Ayurveda 101

We harvested the famous adaptogen ashwagandha right here in Southern Oregon. It did exquisitely well in this climate and we were rewarded with an abundant field full of this amazing herb.

Daily routines are a must in Ayurveda, but just how effective are they? Check out this personal account of how an Ayurvedic practitioner's daily routine changed her world for the better.

Not all yoga practices are calming to vata. A vata balancing sequence should incorporate warming, grounding, and slow qualities to counteract the dry, rough, mobile qualities of vata. 

People often wonder why Ayurveda holds oil in such high esteem. In this entry in our Ask Banyan series, we discuss what makes oil the perfect choice for self-massage and self-love. 

We take care of our cars, our homes, our jobs, our children, and the many people we love. Why then can it be so difficult to give ourselves the care and attention we also need and deserve?

Paying attention to your digestion can be a major clue to your health. That's because in Ayurveda strong digestion, or agni, is considered the root of all imbalances or the seed of health.

One of the most common questions we get is how to support healthy, beautiful hair. Luckily, there is an Ayurvedic herb that does that and much more! Read on to learn more about bhringaraj.

Vata has superpowers! The first step in harnessing them? Focus on celebrating the positive aspects of this dosha, while also using Ayurvedic wisdom to stay balanced and healthy. 

Excess pitta can become reactive, settle in the tissues, and manifest as an imbalance if it overstays its welcome. Ayurveda offers solutions to help the body gently cleanse natural toxins before they have a chance to take hold and cause disorder.

Taking care of your hair is a wonderful addition to your self-care routine. Weekly oil application to the scalp and hair will not only improve the condition of your locks but will also offer many other holistic benefits. Read this article to learn some of those benefits:

Kitchari (pronounced kich-uh-ree) is the traditional cleansing food of Ayurveda. It is a combination of split mung beans and white basmati rice with plenty of spices, depending on your constitution. Amidst all of the modern diet trends happening today, this might seem like an unusual cleansing food. Here are seven reasons why kitchari is a fabulous food for cleansing.

In addition to listening to that inner voice that tells you when you've had enough, what can you do to make things a little easier on your digestive system? How about incorporating some delicious winter spices that can gently stimulate your appetite, aid the digestive process, and help you avoid the aftermath of overindulgence like gas, bloating, and upset stomach.

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.

The goal is not to give everything of ourselves away to everybody else so that we are left a tired, sloggy, irritated, burnt out mess. Nope. Because then we bring crummy energy, lack of presence, and even resentment to those things that should be full of love and joy! 

When I think of the challenges to meditation, it seems silly. After all, we just have to sit down in a comortable place and be still, quiet our random thoughts, and breathe. OMG! It may seem simple, but in truth it is the hardest thing for most of us to do. Why? Now that is a great question, and within that answer are my top three tips for folks who are new to meditation.

According to Ayurveda, the sinus cavity is the gateway to the brain, mind, and consciousness. To address imbalances related to memory, the emotions, thoughts, and imbalances above the clavicle bone, treatments like nasya are often administered. Nasya, the practice of lubricating the nasal cavities and sinuses by gently placing a few drops of herbal and non-herbal oil into each nostril, can be self-administered or given by an Ayurvedic practitioner. It can aid with mental and emotional stress, as well as tension in the head, throat, neck, jaw, and shoulders.

Among the juice fasts, liver cleanses, and 10-day detoxes lives the traditional Ayurvedic kitchari cleanse. It’s hard to know if there were dietary trends at the time of Ayurveda’s origin over 5,000 years ago, but it’s safe to say this cleanse has stood the test of time. Its relevance, wholeness, and effectiveness tells us there’s nothing trendy about it.

When you first discover Ayurveda, you feel a magnetic pull to learn more. The way the system addresses each person as a unique individual feels a lot like having a friend that really “gets” you. There is some glitz and glam around uncovering your dosha (if you don’t know yours, take the Ayurvedic Profile™ quiz), and staking your claim as a vata, pitta, or kapha is like illuminating a path with your best health as the destination. 

What happens when vata and kapha are both imbalanced? In this Ask Banyan video, we address what this type of imbalance might look like, and what to focus on to bring both doshas back to balance. 

If you find your inner fire, impatience, frustration, or anger building within you, cucumber might be an ally to turn to.

When used correctly, sounds can greatly affect our state of mind, emotional health, and provide a balancing effect on the doshas! The ancient Indian mystics knew that sounds reverberate in our bodies as we speak or hear them, and they used these intonations for medicinal purposes.

Ayurvedic dry-brushing, called garshana (pronounced gar-shun-uh), promotes lymphatic cleansing and is a powerful way to support the removal of ama (cellular waste products) from the body. Dry brushing helps to stimulate kapha in the body and encourage movement and drainage of excess mucus.

A basic tenant of Ayurveda is that everything in the universe is made up of the five elements: ether, air, fire, water, and earth. The elements then combine to form the three doshas: vata, pitta, and kapha. The doshas are quite apparent in nature when we look through the lens of Ayurveda. We can define the doshas by their gunas, or qualities.

Have you ever noticed how often we use the word “breath” in our daily live? We use phrases like, “I’m not going to hold my breath,” “Like a breath of fresh air,” “I have to catch my breath,” “It took my breath away,” “Take a deep breath first,” and so forth. Pranayama is a yogic practice commonly translated as “control of the breath.”