EP.9 Nidhi Pandya

SUMMARY:
In this enlightening episode, I sit down with Nidhi Pandya—Ayurvedic doctor, teacher, and author of Your Body Already Knows—to explore how ancient wisdom can help us live longer, sleep better, balance our hormones, and reconnect with our inner rhythm.

We break down the three timeless principles behind intuitive health, why most wellness trends miss the mark, and how to create a warm, moist, thriving internal environment.

From daily rituals to radical breathwork, this episode is a practical guide to slowing down aging without biohacking your biology. If you’re burned out, over-supplemented, or craving a simpler path to health and vitality—this one’s for you.

EXPECT TO LEARN:

• Why your body already knows how to heal—and how to listen.

• The ancient Ayurvedic principle that governs gut health, sleep, hormones, and mood.

• How to reset your inner climate using food, oiling, rhythm, and breath.

• The real difference between biohacking and true longevity.

• Why wisdom—not tech—is the future of well-being.

• How Nidhi’s 21-day reset rewires your health from the inside out.

TRANSCRIPT:

Julian: Nidhi, there are many listeners that tune into this podcast who are very aware of health and longevity. So for those who do not know anything about Ayurveda, what does Ayurveda mean, and why should they learn more about it?

Nidhi: Great question. Ayurveda literally translates to "the science of life." It is a holistic health and healing system that comes from ancient India. It is also often known as the sister science of yoga because they both come from the larger Vedic tradition and are around 5,000 years old. Being the science of life, Ayurveda covers everything from prevention and treatment of disease to longevity, fertility, childcare, nutrition, lifestyle, and social conduct. If it has to do with human life, Ayurveda has something to say about it.

What I also tell people, and I love this, is that Ayurveda was one of the first systems to introduce the idea of bio-individuality. A lot of modern trends like turmeric, ashwagandha, oil pulling, dry scrubbing, and bullet coffee—they all come from Ayurvedic traditions.

Julian: When you compare your childhood in India to one you might see in New York today, how did it differ?

Nidhi: I think the world at large has changed, mainly because we now live isolated lives. We are not living in communities anymore. I grew up in a large joint family of 14 people. But also because the world has become so flat—the access to information is tremendous, yet we are completely disconnected from our wisdom.

It is not just about India versus New York. Even if I were to go back to Mumbai today, I would see how the times have shifted. We now do a lot of front-brain learning—focused, information-based learning—not whole-brain, connection-based learning. That is one of the biggest differences between us and our ancestors.

I am raising two daughters in New York as a single mother, and I can still pass on some of the Ayurvedic wisdom that was passed on to me. It was like a first language—no disclaimers, no “according to Ayurveda.” We just learned about the rhythms of life in an immersive way. And without even realizing it, I am subconsciously passing those ideas down to my children. The world has changed drastically, and I think that is the root of many of our modern issues.

Julian: It is not just Ayurvedic traditions, right? My parents are Lebanese as well, and you really see that differentiator with a more isolated, more digital world. Can you just hone in on maybe one, two, three examples of traditions that you remember acutely as you were growing up?

Nidhi: Absolutely. Traditions I remember a lot, but I would like to break this into two parts. First, how I learned Ayurveda—what does an upbringing in an Ayurvedic household actually look like?

For example, Julian, when I would go down to play with my friends as a young girl, instead of saying, “Come back by 7 p.m.,” my mom would say, “Come when you see the bats weaving through the sky.” That never felt like an instruction. I was a rebel, but it felt natural—like it was just my time to start coming in. There is an understanding that nocturnal life begins then. Over time, you notice you are coming home earlier in winter, later in summer. It is one sentence that connects you to so many rhythms.

Or a statement like, “We do not eat yogurt at night because it is heavy to digest.” In that one sentence, you learn so much: yogurt is heavy and slimy, night is not the best time to digest, and perhaps lunch is a better time. You are always learning through these immersive statements.

If I think about actual traditions, we were five girls in the house—my sister and three cousins. We were treated like one family and slept on a large family bed. My grandfather, an Ayurvedic healer and a saint, would sleep in the same room on his own bed. He would wake up at 4:30 a.m. and begin his rituals—oil pulling, washing his own clothes, even though we had help, boiling gold in water to drink throughout the day, massaging his body. We ate based on the seasons, lived according to the time of day, and made food suited to the climate.

We kids were always involved in these things. When my grandfather prepared herbs, we would help dry them, chant before making them, and set intentions. All of this was taught in such an immersive manner that it became second nature. I could not be more grateful for that kind of childhood.

Julian: When you think about bio-individuality, did you find you were treated slightly differently from your sisters? Was there an individual routine for each person?

Nidhi: That is a beautiful question. I think sometimes people take bio-individuality too far. On a daily basis, the 14 of us in the house ate the same food and lived similarly. However, we were all aware of our individual tendencies, and care was taken when it was needed.

For example, my grandfather might say, “You are all going on a picnic in the sun? Ruchi, drink extra coconut water—your body heats up quickly.” Or to me, “Nidhi, your body tends to dry out, so be careful.” These statements helped us understand our bodies early on. It did not feel like a burden—it felt like ease.

Growing up in this super health-conscious family, health never felt like fear of disease. It felt like freedom—the freedom that comes from being well. That is the opposite of what I often see now. People want to be healthy because they are scared of sickness. But we knew how to balance our bodies so we could go out into the world, travel, do what we loved.

My sister, for example, had a more specific routine when she was depleted—certain foods, regular massages, extra care for a period of time. So yes, when needed, individual care was present. But the baseline was similar living, with slight intuitive tweaks.

Julian: I am hearing intuition, being connected—and we will get into your book very soon—but did you feel your intuition about your body and mind drop when you moved to New York? And you moved in your late teens, was it?

Nidhi: Yes, I moved when I was around 20. And to your point about intuition—what I have learned is that intuition and wisdom are very closely connected. We sometimes dismiss intuition as vague or woo-woo, but wisdom is widely respected. And really, they are the same thing.

A deer does not wake up in the morning thinking, “Oh no, I have to wake up early and eat grass again.” A tiger is not confused by a new study on sleep cycles. Animals know what to do. When we are born, we know to drink from our mother’s breast, having never used our mouth before. That is wisdom.

Animals know which soil to roll in when they are sick, what to eat when they are nursing. Bears eat cabbage heads before hibernating so they can clear their bowels. These are examples of innate intelligence.

So yes, when I came to New York, I had a short stint working for a pharmaceutical company. It was a marketing job, and I thought it was the easiest to get. But I have never felt more disconnected. It was not about whether pharma has a place—of course it does. But it was the disconnection from everything I knew.

By the end of that year, I knew: this is not what I want to do. Even if nobody understood Ayurveda, I knew I had to bring this wisdom back to my ecosystem in some way.

Julian: Fast forward to today—your body already knows. Intuitive. You have written Your Body Already Knows: Intuitive Ayurveda: 21 Days to Reset Your Gut, Sleep, Mood, and Health. Why did you write this book?

Nidhi: The plan to write a book has been present for about 15 years. Writing is very close to my heart. As you know, I have been inspired by Khalil Gibran my whole life. The book had to feel right. I got proposals to write books on fertility, or the neuroscience behind Ayurveda, and those books would have made me sound very intelligent. But they would not help people reconnect with their own wisdom.

I wrote this book because I want people to know: you do not need to connect with someone else’s expertise to live well. You just need to reconnect with your own wisdom. If I had to write one book, it had to be this one. Now I can write others, but this had to come first.
Julian: How do you reset your wisdom? How do you connect with that?

Nidhi: I talk about three governing principles in the book. I must share a bit of the backstory. After my formal education in Ayurveda, I began practicing in the way most people do today. You come to me, I tell you what to eat, how to live, give you herbs. You feel better temporarily. But eventually, people return in a cycle of dependency. That did not feel right to me.

Ayurveda is the science of life, and the first cause of disease in Ayurveda is called Pradnya Aparadha, which means “the loss of wisdom.” I realized, of course we are in disease—we are disconnected from our wisdom. I stopped practicing for a while to reconnect with what really matters.

I went back to this Vedic principle: Yatha brahmande tatha pinde—as is the macro, so is the micro. As above, so below. Life is all about the relationship between the outside and the inside.

Newton did not discover gravity in a lab. Archimedes was in a bathtub. So I allowed myself that space. I realized there are three governing principles you can apply to everything—how you live, how you sleep, your wellness, relationships, mindset. When I reopened my books, I saw those principles everywhere—they just had not been articulated like this before.

I then studied blue zones, traditional medicine systems in China, the Middle East, indigenous cultures. Everyone understood these principles. They are universal. That is what I teach in my programs too.

Julian: Can you break down those three principles for us?

Nidhi: Yes. The first principle is: Life thrives when the climate is right.

Why is there life on Earth and not on other planets? Because the climate is right—sunlight, oxygen, water. Over four and a half billion years, single-celled organisms became mammals. There was no lab, no scientist. Just the right climate.

Our body is its own universe, home to trillions of microorganisms—the microbiome. They thrive only in the right internal climate.

Let us do this together: cup your palm, breathe into it. What does it feel like? Warm and moist. That is the internal climate of life. Our blood, reproductive fluids, urine, breast milk—they are all warm and moist. Life grows in warm and moist conditions.

Emotions? Same. We love warm people. Anger is hot. Depression is sluggish and heavy. Anxiety is dry. Love, gratitude, compassion—they are warm and moist.

Traditional diets support this. Cooked food is warm and moist. Good fats add moisture. Spices add warmth. Even raw foods, when eaten traditionally, were dressed with oil and vinegar. Or they were fermented—a naturally warm and moist process.

It is the same with the mind. If you are stressed, triggered, your climate inside is no longer balanced. Your breath shortens, your nervous system is off. You are not acting from intuition—you are reacting from imbalance.

The goal is to return to warm and moist—physically, emotionally, relationally. That is when you reconnect with your wisdom.

Julian: Can you guide us with some tools to stay warm and moist?

Nidhi: Start by focusing on cooked food. If you are eating raw, pair it with oil, vinegar, spices. Include small amounts of fermented foods—kimchi, sauerkraut, olives, pickles.

One of Ayurveda’s greatest gifts is oiling the body. Apply warm oil before a shower, or even before exercise. Sesame oil is traditional. If that is not available, any good, unadulterated body oil is fine—just not coconut oil, which is too heavy. Trader Joe’s lemongrass coconut oil (which is actually almond oil) is a good place to start.

Science now shows our skin microbiome is lipophilic—it feeds on oils. So oiling nourishes your skin microbiome, calms your nervous system, protects your joints, supports detoxification. Your skin is a channel of consumption. You do not need to eat all your fat—you can absorb it.

Apply oil, exercise lightly to open your pores, then shower. It is a powerful ritual.

Julian: And the second principle?

Nidhi: The second principle is about rhythm. Ayurveda recognized six distinct phases in the day. These phases affect your neurotransmitters, digestion, metabolism.

Between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., it is damp and heavy. Your body mirrors that—nasal congestion, stiffness, sluggishness. This is the time to gently warm up. Exercise, eat a light breakfast.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the sun is at its peak. So is your digestion and brain power. This is the time for your largest meal and most focused work.

From 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., the wind rises. People get restless, distracted. This is when you start to wind down. Sip calming teas, take a walk, do light tasks.

After 6 p.m., your metabolism drops. Our ancestors did not eat big dinners. They had soups, stews, bone broths. Heavy dinners and late nights throw your body off.

Between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. is the golden window. Your body regenerates—your nervous system repairs, new tissue forms. Go to bed before 10 if you can. If not, move your bedtime up 30 minutes at a time.

Julian: And the third principle?

Nidhi: The third principle is about the cycles of life—growth, transformation, and decline.

Every fruit grows, ripens, and decays. Every season has its arc—spring, summer, autumn, winter. Humans too: we grow, transform, and eventually decline.

But this decline is not bad. It is sacred. There is purpose in aging gracefully. Ayurveda encourages us to elongate the transformation period, live with purpose, then welcome the final stage with reverence.

Spiritually, it is different. The inner journey does not decline. There is only growth, transformation, and dissolution.

Julian: Let us say John from San Diego wants to integrate Ayurveda into his routine. He works out, takes supplements. Can Ayurveda fit in?

Nidhi: Yes, absolutely. I live in New York, raising two daughters—it can be done.

John can start with a heavy lunch and light dinner. That is huge. Then switch to mostly cooked food. Use spices and good fats. They are anti-inflammatory and antioxidant by nature.

He can begin oiling his body—just five to ten minutes before a shower. It calms the nervous system, supports lymphatic drainage, helps joints.

At night, maybe he massages the soles of his feet, drinks a warm glass of milk with turmeric. If he cuts down on refined foods and follows these steps, he has won 80% of the battle.

We are studying centenarians in India—many have no electricity, no refrigeration, and no chronic disease. They are healthy because they live in rhythm.

The biggest tool in the West is breath. Just using your breath can change your biochemistry.

Julian: So much of the wellness space is becoming monetized, with everything turned into a pill or product. Are there any clear health trends that you would tell people to avoid?

Nidhi: Yes. First, cold smoothies. Once in a while, for fun, fine. But not as a daily habit. We are warm-blooded metabolic beings. Our systems are designed for warmth.

Second, apple cider vinegar. It is too harsh. It dries out the mucosal lining. Small amounts of fermented food are great—but not ACV every day.

Excessive protein consumption, especially isolated proteins, is also problematic.

Julian: What about non-food trends? For example, sleep devices?

Nidhi: I think sleep science is actually making helpful strides. White noise, weighted blankets, cooler rooms—they mimic Ayurveda’s recommendations. In Ayurveda, we say sleep requires “cool, steady, and heavy.” Those tools help meet those qualities.

Julian: Breathwork is close to my heart—I was a semi-professional opera singer. What can people do to regulate their nervous system through breath?

Nidhi: Two main tools. First, understand that inhaling activates the sympathetic nervous system—action mode. Exhaling activates the parasympathetic—rest mode.

That is why sighing, humming, or chanting feels good. They are all elongated exhales.

Start humming when you are stressed—it calms you immediately. I hum nursery rhymes when I am overwhelmed. It is simple and effective.

Second, resonance breathing. I recommend the “Breathing App” by Eddie Stern. It trains you to lengthen your exhale through your nose. Do it five times a day, like prayer. Just a few breaths each time.

Another powerful technique is alternate nostril breathing. Your left nostril is moon, right is sun. Balancing both brings you to a warm and moist state. It balances your nervous system, hormones, gut. Do four to eight rounds once a day, or when stressed. It is simple and deeply effective.

Julian: Can we do one cycle now?

Nidhi: Absolutely. Take your thumb, block your right nostril, inhale through your left, hold both, exhale through your right. Then inhale through your right, hold, exhale through your left. That is one round. It trains your body to relax.

Julian: It is powerful. This speaks to something Nilesh Thakur said last week—how do we reconnect with the very things that brought humanity this far?

Where do you see Ayurveda going in the next 3–5 years in cities like New York, San Francisco, and London?

Nidhi: I hope people begin to understand Ayurveda as a universal science—not just something Indian. We do not say gravity is British or European. We just say it is gravity.

Ayurveda is the science of life. Many cultures understood it—they just had different names for it. India happened to preserve the literature, but the principles are for everyone.

I hope people begin living more through the five senses, closer to their ecosystems, shutting down earlier, eating better, oiling their bodies, connecting more. It is not far-fetched.

Julian: Your book is a 21-day reset. Why 21 days? And what can people expect from day one to day twenty-one?

Nidhi: The first two parts of the book are about absorbing the wisdom. I ask readers to sit with it before making any changes. Then the 21 days begin.

It takes 21 days for new neurons to fire and wire—for habits to become sustainable. By the end, you are not the same. You see the world differently. You live with more ease.

It is like getting glasses for the first time. You realize, “Oh, I was seeing everything wrong before.”

Julian: Are longevity and biohacking the same? How does Ayurveda fit into this?

Nidhi: They sound similar, but they are opposites. Longevity is about honoring your cycles. Biohacking often goes against nature.

Ayurveda has centuries of writing on longevity—not just to live longer, but to live with purpose. To elongate your transformation phase and find deeper meaning later in life.

Two key principles: First, our number of breaths is predetermined. Slow breath = long life. High stress = short, shallow breath = burnout.

Second, drying is dying. Plants die in dry autumns. As humans, we dry out with age—wrinkling skin, depleted tissues. You want to preserve moisture through food, oiling, breath, sleep, love.

Julian: Earlier you said decay is the third phase. Some people in the longevity space talk about immortality. What would you say?

Nidhi: If you are doing it like a yogi—with deep connection, inner stillness, spiritual growth—go for it. But if you are doing it out of fear or constant “doing,” it will feel like a struggle.

The yogic path is about undoing, not accumulating. That is the way Ayurveda supports longevity—with connection, nourishment, balance, and rhythm.

Julian: Living in fear of death is not really living. Nidhi, thank you so much. A final shoutout to your book, Your Body Already Knows: Intuitive Ayurveda, available now on Amazon and other platforms. Thank you for your time.

Nidhi: Thank you, Julian. Thank you so much.

Julian: I hope you enjoyed it. We will see you next time.