“What is your Dharma?” What gifts do you have to serve humanity?
Dharma – moral values, purpose of this lifetime. To most, we would consider this to be our career and achieving higher social status / recognition. We were put onto this earth with certain gifts or talents that we should use in our role in this life time to make the world a better place while fulfilling our soul.
Recently I read The Five Dharma Types: Vedic Wisdom for Discovering Your Purpose and Destiny by Simon Chokoisky that was very interesting.
There are five Dharma archetypes – Warrior, Educator, Merchant, Laborer and Outsider.
Which archetype are you and how will you use it to make your world better?
Ut Oh!!! You feel it coming on. You are tired, irritable and then your body feels achy and your throat is scratchy…………….NOOOOOO!!!! There is no time to be sick, I have too many things that I need to do!!!!!
We have all been there. We ignore our body’s subtle signs until you have to listen and provide it some love or else you are going down and will be forced to rest.
Winter seems to be the worst. We spend too many hours indoors and not enough time in nature. Our heating system dries out our mucus membranes. There are holiday parties with foods that do not support our digestive system and air travel to spend time with family. All of these things weaken our immune system and unless you are doing something to nourish yourself and support your immune system you will catch a bug.
NIP IT IN THE BUD
When I have over-extended myself and I feel that I am getting achy or a scratchy throat, I up my vitamin C, add zinc and an echinacea tincture. I make myself some freshly sliced ginger tea with a little drizzle of raw local honey and make the time to get more rest and sleep. Usually that in itself will stop me from getting a fully blown cold.
Usually during this time of year I also make sure that I take a shot of firecider every day. There are a lot of recipes out there and you can easily make your own and it will keep for a long time as long as you do not add honey until you are going to use it. It is helpful in maintaining your immunity and can help lessen the severity of any cold that you may catch. There are some great brands that you can find in your local herbal shop, just read the ingredients.
To help soothe my dry nasal passage, I like to use nasaya which is an Ayurvedic nasal therapy of special medicated oils used to clear the sinuses.
I am not one to use hand sanitizer, but during the winter when everyone around is feeling unwell, I take advantage of the wipes at the grocery store on my shopping cart handle and keep a little bottle of hand sanitizer in my bag and use whenever I cannot wash my hands with warm soapy water.
Don’t rub your eyes or touch your face with your dirty hands! It is so easy for those pesky germs to get into your body through your eyes, nose and mouth!
Get outside and take a walk, expand your lungs fully to breathe in some fresh clean air!
CONGESTION AND COUGH
When I get congested I will put a few drops of Eucalyptus essential oil on a washcloth on my shower floor and inhale. Rosemary essential oil works equally well to open the bronchi. A word of caution: do not put essential oils directly on the floor of your tub or shower as this will create a slippery floor and could lead to a fall.
Fresh pineapple has bromelain which is really good at breaking up congestion and drinking fresh pineapple juice also can help with cough.
SLOW COOKED, SOUPY, STEWY FOODS
I will give my body a break so it doesn’t have to work hard to digest food. Simple broths and soups with nourishing herbs and spices are all I need to help me heal. To keep from getting more congested stay away from creamy soups made with dairy.
Generally when we are sick, we don’t have too much of an appetite. It is our body’s way to divert our internal energy to fighting those germs and get them out. We just need to pay attention to ensure that we do no dehydrate ourselves so we can flush those toxins out of our system.
When I feel that I might be getting sick, I love to make myself a lovely pot of chicken soup (AKA Jewish penicillin). There is something comforting about it and the herbs and spices add an additional punch to help my body rebuild immunity.
You may also want to peruse my blog for allergy season as colds and allergies should be treated similarly. Both are due to unwanted pathogens in your body.
SOME HERBS TRADITIONALLY USED TO HELP WITH COLDS AND BUILD IMMUNITY
Here are some of my favorite herbs with their healing properties for colds that are good to keep on hand in your kitchen apothecary.
Red or Green Chile – a staple here in New Mexico that most people have in their freezers. Loaded with Vitamin C it also acts as an analgesic, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, detoxifying, diaphoretic, expectorant, circulatory stimulant.
I hope that you found value in what you have learned to help you and your family to lessen the severity of any colds and keep your immunity up! Be well!
Why do we make New Year’s resolutions? Why don’t we make our resolutions as we celebrate our birthdays? It would be a more accurate new year for oneself than January 1.
New Year’s resolutions began over 4000 years ago with the Babylonians who held the first recorded celebrations to honor the new year —though their celebrations coincided with crop planting in the spring. Promises were made to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrowed. If promises were kept, they would have good fortune and an abundant crop. (source: https://www.history.com/news/the-history-of-new-years-resolutions)
This year, New Year’s day falls on a Wednesday. If you follow astrology, Mercury rules not only Wednesday but is the ruler of our rational mind and speech. It is a good day for you to take action on those things that you have been thinking about adding into your life.
As I look back on this past year I may not have checked off all of my goals, but it was an amazing year learning and stretching outside of my comfort zone to be a stronger and more centered being.
Sunset in Albuquerque NM
As we end 2019, reflect on what has gone great this past year. Don’t beat yourself up over what wasn’t accomplished. The universe has a plan for you and maybe it is just not quite the time to achieve it. Keep working on yourself. Be kind to beings regardless of their views, religion, ethnicity or situation. Stretch and get out in nature every day. Try to find at least one thing that you are grateful every day and write it down on little pieces of paper, put it into a jar and in a year look back at all of those wonderful things.
Recently I tried a little breakfast experiment to see how I
would react to the same ingredients prepared two different ways.
Ingredients: 1 banana, handful of blueberries, 3 dates, about ¼ cup of walnuts, about a tablespoon of pumpkin seeds, about ½ tablespoon of chia seeds and a generous drizzle of honey.
The first preparation was a smoothie. So yummy and creamy that I unconsciously slurped that deliciousness up! Shortly thereafter, I noticed that my belly felt cold and heavy. Definitely had an affect on my digestive fire and I didn’t feel quite right for the rest of the day.
The second preparation was to take the same ingredients, cut them up and arrange into a bowl. First I admired the various colors of the ingredients and with each spoonful I felt every texture and tasted each ingredient on my tongue as I chewed and swallowed. Equally as tasty as the smoothie was, but the experience was much more satisfying and my digestive system was not stressed and I was full of energy for my morning activities.
From this experiment I learned that if I want to have a smoothie for breakfast, I need to add warm spices such as cinnamon or dried ginger to not put out the digestive fire (agni) in my stomach!
They say that we not only eat with our mouths, but with all of our senses. Take time to enjoy your food – look at it, smell it, taste it, feel the textures, listen to the crunches.
Experiment to see what you enjoy and works best for your
digestion. Do you feel cold and sluggish or energized and vibrant?
Detox: a process or period of time in which
one abstains from or rids the body of toxic or unhealthy substances;
detoxification.
Cleanse: a process or period of time during which a person attempts to rid the body of substances regarded as toxic or unhealthy, typically by consuming only water or other liquids.
Fast: abstain from all or some kinds of food or drink, especially as a religious observance.
Photo credit: Pexels.com
There are so many compelling arguments in the media that we need to detox. We are all loaded with toxins that need to get out of our bodies and by not cleansing we are setting ourselves up to get a disease.
There is some truth to this. We live in a polluted environment and are bombarded with all sorts of chemicals from the soap that we use to clean our bodies and clothes, air fresheners, candles and incense to make our homes smell better, the fumes from the vehicles that are on the roadways. The list goes on and on, without including media and other outside stimuli that our nervous system would benefit a detox from.
If you consciously prepare and cook a healthy diet that is appropriate for your constitution, don’t eat too much, pay attention to eating seasonally and have a daily bowel movement there isn’t a need to go through a detox or cleanse.
Seasonal eating is our natural way of detoxing. For example after a winter of eating heavy and hearty foods to warm you on those cold days, the bitter greens of spring, such as dandelion greens, are a wonderful way to help lighten up the body and help detoxify our blood.
If you are someone whose diet consists of the drive thru fast foods and other quick processed meals, a detox or cleanse could be your first step to taking back your health and resetting your body.
By paying attention to what we put into our mouths and listen to the signals that our body gives us for what we consume, we can learn what does and doesn’t work for us. If something makes us feel tired or bloaty after eating it, our body probably cannot properly digest it. Start keeping a food journal and note how you feel while you eating and how you feel afterward. You can begin to notice patterns of what makes you feel energized and ready to conquer the world.
If you have spent your summer holiday indulging in too
many rich calorie dense foods and now you feel a bit bloated, you might need a
little resetting.
There is no need to buy into any expensive diet plans if you can develop an understanding of basic nutrition. Learn how to properly nourish your body and create a meal plan that will be easy for you to follow so that you can stop following fads of random dieting to reduce belly bloat and other digestive issues. If you don’t treat the root of your digestive distress, it won’t matter how many detoxes, cleanses, fasts or colonics you subject your body to you will never completely eliminate the toxins and your body will remain in a state of distress.
Be gentle, kind and loving to your body. It is your home
for this lifetime.
Dark leafy greens, cabbages, broccoli, kale, dandelion greens, chard, spinach, mustard greens, collards, watercress, arugula just to name a few of the most popular.
These beautiful vegetables are packed with vitamin A, C, E and K, contain lots of fiber to help promote healthy intestinal flora, contain folic acid, chlorophyll and phyto-nutrients. So many benefits including blood purification and boosting immune function!
But can eating too much hurt
you?
Spinach, chard and beet greens all have high levels of
oxalic acid which depletes calcium from the bones and teeth. Eating large
quantities can lead to osteoporosis. Kale contains goitrogens and can
interfere with thyroid function. Large quantities are contra indicated for
anyone with iodine deficiency. Kale also contains oxalate which can cause
kidney stones. Spinach as mentioned above contain oxalate which may
cause kidney stones and also contains purines, which if you have gout, consume
in moderation. Broccoli also contains goitrogens and are reduced through
the cooking process. If you have thyroid condition, you might want to consider
reducing your consumption of raw cabbage
family vegetables.
If your diet consists mainly of green juices or eating many cups a day of these green raw vegetables, maybe it may be time to re-evaluate this diet as you may be giving yourself thallium poisoning. Symptoms include: fatigue, brain fog, digestive troubles, nausea, and skin and hair issues. You may just think that you are cleansing your body of toxins and that is why you are feeling crappy. Actually your body is telling you to STOP! You are poisoning me!
But by cooking these vegetables it would be very hard to cause yourself harm, especially if you are eating a diet that is diverse and colorful. How many colors of the rainbow can you get onto your plate every day? Anytime a mono diet is introduced for an extended period of time there can be consequences to one’s health.
As with everything that we do, moderation is key and a meal serving size should
be no more than two cups of cooked or raw food.
We are
living in the age of designer diets. There are diets for every ill and every
belief. I have yet to meet one person on a designer diet who, before commencing
that new diet, had eaten a high-quality, balanced diet of traditional foods. ~ Steve Gagné, Food Energetics.
We are bombarded with different diet recommendations that
lead us to believe that it will be beneficial for everyone. We are all unique
beings and with this each of us has a unique constitution and requires
different nutrients to thrive.
Some people do well as vegans or vegetarians. Others must
eat meat to feel grounded and nourished. You just need to listen to what your
body tells you, there is no perfect diet for everyone and we should not judge a
person on their food choices. Just make sure that your diet is made up of whole
unprocessed foods.
I do not do well with dairy. It is something that has been
an issue my whole life. I can tolerate a small amount in a cup of chai, but
give me a bowl of cereal with milk or an ice-cream sundae and I will feel the
effects very shortly, starting with the rumbling in my belly, increased phlegm
in my mouth and congestion like I am coming down with a head cold. This feeling
lasts for about a day or until my body has eliminated the dairy from my system.
Whatever dietary choice that you make, please make sure that
it is balanced and you are eating real foods and not food like substances. Shop
the perimeter of your grocery store focusing on good quality organic fruits,
vegetables, free range grass fed beef, pasture raised chicken and eggs. Limit
your shopping on the isles with boxed foodstuffs that are packed full of
ingredients that you cannot pronounce. Experiment with different grains and
dried beans from the bulk bins. Try new fresh herbs as well as spices to bring
new flavors to your meals.
Maybe you were lucky enough to have grown up with parents or grandparents who had a garden and grew some if not all of their own food. Remember that connection and time spent in the kitchen preparing the food that was harvested fresh from the garden. This food was clean and organic before those terms were hip and current buzzwords.
If you find that you have indigestion after eating your
meal. Check in with yourself. Were you distracted or rushed and not chew your
food well? Was there a new food introduced during the meal? Are eating
vegetables or other fibrous foods new to you? Become a food detective to see
how your body reacts to what you eat.
I find my clients who see me for indigestion have a weakened digestive fire. Here are a few recommendations that help rebuild that digestive fire (Agni) in your stomach. Reduce your caffeine consumption and replace it with a ginger tea that is made from taking a few slices of fresh ginger and steeping in boiling water for several minutes.
Ginger is one of my favorite herbs that I use as a tea as well as part of my cooking. It is a powerful helper for digestive issues such as nausea, diarrhea, dispelling gas from the gastrointestinal tract and don’t forget that ginger pickle to stimulate your appetite.
Eat simpler foods that are easier to digest such as a slow cooked soup that you can even puree so your body can more readily absorb the nutrients. Use spices that help build up your digestive fire.
If you have been on antibiotics for a long time, you need to re-establish the good bacteria in the gut. Try adding fermented foods to your diet such as sauerkraut, kimchee, miso, plain yogurt or kefir to help rebuild that gut bacteria. This should only be done once you have completed your antibiotics and your infection has cleared up.
Take time to see what your body likes. If eating whole foods is new, allow yourself time to adjust how whole vegetables and grains fill you up. Soon you will be able to see what type of foods energize you to help you return to vibrant health.
Wouldn’t you love to have more energy, no more bloating, gas, diarrhea or constipation? It all ties into the foods that you consume. Your body is trying to tell you that it does not like what you are feeding it. I hope to provide you with some tips so you can relearn the signals your body is sending to you.
The
food that you consume can be nourishing and healing or a toxin that will slowly
poison you.
Time is needed to digest our thoughts and emotions. We should refrain from eating when angry, upset, preoccupied or rushed.
The typical western lifestyle does not really allow for people to be able to take a proper lunch break. We grab something quick, eat it mindlessly or while trying to respond to emails, catch up on work, run errands or participate in conference calls. No time to pause, to eat something nourishing or even get a breath of fresh air. We have been trained to live in a world of being on a schedule that does not necessarily connect to what our bodies need. We eat because it is time to eat, not because we have hunger. We find making decisions about our food is all about what hits those pleasure sensors within our mouth – sweet, salty, greasy, processed foods with little to no nutritional value.
Simple carbohydrates give you a quick boost of energy and then you crash and need an afternoon sugar / caffeine fix to get you through the rest of your work day. You leave work exhausted with no energy to go home and make a balanced dinner – again grabbing take out that hits those pleasure zones. By bedtime, you may be taking some OTC (over the counter) or prescription remedy to deal with the indigestion, heartburn, bloaty feeling that you have and maybe taking something to knock you out from being overly stimulated and caffeinated during your day.
Importance of Agni, the body’s digestive fire
Agni = Digestive Fire. According to Ayurveda, our digestive fire is the strongest between 10am – 2pm. Just as the sun is strongest during this time, so is the body’s capacity to digest and absorb nutrients. Hence, the largest meal of the day should be consumed during this time. Digestive fire diminishes as the sun goes down and it is harder for the body to break down and digest foods.
Ideally, we should eat at the same time every day. This helps the body to reset its hunger signals. Dinner should be light and something easy for the body to break down – for example a simple clear vegetable soup without any dairy, grains or pasta. I enjoy making miso soup with vegetables for dinner. For me, it is satisfying without taxing my body’s digestive energy.
The size of our meal is also important to help us build and maintain digestive fire. Look at the size of your fist, which is the size of your stomach. What you eat for a meal should be no larger than two handfuls of food.
Not hungry for breakfast? You probably ate too much for dinner or ate too late and your food has not completely digested. Try making your evening meal lighter so that you feel hungry in the morning.
The best thing is start the day with a cup of hot water after brushing your teeth and scraping your tongue. This will re-hydrate your cells and help flush out the remaining toxins from your system. Do remember to eat before you have your morning tea or coffee. Having tea or coffee first thing on an empty stomach is setting yourself up for adrenal fatigue.
The weather and seasons play an important role when making choices for meals. On a cold snowy day, eating a cold salad is not as satisfying as a nice stew or hearty soup. Same thing on a hot summer day you would not want to eat a bowl of chili. A cool crisp salad would be more welcomed.
There should be mindfulness when eating. Start a ritual of lighting a candle, setting the table, giving thanks, turn off the TV and put away your phone. This sets the space for you to begin to reconnect to your food. Chew slowly, savor the flavors and textures on your tongue. Notice how you feel.
If you really do not have any hunger at mealtime there could
be several causes. Your last meal has not been digested by your body. Your last
meal was too large or you have low digestive fire within your body.
Signs and Symptoms of Indigestion: constipation, diarrhea, tiredness, blocked vata, abdominal distention, heaviness, dizziness. These are signals from your body that it does not want the food that you eaten or you have not provided yourself with a calm space to eat your meal.
Remedies
to rebuild your digestive fire and aid with digestion:
Adding digestive spices
to suit your constitution to the foods that you cook
As you start to pay attention to what you eat and how you feel you will instinctively be able to make changes to your diet. It really is not all that complicated. Stiff and achy – maybe too much processed foods and sodium; congested – maybe you cannot process sugar, flour or dairy; hot and sweaty – maybe too spicy for your constitution or your body is struggling to breakdown what you have eaten and your digestion is not strong enough to do a proper job.
I hope that these suggestions help you feel more comfortable in your body. Until next time, I wish you peace and much love.
Ok, so maybe you now have become accustomed to waking at the same time every day. Today we will go over what you can do to ground yourself for all of the day’s activities.
I like to start my day with a prayer of gratitude before I get out of bed. Something as simple as: Thank you for a restful night’s sleep and please continue to guide and be with me so that I may shine love and light out into the world. Find whatever works for you or if this does not feel authentic to you, no worries, you can skip this.
Brushing teeth and scraping the tongue are every important to rid the body of all the gunk that accumulated while we were sleeping. This should be done before consuming anything, even a glass of water. Otherwise, according to Ayurveda, you are reintroducing the toxins that your body has worked hard all night to move so that they could be eliminated through the mouth.
Next gently wash your face and by now, you should be ready
to have a bowel movement. If not, don’t worry. Over time, you will be able to
regulate this through diet.
Now it is time for some gentle stretching ~ perhaps some
sun salutations ~ nothing too strenuous, just enough to feel your muscles feel
elongated and limber, maybe 10-15 minutes. (If you work sitting all day long,
it would be beneficial to take a break during the day and stretch some more. Your
back and hip flexors will thank you!)
Once you have stretched and still before you have eaten anything, it is now time for some grounding through meditation and pranayama. Pranayama is breathing exercises that can energize or calm the body. One of the first exercises that I give my clients is alternate nostril breathing, known as Anuloma Viloma Pranayama and here is how you do it:
Find a comfortable seat either sitting straight in a chair or cross-legged
on the floor with an erect spine.
Completely exhale all the air from your lungs
Raise your right hand to your face. Your thumb should be by your right nostril
and your ring and pinky fingers should be by your left nostril. Your index and
middle fingers can either touch your third eye or curl into the palm of your
hand.
Close your right nostril with your thumb of your right hand. Take a deep
inhalation through your left nostril, deep into your lungs
Close your left nostril with your ring and pinky fingers of your right
hand. Exhale completely through your right nostril
Inhale deeply through your right nostril. Close your right nostril with
your thumb, release your ring and pinky from your left nostril and exhale
completely
Repeat steps 4-6 several times and just focus on your breath
This pranayama recharges and rebalances the body by calming
the mind and bringing fresh air to the cells of the body. Doing this is an act
of meditation in itself as you are not focusing on anything besides the
inhalation and exhalation of your breath. This can also be repeated during the day if you
need calming and uplifting energy to get you through your day.
Photo credit: samyeinstitute.org
Give yourself at least 10 minutes each day of being able to
sit in absolute silence and just feel your breath without laundry listing all
the things that you need to accomplish during the day.
Food should only be taken once we have bathed in the morning. According to Ayurveda, eating and then showering will cause the body to create toxins. You can think of it as the warning we use to receive from our grandmothers not to go swimming for at least an hour after we have eaten! The body needs its full energy to work on digesting our food.
Instead of starting the day with coffee, tea, or other
caffeinated beverage, try starting your morning with plain hot water with some
fresh ginger slices steeped in it or a fresh squeeze of lemon or lime. It will
help rehydrate your tissues as well as help move the last of the toxins from
your body.
Hey, are you now telling me that I need to give up coffee??
Photo credit: Pexels.com
Never! I enjoy that dark steaming delicious elixir of
life. I joyfully relish a cup later in the morning after I have had
breakfast. It is no longer the first
thing that I consume by the bucketful as I used to do when I was busily rushing
to get myself ready and out the door for my corporate job. (That caffeine and
sugar habit is a whole other story of how I gave myself adrenal fatigue!)
Vibrant Health by Brenda Bodnar 