5 Health Tips For Winter Season Winter is the season when the earth’s energy withdrawls back into herself as nature slows down with cold, damp, and heavy qualities. Because of these cold qualities – many people experience signs and symptoms of vata aggravation [anxiety, insomnia, etc] especially during the early part of winter season. Here are some simple ways to remain cozy and healthy during winter season while balancing vata dosha. Vata Dosha – Flow & Motion Vata dosha governs flow and motion in the mind and body — the movement of thoughts across our minds; memory; food moving through our digestive tract; elimination of wastes; the flow of our blood; and our breath. For the movement of all three doshas — Vata makes it happen; it’s the leader! Since the oth...
Gut Health & “Ama” Over the course of a lifetime, we ingest roughly 50 tons of nutrients and our ability to properly digest these nutrients determines to a large extent the state of our health. “Ama” is a concept of Ayurveda which can be best understood as the accumulation of toxic metabolic by-products at various levels of physiology. More simply, ama is the by-product of poor digestion and according to the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda – ama is the root cause of nearly all diseases. Ayurveda states that proper diet and optimal digestion are the major pillars of good health. Similarly, optimal function of the GI tract requires proper mucosal integrity and a balanced microbial ecosystem in the gut. In essence, “gut health” relies on “good bacteria”. Any compromise...
Jyotish – Planetary Blessings & Mantras Jyotisha is derived from the Sanskrit language and means “light, heavenly body”. Therefore, jyotish [Vedic Astrology] is ‘the science of light’ and is a sophisticated science originating from the ancient Vedic traditions of India. Vedic astrology is part of a large integrated system of philosophy called the Vedas. The fundamental principles used in Vedic Astrology can also be found linked to its related systems, such as Ayurveda, “the science of life”; and Vastu, “the science of space”. Sun – Sunday Blessed and Holy Sun!! The Sun embodies inspiration, confidence, power, and generosity. May we all come to know the Divine Surya, which bestows light, truth, wisdom, leadership, and vitality. The Sun sules Sunday, ...
Nature’s Greatest Antioxidant The continuous production of free radicals in the body is inescapable and living in the modern world is a recipe for free radicals. Free radicals are molecules [i.e. oxygen] that have lost an electron and therefore become very reactive, unstable, and damaging. Being reactive and unstable, free radicals attempt to steal electrons from neighboring cells which can disrupt normal cellular activity. For example, if free radicals attack the cell membrane, enzymes, or even DNA this can produce a chain reaction of cellular destruction. Even worse, if DNA is altered this can lead to cellular dysfunction, mutations, and even cancer. Antioxidants – Your Defense Against Free Radicals According to the NIH [National Institute Of Health], antioxidants are substa...
How To Manage IBS Naturally For many people, the symptoms of IBS are so severe that they can’t even leave their home or have to plan their day-to-day activities around trips to the bathroom. There are nearly 60 million Americans who have disabling symptoms of IBS such as bloating, cramps, diarrhea, constipation, and abdominal pain only to have it dismissed as a “functional” or “psychosomatic” disease; disease caused by the mind. According to Ayurveda, the symptoms of IBS resemble most of what was described many thousand of years ago – a condition called “grahani”. “Grahani” is considered the seat of digestive enzymes [“Agni”] and if impaired, can lead to altered intestinal motility. The predominant symptoms of IBS are alternating diarrhea and constipation accompanied by abdomi...
Is Arthritis Due To Gut Disturbance? Osteoarthritis, also known as degenerative joint disease, is the most common form of arthritis and according to the CDC, over 52 million Americans have been told by a doctor that they have some form of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, or fibromyalgia. Interestingly, the ancient science of Ayurveda has long described three basic types of musculoskeletal joint diseases, namely sandhivata [osteoarthritis], amavata [rheumatoid arthritis], and vata rakta [gout], that are characterized by pain and swelling of the joints. Management for each type of arthritis is unique, as we shall discuss below, but for nearly all cases, it’s important to acknowledge that arthritis begins in the colon. “All disease begins in the gut.” – Hippocrates Accordin...