lah life

sensible strategies for dealing with stress

sensible strategies for dealing with stress

No slipping into dis-ease: How to avoid Crash’s Law

by

images-1Slipping is indeed crash’s law.  I love this idea that we slide towards our failures gradually.  This way it feels like we can put a stop to dangers at any point before we collapse in a heap of dis-ease and illness.  Of course for this to hold true we must believe in personal responsibility and having our eyes wide open.

Ayurveda certainly believes in crash’s law – holding that there are 6 stages of disease or pathenogenesis. Going from a state of good health, through aggravation and accumulation all the way to death takes time and does not happen over-night.

In the 19th century when Emily Dickinson wrote the poem below,  there was an ethic of personal responsibility far more developed than what we have today.  In our fast-paced world, methinks we have fallen into the habit of believing in instant success and instant demise. This does not serve us well.

In simple terms it goes like this:

  • Indulge in too much food and wine?  Clean up your act for a couple of days afterwards with healthy, cleansing and detoxifying foods for your type. (click here to read more)
  • Feeling run down?  Nourish yourself with Chyavanprash (read about it and buy here)
  • Feel a tickle in the back of your throat?   Go for some Immune Boosting Strategies like this. click here to read more.
  • Feel the Stress building?  Be aware, examine your world, de-stress, do some contemplative practices like these Well-Snaps to de-stress. (click here to buy well-snap de-stress praactices)
  • Feel out of sorts or out of whack?   Take the dosha quiz, see where your imbalances lie and set them strait!

SEASONAL TIP:  Develop real, practical Resolutions periodically not just on New Year’s Day and avoid Crash’s Law.

In preparation for intention settting resolutions:  1.  Keep a journal and each day enter something good that has happened.  Keep a second list of  something you would like to see happen.  Come resolution day you will have the tools for a thoughtfully prepared,  do-able list of resolutions!  

 

POEM of the POST

Crumbling is not an instant’s Act

BY EMILY DICKINSON

Crumbling is not an instant’s Act

A fundamental pause

Dilapidation’s processes

Are organized Decays —

‘Tis first a Cobweb on the Soul

A Cuticle of Dust

A Borer in the Axis

An Elemental Rust —

Ruin is formal — Devil’s work

Consecutive and slow —

Fail in an instant, no man did

Slipping — is Crash’s law.

6 ways travel improves life

by

8105e1bd43939084b725d45d298984b8I hate stating the obvious but travel Improves life!

The idea is not how far and wide you physically travel … whether it is travel afar or  a shift in perspective close to home, the point is to switch up the view, the expectations, the habitual patterns.

Funny to hear myself say this when i spend most of my time with clients and here extolling the virtues of a settled, ritual,  rhythmic flow to life. The fact is that while practices, habits and a stable home base are critical to well-being, getting a new visual, spiritual and emotional infusion is energizing and inspiring.

Here are the 6 main ways travel improves life:

3Zr0y-4Q2vluVLTZo0L2hijwDn-9N1lDyeSbDJgh8A4

1. Travel Changes You:  Bourdain always gets it right.

2.  Travel Keeps Life Fresh:  TS Eliot said it best — “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”  Distance and difference are the secret tonic of creativity.  “When we get home, home is still the same but something in our mind has ben changed and that changes everything. – jonah Lehrer.

3. Travel Challenges Established Rhythms:  It is critical to be sure that your rituals really mean something and they don’t get stale. Isn’t it terrifying when you find you have driven miles along a well travelled road without realizing it?  Isn’t it exhilarating to get lost but not too lost?

4. Travel Nurtures Introspection: Lawrence Durrell, another inveterate traveller, noticed that “Travel can be one of the most rewarding forms of introspection.”  And this thought too:  ” It affirms, each and every time, that there is unity in diversity.” R. Kovacs.

5. Travel breaks the cycles of dis-ease:  Sometimes the change of food, water, tempo, schedule, language – dissolves problems, breaks a cycle of anxious thinking, solves a digestive disturbance. Being light and open,  less than in control,  surrendered to a culture and language barrier are all opening experiences that dissolve the sludge and drudge of sameness which can be grounding but can also take on a quality of quicksand after a while.

6. Travel shifts the Perspective:  Transposing a problem to a different environment may dissolve it. As a child, if i was sleepless I would move my pillow to a cool place at the foot of my bed and switch up the direction.  It almost always worked a charm.  a little practical magic can go a long way.

And don’t forget a few travel savvy items:

Insure you stay physically healthy on your travels while you are feeding the mind and soul!   Shop here in the Travel Savvy Shop – from elixirs to keep you regular and calm to the best travel yoga mat.

 

Winter: Get Into It!

by Leave a Comment

design

 

 Winter – Might as well enjoy it!

The rituals of winter are fantastic!  Even if you hate the deep dark cold there are real reasons to be joyful and ways to snuggle in.  Take gathering around a warm fire and talking deep into the night (of course since it gets dark so early you could start early and still get to bed early in keeping with the Ayurveda health rules.)  Weather permitting,  go snow-shoeing or take a brisk walk in the bracing cold and then eat rich warming soups and stews, hot cocoa, chai tea.

Winter is a a cold and wet season.  Embracing the cold by dressing for it and finding ways to play in it are key. But beware: this is when mucous conditions can take hold.  We naturally feel sluggish and in a hibernating mood.  This time of maximum darkness is time to turn inward and ponder…prepare plans for a garden in spring (take that as a metaphor if gardening is not happening in your world.)  Take heart:  it is a turn-around-time in that a visceral sense of rejuvenation and renewal (spring) is the light at the end of the tunnel.

Tips from Ayurveda-land include:

Massage with Daily Oil or Daily Balm:  book a pro but at least do self-massage to keep skin hydrated, joints lubricated and lymph system flowing.

Do some Right Nostril Breathing to warm-up. (simply block the left nostril and breath in and out through the right.)

Pull out the cinnamon, ginger and clove.

In diet:  add bitter tasting leafy greensand for astringent control on the mucous look towards cranberries and apples. Prunes, beets cabbage are also staples of the season.

Add in a night-time drink for nourishment while you sleep:  Golden Milk or Nighty-Night Milk Sleep Aid.

And because facts are fun, here are some things I know about the winter solstice:

1. It is the apparent Satanding still of the sun.  Sol (sun) sits (standing still)  .

2. It falls on around dec 21 each year*

2. It is the shortest day and longest night of the year

3. From now on the days can only get longer. this is the turn-around time and we are headed for renewal,  down the dark road is light!.

 

 

Why you Should indulge in New Moon Appreciation

by Leave a Comment

new-moon

The New Moon is a mysterious thing. It is, on a basic level, a trip to the dark side…But also interior and about new beginnings. It’s mysterious and in a way feels more potent than the bold and obviously powerful full moon.  It is the part where the sun don’t shine, therefore there is no reflection for us to see.  Oct 23, 2014 this month.

Think of it as the birthing cycle of the moon. In the days after the official new moon, the nascent moon will be but the skinny crescent  found low on the horizon.  So, Why focus on the new moon?

Well,   for starters, since I hate the back-ends of things perspective,  I prefer to see it as the down time before the build up and watch the elegant slip of a crescent grown into its full glory later in the month.  But there are more compelling reasons to love a new moon cycle….

The New Moon is the start of the waxing time (vs waning) and a such is the perfect time to consider what new things you might want to call into your life and your world.  It is the perfect time to articulate some changes you would like to see or call up some things you want in your life…  If you do not dream on things and think them into being….well you know.  You are what you think!

Following new moon cycles is on the most basic level a cheat-easy way to get connected to “nature” even if it has to be from the roof of your building… I can give you the chart  (click here for moon phase chart)  but really, just go outside and take note...

 

THE NEW MOON INNER OBSERVATORY PRACTICE – (a “be your own laboratory practice”)

WHAT YOU NEED:  Journal, Pen, Powers of observation: inner and outer, a sense of play and exploration.

WHAT YOU DO:

Go outside and look at the new moon. Or rather the night sky which will have no apparent moon to see.

Pick your journal and settle in with it.  This could be a file on computer, but I just love the feel of great paper and a smooth pen, preferably real ink.

If you are into yoga, maybe try a Chandra Namaskar practice.  Sort of like a sun salutation but go super slow with deep long breath and instead of chataranga push up, flow back into a child’s pose.

chandra-namaskara

Now, think of and then jot down the things you would like to see manifest in your world — spiritual, physical, tangible and emotional.  You can illustrate with images, ideas etc.  hey:  it’s your journal.

Then, with each new moon, don’t just cross off the things on the list that have either been accomplished or are no longer relevant:  re-write the whole list again.

To really solidify these best intentions, aspirations and desires, do an “Inner Observatory Practice like the following combination of breathing and sitting.

Do a few rounds of a simple breathing practice like Alternate Nostril breathing for balance and to quickly and easily settle the mind into its receptive juiciest state.

After the breathing practice,  try to think of a happy time and try to feel what i was like during that time…the people, the faces, the smell.  Now, into this feeling of contentedness repeat the things on your list, to yourself,  in your mind,  in an affirmative way.  Then just sit for a few minutes, spine tall, hands in lap and thinking of nothing in particular.  Watch the breath if you need to keep the monkey mind busy so you do not spend the time plotting ways to “achieve.”  Just let the thoughts sit in the deep subtle energetic caverns of your mind and soul.  It is a process.  Let it be.  (NOTE:  you might set a timer to 10 minutes for the short breathing practice and the sitting.)