Monthly Archives: May 2014

Keeping Cool with Ayurveda Tips

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50262018_524e21b23b_zAccording to Ayurveda, the heat of summer is aggravates Pitta dosha, the metabolic principle responsible for energy production, metabolism and digestion. When aggravated, Pitta can give rise to increased anger, ulcers, rashes and other skin problems.

Pitta season starts in mid-June and lasts until mid-October. During this time you may find that your appetite is not as strong as during the cold months of the year. This is because in the winter the body has to provide its own heat, so the digestive fires burns at its brightest. As the outside heat increases, however, our inner fire diminishes. If you find your appetite is less in Pitta season, listen to what your body is telling you.

You’ll want to drink more liquids during the hot months of summer (room temperature to cool is acceptable, but never ice cold) but it is important not to douse the digestive fires by drinking liquids at the end of a meal.

Sunbathing can increase Pitta and therefore should be minimized. According to modern medicine, sunbathing increases the risk of skin cancer—and that risk is greater among Pitta types or those with Pitta aggravation. If you must be in the direct sunlight, wear a hat and sunglasses. The eyes are one of the five main seats of Pitta dosha and excess heat can accumulate there during the summer.

One way to help control Pitta is simply through diet. Pungent (spicy), salty and sour tastes increase Pitta. Sweet, astringent and bitter tastes reduce Pitta. Whether or not to adopt a Pitta-pacifying depends on your constitution and on any imbalances you might have. A trained Ayurveda expert can recommend the right regimen for you. Remember also that the differences among Ayurvedic diets are matters of degree. Whatever the season, we should always include the six tastes in every meal in order to nourish all of our body tissues.

Seasonal Maharishi Ayurveda purification and detoxification treatments, or Panchakarma, are recommended to keep the doshas from unhealthy levels of imbalance. Imbalance of the doshas arises in six successive states: accumulation, aggravation, dissemination, localization, manifestation and disruption. As long as the doshas don’t get past the accumulation or aggravation stage, we can avoid ill-health.

Once the process goes beyond the aggravation stage, however, some symptoms of disease or disorder may be experienced. The traditional rejuvenation treatments of Ayurveda help remove imbalanced doshas, loosening them from localized areas and eliminating them from the body.

For more information on the traditional detoxification treatments of Ayurveda or for information on consultations with Ayurveda experts, visit The Raj Ayurveda Health Spa and Treatment Center:

www.theraj.com

 

 

 

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Foods with Zip: Ayurveda Tips for More Energy

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If you are living in an area where winter is still transitioning into spring, you are experiencing the end of Kapha season. And while you may have lots of plans for activities such as gardening or exercising, some people may find that the season’s accumulation of kapha produces feelings of lethargy or depression. While we all might notice a bit of these symptoms, an individual with a predominant Kapha dosha will notice it much more.

This is a time when we might want to pay special attention to our diet to include energizing foods. Ayurveda has traditionally classified certain foods as either energizing (sattivic) or energy-draining (tamasic). Tamasic foods drain your energy because they are difficult to digest, produce impurities in your body and contain little vitality.

Here are Ayurveda food tips for boosting your energy levels:

Energizing (Sattvic) Food

Fresh fruit and vegetables

Juice made from fresh fruit and vegetables

Sweet dairy products such as milk and ghee (ideally organic)

Freshly prepared yogurt

Rice and wheat products such as bread, pasta and barley

Honey (unheated)almonds and honey

Raisins, dates, figs

Almonds

Olive oil

Split mung beans

Energy Draining (Tamasic) Foods

Red meat

Aged or fermented foods, including vinegar, pickled foods, and sour cheeses such as Swiss and cheddar. (Most sweet cheeses, such as cottage cheese, farmer’s cheese, mozzarella and ricotta are not tamasic.)

Smoked foods

Leftover foods

Frozen, canned and packaged foods

Onions and garlic

Mushrooms

Vegetables that grow below the ground (except for carrots and beets, which are energizing foods.) Potatoes are mildly energy-draining

Alcohol

Coffee (surprisingly!)

The old adage “You are what you eat” does not just refer to vitamins and proteins. Choosing primarily sattvic foods will affect rev up your energy levels and help maintain a balanced, happy state mind and emotions.

Visit an Ayurveda expert to learn more about the specific foods that will help create perfect balance in your individual physiology. The times of seasonal changes can be challenging to  our bodies and this is the perfect time for purification and dietary alertness.

www.theraj.com

 

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Supporting Beautiful Hair and Skin — and a Healthy Body — with Daily Ayurveda Oil Massage

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I had to laugh when I read about “the new trend for 2014”: conditioning your hair before you shampoo it. Fashion magazines claim that “reverse shampooing” promises to give your hair more volume, recreating the effects of freshly blow-dried hair. I laughed because there is nothing new about the concept. Ayurveda has always recommended that you massage a small amount of oil into your hair and scalp before taking your morning shower.how-to-do-abhyanga-a-self-massage-with-warm-oil-youtube-13925719214ngk8

(One tip: after you have let the oil soak into your scalp for some time, put your shampoo directly on you hair before getting into the shower. This will help remove the oil more effectively. It’s like using spot remover before tossing clothes into the washer.)

And don’t stop with the head! According to Ayurveda, your entire body needs a coat of oil each day. Daily morning oil massage helps the skin perform its important functions efficiently, allowing toxins to be released from the body and nourishment to be absorbed by the tissues. The practice helps increase circulation (especially to the nerve endings) and lubricate the joints, and supports elimination of toxins from the skin.

 Ayurveda massage is traditionally performed in the morning, before your bath or shower, to facilitate the release of toxins that may have accumulated during the previous night.

The skin is the largest organ in the body and is one of the main organs of elimination (along with the colon, lungs, lymph and kidneys). It is also our first line of defense against pollution and environmental toxins. Toxins are expelled through the skin when we sweat. When we can help the skin get rid of toxins more efficiently it takes the stress off our other organs.

You can use plain sesame oil or use oils that are specifically herbalized for specific body types. Pitta types may find the sesame oil a bit too heating and may prefer olive oil, which has a more cooling influence. Whether you chose sesame oil or olive oil for your massage, look for cold-pressed, chemical-free organic oils for the best results.

It is recommended that you “cure” your sesame oil. To “cure” or ripen the sesame oil, heat the oil to 100 degrees Centigrade. Remove from heat once this temperature is reached, cool and store for use as needed. It should be used within 6 months, and not be re-cured. Of course, you should observe safety precautions when curing oil. All oils are highly flammable. Use low heat, and don’t leave the oil on heat unattended. If you drop a small droplet of water into the pan (just one!) you will hear a “crack” when the water heats and rises to the top of the oil. This is an easy way to know when your sesame oil has reached its proper temperature. A word or caution: If you put too much water in the pan, the rising water can create a splash of oil, which can get on the burner and cause a fire. One small drop of water is sufficient.

Why cure your oil? Sesame oil contains antioxidant properties, which are increased with the curing process. This increases the oil’s ability to protect the skin from free radical damage.

How to do an Ayurvedic abhyanga full-body massage

Use comfortably warm massage oil. You can put your container under running hot water for a few minutes to bring it up to body heat.

Apply the warm oil lightly to the entire body, applying even pressure with the whole hand — palm and fingers. Use circular motions over rounded areas such as your head or joints, and straight strokes on straight areas such as your arms and legs.

Apply light pressure on sensitive areas such as the abdomen or the heart.

Use more oil and spend more time where nerve endings are concentrated, such as the soles of the feet and palms of the hands.

After you’re done, relax for 5-15 minutes, letting the oil penetrate into the skin. The longer the oil is on, the deeper it penetrates. During this time you can either rest, or continue with your morning routine, brushing your teeth, etc.

Some people prefer to pat off excess oil with a paper towel before stepping into their bath or shower.

If your schedule doesn’t allow for a daily massage, try and fit it in a few times a week, perhaps on the weekends if your morning schedule is less hectic at that time.

Daily oil massage is part of the ideal daily routine that is suggested to guests of The Raj Ayurveda Health Spa and Treatment Center during their consultations. An Ayurveda expert will be able to specify what type of oil will best suit your physiology.

For more information on Ayurveda or to download a free Ayurveda Booklet, visit The Raj:

www.theraj.com

 

 

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How the Health of Your Child May Be More in Your Control Than You Think

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This week a news headline caught my eye: “Mother’s Diet Affects Silencing of Her Child’s Genes”. The research, conducted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, took place in Gambia and showed a clear link between a mother’s diet before she becomes pregnant and the life-long health of her child.

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I’m always excited when I see modern research that underscores knowledge promoted by Ayurveda. For over 20 years The Raj, Ayurveda Health Spa and Treatment Center has been offering a Pre-Conception Program. This program is recommended to begin eight-weeks before parents try to conceive a child. The program begins with Panchakarma, the traditional Ayurveda detoxification and purification treatments, to remove harmful toxins and promote balance in the physiology of the parents. The parents then follow a specific diet, lifestyle changes and herbal supplements recommended by an Ayurveda expert. By the time the child is conceived, an ideal environment has been created from which to create the child and in which to nurture its development.

To me the idea always seemed driven by common sense as much the data on levels of environmental toxins found in wombs and research on specific vitamins and nutrients that support fertility and child development. (See the blog post “Optimizing Fertility with Ayurveda“). But this new research took things to the level of “epigenetics”.

Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene activity that are not caused by changes in the DNA sequence. Without altering the underlying DNA sequence, genes can actually be turned off. These epigenetic changes may last through cell divisions for the duration of the cell’s life, and may also last for multiple generations. The press release from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine explained, “While a child’s genes are inherited directly from their parents, how these genes are expressed is controlled through ‘epigenetic’ modifications to the DNA. One such modification involves tagging gene regions with chemical compounds called methyl groups, which results in silencing the genes. The addition of these compounds requires key nutrients including foliate, vitamins B2, B6 and B12, choline and methionine.”

This means that what we eat and how we live our lives can turn off or turn on the genes we are born with. And it can also turn off the genes that we pass on to our children.

One interesting outcome of the study was that what the mother ate before pregnancy was more important than what was eaten while carrying the child. Researcher Andrew Prentice, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “The key message is that a mother’s nutrition before she becomes pregnant is super-critical…There is a lot going on before the moment of conception.”

He also noted that pre-pregnancy diet has been linked to the chemistry of genes involved in obesity, cancer and the immune system and that these early days could shape a child’s chances of everything from developing diabetes in their 40s and 50s to having a heart attack in old age.

This study only focused on the diet of the mother, prior to conception. Ayurveda recommends that both the mother and the father attend to their diet and to the balance of their physiology before trying to conceive a child. Since 50% of the child’s DNA comes from the father, it seems obvious that that too plays an important role in determining the future health of a child.

For more information on the Pre-Conception Program at The Raj Ayurveda Health Spa go to:

http://www.theraj.com

 

 

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