Dark Nights
Winter is the vata time of year. The weather is colder, windier, drier. The nights are long, the days are short.
Winter is time for more yin energy: quiet, inward, reflective, nourishing, calming, dark, slow, stable and tranquil.
The cold, dark nights are guiding us inside ~ within our homes and within ourselves.
This inward pull of energy draws us into our inner realms; our quiet, reflective nature. From this naturally meditative state, we are more easily able to rest in a state of being, to relax and experience more of our intuitive, emotionally sensitive and psychic energies.
More simply, winter is an important time to rest, nourish and repair.
The more we can ebb inward at this time and get the deeper sleep our body needs, the more able we are to flow outward during the brighter, longer days of summer.
Having an easy and relaxing evening, going to bed early, getting lots of deep rest, eating high quality oils and yin- nourishing foods all helps to repair and strengthen the nervous system during these darker days to keep you at your best in the big picture.
Some basic ways to take the best care of yourself from now until spring include:
- Have a relaxing, easy, fun and sweet evening at home. Avoid working or doing too much in the evenings, especially going out often in the winter nights.
- Go to bed early. Really early. Listen for when your body/mind is asking you to turn in. Turn off the tv/ computer/ i-pad and see when you really get tired. If you’re a “night owl” you can train yourself otherwise. If you’re busy and still have a lot of things to do, it’s better to get them done in the early morning than evening.
- Eat more healthy fats to nourish and strengthen the nervous system: nuts, seeds, healthy oils, avocado, ghee, etc are all great options.
- Eat seasonally: warm soups and stews, warm grains/ cereals, warming spices, herbal teas, grounding winter veggies – beets, carrots, turnips, potatoes, squashes, etc.
- Practice a daily ritual of massaging oil into your skin (abhyanga). Each day, either before or after you bathe or just before going to bed, massage an unrefined, organic oil into your skin. This amazing self care practice really soothes, strengthens and nourishes the skin and entire nervous system.
- Make time for meditation, preferably each morning around sunrise. If you already have a regular practice, inquire into how it can serve you more. If you don’t, click here to learn more about creating one.
- Rest in silence. Find time to be with yourself, in solitude. See what arises or doesn’t. Let what otherwise has been hidden or unseen be seen, felt, heard, healed and released. Create room for your more quiet nature to emerge and let any insights, dreams and visions come to you. Feel into your more subtle nature to experience your natural intuitive and psychic capabilities.
Make Room For Spirit
Naturally increasing our sacred awareness and energy with one of the most empowering and essential elements of who we are: our spirit, allows one of the most basic and fundamental parts of who we are to expand. Giving more space and energy to our boundless nature of supreme nothingness and bliss, magically, enhances all other aspects of who we are.
My three main suggestions to ‘make more room for spirit’:
1. Make the time.
- Everyday, for five, ten, thirty minutes or more, sit in silence, meditation or a quiet reflective state. If possible, you can even meditate during the early morning hours just before sunrise, known as Brahma-Muhurtam, the most peaceful and spiritual time of day.
- Dedicate one day a week (or month) to have extra time for your spiritual practice and cultivating more inner awareness. I love ‘super soul sacred Sundays’ and take part in satsang from 7 am – noon, then go on a lovely long walk in the hills, and have a relaxing and quiet evening at home. Maybe you connect with your sangha that day and practice what’s sacred for you.
- Schedule a retreat. Perhaps it’s a dedicated meditation or spiritual retreat at a destination location or in your home, maybe a camping trip to a special land, a trip you take that is set with special intentions, or even a get-away to a quiet cabin. When it’s important to you, you can make the time, even if you have to schedule it far in advance.
- Every single moment of every single day is the perfect time to be with spirit. When you first wake up and lay in bed, while you brush your teeth, as you sip your warm morning beverage, washing up dishes, driving your car, stuck in traffic, working, conversing with others… Every moment of everyday we can presence into the awareness of what gives us life within. The more often we experience the spaciousness within, the more frequent and natural it becomes to rest in spirit, rather than the mind.
2. Get in Your Zone.
- Practice what is special for you and encourages your connection to source. I love being in nature. Creating art, yantras, mantras, yoga, being present with animals, bonsai, cooking, writing poetry, dancing, staring into someones eyes, deeply listening… whatever brings you deeper into the space of your heart — do more of that.
3. Unplug.
The radical and seemingly bottomless source of information and connection available to us through the superb technology of computers, phones, tvs, tablets, kindles, etc is awesome. But it also easily feeds the mind. When you don’t feel connect to source while using these devices, its best to unplug and move your attention elsewhere.
- Commit to no electronics for the last two hours you are awake at night, and the first two hours when you wake up in the morning. (or whatever is realistic for you).
- Charge your electronic devices outside the bedroom.
- Have an electronics-free day once a week.
- Limit your time online or with a screen whenever you feel necessary, but especially in the presence of other people or while eating.
What are your suggestions for connecting more with spirit?? I’d love to hear in the comments below >>>
May you relish in the light of your own inner essence, and be a beacon to those searching for their own.
Love and Blessings xoxo
An Ideal Ayurveda Day ~ Dinacharya
One of the main pillars to ultimate health in Ayurveda is your dinacharya, your daily rhythm. How you structure, move through and experience each day has a huge impact on how you feel, how you age, and how healthy you are in mind/body/spirit.
I’d like to share with you an ideal day, as a combination of different Ayurveda practices and my own personal perspective.
- Wake up early, preferably before sunrise. As you wake up and lay in bed, take the opportunity to sense into the vastness of the world and universe. Feel into your place in this amazing cosmic and human experience. Begin to actively and intentionally participate in your inner spacial experience, free will, attitude and role. Hone your center, your attitude, your love. Avoid getting onto your cellphone, checking emails, sending texts, etc. Instead, cultivate your inner state of being. Hone your center, raise your vibration, start attracting the positive things or experiences you desire. Give thanks and share blessings.
- Go to the bathroom, scrape your tongue, brush your teeth and wash your face.
- Drink a cup, up to a liter or more, of filtered water. Add lemon or apple cider vinegar, and make it hot if you’d like. This flushes out all of your channels, especially your main digestive tract. If you haven’t had a bowel movement yet, this is a great practice to help you go, without using coffee or caffeine.
- Open your body through breath. After clearing your channels, you can do a nice 10-30 minute exercise session. The main idea is to bring breath, prana – vital life force energy, into all the cells and tissues of your physical body. You open up, activate, and connect. Dancing, going for a walk, yoga postures, tai chi, aerobics, any exercise that helps you deepen your breath is awesome.
- Sit in silence for 5, 10, 20 or 30 minutes. Connect with your heart and spirit. Let the divine center of your being harmonize your entirety.
- Have a nourishing breakfast. I advocate a natural, plant based diet. The more fruits and vegetables the better! Sit down and eat in a quiet, settled atmosphere.
- Enjoy your day and your work. Come back to the intentions you set in the early morning, reflect on and reestablish your inner state of being if you like.
- Have your main meal of the day around noon. The digestive fire at the base of the stomach is the strongest at this time, which gives you the greatest capability to digest, transform and assimilate all of the nutrients from your food into strong, healthy tissues.
- Finish working in the early evening.
- Have an early and light dinner. This helps the food move through the digestive tract to relieve the main digestive fire so your metabolism can go deeper to work. This helps to burn, transform, move out and discard all the cellular waste in the body. It heals inflammation, helping you wake up feeling clear, light and energized rather than groggy, heavy, lethargic or bogged down.
- Enjoy a fun, easy, relaxing and playful evening. Reading a book, spending time in nature, going for a leisurely walk, doing one of your favorite hobbies, hanging out with friends and family, or just generally chilling out and having a nice evening is key. This helps you feel happier and more satisfied in life. You feel more relaxed, content, joyful, easeful, nourished and taken care of. Taking part in your more sweet, soulful and sensuous nature helps enhance your ojas – subtle essence and glow, immunity, moon qualities. It prevents burnout, exhaustion and fatigue.
- Prepare for bed with a nourishing, restorative and relaxing night time ritual. Bathe (if you didn’t in the morning), give yourself an oil massage, and get into bed early. Say prayers, journal, read a book, and have some quiet time. Avoid using anything with a glowing screen after the sun goes down. Even better, keep all electronics out of your bedroom, including your phone.
- Give thanks for the day and go to sleep early. Enjoy your restoration and caring for yourself.
How to feel more rested
Do you ever feel like you’re not getting enough sleep? Your alarm goes off and you wish you had another 20 minutes, or an hour to lay in bed? Do you just straight up feel tired, or even exhausted?
According to the Center for Disease Control, “insufficient sleep is a public health epidemic.” What?! That’s pretty huge.
So what’s your strategy to get rested? How are you going to start getting the sleep your body really needs to rest, heal, repair and thrive?
Pushing your limits, trying to fit in a few more things to accomplish, watching another episode, or just ignoring your needs and not getting into bed might be part of the reason you’re not feeling rested and energized the next day.
In the world of Ayurveda, what’s optimal is to align with the rhythms of nature: the cycle of energies each day and season.
From 6pm – 10pm the sweet, stabilizing, sensuous energies of Kapha dosha are predominant. As the sun is kissing the day goodbye and the evening turns to night, we’re best to follow suit and slowly turn down, too.
After a day’s work, it’s time to rest, relax, rejuvenate, and connect with the people around you. This sweet, softer nature helps to build ojas (immunity, glow) and prevent burn-out and exhaustion. It brings more satisfaction and contentment into your day, and life.
Aligning with the softer side in nature also helps us go harder and longer when we need to, such as the next work day.
After a nice evening in the garden, or hanging out with your loved ones, the next step is getting yourself into bed.
Just as most people wake up to an alarm and have a specific morning routine, I’ve crafted a very sweet evening ritual that helps me relax, release the day away and drift off into dreamland before it’s too late in the night.
So here’s my lovely ritual I want to share with you:
- 9pm my phone chimes as a reminder to start getting ready for bed
- take a shower
- abyhangha (self massage with oil) to moisturize my skin and relax my nervous system
- any other beauty treatment I might want to do that day
- get into bed
- close my eyes for a couple minutes to process any residual thoughts/feelings
- read my current book I’m loving (unless I’m too sleepy)
- turn off the lights and drift into dreamland whenever I feel tired
By regularly going to sleep at a more optimal bed time, the body is able to get the deep rest that it needs. For some people, it might take months or even years to restore, especially if they’ve over-used caffeine or have adrenal fatigue.
Eventually, the day can open up more time for you in the morning. As the sun rises, you have an opportunity to tap into the more spacious, expanding and spiritual qualities of the early morning.
All in the flow of the greater rhythm of the earth and sun.
The main trick to finding “success” in a more restorative evening practice and earlier bedtime, is to use the model laid out by BJ Fogg and have a reminder (such as an alarm) and a reward (such as time to read a book.) This facilitation of changing your behavior is what will alter your pattern to deliver new results —- deeper rest!
If you have any sweet tips or stories on your evening ritual and waking up refreshed, I’d love to hear! Send me an email or post in the comments below.
And may we all get the rest and rejuvenation we need to shine that much brighter!
Simple Guidelines to Eating Healthier ~
Some very simple guidelines to eating in a healthy way :
- Have your biggest meal of the day around noon, when your digestion is the strongest. Just like the fire in the sky (the sun) the fire in our body is the strongest around noon. When you have your majority of sustenance around this time, the body is able to break it down, digest and assimilate it into nutrients for it to become the beautiful, healthy tissues of your body. Food eaten to late in the body weighs down the body and creates health problems, especially a tired/ groggy/ crabby feeling in the morning.
- Eat fresh foods that are freshly prepared. Fresh, whole, sprouted and living foods contain enzymes to enhance our digestion and assimilation. They also have prana — vital life force energy. High prana foods give us high, clear, vibrant energy.
- Incorporate the 6 tastes — sweet, salty, sour, pungent, bitter, and astringent, into every meal. Everyone needs a certain proportion of each taste or food depending on their dosha. Vatas, Pittas and Kaphas can read more in this blog to see their preferred foods and flavors. Different tastes help to balance us on multiple levels: physically, emotionally, mentally, energetically, and more. Having all tastes, and your specific tastes in the right proportion, ensures your body is more balanced.
- Dine in a lovely atmosphere. You can light a candle, play some sweet music, add a flower to your table, but at the very least sit down in a quiet, settled atmosphere. Eating on the go, while driving or walking, standing up, and otherwise distracted hinders your ability to digest what you’re taking in, let alone enjoy it. Sit down and savor!
- Allow yourself to be ready to receive. Let go of any negative emotions or distractions, say a prayer, blessing or gesture of gratitude and relax to receive your nourishment.
- Keep good company and let the conversation be light or minimal. Allow your attention to remain with the flavors, scents, textures and deliciousness you’re experiencing.
- After dining, relax for a short while before hustling off. Anyone who has more time, or indigestion issues, can practice laying on the left side of the body for about 10-15 minutes. This helps the stomach digest.
Agni = Your Inner Fire
Agni translates directly as fire. In Ayurveda, it represents the inner, transformative fire within the body, one of our ultimate keys to health.
There are 13 different classifications of agni, with our digestive fire being the biggest, strongest, and most important.
When our digestive fire is strong and balanced, we digest our food well. Properly digested food is able to be absorbed and assimilated into the body as nutrients, creating the cells and tissues of our physical form. We believe – “We are what we eat” or the more appropriate Ayurvedic saying “You are what you digest.”
Well digested food becomes readily available nutrients, creating healthy cells and tissues, thus creating a healthy, strong, well formed body. Someone with a healthy fire on all levels emanates a healthy glow. They have ample energy, enthusiasm, vision and motivation.
In opposition, improper digestion can become one of the first and foremost ways to create health issues and disease.
An excess of agni, or one that isn’t flowing in the proper direction, can be seen as acid reflux, heart burn, ulcers, hot flashes, irritability, impatience, red eyes, skin rashes, and more. Sensitivity to tomatoes, onions, garlic, chilies, oily foods and citrus fruits are common.
An insufficient agni cause heaviness, cloudiness and congestion in the body. It may be felt as a lack of appetite or the inability to break down heavier foods or raw/rough vegetables. Lethargy, weight gain, mucous, allergies, a weak immune system, lack of vision or ambition are just a few of the effects from a diminished agni. Ama is essentially created in both scenarios.
Creating a strong, healthy, balanced agni is different for each individual.
If you naturally have more vata in your system, having consistent meals on a regular schedule is one of the best ways to strengthen your appetite and digestion. Making sure to eat when you ARE hungry, not ignoring it, is also paramount. Warm, well seasoned food with plenty of spices including food with high quality salt is great.
For kapha dominate people, using heating spices such as black pepper, mustard seeds, ajwain, hing cumin and especially ginger is an easy method to increase the internal heat and fire. Having warm to hot food is helpful, only drinking warm to hot beverages, only lightly sipping a room temp water while eating (without drinking directly before or after the meal), not eating until truly hungry, exercise and fasting are all awesome ways to build and strengthen agni.
For those who carry more pitta characteristics, meal timing, stress reduction, having warm and freshly prepared whole foods, ghee, cumin, dry ginger, and a light cleanse can be the best ways to rekindle or balance the agni. Excess bile or digestive fire is more likely the culprit for this body type, and and having dry or toasted items, refraining from anything with oil, spices, instant/ fast foods, fermentation, citrus, night shades, or excess heat is essential.
When your agni is functioning properly you feel clear, light and energized. You can eat most foods without any digestive issues. After a meal you fell easily satisfied without being weighed down. Your bowel movement is regular- you have at least one complete evacuation at the beginning of the day and it resembles a brown ripe banana.
Another key practice to stay aware of your digestive health is examining your tongue. A bright pink, moist tongue represents a strong and balanced digestion with healthy organs. A tongue with a white coating, cracks, spotting, dryness, excess saliva, scalloped edges or other signs indicate imbalance or issues within.
Beyond just the physical, our agni impacts our emotional and subtle bodies. It allows us to digest ideas, feelings, and experiences. It influences our ability to process, discern, vision and actualize. When the cellular connectivity is clear and open, we are clear and open. We have less blockage, disconnection, fogginess and therefore have the impulse to make better choices for our over-all health. Energy flows easier, allowing us to flow easier with life. The space and clarity within the minute and subtle channels of our being allows consciousness love, bliss to emanate.
As Dr. Vasant Lad famously put, “The ultimate fate of your food is to become bliss.”
May your inner fires be a transformation unto radiant health and love!
Ama = Bodily Toxins
In Ayurveda, ama is known as anything undigested in the body. This can be from food, thoughts, emotions or experiences.
Undigested food, or food that isn’t digested, assimilated and absorbed well or waste that isn’t removed efficiently, builds up as ama in the body.
The digestive tract is one of the first places that ama accumulates. Overtime, if too much builds up, it will be transferred or overflow to other body tissues and organs. This is one of the underlying reasons we have weakened immunities, get sick, create dis-ease, or experience seasonal allergies and other recurring health problems.
Common signs or symptoms that ama is present:
- a white coating on the tongue
- bad breath
- tired or sluggish feeling, especially first thing in the morning
- persistent headaches
- cloudy eyes (in the white region)
- constipation or diarrhea
- dull aches and pains
- itchy ears
- skin rashes
- allergies
- the sniffles
- reoccurring colds
- pms
- unhealthy food cravings
- and more 🙁
So what can be done to rid the body of ama and regain stronger, more vibrant health?
Depending on the weak tissue where the ama has accumulated, how or when the ama built up, and the prakruti or natural tendencies of the individual, there are many ways to burn, unblock, loosen, or flush ama from the body.
Some of the most basic ways to prevent or reduce ama include:
- increase your agni (digestive fire)
- do a cleanse or detox
- make dinner your lightest meal of the day, and eat it early in the evening (or skip dinner altogether until ama subsides)
- use triphala, an ayurvedic herbal combination to help cleanse the digestive system and body
- use more spices in your diet based on your vikruti and prakriti (nature of disease and inherent nature) such as ginger, black pepper, cumin, fennel, ajwain, hing, etc
- avoid vityahara (improper food combining) such as bananas and milk, fish and dairy, citrus fruits and dairy, multiple protein sources, very cold with very hot foods, etc.
- never over-eat
- never eat without hunger
- never eat with indigestion
- only sip room-temperature water with your meal (never with ice, or large quantities after your meal)
- sip hot lemon water throughout the day
- fast on water between meals
These are just a few suggestions to help reduce or prevent ama from forming in your body. More specific, personalized and relevant suggestions can be made through an ayurvedic consultation. To learn more about a consultation, click here.
Guided Grounding and Healing Meditation
Grounding down, connecting to the earth, letting go of any energy, thoughts or emotions that are lingering in your body, and bringing in new clarity and healing light are the focus of this simple meditation practice.
Begin sitting in a quiet space. Let the bottom of your pelvis and sit bones sink into your seat. Place the soles of your feet firmly on the ground, or if cross legged let your feet, ankles and legs relax onto the ground. Stretch your spine tall, reaching the crown of your head into the vast expanse of the sky. Lift your shoulders and round them down the back. Exhale deeply. Slowly inhale and exhale with relaxed, full breaths. Take in fresh prana (life force energy) to restore each and every cell of your body. Exhale everything that is not serving you. Let go into the present.
Picture a cord surrounding your body. It can be red, white, or any color you are strongly drawn to. The cord or root encompasses the width of your body, stretching a couple feet in diameter. Check to see if your cord is complete, strong, and whole. If it feels or appears incomplete or lacking in anyway, create a new one. When it feels strong and healthy, visualize the root growing from your body into the ground. It passes through the chair, the floor of your house into the first layer and top soil of the earth. It stretches down into the rock, the layers of granite and basalt, deeper into the mantle, deeper and deeper into the very core of the earth. At the center, your root, you, are strongly connected to mother earth. Feel the connection.
With the powerful connection to the center of the earth, allow yourself to release and let go of anything you might be holding onto. Thoughts, emotions, cloudy energy, anything that is not serving you can be let go and washed away. Let it all be taken down into the fiery core of the earth to be recycled. It might feel like water draining down through the base of your body, being flushed away, grey smoke drifting down and out, a weight being released, a variety of any personal experiences you have, or simply nothing at all. Take a few deep breaths. Inhale the new, let go of the old with each exhale. Sit with this for as long as you like.
Next, feel into the clear, open expansiveness of your being. Now imagine a bright white light shining above you, emanating from the very central star of our cosmos. The light shines down onto the crown of your head, slowly pouring into the crown chakra, into your skull, filling your head with healing white light. It shines down further, illuminating your whole being, trickling down like star dust or star light, healing every cell and atom it touches. Your head, face, ears, throat, chest, shoulders, every bit of your body is slowly lightened from the central star. Light shines down through your arms into your wrists, hands, and fingertips. It slowly illuminates and fills your chest, your heart, lungs, and core of your body with white light. The light continues to shine down, healing and illuminating each organ in your torso. Your stomach, pancreas, spleen, kidneys, gallbladder, intestines, everything is touched by the white light and becomes perfectly healthy and whole. The light shines down through your intestines, through the entire pelvic region, illuminating and healing your uterus, bladder, and reproductive organs. All are filled with the beautiful light. It continues to flow down your legs, touching your thighs, knees, calves, ankles, and all the way into your feet and toes. Your entire body, your being, is fully infused with the healing white light of our central star. It emanates through every nook and cranny, every organ, tissue, fiber and cell of your body. It shines through your heart and radiates from you. Sit, feel, and be with the glow.
namaste
The Subtle Gunas
How to Increase Deep Peace, Joy, Contentment and Creativity
How much do the qualities in your life: your diet, your activities, your thoughts, affect who you are? How can you be aware of their impact, and more importantly, make changes to enhance the qualities you prefer?
We use gunas, or qualities, to understand and describe what’s around us, or within us.
The three subtle gunas, or qualities, known in Ayurveda are sattva, rajas, and tamas. The interplay of these qualities constantly unfolds in nature, in the day, our bodies and minds. In theory, the qualities of what we choose to interact with and be a part of in our lives have an influence in the qualities expressed as who we are.
Tamas, the densest of the three qualities, is experienced as heaviness, confusion, inertia, and ignorance. We experience tamas when we’re asleep, have a cold or illness, take prescription medicines, drink alcohol, eat excess meat, artificial foods, and over- eat in general. Tamas is necessary in life to rest, rebuild, and breakdown the old. It can be seen in the fall when old leaves fall from the tree, decompose, and recycle into the earth to replenish the soil. Or, after extending a copious amount of energy, we feel tired, heavy, and a sense of dullness in our bodies to take it slow, repair our tissues, and rebuild the energy to extend into the next endeavor.
From tamas we move into rajas, the energy of movement, activity, ambition and transformation. Rajas is part of achieving our goals, being physically active, and also experiencing restlessness, anxiety, or anger. Rajas brings us out of a tamasitic state, but too much can keep us constantly seeking and desiring more. We need rajas to break away from the heaviness and inertia of tamas, yet keep a sensitive awareness to prevent excess, ungrounded energy that can result in an inability to relax into the present moment, create irritability, stress, anger, worry, insomnia, and more. You probably feel excess rajas if you have too much coffee or feel extra competitive about a sporting event. Some is healthy in life, but just like everything, balance is key.
Sattva, the third guna in the trinity of qualities, is considered to be our highest, best, and natural state of being. It is experienced as creativity, serenity, bliss, equanimity, calmness, and love. Watching the sunset, fully expressing yourself through your favorite creative outlet, connecting with an animal, being in the company of a baby or elder, or simply falling deeply into the present moment are all ways in which you have experienced the beauty of satva.
Lightness, clarity, inspiration, contentment and joy can all be experienced more in our selves through our lifestyle practices- diet, sleep, exercise, community, relationships, surroundings, and connection to nature. Ayurveda aspires to bring each individual into a more satvic experience, just like all the nuns, monks, buddhas and yoginis in the world!
To increase the sattvic qualities in yourself, you simply increase the interaction you have with sattvic food, environments, people, outlooks, etc. Spending time in nature and less time connected to your electronic gadgets, attuning to the natural rhythm of the day (sleeping when it gets dark and waking up with the sun), reducing your consumption of mass media, cultivating positive relationships with sattvic people especially spiritual teachers, practicing selfless acts of service, and connecting to your quiet, inner self all increases your sattvic nature.
As we become more aware of our ever changing and flowing states of being, we are better able to fine tune and enhance our chosen qualities. Each guna is an important part of existence, but residing excessively in a tamasic or rajastic state prevents our ultimate state of being from being expressed. Intention alone sets an incredible impact on our capabilities, while having the wisdom and awareness about our choices creates a profound path for self and collective evolution.
May we all support, inspire, enhance, share and expand in our sattvic selves and humanity.
Snehana = Love
I spent the last three days learning about, practicing and receiving some really wonderful Ayurvedic body therapies.
Intertwined with all the information, facts, practicals, theories, and healing, one thing touched me a bit deeper than the rest: snehana means love.
Snehana is Sanskrit for oleation, or using oils on the body. It is also translated as love. What a beautiful thing. As I thought about how the oleation process works for all the different therapies, I thought about how it mirrors the many different ways that love is integral in our lives. A simple thing, yet so encompassing, delicate, moving, lifting, changing, healing, central, infinite, unique…
For some of the therapies, oil is applied first. This helps to open the channels and allow the body to receive.
*
Translation: love opens you to receive.
*
It can act as a cushion, helping to soften the effects of some of the more obtrusive, sharp, heating, penetrating, rough or fiery medicines and treatments. Yes, love cushions. It’s a warm embrace, a smile on a sad day, a soft touch, an open ear; a friend who helps soften the hard blows in life.
Snehana acts as a carrier.
Maybe love brings things into our lives that we would otherwise not have the ability to receive or be aware of?
Snehana helps to loosen, creating movement and flow. Being oily and lubricated clearly helps us to stay loose in the bodily tissues.
And being in a state of love? Wow.
Living from your loving, natural state supports you to flow with the loving energy of the universe. To live with more beauty and grace, to be synchronized with the grand mystery and flow as the wu wei.
One of my new favorite Ayurvedic therapies, shirodhara, is to continuously pour a stream of oil over the forehead for 30 minutes. It has all kinds of amazing benefits. It calms the mind, creates focus, opens the sixth chakra, increases our intuitive ability, relieves: depression, insomnia, irritability, headaches, hair loss,and more. As the flow of love is strong in our lives, I imagine that it improves upon many of these things, just as the flowing treatment of oil.
One of the easiest and best ways to bring more snehana into your life is through a daily self massage, known as abhyanga.
If you’d like to learn about the benefits of self massage, and how to go about it, click here.
~ ~ ** It’s such a simple, grounding, enriching act of self love to give yourself. ~ ~ **
Life, love and healing — maybe it’s more about the softness, the flow, and opening to receive than we think?
Either way, I hope there is plenty of snehana in your life.
~
xo
?
Anna