Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Deep in the Mud



A lotus is a flower that grows deep in the mud.
From a tiny seed it is pure awareness, full of potential, energy and consciousness.
When the time is right it begins a journey, which can be painful and slow.
As the oak stands in time and space
It grew.           It went through change with pain or with no pain.  And every season it honors that change with courage and strength and with generosity with every leaf and acorn.
She gives shelter from the sun in summer and shelter from the snow in winter.
In autumn she shows her un-attachment as she simply lets go.

And in spring she releases her creativity.
She is grounded and she is the earth.
In every plant, tree and seed there is knowledge;
Knowledge of being conscious; knowledge of when to give and when to withdraw.
And knowledge of how to be one with the earth, water, fire, air and space.
As he the Divine sun gives his light, the sunflowers raise their heads from the mud and look upwards,
To a fresh view of positivity, and they follow.

A lotus is a flower that grows deep in the mud.
The deeper the mud, the more beautiful the flower.
A flower in simple awareness, nothing more and nothing less just sweet pure awareness.

A lotus is a flower that grows deep in the mud.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Things you think may be healthy but actually are not.


You may be very conscious of trying to make the right choices in your lifestyle to make it a beautiful healthy one.  However in terms of looking from a yogic or Ayurvedic point of view, some of those things you may have appreciated as being healthy can actually be throwing you out of balance.  Making some small simple changes can make a big impact.

1. Drinking cold or too much water.
Imagine a hot stone in the sauna and then what happens to it when you throw cold water on it – a big reaction and a lot of steam!  This is exactly how your internal fire is within your system that fuels the digestive system, which allows the nutrients from your food to transform to your body.  So drinking cold water is aiding to extinguish your digestive fire and hence can cause loss of nutrients and discomfort in the stomach area.  When eating definitely avoid drinking large amounts of water or cold water.  A few sips of room temperature or even warm water will aid the digestive process instead of impairing it.  Of course any other form of drink other that water will absolutely cause an in-balance in how you digest your food.  It is better to wait for about an hour after you have eaten to drink or at least until you feel thirsty again.  Drink enough to support your emotional stability and improve every function of your body, but not whilst eating your food.

2. Eating Raw or uncooked foods.
As I said in my last post about Aloe Vera, all plants hold knowledge but we also need to be able to digest them well.  I was surprised to know that spinach, kale, chard or cabbage should not be eaten raw as it makes them a tough thing to be able to digest well and get hold of all the minerals into your system.  Cooking your vegetables lightly will bring the fire element into the food and aid how you are digesting.  Over-cooking will also take out all the nutrients but light cooking is going to help you.  Although we do need a little raw food with each meal to help keep the alkaline levels correct, so foods such as cucumber, fruits or tomatoes can be enjoyed but the rest of your delicious veg needs a little light cooking.  This is more true if you are like me and the vata type – the air and space elements, digestion for us is a little harder than the pita and kapha types, so give you tummy a hand and cook those cabbages!

3.Eating a small lunch and a bigger dinner.
Actually it was never the way that our ancestors ate to eat your more substantial meal at night or evening.  Always if eating 3 times a good breakfast, a hearty lunch and a light super.  Or it has been said to eat breakfast as the prince, lunch as the king and dinner as the beggar.  If you think about it, it is actually very logical, we eat to nourish ourselves and for a source of our energy, so why take this in its largest form and then shortly after go to bed?  Eating your most substantial meal at lunch time will boost your energy throughout the day and provide you enough time to digest properly when the digestive fire – Agni is at its most powerful, enabling good assimilation.  In the evening Agni is low, and you will spend most of the night trying to digest putting added pressure on your system, hence why you wake up feeling so tired sometimes with no reason.  When you have thought you have had a good sleep and rested, you have actually spent much energy trying to digest your pasta instead of assimilating the goodness!  Turn your meals around, this may take a bit of a change and different organization and many people say to me – how can I do that – I haven’t got the time etc etc, yes we know we have heard it all.  But it just takes a little different thinking that is all.

4. Overexerting ourselves with too hard a workout, or too much working out or just generally doing to much in our lives.
Taking time to rest is vital, and although in todays society we are seemingly guided to gyms, fitness centers and all sorts, over exerting ourselves is not recommended.  It is a wonderful thing to use this body that we have and see what we can achieve, and exercise is vital for our health as doing nothing is also damaging.  Exercise will remove toxins from our tissues, boost immunity, prevent fatigue and help to reduce fat that is not needed.  However too much of it is going to be in the long term damaging and create in-balance somewhere along the line.  So be kind and gentle to yourself, do enough but not too much.  I am now coming up to 46 years old, and at present have been suffering with anemia, allergies and going generally bonkers, largely due to me not recognizing enough my own need to rest and calming down my asana practice a little bit.  And not having to do 3-4 hours self practice a day plus 1-2 classes plus get a walk in and run around looking after the house, husband etc etc.  As women we all know it right.  And as yoga teachers there is an enormous pressure these days as YOGA has now been thrown into every corner of the world and pushed to all sorts of limits, extremes and goodness knows what nonsense actually.  But there is a feeling of expectations and judgements from your students whom you may not be familiar with, how you look etc, but by trying to do too much to achieve the radiant Goddess we sometimes can put ourselves in the opposite state.  So although it is important to do, just don’t overdo, it will have a negative effect later on down the line and create some problems. 

So be kind to yourselves folks and give yourselves a hug and send a warm and loving smile down to your heart.  Forgive yourself for any past mistakes and come back to peace.
Have beautiful days
Mangala / Nicky


This article was inspired by Ayurveda next door

Friday, March 2, 2018

A beautiful ancient plant with so much knowledge - Aloe Vera

“The essence of all beings is Earth.  The essence of the Earth is Water.  The essence of Water is plants.  The essence of plants is the human being.”
                                                                        Chandogya Upanishad 1.4.2

“Evolution is a manifestation of latent potentials.  Within each thing is contained all things.  In the seed is the tree; in the tree the forest.  Therefore, intelligence is contained implicitly in the many worlds of nature, not only in our human-centered world.  Another way of saying this is that consciousness exists in all forms of life.  There is nothing then in existence that is unfeeling, nothing unspiritual and nothing without a unique value and knowledge in the cosmos.”  Dr Vasant Lad.

There are innumerable benefits from this wonderful plant Aloe Vera, grow your own plant and take the juice directly mixing it with coconut water or vegetable or fruit juice.  Slicing a piece of the thick leaf off, then slice down one side to remove the skin and scrape out the gel with a spoon.  The gel should be clear and fairly thick.
It has 18 amino acids that work in association with other compounds of the human body to deliver numerous health benefits.  Mostly it is known for the healing of skin wounds and other skin issues but also it has numerous other important benefits, consisting of many B vitamins, boosting immunity and keeping parasites at bay.   It is antifungal and antibacterial and aids in the regeneration of cells.  Drinking the juice of Aloe Vera helps to detox the colon, regulate blood sugar levels, reduces inflammation, helps to increase the metabolic rate and aids in combating constipation.  Also regulating the blood pressure and retards the growth of cancerous cells, there are so many benefits to this ancient plant.
All plants hold knowledge, only when that knowledge is no longer needed do we no longer see the plant.   The whole universe is there within each seed, leaf and stem.  If we only still had the whole knowledge of the benefits of these beautiful gifts that can heal us but maybe that only exists in the animals.  However we do still know some things and in using Aloe Vera we can soothe the stomach, calm ulcers, take care of B vitamin deficiency and look after our skin.  I tend to just eat it directly from the plant but it does have a very bitter taste, so you can mix it with your juice for a bit of a gentler approach. 
Place you plant directly in the sun so it increases the prana the vital energy and watch it turn into a magnificent looking thing that contains its very own pharmacy!  Some research suggests that this beautiful plant could be one of the oldest plants on the planet with medicinal and health benefits so obviously we still need it!!

Om Namah Sivaya OM
May you all find peace and harmony and connection to all that surrounds you.
Mangala / Nicky