According to Ayurveda, Spring (kapha season) is the time to start incorporating more fresh greens and raw vegetables into our daily meal plans.  But if your digestive fire (agni) is low, you’re a vata type, or have had increased stress…….you may have difficulty digesting and assimilating these types of foods.  Raw foods do pack a powerhouse of enzymes and nutrients, but they also require a good strong digestive fire to break them down.

So how can you increase your greens and aide your digestion at the same time?  This recipe fits the bill!  Loaded with lots of digestive spices, and made into a soup, the vegetables are easy to digest because the blender has already broken them down into an easy to digest form, but also retains the nutrients.

And, it tastes delicious……isn’t that why we love to eat?  We love to stimulate our senses and taste buds!

Green Curry Soup

Servings: Two
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups filtered or spring water

1 cup tightly packed chopped spinach

1 cup chopped broccoli stalks

1/2 cup chopped leeks

1 avocado

1 carrot

4 – 6 soaked sundried tomatoes

1 clove garlic

1 tbsp miso paste

1 tsp himalayan or celtic sea salt

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 tbsp cumin

2 tsp tumeric

1 tbsp tamari or nama shoyu

1/2 – 1 tsp cayenne pepper

Preparation:
Blend the water, spinach, broccoli and leeks in a blender until smooth.  (I recommend a Vita-mix blender, for the best textured soup.  Visit: https://secure.vitamix.com/acb/stores/4/?COUPON=06-004346&store=1 ).

Add the remaining ingredients and blend again until smooth. You can adjust the spices to taste.

This can be served chilled in the summer or in winter it’s nice to warm it up a little. If you are warming it on the stove, to preserve the enzymes, keep it on the lowest heat, stir constantly and make sure it doesn’t go over body temperature by dipping your finger in. It should be just warm, not steaming hot.

I like to garnish with a dab of organic plain yogurt or flaxseed oil and top with some crunchy kale chips.

Many think that therapeutic grade essentials oils are a new and recent development in the new age of alternative medicine, but they have been used medicinally for thousands of years.  When I was recently told that my mammogram showed  “abnormal” cells growing on my right breast, Frankincense was the first oil I reached for….along with a few herbs from my Ayurvedic pharmacy.  I guess I will never know what actually worked or didn’t but there was no cancer when doctors performed the biopsy.  For 15 years I have witnessed the healing power of therapeutic grade essential oils, in my own life and with my clients. 

Now as a part of my daily self care routine I apply Frankincense oil to my shoulders, arms and breasts, after my shower, just before sitting for meditation.  When the skin is warm and moist the oil is easily absorbed into the tissues, blood, and lymphatic system.

The following information comes from the BBC.

“The gift given by the wise men to the baby Jesus probably came across the deserts from Oman. The BBC’s Jeremy Howell visits the country to ask whether a commodity that was once worth its weight in gold could be reborn as a treatment for cancer.

Oman’s Land of Frankincense is an 11-hour drive southwards from the capital, Muscat.

Most of the journey is through Arabia’s Empty Quarter – hundreds of kilometres of flat, dun-coloured desert. Just when you are starting to think this is the only scenery you will ever see again, the Dhofar mountains appear in the distance.

On the other side are green valleys, with cows grazing in them. The Dhofar region catches the tail-end of India’s summer monsoons, and they make this the most verdant place on the Arabian peninsula.

Warm winters and showery summers are the perfect conditions for the Boswellia sacra tree to produce the sap called frankincense. These trees grow wild in Dhofar. A tour guide, Mohammed Al-Shahri took me to Wadi Dawkah, a valley 20 km inland from the main city of Salalah, to see a forest of them.

“The records show that frankincense was produced here as far back as 7,000 BC,” he says. He produces an army knife. He used to be a member of the Sultan’s Special Forces. With a practised flick, he cuts a strip of bark from the trunk of one of the Boswellia sacra trees. Pinpricks of milky-white sap appear on the wood and, very slowly, start to ooze out.

Boswellia sacra produces the highest-quality frankincense

“This is the first cut. But you don’t gather this sap,” he says. “It releases whatever impurities are in the wood. The farmers return after two or three weeks and make a second, and a third, cut. Then the sap comes out yellow, or bright green, or brown or even black. They take this.”

Shortly afterwards, a frankincense farmer arrives in a pick-up truck. He is white-bearded, wearing a brown thobe and the traditional Omani, paisley-patterned turban.

He is 67-year-old Salem Mohammed from the Gidad family. Most of the Boswellia sacra trees grow on public land, but custom dictates that each forest is given to one of the local families to farm, and Wadi Dawkah is his turf.

Camel train

He has an old, black, iron chisel with which he gouges out clumps of dried frankincense.

“We learnt about frankincense from our forefathers and they learnt it from theirs” he says. “The practice has been passed down through the generations. We exported the frankincense, and that’s how the families in Dhofar made their livings.”

Salem Mohammed: Young people prefer careers in oil or government

And what an export trade it was. Frankincense was sent by camel train to Egypt, and from there to Europe. It was shipped from the ancient port of Sumharan to Persia, India and China. Religions adopted frankincense as a burnt offering.

That is why, according to Matthew’s Gospel in the Bible, the Wise Men brought it as a gift to the infant Jesus. Gold: for a king. Frankincense: for God. Myrrh: to embalm Jesus’ body after death.

The Roman Empire coveted the frankincense trade. In the first century BCE, Augustus Caesar sent 10,000 troops to invade what the Romans called Arabia Felix to find the source of frankincense and to control its production. The legions, marching from Yemen, were driven back by the heat and the aridity of the desert. They never found their Eldorado.

Oman’s frankincense trade went into decline three centuries ago, when Portugal fought Oman for dominance of the sea routes in the Indian and the Pacific Oceans.

Salalah’s Haffa souk: The place to buy Omani brands such as Royal Hougari

Nowadays, hardly any Omani frankincense is exported. Partly, this is because bulk buyers, such as the Roman Catholic Church, buy cheaper Somalian varieties. Partly, it is because Omanis now produce so little.

“Years ago, 20 families farmed frankincense in this area,” says Salem Mohammed Gidad. “But the younger generation can get well-paid jobs in the government and the oil companies, with pensions. Now, only three people still produce frankincense around here. The trade is really, really tiny!”

Cancer hope

But immunologist Mahmoud Suhail is hoping to open a new chapter in the history of frankincense.

Scientists have observed that there is some agent within frankincense which stops cancer spreading, and which induces cancerous cells to close themselves down. He is trying to find out what this is.

The Catholic church mostly buys Somalian frankincense

“Cancer starts when the DNA code within the cell’s nucleus becomes corrupted,” he says. “It seems frankincense has a re-set function. It can tell the cell what the right DNA code should be.

“Frankincense separates the ‘brain’ of the cancerous cell – the nucleus – from the ‘body’ – the cytoplasm, and closes down the nucleus to stop it reproducing corrupted DNA codes.”

Working with frankincense could revolutionise the treatment of cancer. Currently, with chemotherapy, doctors blast the area around a tumour to kill the cancer, but that also kills healthy cells, and weakens the patient. Treatment with frankincense could eradicate the cancerous cells alone and let the others live.

The task now is to isolate the agent within frankincense which, apparently, works this wonder. Some ingredients of frankincense are allergenic, so you cannot give a patient the whole thing.

FRANKINCENSE FACTS *Boswellia sacra grows in Oman, Yemen and Somalia *Other Boswellia species grow in Africa and India *The tree may have been named after John Boswell, the uncle of Samuel Johnson’s biographer *In ancient Egypt frankincense was thought to be sweat of the gods Source: The Pharmaceutical Journal

Dr Suhail (who is originally from Iraq) has teamed up with medical scientists from the University of Oklahoma for the task.

In his laboratory in Salalah, he extracts the essential oil from locally produced frankincense. Then, he separates the oil into its constituent agents, such as Boswellic acid.

“There are 17 active agents in frankincense essential oil,” says Dr Suhail. “We are using a process of elimination. We have cancer sufferers – for example, a horse in South Africa – and we are giving them tiny doses of each agent until we find the one which works.”

“Some scientists think Boswellic acid is the key ingredient. But I think this is wrong. Many other essential oils – like oil from sandalwood – contain Boswellic acid, but they don’t have this effect on cancer cells. So we are starting afresh.”

The trials will take months to conduct and whatever results come out of them will take longer still to be verified. But this is a blink of the eye in the history of frankincense.

Nine thousand years ago, Omanis gathered it and burnt it for its curative and cleansing properties. It could be a key to the medical science of tomorrow.

Jeremy Howell reports for Middle East Business Report on BBC World News.

TO LEARN MORE OR TO ORDER FRANKINCENSE OIL VISIT: www.MarthaGesegnet.com

If  managing stress in a more appropriate and health promoting way is on your list od resolutions for 2010, you may be exploring the idea of adding meditation or relaxation techniques to your self care routine.  Both offer numerous health benefits when practiced on a fairly consistent basis.    In Ayurveda, watching television on the couch is not considered part of an active relaxation practice. 

We often think of a glass of wine, a relaxing meal with family or friends, or enjoying a good book on a Sunday morning as relaxing.   But true relaxation is a regular practice that is cultivated and is defined by evoking and stimulating the relaxation response.   Some forms of conscious and guided relaxation may become meditation.   Many meditators find that their practice benefits from using a relaxation techniques that assists in accessing inner stillness.   Yet some forms of meditation are anything but relaxing.  Ultimately the difference lies in the practitioners intention and purpose.

All conscious relaxation techniques offer the practitioner a method for slowly relaxing all the major muscle groups in the body.  The intention  is to stimulate the relaxation response: deeper, slower breathing and other physiological changes that help you experience the whole body as relaxed.    Techniques include autogenic training, progressive muscle relaxation, and body scanning.  All these techniques bring an awareness and softening of the body through atttention to specific areas.

Meditation is a form of mind training, usually presented in one of three forms: concentration, mindfulness, and contemplation.  Mediatation operates on a fundamental principle that the mind determines your quality of life.  It is a practice that aligns your mind, teaching to see what is just as it is and freeing oneself from reactive conditioning.   Meditation is offered to relieve the mind from it’s busy programming of day to day events allowing the present moment to be accepted just as it is without needing to respond or react to it.

In either case, meditation and relaxation are both tools which offer stress relief and numerous health benefits when practiced regularly.  Many yoga centers and holistic health practitioners offer classes in both modalities. The beauty of these self care techniques is that they are low cost, (about the same as a co-pay at your doctor) , offer a community of like-minded friends also on a healing path,  and once you learn the basics you can practice at home and reap the long term benefits.

As summer winds down and we begin to transition into a new season, it is a
perfect time for cleansing our body,mind, and spirit.  In Ayurveda this
is done with Panchakarma.

It is commonly perceived as only an internal cleansing routine, but Panchkarma
is also a time used to meditate, journal, and get grounded and centered from within,
preparing for the more inward cycle of nature….Fall and Winter.

In Ayurveda, “Detoxification” is not just a physical regimen but also a
break from the often hectic pace of our external worlds, to focus on our
inner landscape, cleansing the mind and spirit, creating a feeling
of lightness, and a clear and calm mind.

Essential oils hold great benefits when used in conjunction with meditation or
guided relaxation.  One that I recommend to clients regularly
is “Magnify Your Purpose”  from Young Living.

It assists with algining your inner and outer purpose.  So many times we find
we have a strong inner passion, yet it can be a challenge to bring that into alignment
and live it with integrity, as an outer passion in our families, work, and communities.

We best serve our selves when we can align our inner
and outer purpose by “shining the light” that we are. 

Maginify your purpose is a specially crafted blend of essential oils that stimulates
creativity, desire, focus, and motivation.

Whether your challenges are physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual this oil
helps foster a positive attitude, encouraging you to rise above adversity,
seize the initiative,overcome procrastination, and magnify your life’s purpose.

Live the life you were meant to live. Maginify Your Purpose and move forward
to it.  Find your passion, find your health.  You came here with a purpose, to live
a happy, healthy, and vibrant life.

It is important to recognize that we are always in the midst of a transition.

Often when we examine our health it’s easy to focus on what’s wrong at that moment….instead of how we’d like it to be.  Sometimes, if you’re living with symptoms of pain or illness, it’s so
easy to become focused on uncomfortable symptoms and you may miss small signs that healing is taking place.

Sometimes the most challenging part of healing is shifting your perceptions and beliefs.

For example, I noticed this when I was challenged by a skin disorder.  Instead of blessing my body for doing it’s job,(removing toxins through my body’s largest organ),  I focused on the fact that my body looked,”ugly” with breakouts on my face and back.

Yet, I had been “asking” for a deep healing….a healing from the inside out. As you become aware and more conscious of the wisdom of your body’s natural healing mechanisms and apply them in the context holistic modalities, you will be less likely to feel that you need to cover up or annihilate a symptom. 

Instead, you can be grateful for the divine wisdom and healing, releasing judgement as to we how you think it should “look”. 

At the time, I was drinking a shot of wheat grass  almost every day….and the chlorophyll was purifying and detoxifying my blood, sending toxins to the surface of my skin to be removed.

At this point it was beneficial to reassess my healing plan to determine what the next step should be. That is the beauty of a holistic approach to healing….it is fluid and flexible….not the “one size fits all” approach that many doctors use.

What were those skin breakouts trying to communicate?   In a holistic model it is less likely that I needed a trip to a dermatologist for an acne or cortisone cream.

It is more likely I could benefit from the added boost of dry brushing, or taking a bath with dosha appropriate essential oils….opening up pores and penetrating deep into the tissues, to assist with further removal of the toxins.

Or, maybe I needed to drink more water.

The point here is this……no matter where you are starting from, you must look for the good….you must shift your perception and awareness.

Divine healing, often the “miracle”, spontaneous healings that we hear about…….I believe happen THROUGH you, not to you.  They can only happen when you are willing to choose it…..willing to acknowledge the good, the divine innate wisdom of your body, and give thanks with gratitude for the healing that occurs even when it’s is not as you imagine it.

Sometimes you can miss the healing if you’re focused with your mind as to how you “think” it should be.   Focus on the end result, not the how.

Become a channel for healing.  Take the steps you need to take, move towards postivie actions each day……see and feel the end result you desire.  As one of my early spiritual mentors Robert Schuller used to say…….Count your “haves” not your “have nots”. I am grateful for those little break outs, they let me know what my next steps should be.

Signs and symptoms in your body can be a blessing that provide information about your imbalances, they are valuable to a holistic practitioner in creating a treatment plan specific for your needs.

Let me help you on your Ayurvedic eating adventure……it’s much simpler than it seems.  Here is a well balanced tridoshic recipe……make it as a smoothie, a fruit bowl, or a chilled soup.  You can change the spices to make it “dosha-friendly”, Pitta types can add ice in the blender, Vata and Kapha types will probably enjoy at room temp, unless the heat is on where you live.  Want to get your kids to eat it?  Pop it in the dehydrator and Voila! Fruit Leather.

Cardamom Plum Delight

Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients: 

4 plums
1 banana
sprinkle cardamom
sprinkle allspice
dash sea-salt, (opt)
sprinkle almonds, or nut of choice

Preparation: 

Puree plums and banana in food processor until liquefied (if you want it thicker, add another half or whole banana). Sprinkle a very light bit of cardamom over the top, then a bit of allspice, then salt, if desired. Pulse briefly to combine. Taste and adjust, if necessary.

The almonds complement the plum perfectly, adding good fats and a little protein!  Cardamom aides digestion relieving acidity and gas, and bloating.

SInce we’re in the middle of Kapha season now
I thought it best to throw in a Kapha treat. 
This is always a favorite “raw” recipes.

If you aren’t familiar with raw/living foods,
no worry….it’s not as scary as it sounds.
It means the foods are LIVE with enzymes
because they haven’t been destroyed by heat.
(more on the benefits of enzymes coming soon).

Many raw foods are made in a dehydrator,
but if you don’t have one you can use your
oven on the lowest possible temperature.

Raw foods are not to be heated above
104-110 degrees in order to keep the
enzymes alive.  Put your oven on the
lowest possible setting and leave the door open 
a notch to circulate air flow.

The oats and agave nectar make this a perfect
choice for Kapha types.  The coconut adds
good fats, and the cacoa powder
and nibs are loaded with
antioxidants.  All in all, a healthy treat.
The oats and cacoa are both good for your
heart and lower cholesterol.

ENJOY!
INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cup raw, rolled oats
1/4 cup agave nectar

1/2 coconut cream, (or I use light coconut milk)
1/2 cup coconut flakes
1/4 raw cacoa powder
1/4 cacoa nibs
1 tbsp vanilla extract.
PREPARATION
Mix all the ingredients together.  You can adjust
the amounts to your own likes, there’s no right
or wrong with this, you can hardly make a mistake!

Scoop mounds, about a tablespoon,
onto dehydrator trays, flatten to desired cookie
shape with spoon or fingers. Dehydrate to
desired consistency,
or if using an oven, scoop onto
cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.

The longer the drying process the crunchier
they’ll be, if you like a chewy cookie
add more liquid and dehydrate for less time.

The first step in staying healthy is to develop an awareness of the potential causes of disease, and tune into your  body…….listening to the messages it is giving you.   Yet, here is another level to consider when applying the idea of self healing.

Ayurveda can sometimes feel like mastering a science coarse…..here is my best to give you the simple layman’s version so you can have the best information to make the best choices for your own body and self care.

If you have questions contact me, you are not alone, I’m excited to help you.

What if you haven’t taken the time or been taught how to develop this awareness, to modify the cause and to apply the opposite qualities to restore balance?  What should you do to restore balance? What can you do if you are experiencing illness and what to use Ayurveda to heal?

In Ayurveda, the principle of opposites is helpful at almost every stage of disease but once a disease has developed it becomes necessary to use techniques for cleansing and purifying your body of accumulated and excess toxins.

This is the process of eliminating Ama.

When doshas (your mind/body constitution) becomes aggravated because of poor diet, unhealthy lifestyle, negative emotions or other factors, it first affects the body’s biological “fire”, (referred to as Agni)…….which governs digestion and assimilation, (judging by all the adds on TV for Nexium, Prevacid, etc…..there’s a whole lotta folks that have aggravated Agni).

When your fire becomes weakened or disturbed food is not properly digested.

The undigested, unabsorbed food particles accumulate in the gastrointestinal tract and turn into a toxic, sticky substance called Ama.

In the third stage of disease, spreading, Ama clogs the intestines, over flows into other body channels such as blood vessels, and leaks into the body’s tissues, causing disease.

The presence of ama in the body can be felt as fatigue, heaviness, and lethargy.   It can induce constipation, indigestion, gas, diarrhea, stiffness in the body, aches and pains, mental confusion or dullness.

According to Ayurveda, disease is actually a crisis of ama.  So the key to preventing disease is to help the body eliminate toxins and prevent ama.

 If you are experiencing any signs or symptoms of disease ask yourself…..Got ama?

Consult with an Ayurvedic or holistic practitioner that can help you with detoxifying your body so you can enjoy a life of energy, health and vitality.  This is your natural state of being.  

This is the perfect Ayurveda recipe for this time of year, balancing for all dosha types.   Vata types can add more spices and seasoning to add more warmth, and this will allviate Kapha’s thendency for  the heavy qualities of mucous in the form of sniffles, allergies, colds, and sinus troubles.

The lentils  add a mild astringent quality to counter all the indulgent holiday sweets.  Ginger garlic, and cilantro will aid in boosting your immune system should you imbibe in too much “cheer”.

Abundant Peace, Prosperity and Love for All in 2009!
Indian Lentil Pilaf
Serves 6

1 cup brown lentils, rinsed and sorted
2 Tbs. canola oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/3 cups)
2 large carrots, diced (about 2 cups)
1 cup basmati rice  (I use brown basmati in winter)
3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 Tbs.)
1 Tbs. minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 tsp. garam masala
1 14.5-oz. can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
cilantro for garnish, optional
Ginger and garam masala, a traditional Indian spice blend,
give dish authentic flavor.
If you’re not a lentil lover,
try the recipe with 2 cups cooked chickpeas, but Vatas will need
to serve with a spoon of ghee.
 
Directions
1. Bring lentils and 4 cups water to a boil in large pot or Dutch oven.
Reduce heat to low, and simmer 15 minutes, or until lentils are firm-tender.

Drain, reserving 3/4 cup cooking water, and transfer lentils to bowl.  I use more water when making with brown basmati rice.

2. Wipe out pot; heat oil over medium high.
Sauté onion in oil 4 minutes, or until just golden.
Add carrots and rice, and cook 3 minutes, or until rice is
toasted and fragrant, stirring constantly.
Add garlic, ginger and garam masala, and cook 1 minute more.  (Vata and Kapha types can add more garlic).

3. Stir in tomatoes, broth, reserved lentil cooking water and lentils,
and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low,
and cook 20 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat, cover, and let
stand 5 minutes.

Garnish with cilantro, if desired. Serve hot.

Yummy holiday treats can actually be good for you too!

When you add a generous “dose” of these common spices your treats can be considered medicinal.  ( Isn’t that what we all want to hear at this time of year?

But it’s true.  In Ayurveda this holiday falls in the middle of “vata” season.  We can easily balance the cold qualities by adding a little heat, in the form of Cayenne Pepper or Cinnamon. 

 These spices have numerous healing benefits that also make them good choices far beyond the holidays.

Cayenne pepper is an antibacterial that fights food poisoning and prevents cardiovascular disease and respiratory infections.  Mix a pinch of ground cayenne pepper with a tablespoon of honey, and take evrey hour at that first sign of cough or sore throat.  The honey soothes and coats your throat and also acts as an antibacterial.  This powerful combination will quickly kill the “bug” and soothe discomfort at the same time.

  Cayenne pepper has a numbing effect on the nerve endings in your throat, and will quickly “burn” up the mucous and congestion too.  Cayenne peppers numbing effect is the reason the pharmaceutical industry uses it in arthritis creams.  (Which is great if you are a “vata” constitution, but if you happen to be a “pitta” type, that pepper is actually making things worse by causing more inflammation and heat).

For general health benefits add a pinch of cayenne pepper to everyday favorites like guacamole, spinach dip,  or your favorite soup.

Cinnamon is an all around favorite for our taste buds but did you know it offers antimicrobial and antioxidant benefits?  Or that it is effetive at lowering insulin sensitivty as well as cholesterol and triglyceride levels? 

Add a half teaspoon twice a day to your meals and you can see signifaicant improvement.  Toss a whole cinnamon stick in your coffee pot before brewing for a nice gentle flavor and all the benefits of cinnamon.  Just take it out after 10 minutes so the taste doesn’t get too strong.  Or make a nice pot of tea or warm cider and spice it up with a cinnamon stick.

Healthy Holiday Nuts

To make a sweet treat using both cayenne pepper and cinnamon:  Add a 1/4 cup agave nectar to 1/2 cup fresh orange juice.  Add 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp sea salt, and 1/2 to 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper.  Mix well.  Combine with 1 pound of your favorite nuts. Stir to coat.  Roast on a foil lined cookie sheet for 1 hour in a 250 degree oven.  Stir every 15 minutes to pevent sticking and burning.

These are  great healthy snack for winter and all those with a “vata” body/mind type (dosha).

Be Careful. they are addicting!!