Inspiring Conversations with Madison Madden of Ayumind

Today we’d like to introduce you to Madison Madden

Hi Madison, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m a Colorado native and grew up with a myriad of mysterious health issues. From the time I can remember, I was experiencing a near-constant episode of some seemingly unrelated ailment – from severe digestive issues, to asthma, to chronic pain and a long-term eating disorder. I was passed along from doctor to doctor and was highly medicated, despite both of my parents being fairly naturalist in their philosophies of life.

By the time I was in college, I was on a cocktail of medications and was suffering greatly. I genuinely didn’t think I would live to be thirty.

That paradigm shifted when I found myself in a class called The Theory and Practice of Yoga at The Colorado College. It opened my eyes to an alternative path. I began to seek holistic therapies, learn about food and its role in health, and pursue a disciplined yoga practice with a teacher that I spent about 10 years with in what’s called a gurukul style.

As I followed the dots, I found my way to Ayurvedic Medicine and was moved by its fully holistic and extraordinarily comprehensive framework for addressing health. Through Ayurveda and Yoga, which are considered “sister sciences”, I was able to balance my gut, heal chronic pain, get off all medications, and radically transform my relationship to food, my body, and my health.

This journey illuminated the interconnected relationship between physical health, complex personal and generational trauma, and my quest for authentic spirituality.

As a small child, I always felt this very palpable energy in my hands – as if I knew how to heal through them. At seven, my family would make appointments to address their back pain. I’d regularly study the energy I felt in my hands and its impact on the world around me.

I channeled this energy through art and through dance as a young person. I was a dance major at Denver School of the Arts, and traveled the world teaching and studying at The Colorado College, going on to dance professionally in Los Angeles for some time before pursuing Ayurvedic Medicine professionally.

Now, I get tremendous joy out of offering exquisite Ayurvedic treatments that I approach with both clinical rigor and with the hands of an artist.

I have started several Ayurvedic organizations, published the book Mind Body Food, and currently sit on the Board of Directors of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I believe healing is a journey of both the individual and the collective. That means an unwinding, deconstructing, and deepening of compassion… over and over and over again. Which is often not easy nor smooth.

Some struggles I have faced include: finding my way in and out of a cult, facing financial challenges, confronting complex trauma of my own, navigating our modern healthcare landscape, grappling with my identity as a queer woman and my ethical right to practice an indigenous medicine from a different part of the world as a white American.

I continue to dance with all of these struggles.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I am the co-owner and Executive Director at Ayumind, a beautiful Integrative Clinic in Lakewood where we specialize in the integration of Classical Ayurveda and Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy. Our mission is to nurture the whole person—mind, body, and spirit—and address the intricate manifestations of trauma and chronic health conditions with both ancient wisdom and cutting-edge mental health practices.

I specialize in Panchakarma and Ayurvedic body treatments, which are truly some of the most nourishing and restorative practices on Earth. Panchakarma is a method of detoxification of deep-seated metabolic toxins, unique to Ayurvedic Medicine.

If you’ve never had an Ayurvedic body treatment, come try our Taste of Ayurveda offering, which is a 2-hour custom crafted Ayurvedic experience that includes our signature Abhyanga, an herbal oil massage performed by two therapists in synchrony.

I am most proud of the way we are able to truly bridge physical and mental health – addressing the mind through the body, and the body through the mind – and help our clients transform their relationship with their body, their health, their history, and their authentic connection with spirituality.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Firstly, I believe that we each bring a unique gift to serve with. I’m a big proponent of following this innate wisdom, and allowing the path of its expression to unfold in ways that we may never rationally craft. Most of us are not encouraged to follow our “heart” when it comes to our life’s work, but I think this is a big mistake.

I ask:
What do you love spending your time doing?
What do you think the world needs?
How can you make money doing it?

This may change and evolve over time. Allow that. When we look back, we tend to see the common thread that ties it all together.

Secondly, I have observed that so much of “success” and “fulfillment” comes from effective communication. Direct and compassionate communication creates connection, growth, and collaboration. In a world of exponential digital engagement, fostering deep human connection is like discovering gold!

Pricing:

• 15 minute Intro Call – Free
• Taste of Ayurveda – $250
• Initial Ayurvedic Consultation – $275
• Couples Ayurvedic Experience – $495
• Panchakarma – starts at $1485

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.livewiseheal.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/livewise_madisonmadden/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madison.madden.353
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madisonmoross/
• Other: https://www.ayumind.com