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SVA recommends starting the morning with stewed fruit - cooked with cloves.  Cloves are gently heating and help open channels.  So cooking apples or pears with 5-6 cloves until the apples are gently cooked and steamy and delicious is a great way to start the morning - it wakes up your digestive fire.  Then when you feel hungry you can have your warm breakfast meal - cooked oats is a good start to the day. You can make then delicious with raisin or other dried fruits and a bit of milk added to the cooking water.  A gentle start for your digestive tract first thing in the morning. Also both apples and pears contain malic acid which is wonderfully beneficial to the liver. You might already have in your routine drinking warm water with lemon or lime first thing in the morning to cleanse the liver. Adding cooked apples and pears with cloves is also beneficial. This is mostly recommended for those who are not hungry when they wake up - that means the digestive fire is ...

According to Shaka Vansya Ayurved there are certain foods that are clogging and also block the vibrational channels.  The subtle channels or nadis are vibrational (like meridians in chinese medicine) and the physical channels are arteries, veins and micro-channels in all the cells and tissues. If these get compromises, clogged or shrink then toxins cannot get out and nutrients cannot get in.  So we see all kinds of problems develop - cysts, lumps, swellings, etc. So what to eliminate that might contribute to this problems: large beans - garbanzo, kidney, lima etc. The only beans recommended are Mung, Red Lentils, French Lentils. These are easy to digest and not clogging and they best be cooked with Turmeric, coriander, fennel and cumin. all soya products nights shades - potato, tomato, bell peppers and eggplant bananas - all except the tiny baby ones You might have to look at the kind of grains your are eating. If using milk products they must be used according t...

Now a days everyone seems to be carrying a water bottle because the news is out, hydration is important. However even if you drink lots of water you cannot be guaranteed that it is getting deep into your tissues and into the cells to hydrate and also remove toxins so they can be excreted via the kidney. Also hydration is essential for good bowel function and almost all functioning. According to Ayurved the tissue formation starts with the plasma that needs water and then cascades to red blood cells, muscles, fat, bone, bone marrow and reproductive tissues. Also the finest tissue is called Ojas which can be called "liquid light".  So if we do not have water it effects all tissue formation. One simple and effective way to hydrate the body efficiently and deeply is to drink a special herbal tea that was developed by my teacher Vaidya Rama Kant Mishra.  He has called it "Smart Water" because of its ability to enter the tissues efficiently and effectively. Here is th...

Oil Massage or Abhyanga  - with the cold and dry winter months upon us, the nourishing and lubricating oil massage called abyanga is highly recommended.  Essential for Vata mind/body type on a daily basis as much as possible - every second day for pitta and at least twice a week for kapha types. Organic Sesame Oil is great but might be a bit to heating for Pitta body type which might prefer almond oil.  Coconut oil might be too clogging at this time of year. It is best to "cure" an oil before using. This is done by taking your bottle of oil and putting it in a pot with one drop of water.  As soon as the oil is heated enough the water will crackle. This prevents over heating of the oil. I have known people who heat the oil so much that it explodes into flame - not a good idea. So once your oil is gently warmed. Cool is back down and put it back in your bottle. You can warm up a bit of oil as you need it for your massage of abyanga but you do not have to re-c...

After the heat of summer and the body's response to the cold weather, we start to build up more Agni (loosely translated as heat or fire) in the body. All the Agnis in the body (stomach, liver, pancreas) become more active to compensate for the heat loss to the cold environment. Therefore we need richer food to feed the Agni or fire to maintain it. But the food should not be clogging as the channels of the body naturally shrink in the winter.  Clogged channels prevent flow of prana or life force. If this increase in Agni or fire is not fed then the lubricating elements (Kledaka Kapha) are burned up, Vata increases fanning the fire which begins to burn higher and the proper formation of tissues is effected: all 7 tissues - plasma, blood, muscle, fat, bone, bone marrow, and reproductive tissues. One very interesting point is that the plasma (clear blood ) supports the nourishment of the skin so if plasma is "burned or drying " by excessive Agni then the skin becomes d...

Cancer is a scary word. I prefer to say that "the cells are misbehaving". I few people in my close circle of friends are currently waiting for a medical opinion and tests to let them know if they have cancer. Firstly I need to say that we all have cancer cells and our own immune system cleans them up. Also there is a process call angiogenesis that bring more blood flow to areas that need growth. Anti-angiogenesis will then prevent blood flow to tumours. There are certain foods the promote this wonderful healing process. Asparagus being one of the best. Also I would like to introduce you to good books on prevention of "misbehaving cells":      The Answer to Cancer Is Never Giving It A Chance To Start by Sharma, Mishra and Meade      Cancer, Step Outside The Box by Ty Bollinger I am also exploring the benefits of "Polypores" once of which is called Chaga that grows on old brich trees that has been documented in Russia to have anticancer properties...

For the medicinal benefits of asparagus click on link below. The article also sites several other vegetables that have high antioxidant properties such as beets, artichokes, spinach, arugula, turnip tops, radicchio. They also mention mushroom and bell peppers but in Shaka Vansya Ayurved mushrooms are considered tamasic or not life supporting and bell peppers being a member of the nightshade family can be neurotoxic. http://www.healthyfellow.com/480/asparagus-cancer-cure/