and with my guidance today is really exercising self-care for her self-preservation. She is a vibrant, healthier and happier person today.

Contact Info:

• Address: Old Town Ayurveda
  129 Jameson,
  Orange, CA 92866
• Website: OldTownAyurveda.com
• Phone: 714-914-6757
• Email: oldtownayurveda@gmailcom
• Facebook: Old Town Ayurveda
• Twitter: Asha Patel @OldTownAyurveda
• Yelp: Old Town Ayurveda

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.