Burn it Off: The Ayurvedic Spring Detox. Poses, actions, and foods to stoke your metabolism and shed winter’s excess.
The tulips may be blooming and you’ve started pricing summer sandals, but if you’re suffering from weight gain, foggy thinking, and a lack of motivation, you’re likely experiencing an imbalance of kapha dosha, one of three energetic qualities in Ayurvedic science. “These are the signs of kapha [excess] that build up over the winter,” says Larissa Carlson, Dean of the School of Ayurveda at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. Spring is the kapha season, and its qualities mimic those in nature: heavy, wet, cool, and thick.
Kapha represents both solidity and sturdiness and the wet juiciness that lubricates the joints after the windy, dry, bone-chilling vata months of fall and early winter. 3 Ayurvedic Answers to Dull, Dry Fall Skin. It’s officially fall, and along with its gorgeous colors, clear blue skies and crisp cool air comes a far less welcome occurrence: dull, dry skin.
7 Ayurvedic Remedies for Gas and Bloating. (This article was also featured in Popular Lately on elephantjournal.com) In asking clients about their digestive health, I’ve learned that many people don’t believe they have digestive issues– even if they regularly suffer from gas and bloating.
Apparently, they share this in common with over 70% (and maybe even 90%) of other Americans. Yes, we’ll all have gas and bloating at some point or another, but they shouldn’t be a part of our regular digestive process. Both symptoms can be incredibly uncomfortable, and there’s no need to suffer! Try these easy, natural, medicine-free Ayurvedic remedies to help your tummy feel flat and calm again. 1) Be mindful of the way in which you eat. Ayurveda has gifted us simple yet profound wisdom on this topic. 2) Drink a cup of hot water first thing in the morning. When we wake up in the morning, our digestive fire is naturally low. 3) Avoid gas producing foods. Why Your Belly Needs a Routine. (This article was also published on elephantjournal.com.)
The whole body loves routine, belly included. It does its best digestive work when you eat your meals around the same time everyday. Eating lunch at 11 am on some days and 3 pm on others, for example, is a bad habit that needs to be kicked by people who want to feel physically well. (That’s all of us, no?) All the kale, green juices and ginger tea in the world can’t make up for unhealthy eating habits like scattered meals. If your belly knows what hour to expect food, it can prepare itself by firing up the process of digestion before you’ve even taken your first bite. Eating around the same time everyday also ensures that your body has enough time to finish digesting one meal before it’s loaded with the next. Using Ginger to Jumpstart Sluggish Digestion. Good health starts with good digestion.
There are a few telltale signs that you may not be digesting your food properly- and there’s a simple way to fire up digestion if it’s sluggish. Ayurveda (the timeless ancient Indian science of life) calls the power of digestion agni– which means fire in Sanskrit. It’s the physical and subtle internal fire that gives us strength and vitality. When the agni or digestive fire is weak, the whole body suffers. Low agni keeps us from digesting properly, meaning that we may not absorb and assimilate the nutrients from our food. If you experience any of these symptoms your digestive fire may be low:
The Art of Drinking Water: An Ayurvedic How-To. (This article was also published on Elephant Journal under the title: “The Art of Drinking Water: 10 Ayurvedic Tips for a Happily Hydrated Body”.)
Again Ayurveda brings us indispensable guidelines for something we thought had no method: drinking water. Just like the rules for eating, there’s a way to drink that helps your physical body thrive. It’s more than just glass to lips and chug. With a teensy bit more awareness, the way in which you drink water can seriously be a life-changer. For me, it meant not having to race to pee all the time. So, the Ayurvedic way to drink water: Ayurveda For Energy: Are You Sabotaging Your Afternoon? There are a million lenses through which to view wellness.
Ayurveda is one of them, but isn’t a philosophy we’ve delved into deeply enough on TCM. Whenever we encounter ayurvedic principles – whether at a spa, in a book, or through a beauty pro like Shrankhla Holecek below – we’re always deeply impressed with the layers of meaning and balanced approach to care for mind and body. Shrankhla is the creator of Uma Oils, a small line of highly functional, super-sexy beauty and wellness oils based in the ayurvedic tradition. We stumbled across her products at the Detox Market here in L.A and were so impressed with Shrankhla’s wisdom and the quality of these sustainable oils that we asked her to share a series of stories with us on ayurveda as it addresses a few common life issues.