Mindful Book Review ~ 10 Day Ayurveda Detox: Achieve Optimal Health & Wellbeing e-Guide

Start the New Year off right with tips from Christaine Erspamer in her "how to detox guide!

"A Guide to Ayurvedic Cleansing for Optimal Health & Wellbeing" by Christiane Erspamer, LMT, RYT

                                    

Book Review by Wiesje Brion, Chief Editor

What good is a healthy regime without our cleanse?!

This book is so easy to read, even for beginners. Christiane offers some great pointers on how to prepare your body for the cleanse and I love that it gives you a step by step guide to the cleanse process from beginning to end. This book is complete with recipes specifically for your ten day cleanse. It can't get any easier than this without the author coming to your door and doing it for you!


The other great benefit to this guide is that it is online. You can read it on your reader or copy it to PDF and even print it out. Perfect for those of us learning on-the-go types!


This e-book is so inexpensive that you could buy a few as gifts for your closest loved ones.

Buy it today!

Do you struggle with your weight and don’t know why?

 Dosha Quiz

Guest Author; Claudia Richey

This is one of the most common complaints I hear in my practice.

Weight issues and obesity have become an epidemic in our hemisphere. Most weight loss programs are a band aid that delivers a temporary fix with results that won’t last.

Yet your soul already knows there is a better solution to the problem.

Introducing Ayurveda. This ancient healing system from India has identified that there are different body types which react differently to food, lifestyle, and surroundings. Each of these body types, Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, gain weight for different reasons, carry it in different areas of their body, and have different challenges in maintaining a healthy weight.

The Vata type, when unbalanced, tends to carry more weight around the hips, thighs, and lower abs. Pitta puts it on evenly, where as Kapha tends to gain it all round the torso and midsection.

Each of these types responds to different dietary measures, there is no one-fits-all approach.

Someone aiming to achieve a healthy body weight should follow a clean diet of fresh and easy to digest foods, including warm soups, stews and porridges. Avoiding processed food is just as important as getting nutrients from vibrant fresh fruits and vegetables every day.

To activate healthy digestion and a sluggish metabolism, try this tea that’s appropriate for all three Dosha Types:

Boil one liter of water with 1 tsp each crushed Fennel, Cumin and Coriander seed. Add 2-3 pieces of thinly sliced fresh Ginger. Let the tea simmer for ten minutes. Remove from heat and add Green Tea, 1 teabag or 1 tsp lose tea. Let steep for another 5 minutes, then fill your tea into a thermos and sip throughout the day.

Finding and maintaining your ideal body weight doesn’t have to be a struggle. Knowing your body and who you are plays a big role in your success.

Use your challenges and turn them into an enjoyable journey to discovering yourself!

By Claudia Richey, AWC, R.PT., R.AT., NWS, RYT

http://www.doshafit.com

Take the Dosha quiz to begin your path to a new you! 

Dosha Quiz

Authentic Ayurvedic Body Treatments ~ A Guide to Get You Started

Guest Author; Christiane Erspamer

Ayurveda is a 5,000-year-old healing system from India. The foundation of traditional Ayurveda is the belief that everything in the universe is composed of five elements: air, fire, earth, water, and ether, which intermix to form three doshas (vata, pitta, and kapha) that govern a person's body type, mental and emotional characteristics, and personality. Here is a brief introduction to some of the Ayurvedic treatments available today!



Abhyanga: A traditional Ayurvedic massage to bring balance to the doshas, increase circulation, and aid detoxification.

Garshana: The therapist wears raw silk gloves, briskly massaging the client. This vigorous treatment increases circulation, energy, toxin removal, and weight loss.

Kati basti: A massage using heat and specific medicated oils to address low-back pain and rigidity of the lower spine.

Pinda: The client is massaged using muslin bags full of rice, milk, and herbs. This is very relaxing and has a particular and unmistakable fragrance.

Pizzichilli: Large amounts of warm oil are poured over the body while the therapist performs massage. This treatment decreases muscle pain and brings flexibility to joints.

Swedana: An herbal steam treatment usually given after a massage. It is used for detoxification and balancing for vata and kapha types.

Udvartana: An invigorating massage delivered with the application of herbal paste, which increases circulation, stimulates weight loss, supports detoxification, and cleanses, exfoliates, and tones the skin.

Christiane Erspamer of Holistic Path, Licensed Massage Therapist, 

Registered Yoga Teacher, Certified Panchakarma Technician  

*For more on Christiane and Holistic Path visit http://holisticpathduluth.com

Ancient Healing

Part I

Many ancient cultures have been know to pass down their healing rituals verbally from generation to generation. If there was written knowledge it had been destroyed by the process of nature or the destruction of man. Rarely has there been survival of the ancient secrets of time.  

Ayurveda is one of these ancient methods that has survived many wars and prejudices and natural disasters over thousands and thousands of years. Ayurveda is known as one of the oldest healing methods, if not the oldest know to modern man. Much of it's teachings are of holistic care. The word "Ayurveda" is a Sanskrit word meaning "Knowledge of Life". Ayurveda is an ancient Indian system of holistic medicine that seeks to bring balance specific to each individual, instead of a generic fix. It is a practice of both curative and preventive measures, encouraging optimal physical, mental and spiritual well-being. It aims to prevent unnecessary suffering and encourages us to live a long, healthy lifestyle. Ayurveda ranges in healing philosophies from surgery to energy work and everything in between.

In fact there are eight branches of Ayurveda: 

1. Káyachikitsá ~ Internal Medicine: Focus is on the body, mind and soul connection as a whole. Psychosomatic theory recognizes that the mind can create illness in the body and vice versa.
2. Shálákya Tantra ~ Ears, Nose, and Throat: A study of approximately 72 eye diseases, surgical procedures for all eye disorders such as cataracts and eyelid diseases, and also diseases of the ears, nose, and throat. 
3. Vishagara–Vairodh ~ Tantra Toxicology: Pertains to air and water pollution, toxins in animals, minerals, vegetables, and epidemics, as well as study of their antidotes.
4. Kaumára Bhritya ~ Pediatrics: This branch of medicine focuses on prenatal and postnatal care of the baby and mother. Including the methods of conception, choosing the child’s gender, intelligence, constitution, childhood diseases, and midwifery.
5. Shalyá Tantra ~ Surgery: Yes, surgery has been in practice for thousands of years. It is not a recent practice although many old practices were lost or hidden. Allowing western medical philosophy to rebirth this practice. We are only touching the surface of what is in the ancient Ayurvedic practice.
6. Bhúta Vidyá ~ Psychiatry: This entire philosophy analyses the mind and it's diseases as well as the alterations with herbs, diet, yogic therapies of breathing and mantras, and even demonic possession.
7. Vájikarana ~ Aphrodisiacs: This is the branch of fertility, infertility, sexual energy, spiritual development and their common ground.
8. Rasáyana ~ Rejuvenation: The practice of prevention and longevity. In order to develop longevity, ethics and virtuous living must be embraced.

As you can see Ayurveda is a whole body, mind and soul practice. It is not a religion, although many times confused as such because of the connection with spirituality and medicine. 

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