Creating Calm During The Hectic Holidays

Martha Soffer — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 09:41:30 +0000

Ayurvedic Suggestions to Support Balance

Even though the winter in LA is mild compared to other areas of the world, it’s still winter for us. The wind picks up, the days are shorter, and with the holiday season upon us, there are so many things to get done, so many places to go. Our whole lives can become a rush, and everything is about motion. This transition can leave us with restless nights, and a harried mind and body. We need to find ways to support creating calm amidst the chaos. Fortunately, the teachings of Yoga and Ayurveda offer us practices that we can include in our daily routine to cultivate balance.

Ayurveda identifies this physical state as an imbalance of vata, one of the three doshas that constitute our bodies. Vata governs all movement in our minds and bodies – down to the movement of our breath and blood. When our vata is out of balance, our hearts and minds aren’t as peaceful as we’d like. We can feel that in our bodies.

One of the primary areas in the body where we may feel a vata imbalance is in our elimination. Vata controls the movement aspect of digestion. When vata is imbalanced, there isn’t proper elimination.

To support good elimination by calming vata throughout the holidays and into the New Year:

Favor warm, cooked foods.
Avoid cold and dry foods.
Avoid leftovers – fresh is always better!
Before meals, drink a cup of boiled water with a quarter teaspoon of cumin and eight drops of lemon or lime juice.
For breakfast, you can enjoy a simple hot cereal of rice, couscous or amaranth.
For desert, try cooked pears with a little clove (slice them in some water and let them simmer).
A regular schedule for lunch, and especially dinner, is helpful.
Before bed, take a teaspoon of the natural Ayurvedic herbal formulation called triphala – it works wonders.
When you feel the urge to go to the bathroom, go!

Sleep

Vata also governs the activity of the mind. When vata gets out of balance, we might experience difficulty falling asleep. To calm vata at night and support a good, deep rest:

Try not to eat too heavily in the evening, especially after 7:00 PM.
As bedtime approaches, reduce stimulating activities (turn off the TV!).
Before sleep, apply a little coconut oil to your scalp, and massage your feet with ghee. Any vata-induced tension will melt away.

This holiday season, with our last-minute trips to the malls, and our lists, and out-of-town guests, and parties and our hectic year-end schedules, we don’t have to be overwhelmed. With vata in balance, we can enjoy what the season is really about – family and community, celebrating and sharing all that we have. Balancing vata in our bodies and our hearts, will help us be calm, creative and joyful, throughout the year.

Martha Soffer

Martha Soffer is an acclaimed Ayurvedic Therapist and Chef, a Panchakarma and Marma Specialist, and an Herbalized Oil and Ghee Artisan. Surya Spa, her traditional Ayurvedic clinic in Pacific Palisades, offers consultations, marma therapy, nasya, shirodhara and swedhana treatments, with a focus on individualized Panchakarma series, ranging from three to twenty one days: (310) 459 – 7715; suryaspa.com

The post Creating Calm During The Hectic Holidays appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

The Nurturing Ayurvedic Practice Of Baby Massage

Martha Soffer — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:05:16 +0000

Touch Provides Calm To Mother And Baby

Modern obstetrical care emphasizes pregnancy, labor and delivery, but gives less attention to the mother and baby after birth. Ayurveda, on the other hand, considers the six weeks after birth to be a precious opportunity.

New mothers need time, attention and rest. After the strain of birth, the new mother’s physiology is, in many ways, as delicate as her baby’s. One of the simplest techniques to restore vata dosha (the elements of air and space) balance is abhyanga (massage using warm oil and nurturing, loving massage strokes). When vata is calmed using massage, a new mother can experience improved digestion, deeper sleep and increased vitality. Mothers can also find relief from common postpartum conditions such as weight gain, sleeping difficulties, even depression, and recover remarkably quickly, allowing them to give more attention and love to their children. By combining massage with simple Ayurvedic dietary and daily routine recommendations, new mothers can come out of the postpartum period with more energy and better health than before.

Ayurvedic Massage and Bonding with Baby

The baby also benefits from abhyanga (massage with warm oil), beginning even just days after birth. Oiling the body enhances the baby’s growing circulatory system, gently presses impurities out of new tissues into the shrotas (channels of the body which control circulation and elimination), increases immunity, supports digestion and releases stress and tension (such as the muscle tightness from being cramped in the womb).

On the psychological and emotional levels, massage is an excellent experience for developing communication and an important bonding experience between infant and caregiver. Touch is an important sense for helping us to feel safe and in the world. Especially for infants, touch is necessary to feed the skin, the tissues and the developing nervous system. New mothers who practice massage with their infants report that when they do, their babies have less gas, are more settled at night and are healthier overall.

How to Practice Ayurvedic Massage

While learning Ayurvedic massage from a guide is, of course, a helpful experience, try using touch with your infant on your own. Use organic oil warmed to body temperature (test it first). Sesame oil is nurturing and warming and Ayurvedically recommended, but other vegetable oils can be used. Oil can make the baby slippery, so set out a towel (one that you don’t mind getting oily) on a firm surface, even a clean floor.

Use very light strokes: circular on the joints and belly with long strokes on the limbs. Babies enjoy having their hands and feet massaged. You can also gently rub the belly clockwise to encourage digestion.

Bonding with Baby through Massage

Both parents (and grandparents) can experience the bonding and nurturing of infant massage and this is one of the great benefits of the practice. Abyhanga can be incorporated into morning and night routines, to start out the day and then to encourage sweet and deep sleep. When one parent is engaged in massage with the infant, the other can take the opportunity for a few minutes of personal time. Regular Ayurvedic baby abyhangas are one of the most precious gifts every new parent can give their new baby. It’s like a little life-insurance – making sure that a new life gets off to the right start.