A teacher's path to Ayurveda.
It started the way it does for many mothers.
Britney was always drawn to the natural path. But it was as a young mom — watching doctors reach for a prescription every time her kids got sick, watching symptoms go away while wellness never quite arrived — that the interest became a calling. She turned to natural medicine, grew a deep love for food, and arrived at a realization that would shape everything after it: no single diet works for everybody. There is not one way when it comes to health.
Later, as a single mother working multiple jobs to care for her family, Ayurveda is what rescued her. Not as a set of rules, but as a kind of permission — the recognition that she could understand and handle her own health, in her own way, and that what was right for her wouldn't always look the same as what was right for someone else. That permission is at the center of what Om Maitri offers every client.
Britney spent 26 years as a Montessori teacher and educational administrator, and it shows in the practice. Knowledge is power here. The goal is never that you call every time you have a symptom — it's that you learn the foundational principles of Ayurveda well enough to manage your own health and well-being for the rest of your life.
It's important to me that people don't just call every time they have a symptom — but that they learn the principles well enough to manage their own well-being.Britney Peterson
The doshas — three rhythms, one you.
Ayurveda describes every body and mind as a unique blend of three governing energies, the doshas, each woven from the five elements. Knowing your blend — and what throws it out of balance — is the starting point of everything we do.
Vata
The energy of movement — breath, circulation, the nervous system, creativity. In balance: inspired, light, quick. Out of balance: anxious, scattered, cold, sleepless. Vata is soothed by warmth, routine, and grounding.
Pitta
The energy of transformation — digestion, metabolism, intellect, drive. In balance: sharp, warm, decisive. Out of balance: irritable, inflamed, overheated. Pitta is soothed by cooling foods, moderation, and play.
Kapha
The energy of structure — tissue, strength, stability, devotion. In balance: steady, loving, enduring. Out of balance: heavy, congested, resistant to change. Kapha is enlivened by movement, lightness, and stimulation.
Like increases like. Opposites restore balance.
Beneath the doshas sit the five elements — earth, water, fire, air, and ether — and the gunas, the paired qualities Ayurveda uses to read the world: heavy and light, hot and cold, oily and dry, stable and mobile. Everything you eat, do, and experience carries these qualities, and they add up.
The working principle is beautifully simple: like increases like, and opposites bring balance. A cold, windy autumn increases the same qualities in you; warm food, warm oil, and a steady routine bring you back. At Om Maitri, this is how recommendations are made — not from a generic plan, but from reading your qualities and choosing their gentle opposites.
Learn your constitution. Then live from it.
A consultation with Britney maps your doshas and current imbalances, and ends with recommendations you can actually live — food, rhythm, and practices matched to your real life.