Ayurveda 101

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. 

Summer is the season where pitta dosha accumulates in the body. Particularly if an individual's constitution is pitta-predominant, the increase in excess heat can become reactive, settle in the tissues, and manifest as an imbalance if it is not properly eliminated. Ayurveda offers solutions to help the body dispose of toxins as nature intended before they have a chance to take hold and cause disorder. 

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.”

The saying “You are what you eat” takes on increased importance in Ayurveda, which teaches that food affects you both physiologically and psychologically. To be more Ayurvedic, we can modify this saying to “You are as healthy as the tastes you consume.” Everything you eat has a certain taste and that taste has specific actions on the body and mind.

Ayurveda includes a vast collection of herbs within its rich tradition. However, there are some herbs that stand on their own as extraordinary treasures. They are the superstar herbs of Ayurveda. If you take the time to discover their powers, if you learn how to use them properly, they will change your life.

From an Ayurvedic perspective, hair is rich in the stories it can tell about a person and their skin. Here’s how Ayurveda can help you piece it together.

A time proven method to calm the mind and the senses is meditation. How do you begin meditating? It’s easier than you think. Here are some simple guidelines.

The Ayurvedic take on digestion includes the idea that the whole process happens in three stages, that digestion happens on a subtle level as well as a gross physical one, and that it takes a full 36 days to complete the digestive process. Here is a break-down with more information.

Space element, sometimes called ether, is the place where everything happens. In the modern yoga world, Space element abounds. The practice of intensive, drying asana sequences, an emphasis on raw food, and the devotion to practices and substances that make us feel “blissed-out” all contribute to excess Space element.

Most of the qualities of wind element can be felt in the cold wind of autumn and winter. Wind element carries the qualities cold, dry, rough, irregular, unstable (mobile), subtle, and light. Sound familiar? That's right, vata dosha is made up of wind and space!

Fire element is the principle of transformation. In the body, this most obviously manifests in the flame of digestion. Fire element expresses as hot, sharp, bright, upward-moving, and spreading.

Water element is the principle of cohesion. In the body, this emerges as nourishment, growth, and lubrication. Water element cools, moistens, adheres, soothes, softens, smoothes, dulls, and spreads.

Earth element expresses as stability. The qualities of Earth element are cool, stable, heavy, dry, rough, gross, dense, dull, and hard. In the body, this emerges as growth, accumulation, and support; the muscle tissue, fat tissue, and hard part of the bones depend heavily upon Earth element.