Daya~Ahimsa Yoga

A change of season is an excellent time to do an Ayurvedic cleanse. What is Ayurveda you ask? It is a natural and holistic system of health that originated in India over 5,000 years ago. Ayurveda provides remedies for illness and is designed as a preventative measure to support consistent health and longevity.

Ayurveda is a way of living - it teaches you to be conscious about what nourishes your mind, body and spirit. It literally means the science of life and it teaches us to tune into both the obvious and subtle indicators that there is room for improvement within – body, mind, and spirit.

Ayurveda is about balance. You will learn which foods are best at particular times of the day and at which times of the year. You can enjoy any food in moderation, and if you choose something that isn't necessarily best for your system you will know how to recreate balance. Eventually you may actually find that you choose to avoid foods that right now you think you can't live without.

Ayurveda is a Sanskrit word that means "the science of life". Ayur means "life" and veda means "knowledge". Ayurveda gives you the knowledge to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

Why Ayurveda? Wouldn't you like to have more ease, contentment, mental clarity and physical health in your life? Would you like to have a sense of empowerment and understanding when it comes to your overall well-being? Ayurveda speaks to the vitality of self as a whole: body, mind and creates a greater sense of balance and energy.

Flowers, trees and plants are all a part of nature and so are you. All of the principles of the elements ether, air, fire, water and earth are working within you and around you. Thus, as the seasons change, as time of the day changes, and as years pass us by, your health depends on your body's ability to flow with the natural changes of life; you and nature are in a continuous relationship and Ayurveda is based upon this principle.

It is equally important to appreciate the hard work and dedication that goes into your thoughts about the food you buy, prepare and eat. The way we feel and think about what we eat can have an impact on how our body's respond to it.

One of the aspects Ayurveda recognizes is that as the seasons cycle through you are affected, and as you go through your own cycle of life, your needs and requirements change. Once you learn about your body's constitution and the qualities attributed to each season you will be able to live harmoniously with the natural rhythms of life.

Ayurveda and Yoga are both ancient traditions of India and they complement one another to support a healthy, calm and long life. Ayurveda is a way to nourish and heal the body and yoga is a way to understand and find balance in your mind. The mind can be restless; always planning, thinking and worrying. When you practice yoga mindfully you begin to learn that this can be a place for you to allow the mind to rest by staying focused on your breath. When you start to feel your mind wander to the calamities of life, quickly bring it back to the moment by noticing which parts of your body are touching the earth beneath you - your breath supports your postures. Once you find that stillness of the mind with your breath on the mat you can take this ability to deal with any stressful situation as it arises, off your mat by bringing yourself to your breath.

As you practice yoga energy moves through the body and creates space in the areas of tension or blockage of life-force energy. Life-force energy is rejuvenating, healing and creates balance. When you use yogic breathing (otherwise known as ujayi breath, ocean-sound breathing) or pranayama, and movement, you provide the body and mind with a healing energy to help support your sleep, circulation and digestion.

As you move into a regular practice of yoga you start to notice the energy you feel after class and the calmness of the mind, and you feel physically healthier - have the desire to eat healthier, cleansing foods. Ayurveda provides the tools to nourish yourself in this way with the knowledge of which foods to eat, when to eat or sleep, how long you should sleep for, and how to recognize if you're unbalanced.

Not all bodies are created equal. We each have differing body constitutions and needs. Ayurveda takes assessment of your state of being and how it fits into the natural world in terms of three basic principles, or doshas. These doshas are vata, pitta and kapha. Vata is a combination of the elements of ether and air, pitta is a combination of fire and water, and kapha is both water and earth elements. Ayurveda suggests that these constitutions were set in you at the time of conception.

All the doshas or elements are a part of you, with some people being tri-doshic (having all three doshas simultaneously), while most people are dual doshic, with one dosha being more prominent.

All doshas have particular qualities, and Ayurveda lists twenty qualities that are observable and are expressed as ten sets of opposites: hot/cold, oily/dry, rough/smooth, heavy/light, soft/hard, static/mobile, cloudy/clear, gross/subtle, slow/sharp, liquid/solid.

When thinking of the elements, someone who is vata would be made up of ether or air, whereas a pitta would be made up of fire, and kapha made up of water and earth.

Someone who predominantly vata would be considered dry, light, cold, rough, subtle, mobile and clear. Pitta would be hot, sharp, light, liquid, mobile, oily. Kapha would be heavy, slow, dull, cold, oily, liquid, smooth, dense, soft, static, gross and solid.

How can you recognize these qualities within yourself? As a general guideline you can think about how you may see particular patterns within yourself and come to achieve some sense of what kinds of behaviours you observe in yourself.

Vata:

one who speaks very quickly and often (mobile)
tall and thin (light)
constipation (dry)
more of a "big picture" than a "small details" oriented person (spacious, ether)
feel more connected to a spiritual or energetic existence (subtle, ether)
paler skin tone (clear)

Pitta:

able to effectively and efficiently complete tasks (sharp)
anger easily (fire, mobile)
regular (bowel movements) (light)
highly critical of yourself and others (fire, mobile)
usually hot even when others around you are neither hot or cold (hot)
tend to be fanatical about your spiritual/religious beliefs (fire)
of medium build
medium tones to skin

Kapha:

gain weight easily and have difficulty losing it (being of the earth element which is hard, steady and solid, speaking to a nurturing and stabilizing life force; which could be how you could notice a larger frame and gaining weight more easily)
difficult to get moving most of the year (mobility is not a quality associated with kapha) (heavy, slow and static)
prone to depression (dense and dull)
sleep is heavy and long lasting (static or slow)
loyal to friends and loved ones (solid and soft)

In order to achieve a state of balance regardless of your dosha you must keep three principles in mind:

Everything you see, taste, touch, feel and hear can be described by your qualities as described above
like increases like (so if you eat spicy foods and you're predominantly pitta, you will ignite more fire as evidenced possibly as irritability or anger within yourself)
opposites balance (also with pitta, if you choose more cooling foods/beverages you can balance the fiery nature of your quality)

If you adjust the foods you eat, the exercise you do and other factors in your life according to times of the day that feel most right for you, various seasons or times of your life you can maintain a better balance physically, physiologically and emotionally.

What Ayurveda is NOT: Ayurveda can mean different things to different people and it is important to see if it resonates with what makes sense to you in your life.

Ayurveda itself is NOT a religion. Ayurveda takes into consideration mind, body and spirit because they are all connected and interrelated. You are in a relationship with the entire universe and experience different forms of energy from all things you experience in your day or life. For example, spending your day in front of a computer or after a long day at work lends itself to experiencing particular emotions, likely often fraught with feelings of lack of energy, exhaustion and heaviness. Whereas, if you spend your day out in nature, take a walk or lay in shavasana at the end of your yoga class you may likely feel energized, calm, peaceful, full and light. You have differing physical, mental and energetic responses.

Ayurveda has its foundations on the belief in being connected to all that is and encourages you to feel as though you can tap into whatever healing power and wisdom that you seek. This wisdom is both within you and all around you. You are connected to spirit and divinity that is important to you and you are able to create for yourself the ability to tap into the healing energies that exist in the world.

Ayurveda is NOT a fad. It has begun to be more recognized in the western world but has been practiced in India for more than 5,000 years. It shouldn't be looked upon as a quick fix, magic solution or a passing phase or as a means of losing weight for a particular occasion in your life. It is a lifestyle that creates a means of providing nourishing and fulfilling foods and behaviours for your ever-changing body and life. Ayurveda offers a means to reconnect with natural foods and natural rhythms of life in a way that will create health.

In Ayurveda a cleanse is a means of creating awareness, healing by removing toxins and increasing digestion and energy.

It's a good time to cleanse if you experience at least three of these effects:

There is a white coating on your tongue first thing in the morning.
After a main meal you feel really tired and just want to curl up and snooze.
Your energy levels are really low and you feel tired and lethargic all day long, even though you eat well and sleep well.
Your appetite is poor or you crave junk foods.
You feel “spaced out”, lack enthusiasm and your mind is cloudy.
You experience abdominal bloating and gas, especially after a main meal.
You feel heavy and congested or constipated.
You have a general sense of malaise, with vague aches and pains.

The best time to cleanse is with the change of seasons (Winter to Spring and Summer to Fall and Fall to Winter).

Ayurveda does assert that there is one thing that influences our health more than any other: the metabolic fire – agni, in Sanskrit. Agni drives all processes of physiological transformation by turning food into consciousness and governing metabolism throughout the body. Agni oversees digestion, absorption, and how food makes its way into the digestive tract. It also oversees the body's ability to exchange nutrients at the cellular level – even the digestion of thoughts and emotions. Agni is also our number one defense system against ill health and disease. Thus, when agni is impaired, our overall health suffers – sometimes in very strong and uncomfortable ways and at other times on a more subtle level.

The point is that tending to and supporting the health of agni can be meaningful way to improve your overall health. And while there are many ways to support agni, a cleanse is one of the most straightforward and effective means available. When performed correctly, a cleanse strengthens agni throughout the system, helps to eliminate the toxins that might otherwise inhibit it, and can therefore be a great method of renewal and healing to body, mind and spirit.

Come join me on April 12, 2015 for an informative workshop to get you started with your Ayurvedic Spring Diet Cleanse and learn more about how this cleanse can benefit you in your current life state as you transition from the heavier winter months in the lighter days of spring to summer.

Where: Viva Hot Yoga; 201 2032 Columbia Avenue (above JJ' Fashions) (visit www.vivahotyoga.com to see the poster and check out the yoga classes offered); Castlegar, BC

When: April 12, 2015 from 1-3 p.m.

Investment: $50

What does that include: Two-hour informative workshop and private access to a blog created just for you which will include 12 days of Ayurvedic philosophy, recipes and encouragement; the ability for you to ask questions; and share recipes of your own that you come up with throughout your cleansing process which will serve to enhance the experience of your fellow cleansers.

I look forward to seeing you all.

Namaste

Jen

Daya~Ahimsa Yoga

Saturday, 26 September 2015

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Thursday, 30 July 2015

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Monday, 20 April 2015

Ayurveda

Saturday, 28 March 2015

Spring is in the air . . . it's time to cleanse