sleep deeper: the ayurveda art of true regeneration
You may feel that you sleep fine. But what if sleep could do far more than you're currently expecting from it?
Ayurveda sees sleep as a powerful window for cellular regeneration, ojas (vitality)-building and prāṇa (life-force)-restoration, and the difference between sleeping and truly regenerating comes down to a handful of precise factors most people have never even considered, let alone been taught.
In this talk, Dylan explores the Ayurveda science of Nidrā: sleep - as a living, intelligent process created by an alteration in consciousness and governed by the rhythms of nature.
You will discover why the hours before midnight carry a fundamentally different quality of restoration than those after, how sleep needs are governed by cycles within cycles - the seasons of the year, the seasons of your life, the rhythms of the planets, the waves of your days, and why forcing a fixed sleep formula against these living rhythms quietly erodes vitality over time.
For those who know they are not honouring their sleep: the night owls, the late-night workers, 2am wakers and those rising unrefreshed - Dylan will share how to systematically rebuild what has been lost. For those who consider themselves good sleepers, you maybe haven't even scratched the surface of what your nights can do for you.
Practical tools include sleep-inducing foods, bedtime rituals, understanding light and hormones, specific Ayurvedic herbs and practices. Design your own sleep rhythm and naturally oscillate within what's possible, and shift sleep from adequate to genuinely regenerative.
Length: 90 minutes
Cost: Free with RSVP
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Dylan Smith is an Ayurvedic Practitioner, holistic health educator and, depending on what time of day you catch him, a man covered in oil worshiping the sun at the beach at sunrise.
If you ever walk or drive anywhere with Dylan, budget extra time. He will stop to examine the plants. He brings that same quality of unhurried attention to his patients and students - a genuine interest in getting beneath the surface, uncovering what is actually going on, and revealing the full potential blueprinted into each person's biology.
Dylan founded Vital Veda in 2014. The living of it started well before that.
He consults with patients, runs immersive training programs, forages in the bush to make food and herbal preparations, travels around the world to teach and consults,, and hosts a widely loved podcast that has introduced thousands of people to this tradition.
He works closely with women, alongside his wife and fellow practitioner Sole Del Riccio Smith, supporting fertility, pre-conception, pregnancy and the postpartum period with a particular dedication to optimising health for future generations. Tell Dylan you are pregnant or just had a baby and he will likely show up at your door with the most prana-rich food you have ever tasted.
What people most often say about Dylan is that he tells it straight: no ambiguity, no sitting on the fence, just honest and direct. Sometimes if there is conflicting advice or too much information, he distils it to what actually matters and makes it immediately practical. Do less, achieve more. Ayurveda, integrated effortlessly.
He regularly travels to India to train with one of the world's most respected Ayurvedic lineages and has studied Sanskrit to be as intimate with the source as possible. The tradition is timeless. His enthusiasm for it, shows no signs of catching up.