A Sunday evening festive dinner potluck, at the home of Camarillo Yoga Center Director, Audrey Walzer, was where I was first introduced to Komali Nunna, the author of Entertaining from an Ethnic Indian Kitchen. All the guests at the dinner party lovingly crafted recipes from within the pages of this treasure trove of magic meals. [...]
On Creating A Circle Of Grace HEALING IS CAROLINE MYSS’ life work. She teaches, she writes, she speaks, and she’s emphatic about it. Her bestsellers include Anatomy of the Spirit, Why People Don’t Heal and How They Can, Sacred Contacts and Entering the Castle. Her upcoming book, Beyond Reason: Healing Through Mystical Wisdom and Common [...]
The Sugar Buster Herb The Ayurvedic herb gurmar is popular known as the sugar buster. Gurmar (Gymnema sylvestre) is a member of the milkweed family of herbs and is native to the tropical forests of India. The plant also goes by other names such as: gurmari, gurmarbooti and mesbasringi. The Hindi word gur-mar literally means [...]
From an Ayurvedic perspective, Spring is the time of new beginnings, growth and expansion. This is the time of year when the kapha dosha (the energies of water and earth) are increasing. Whenever kapha increases in the body over and above the appropriate amounts, it can exacerbate the factors that cause disease. Spring, then, [...]
CITES CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna. It is an international voluntary agreement. When governments sign on, it is legally binding if they implement complementary domestic legislation. CITES has one of the largest international memberships of participating countries among conservation agreements. It was initially adopted in [...]
In Search of Jatamansi: A Modern Day Plant Hunt Trekking Through The Himalayas En Route To Sustainability Plants have long held a place for humans of mystery, magic, sex appeal and medicinal promise. Stories are legion throughout our history up to the present day of trekking on a search for something rare, something [...]
Ancient Grains, New Recipes Quinoa is a 6,000 year old grain grown by the Incas in what is modern-day Peru. The I Incas referred to quinoa as chisaya mama, or mother of all grains. Quinoa (botanical name Chenopodia quinoa) is different from many other grains that are botanically grasses as it is more closely related [...]
From an Ayurvedic perspective, as we transition from the hot summer to the cool, dry and windy fall, which is governed by the vata dosha (air/ether elements), it is important to make sure we don’t dry out, burn out or space out. One of the ways in which we can do this is through bathing. [...]
Practice Pages: English Our bodies are powerful ways in which we experience the world. This is particularly the case for children, and when they are encouraged to experience somatically the heroic journey for themselves through reenacting a story, greater self-awareness occurs. It wakes them up from the inside. Storytime Yoga encourages such mind/body connection [...]
Practice Pages: Yoga Therapy Yoga in Iraq: Inner Journeys Provide Sanctuary One of the keys to survival in a mortar attack is to hit the ground as quickly as possible. During one such moment, I happened to be close the ground already since I had just lowered my body into chaturanga (four limbs [...]