The shape of the tongue helps to reveal one’s constitution. Vata tongues tend to be narrow and off-center. Pitta tongues tend to be medium width and pointy, and kapha tongues are wide and thick. The color of a tongue gives us information as well. When a tongue is purple, that indicates a vata imbalance.

Finding the delicate balance between what fuels you and what depletes you is essential for sustaining energy, yet this is something that can take a lifetime to learn. Investing time and self-study into better understanding those details is important, and there are some basic principles within Ayurveda that can help. Just as the three Ayurvedic constitutions are often interested in different activities, each dosha also has a varying capacity for sustaining and expressing both physical and mental energy. 

Discover the many benefits of mucuna pruriens! This amazing plant has a profound affinity for the nervous system and is known to be a natural source of the amino acid levodopa, or L-dopa.

One of the best things you can do for your health is to eat freshly prepared food. Red lentils (masoor dal) make a terrific addition to any pantry because they are quick to cook and packed with protein, fiber, minerals, and vitamins. 

Although it can be effective on its own, turmeric can be even more beneficial when combined with other ingredients that enhance its natural properties. Here, we’ll be discussing how you can take the many health benefits of turmeric a step further by creating a quick, easy, organic turmeric paste that can be used as the base for a tasty golden milk recipe, as a cooking ingredient, and more.

Before you start your cleanse, making sure your calendar is as clear as possible will help ensure your success. The body needs time and space in order to allow the nervous system to relax, helping to facilitate the deep process of detoxification

Adaptation. Without this remarkable quality, life as we know it would not exist. It is only through the ability to adapt that humans, plants, and animals have evolved to their modern-day capacity. There is a fascinating concept at play here, and that is the fact that plants have actually helped us to adapt to our changing environments and circumstances. Plants have helped us cope—and adjust—with the stressors in our lives. These types of plants have come to be known as adaptogens.

If you are looking for a new way to experience the beauty of autumn in your kitchen, reach for one of Ayurveda’s most revered spices: saffron. People are often intimidated by saffron because of its price. Yes, it is expensive, but like many things that have been held in high regard for centuries, good saffron is worth every penny.

The change in seasons has an especially strong impact on us, making it easier for imbalance to take root. As fall naturally stirs up vata, it is a perfect time for many of us to do a vata-soothing cleanse.  

In our day and age, stress is an epidemic. Ayurveda provides us with tools that can help build resilience to the hormonal imbalances we are so susceptible to. The mind and body vacillate between two states, rest and digest (parasympathetic) and fight-or-flight (sympathetic), which we can liken to prakriti, our natural state, and vikriti, imbalance.

There could be many reasons for someone to choose to eat a vegan diet or live a vegan lifestyle: health, ethics, and environmental concerns lie at the top of the list. Many yogis adopt this practice in conjunction with the ethical observance of ahimsa or non-harming, and in general, both yoga and its sister science, Ayurveda, seek out a sattvic diet—a diet containing pure foods that are high in prana or energy.

Thanks to its cooling, soothing, nourishing, and rejuvenating work throughout the entire physiology, the sattvic herb shatavari effectively balances both pitta and vata. While famous as a powerful female reproductive tonic, shatavari is equally beneficial to men, and its powers cross into other organs and tissue layers, helping to bring overall health and balance.

One of the most important qualities of self-massage is using warm oil. It’s not just about moisturizing—it’s about getting the vata-balancing qualities of oily and warm into your life, and onto your skin. Here are four ways to warm your oil, guaranteeing a perfectly warm, but not-too-hot oil, that can be easily and quickly incorporated into your daily routine.

Who doesn't love a heaping scoop of ghee melted over the top of their rice or kitchari? Yum! If you've ever been lucky enough to experience the rich, nourishing, and luxurious qualities of this golden nectar, you'll understand why ghee is a must-have in every Ayurvedic kitchen. But have you ever wondered why ghee is so highly revered in Ayurveda? We're going to demystify this deliciously healthy fat and cover everything from the history of ghee to its wide array of health benefits and uses.

Each and every one of us is a beautiful, unique creation with perfectly unique characteristics.  Along with yoga, Ayurveda gives us what we need to balance both our body and mind and provides the doorway to self-realization. The more we know about ourselves and how we react to the environment around us, the more we create balance and well-being through our routine and practices. We can create space for wisdom and self-love.  

Knowing which snacks will bring balance rather than depletion can be helpful knowledge to have. Equally, building awareness and healthier routines around daily eating habits can take us out of the cycle of snacking as a lifestyle.

One delicious way of countering pitta’s heat is by introducing the three tastes known to soothe pitta dosha—sweet, bitter, and astringent. A hibiscus cooler is a refreshing and restorative tonic for pitta dosha, incorporating all three of its balancing flavors. 

Inevitably, the change of season and return to school brings some challenges. The inertia of summer is replaced by a need to shift into a higher gear. Fortunately, Ayurveda gives us a practical framework, and Banyan Botanicals gives us some amazing herbal products to ease us into the schoolyear.

When we are able to let go and simply be with the motions of coloring, we are able to create a sense of serenity, detached from our worries and thoughts, where the very act of coloring becomes its own reward. Colors can also offer healing properties. Just as each color has their own wavelength, they also have their own distinct vibration and can be used to balance the doshas. 

The profound effects of bacopa (Bacopa monnieri) are legendary. This herb is documented in ancient Indian texts as far back as the 6th century for being widely used to promote intellect and balance dis-ease of the mind.

Whatever the season, sometimes our immune system can use a little boost. We are excited to announce our new immune formula to help support your overall health and immunity. Please welcome Immune Strong to our family of herbal tablets and liquid extracts. With a superstar blend of Ayurvedic herbs traditionally used to support the immune system, this formula is a successor to Immune Support—with a few changes and improvements. 

The lunar cycle is twenty-nine and a half days, and its undeniable potency has kept the moon as a keystone of ceremonies, traditions, and practices within cultures around the world. While there is a fair share of mythical stories and legends surrounding the moon, there is an equal amount of research seeking to find a scientific correlation behind the cycles of the moon and cycles of living things.

Bacopa/Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri) is a wonderful herb that has been a highly praised rejuvenative for the brain for thousands of years. Bacopa calms and soothes the nervous system, supports the intellect, and maintains alertness and tranquility while providing energy to the brain. It has long been a favorite of students as it enhances learning, concentration, and memory.

The majority of us are overbooked and over-committed, which as a result, has left us feeling stressed, unhealthy, and not quite like ourselves. When we find ourselves deep into this storyline and ready to take action, we often prioritize the what over the when, thinking a cleanse and more yoga should do the trick. But as your parents knew all along, routine is what keeps you on track.