About Harmony Within
Ancient wisdom and powerful tools to make a positive change to your wellbeing.
‘Harmony Within’ was created with love and wishes of sharing Ayurveda wisdom with you. At Harmony Within, Rieko offers one-on-one Ayurvedic consultations, rejuvenation and purification therapies, personalized Ayurvedic informed yoga practice to achieve balance, reduce stress, and lessen chronic and acute health conditions.
We are all unique. Through Ayurvedic education, love and guidance, Rieko offers personalized service that result in seeing your true Self, your highest potential. Expand your happiness and wellbeing according to your true nature through sister science of Ayurveda and yoga, a path for self-healing. We all have a powerful capacity for healing within. You will be empowered and feel good in yourself. Start to take good care of yourself.
Align with your own natural state of balance. Find harmony within. Live in harmony with Nature.
Ayurvedic herbs, oils and products (tea, toothpaste, incenses, tongue scraper etc.) are available at Harmony Within, where is located both in Rostrevor and Stirling.
Heath funds from 4 private health insurers are covered at Harmony Within.
About Ayurveda
"Mother of all healing"
Ayurveda (“EYE-yer-VAY-da”) in Sanskrit means “the Science of Life”, which is considered one of the world's oldest healing sciences originated in India dating back over five thousand years. Ayurveda is recognized by World Health Organization (WHO) as traditional, complementary and alternative medicine.
Ayurveda views health not only as absence of disease. Health is achieved when you are aligned with your own natural and unique state of balance, Prakriti. We all are the unique nature and have our own constitution. Movement away from that constitution creates health imbalances, Vikriti, and if such imbalances are not addressed, disease may develop. Understanding your constitution is empowering. It gives you insight into who you are, how you should live and eat. It brings you knowledge of yourself and what is best for you, you can make better choices and decisions. First notice the early signs of imbalances, then make gentle and natural shifts in behavior to return to balance, such as modifying daily activities, adjusting diet, taking herbal medicines, using Ayurvedic treatments for a time.
Ayurveda describes the entire physical world in terms of five elements: Ether (Space), Air, Fire, Water and Earth (Panchamahabhuta). These five elements have particular qualities and energies. The five elements are moving around in all of us and in everything in our universe.
The five elements combine into three constitutional principles, known as doshas. These are:
Vata – space and air
Pitta – fire and water
Kapha – water and earth
The doshas are qualities and energies that influence all of the body's functions, from biological processes to thoughts and feelings. We all have Vata, Pitta and Kapha, but it is their particular combination that makes us who we are (Prakriti). When circumstances cause a particular dosha to become aggravated, it causes a temporary imbalance in the dosha (Vikriti). If left unchecked, this imbalance becomes chronic and health problems start.
Ayurveda treats the imbalances with the opposite qualities. Like increases like, and opposite balances each other. Balance any dosha imbalances with the opposite qualities to regain balance. To achieve this balance, Ayurveda focuses on key principles:
Remove the root cause
Treat the imbalance with the opposite
Every living being is dynamic. We continually change and renew every day. It is the body's capacity to regenerate itself by creating new cells that allows healing to happen.
Ayurveda identifies ten pairs of opposing qualities (Gunas) most useful as medicine. The twenty qualities are how nature keeps a balance and working together. Ayurveda encourages balance by introducing opposite qualities. All of the substances and experiences used as medicine have an effect on the body and mind.
"Vata, pitta and kapha move in the whole body producing good or ill effects upon the entire system, according to their normal or aggravated states. Their normal state is balance and their aggravated stare is illness."
CHARAKA SAMHITA
About Rieko Umemura
Your Ayurvedic practitioner. Your yoga teacher.
Rieko first began studying Ayurveda with Dr. V. Nagaraj, BSc, B.A.M.S, B.S.A.M, D.N.Y (India) in Mysore, India as part of her yoga training in 2012. She was teaching Bikram yoga in India at that time, but the Universe brought her to Mysore to meet Ayurveda. She finished a two-year intensive training in 2018 in Australia including herbology and pharmacology with Dr. Bosco Paul, B.A.M.S (India) being a shadow of Dr. at the clinic. She is a professional member of Australasian Association of Ayurveda (AAA).
Rieko has trained extensively in Bikram hatha yoga series (2011 USA), Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga (2012 India), Yin yoga (2017 Australia), Trauma informed yoga training (2018 Australia), Prenatal yoga (2018 Australia) and has joined regional and international yoga asana championship (2009-2011 Philippines and USA), advanced yoga seminar (84 Hatha yoga asanas, 2009 USA). She continues to learn about The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, which refers to The Eight Limbs of Yoga, each of which offers guidance on way of living.
She teaches group yoga class as well as private class that integrates Ayurveda, Yoga Chikitsa (therapy) into your yoga practice depending on your unique constitution and current imbalance of health, called Ayurveda informed yoga. She integrates elements of different kinds of yoga styles depending on your needs. It is truly therapeutic.
Other than yoga and Ayurveda, Japanese native Rieko loves cooking (and eating), traveling, visiting temples and spending time with her husband and their beloved pug.
'One who sees equally the entire universe in his own self and his own self in the entire universe is in possession of true knowledge.'
CHARAKA SAMHITA
Harmony Within is for anyone who has interest in learning more about their health, body and mind, Ayurveda and yoga. Rieko is passionate to learning, sharing, making this ancient wisdom accessible to everyone, so we can use it, and most importantly enjoy it. Ayurveda is really about offering us insights about how we can fulfill our potential based on our own choice.
Rieko hopes that you start understanding your own nature and some of the basic principles of Ayurveda, so you can include that knowledge easily into your daily life, and it will change your relationship with yourself and Nature, you will find a path to holistic approach to self healing and nourishment, peace, happiness, and start living in harmony with your self and with Nature.
