Is winter wellness something you’d like to experience more of? Want to have more tools in your kit for when you feel a little sniffle coming on or a bit under the weather?

Here are a few of my favorites to keep you well this winter:

• Get enough rest! Really, so simple but who hasn’t broken this cardinal rule of wellness? You simply cannot burn the candle at both ends and expect to stay healthy. Getting sick is a clear message from your body that you need to slow down, rest and take care. Why not heed the message before you get sick? Start listening closely: whispers include feeling a little off, slightly out of sorts, tired, getting a tinge of a sore throat that goes away after a short while, that kind of thing. Stop. Rest. Take Care. BTW, this means stay home if needed.

• Increase your fluids. ‘Nuf said.

• Moisturize your tissues. No, I don’t mean Kleenex with lotion in them, but your bodies’ tissues! Dry cold air outside and dry warm air inside can leave your nasal tissues dry as well and less able to fend of germs. A little oil, called nasya oil in Ayurveda, on a regular basis can keep these tissues supple and healthy. Special herbal oils exist but any high quality, clean vegetable oil will do. A drop or two in each side of the nose followed by deep breathing will thoroughly cover your nasal passages. You can also just put a bit on your (clean) pinky finger or q-tip and gently coat the inside of your nose. A drop or two in the ears (held in by a cotton ball) or gently wiped in with a cotton swab helps from another end and helps prevent ear infections.

• Enlist the power of salt. A pinch (quarter teaspoon) in a neti pot is an effective wash for your nasal passages. Be sure to follow with nasya oil and don’t overdo the neti pot as it is cleansing but can be drying as well creating a back-lash of congestion. A generous pinch (half a teaspoon) of salt some warm water is perfect for a gargle to keep your throat healthy. Be sure to do this at the first inkling of a sore throat, you know the passing tickle that you might normally ignore!

• Ginger, Lemon, Honey. Okay, not ‘the’ holy trinity but they are a pretty sacred combination! Get creative, there are lots of ways to imbibe these three. Powdered ginger, a squeeze of lemon and a bit of honey in hot water for a drink helps the body to release toxins, stimulates your immune system and simultaneously relieves symptoms if things have gotten that far. I also like to chop fresh ginger, mix it with lemon juice and honey and take the mixture by the spoonful! Delicious and oh-so satisfying if I am feeling ‘cold’ vulnerable.

• A bowl of hot water and a towel. Optional: eucalyptus oil. Who knew that these simple things could be so helpful? Probably your mom! If you find yourself congested or feeling like you are headed that way or just plain dried out and vulnerable try this. Pour hot water (hotter than you get out of the tap but be careful as boiling water is too hot!) in a bowl, throw a towel over you and the bowl and breath the escaping steam. Adjust your distance so that it is not scalding you. Breath deeply, adding more hot water to keep the steam going. Optional, drop a cotton ball that has a drop or two of eucalyptus on it into the bowl and increase the relieving power of the steam. The more you know about essential oils the more creative you can get with this as other oils can be used. But always employ extreme caution as your tissues are sensitive, both to excessive heat and the power of essential oils!

• Check your beliefs. Don’t get sick just because you ‘always get sick.’ It is in fact possible to stay well all winter! Everyone does get sick occassionally but the three or four or more times a year that may be considered normal are certainly not necessary. And some of this may have to do with just how you think! In fact the always insightful Louise Hay says that regular colds may be a partially a product of simply believing that we always get a cold at a certain time of year or when our kids do etc!

•More of Mom’s wisdom. Sleep. Vitamin C. Chicken noodle soup. Don’t over look the simple things. Apply motherly wisdom to how you care for yourself and LISTEN to the advice!

There are a ton more helpful things to do + useful tricks and supplements. What are your go-to tricks for keeping your wellness during the winter?

Want to get started now? Come by Anahata and pick up a Winter Wellness RELAX basket that will get you started on your new winter wellness regime! At a great sale price!

What you’ll need:

• good heavy bottomed saucepan or crockpot
• 1/2 cup basmanti rice
• 1 cup split yellow mung beans (moong dahl) or baby red lentils
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 2 cups of veggies
• 2 T ghee
• 1/2 T fresh ginger, chopped
• 1 tsp each mustard seeds, cumin, coriander, turmeric, curry blend
• 1/4 tsp hing (optional)
• sea salt 1/4 tsp or to taste
• fresh lemon or lime for garnish
• cilantro to garnish

Easy Method:

Combine all of the ingredients in a crock pot and cook (check your crockpot instructions) for about 2-3 hr on high or 5-6 hr on low. That’s it! Walk away and come back to a warm, nutritious, delicious and easy to digest meal. You might have to experiment a bit to get the perfect amount of water and time, but it is very forgiving. I tend to add a little extra water if I am going to cook on high.

Traditional Method:

Melt the ghee over medium/medium high heat in a skillet or in the bottom of your saucepan. Add mustard seeds and saute until they pop and turn a lighter color. Turn down the heat and add the rest of your spices (including ginger). Saute until aromatic.

Two options here: add your beans and rice to this spice mixture, saute for a moment and then add the water and vegetables or save this bit for the end and add your ghee/spice blend to your cooked porridge. If you elect to save this until the end, simply combine your rice, beans, water, and vegetables in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Turn down to a very low simmer to cook for 20-28 min. If you don’t have a low simmer option once it has come to a boil turn it off and let it rest for about 20 min. Then bring it to a boil a second time and let it rest a final 20 minutes.

Serve with liberal garnishing of cilantro and slices of fresh lemon or lime.

Once you get the hang of it, this is a delicious, easy, one-pot meal! Experiment with the spicing to find the flavor you like best. You can also add a little bouillon to the water or serve with sauteed or roasted veggies on the side.

Questions?

Your favorite version? Share in the comments below.

Inward vs Outward

Last week I was thinking a lot about the season (as our winter travel plans were postponed) and how it offers an opportunity to settle into a rhythm and routine in synch with nature. If we take a cue from nature it would appear that the season is about paring back, simplifying, going inward and strengthening our roots. While this seems relatively obvious looking at a snowy scene, bare tree branches and empty gardens, it is easy to get caught up in habits and happenings that pull our attention outward: holiday parties, shopping, over-scheduling and over-spending.

Peeling Back the Layers of Stress

In order to make the most of my long up-coming Alaskan winter I realized that I needed to physically de-stress in a big way. A few things were making it obvious, not the least of which was my tendency to overreact to minor stressors (a dead giveaway sign of high levels of cortisol in the bloodstream). I schedule some down-time, un-plugged from social media and the internet, received three shirodharas, ate an easy to digest sattvic diet, upped my time in restorative yoga postures and otherwise took great care to nurture and soothe my soul. These practices were TREMENDOUSLY helpful at softening my outlook on life sweetening up my perspective.

Welcoming in Winter

But I was still not really warming up to the idea of winter…until I spoke with a client of mine who shared with me her sense of the season and her idea of embracing it. Now, just the idea that she shared was helpful to me, but I’ll encourage us both to take it to the next level and ACT on her idea and create our own ceremony to welcome winter.

Designing your ‘welcome winter ceremony’

• choose a dark morning or late, dusky afternoon
• select a quiet clean corner, maybe the space where you usually spread your yoga mat or meditate
• clear a surface on which to make a small (or elaborate if you like) altar
• include candles
• also try to include the other elements: bring in the earth element with a rock, stone or crystal, the air element with chimes or a feather, the water element with a pretty dish of water or a flower vase
• emphasize the color white or anything else that helps you to bring to mind the qualities of wintertime
• for the ceremony, relax, release any judgement and let yourself be creative
• take a few deep breaths, light your candles, ring your bells or light your incense and in general use some quiet time to invoke a sense of the qualities of winter: dark, quiet, still, reserved, inward-looking, rejuvenative, re-building
• read a poem, stretch or do some yoga, journal or draw – be creative – it’s your ceremony!
• finish with a few well-intentioned breaths to give closure to your ceremony

FIRST SNOW by Mary Oliver

The snow
began here
this morning and all day
continued, its white
rhetoric everywhere
calling us back to why, how,
whence such beauty and what
the meaning; such
an oracular fever! flowing
past windows, an energy it seemed
would never ebb, never settle
less than lovely! and only now,
deep into night,
it has finally ended.
The silence
is immense,
and the heavens still hold
a million candles; nowhere
the familiar things:
stars, the moon,
the darkness we expect
and nightly turn from. Trees
glitter like castles
of ribbons, the broad fields
smolder with light, a passing
creekbed lies
heaped with shining hills;
and though the questions
that have assailed us all day
remain-not a single
answer has been found-
walking out now
into the silence and the light
under the trees,
and through the fields,
feels like one.

How about you? How are you feeling this about this winter? Any way that you traditionally welcome in the season? Share your ideas or your experience designing your own winter ceremony in the comments below.

xox

~Stephanie

p.s. do you need to peel back some layers of stress? check out the specials at Anahata-Alaska.com to support you this season.

This time of year, air and space (together forming the Vata dosha in Ayurveda) are especially prevalent in nature.  This means it can be an especially fruitful time spiritually (because of increased access to the ‘etheral realms’).  However, if we are not really grounded, instead of being able to make the most of this time around equinox we are often left a bit out of sorts, ungrounded and easily tossed out of center.

Sound true for you?  Even if you are feeling 100% grounded in your spacious awareness, experiencing deep abiding contentment as your default state, you too will enjoy these lovely practices.  If not, take some time to nourish yourself.  Either way, pick two that you feel inspired to do this weekend.

1. Soak your feet.

This is a simple, easy and very effective way to ground yourself.  Get a plastic dishwashing tub (nice because your feet can spread out flat) or the biggest bowl you have and fill it with warm water.  Add a cup of Epsom Salt (best) or Sea Salt and whatever herbs or spices you have handy.  Good choices:  lavender, chamomile, ginger, peppermint.  A great option is to open a bag or two of your favorite tea, like the Tulsi Tea from Organic India that we carry at Anahata, or any herb tea and add it to the water as your tub or bowl is filling.

2. Go to Maui.

While Hawaii does sound lovely, especially for us Alaskans, what I am actually suggesting is the wonderful restorative yoga pose that I have heard described as ‘going to Maui.’  For this variation of Viparita Karini, or legs-up-the-wall pose, simply place your legs on a padded chair or your sofa, at a 90 degree angle.  Make sure to keep your chest open by rolling your shoulderblades under you and turning your palms face up. Cover your eyes with an eye pillow and provide support under your low back and/or neck as needed for maximum comfort.  Relax and enjoy the grounding, restorative effects of this mini-vacation.

3. Self-Massage.

Oil is in many ways the opposite of Vata, the dosha made up of the elements of air and space, the energies that tend to increase at the change of seasons and contribute to feeling ungrounded, out of sorts, spacey, unfocused, anxious and eventually depressed.  Daily oil massage is one of the best ways to combat this increase, but  incorporating it into your self-care even occasionally has wonderful and immediate benefits. Sesame oil is definitely the best for balancing Vata.  Link to PDF instructions for self-massage.

4. Take a breather.

Literally.  Like a time-out. Lay on your belly with your forehead on your hands.  Breathe deeply into your belly, in and out through your nose, increasing the rise and fall of your low back. Place special attention on breathing out all the way. Take a full minute or two.  Then lift up to your forearms, as if you were going to read a book in this position.  Continue the same complete breathing here.  Repeat both positions at least once.  This is a great way to disengage the sympathetic nervous system (the aspect responsible for the stress response).

5. Get to yoga class.

And then get there again.  Establishing even a little bit of routine is extremely helpful in regulating Vata and restoring a sense of peace and grounding.  Commit yourself to a regular class schedule, perhaps with a friend. Look honestly at how you feel after class.  I recommend finding a class that leaves you feeling rejuvenated rather than depleted, peaceful rather than irritated, deeply content rather than exhausted.  Seems obvious, but not all yoga is created equally. You need to find the right class for you. Yoga is not ‘one size fits all.’ Mention this blog post to get a two-for-one special on a two week unlimited class pass at Anahata! Unlimited passes are a great way to try different classes to see how you feel and what really works with your schedule.

6. Clean up your energy.

Nadi Shodhana (Alternate Nostril Breathing) does just that by cleansing (shodhana) your nadis (energy pathways).  For maximum balancing effect use an easy breath, not artificially long or with more than momentary pauses between the inhale and exhale.  Be sure to enjoy sitting in your clarified awareness after you complete this pranayama. Link  to PDF instructions for Nadi Shodhana.

7. Eat nourishing food.

In a book I read several years ago, a detective story set in India, one of the main characters, a jaded criminal, had a tough day (jaded criminals are prone to feeling out of sorts too). He promptly went home, cooked himself kitchari (sauteing the spices in ghee), took a short walk, rested and took a warm bath before going to bed early. If only self-care was so pervasive in our culture!  For the most healing type of kitchari, be sure to use split yellow mung beans (available at Anahata) and white basmanti rice, along with veggies, ginger, and mild curry spices. Link to a PDF document of nourishing recipes including kitchari and ghee.

Which have you picked for this weekend?  Share in the comments below.

Fall is a beautiful time in Alaska…but is a time when some extra care goes a long way.  Most of us have spent the summer working and playing hard, accumulating a lot of extra pitta or heat (it doesn’t just come from hot weather but also drive and hard work).  If we’re not careful we’re prone to ‘burn-out’ this time of year!  However, as we approach the equinox, everything in nature is supporting our return to balance so it’s a great time to incorporate more Ayurveda into our daily lives:

- be sure to take advantage of the abundant garden greens and include them in at least two meals per day, but reduce salads to the level of garnish or small side-dish. Try sautéing or steaming greens and  add a little ghee and a squeeze of lemon or lime to garnish.

- eat up the apples. Delicious apples are back and this is the time of year to enjoy!  An apple a day really does keep the doctor away, and the beneficial action they have on the liver makes them especially appropriate this time of year.

- if you feel a little sniffle, tickle in your throat, or you’re just a little tired….STOP and REST! This is common sense but often the momentum we’ve built up over the summer makes this a little harder to do than usual.

- if winter can be a tough time for you, plan ahead.  Now is the time to really dial in your daily yoga practice and include more self-care in your life.  Schedule an Ayurvedic consultation and consider a cleanse or series of therapies.  An ounce of prevention….

Cool Summer Mock-tail

Place about a teaspoon of maple syrup (to taste) in the bottom of a tall glass.  Squeeze in the juice of a half a lime or so.  Top with carbonated water (my favorite is San Pellegrino). Skip the ice.

Garnish with a thin slice or wedge of lime, a mint leaf, a couple berries or even edible flower petals from your garden. I even enjoy the carbonated water at room temperature myself, but cool from the fridge might be more to your taste (or appropriate depending on your ‘room’ temperature!!).

Best-Ever Fruit Salad

Cut up whatever fruit you have around, that is ripe and delicious, enough to fill a large bowl.  I used bananas, peaches and navel oranges.  In that large bowl place about a half a can of organic coconut milk.  To it add a couple of tablespoons of honey and the juice of about 2 limes.  Stir well, taste and adjust your mixture accordingly.  I love it simple, like this, but you can also add spices like cardamom, coriander, or a little ginger. Add the fruit and toss to coat.  Enjoy!  Try this for a light summer meal all on it’s own.
Please report below if you try these or have other favorites to share! Questions? Ask here as well….or for more in-depth information personalized just for you, schedule an Ayurvedic consultation.

To avoid these imbalances simple changes in your diet and activities will be helpful.  The more Kapha that you have in your prakriti (nature) the more tendency that you will have towards these imbalances and the more important it is for you to put attention on making these changes.

Times of seasonal change are also a very important time to put attention on keeping Vata in balance as well. Keep up with your daily routine, oil massage, yoga and meditation practices.  An Ayurvedic therapy can be very helpful as well.

In general to avoid the breakup blues:
- Lighten up your diet a notch, always make sure to include all 6 tastes but   favor pungent, bitter and astringent tastes.
- Avoid Kapha increasing foods like yogurt, cheese and cold milk
- Increase exercise, yoga and breathing practices
- Get plenty of rest but get up earlier to avoid sleeping during Kapha time
- Sip on hot water throughout the day and take Triphala or Cleanse Within before bed to remove ama (toxins & wastes) that has accumulated in your digestive tract
- Use Nasya oil daily and neti pot as needed
- To avoid aggravating Vata, don’t overdo the raw foods and salad- keep the bulk of your diet warm and well cooked

It can get complicated, so if you have any doubt about your constitution or your imbalances, or if you would like to learn more about how this practical science applies to your life, this is a great time to get a consultation or a re-exam.