Lifestyle & Wellness - Ananda Wellness

Holistic wellness is about mind-body-community wellness. Explore our thought pieces on a number of important lifestyle topics that we hope may spark some inspiration on your journey.


 
Posts tagged mind and body
Managing doshic balance during airplane flights

Keeping the doshas balanced during and after long airplane flights can be tricky, as we sit in tightly packed and poorly ventilated, cold and dry spaces for extended periods, moving through space. This can aggravate our Vata dosha made up of the air and space elements that are also cold, dry, rough, mobile and erratic; inviting insomnia, dehydration, constipation, tiredness and jet lag into our lives.

The ayurvedic way can be useful in rebalancing this, making travelling easier on both the mind and body. Here are some travel ideas from a recent trip with a long flight to and from Sri Lanka to Melbourne.

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Simple & Handy Meditation and Mindfulness Prompts to keep on hand

Filling up your cup daily, helps you make sure you have more to give both yourself and your loved ones consistently and with ease. Fitting self care and pauses into the day can be tricky - when / how / what to do becomes all too much and a lot gets put off in overwhelm!

Here’s a handy set of meditation and mindfulness prompts to save and keep on hand for when you can’t do the thinking / can’t make it to a class / only have a few minutes. I’ve broken it into 2 occasions: quick and easy sessions and deeper, slower sessions for when you have TIME.

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Exploring Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)

Keeping the doshas balanced during and after long airplane flights can be tricky, as we sit in tightly packed and poorly ventilated, cold and dry spaces for extended periods, moving through space. This can aggravate our Vata dosha made up of the air and space elements that are also cold, dry, rough, mobile and erratic; inviting insomnia, dehydration, constipation, tiredness and jet lag into our lives.

The ayurvedic way can be useful in rebalancing this, making travelling easier on both the mind and body. Here are some travel ideas from a recent trip with a long flight to and from Sri Lanka to Melbourne.

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Surya Bhedi Pranayama

According to the Hatha yoga pradipika, Surya bhedi pranayama or right nostril breathing is one of the most beneficial pranayama (breath work) techniques in activating and energising the body. In Ayurveda too, this pranayama technique is used to dispel a kapha vitiation leading to lethargy, sluggishness, low energy, low motivation and a feeling of dullness.

The focus of this pranayama technique is to activate the surya or ‘sun’ element in your body, via the right nostril and ‘Pingala’ nadi which aligns with the vitality of the sun.

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A guide to Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana)

Alternate nostril breathing (From Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha by Swami Satyananda Saraswati)

These techniques have a calming effect and relieve anxiety, improves concentration and stimulates ajna chakra. The ratio 1:1 in stage 1 establishes a calming rhythm for the brain and heart, assisting people with cardiovascular and nervous disorders specifically, and stress-related conditions generally. As the count is extended, the breath slows down. The respiration becomes more efficient because the air flow is smoother and less turbulent. This ratio helps people with respiratory problems such as asthma, emphysema and bronchitis.

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A sample Winter meal plan, spices and herbs

Kapha aggravations can impact the health of the kidneys, lungs, mucus membranes, bladder, fluid content. It can lead to swellings, heaviness and accumulations of mucus in the body. It increased by the salty, sour and sweet tastes e.g. salt, citrus fruits and refined sugars. Kapha is decreased by pungent, bitter and astringent tastes (e.g. turmeric, bitter green, black tea, ginger).

Here is a sample meal plan, herbs and spices to consider in winter months.

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Asana to Activate the Ajna Chakra

On my most recent trip to Sri Lanka I attended one of my mum’s yoga classes and learned this fantastic asana to help activate the ajna chakra, which is located between the eyebrows and is indigo in colour.

It governs insight, intuition and the function of brain, ears, eyes and the hypothalamus, which works with the pituitary gland to secrete and regulate a number of hormones. When it is at its full potential you are more able to stay calm under pressure, think more clearly and decisively, become more self aware and able to tap into your gut voice and intuition. It brings deep calm and steadiness.

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Amalaki (Amla) for hair loss, premature greying, liver function, immunity and so much more!

Amalaki (Amla) or Indian Gooseberry is a great natural source of vitamin C and one of the 3 fruits used to produce the highly revered ‘triphala’ formulation. Amla helps to manage excess pitta in the body, supporting the natural functions of the liver and the immune system
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Amla oil or churna made into a hair pack is especially good at alleviating hair loss and early greyness. It is a renowned rejuvenative and adaptogen for slowing age (vayahsthapana), increasing virility, promoting immunity and inducing balanced health (satmikarana).

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Singing bowls for Anxiety

For anyone feeling anxious or a little edgy, try listening to or playing along with a Tibetan singing bowl. Simply rest the bowl loosely on the palm of your hand and strike it once, focusing on the sound and its vibration, and leaving all other thoughts aside just for that moment. Then when this fades, strike again and repeat the process, all the while allowing this vibration to displace that edginess

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Ojas: What it is + How to keep it Healthy and Strong

'When ojas is low the person is fearful, weak, worried, has deranged senses, poor complexion, weak mind, is rough and thin’ (Caraka Samhita Sutrasthana 17.73). However, a person with healthy ojas is calm, content & peaceful within, has strong immunity, digestion, potent fertility and endurance. There is a sparkle in the eye and a special ‘glow’ around them.

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Wake up Wonderful!

When discussing wellness habits and routines, you might often have heard of this suggestion to wake up peacefully, without checking phones, socials, emails, calendars. Quite often a part of the 'programming' in modern life will be to reach for a device, sometimes with eyes still half closed. Without giving our psyche, energy, minds, selves a chance to recalibrate to the waking state from the dream state.

We might carry on then, overtly or subtly impacted by what we see - the ticking over our to-do lists of having to be somewhere, do the next thing; the inward groan or twinge of being reminded of something you'd rather forget... the list is endless!

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Cheese and Butter Making Classes in Melbourne City!

Behind the scenes at our Ghee and Paneer workshop in Melbourne city last evening, against a backdrop of the iconic Flinders Street Station Building 🌟

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Jala Neti - Saline Irrigation for Natural Hay Fever Relief

Hay fever has been particularly tricky to manage in the last few weeks and we have been helping out with advice and how to’s on using the Ayurvedic / yogic approach to finding relief using a natural approach over pharmaceuticals.

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Snapshots of our Spring Wellness Day 2019!

Snapshots of our Spring Wellness Day 2019!

This day was designed to coincide with the Spring Equinox (today!) and provided a space to experience the cleansing and pausing between seasons preceding a Spring routine

We started with stimulating the thymus for immunity and then practiced invigorating and flowing asana (including lots of khatu pranam from the Yoga in Daily Life System) and pranayama, followed by a yummy, nourishing Spring friendly lunch and bliss balls for snacks, magnesium foot soaks and cleansing golden turmeric teas, healing massages, time for reflection and an uplifting yoga nidra

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3 Steps to Working Through Uncertain Times

At various points in our lives we are all faced with moments of uncertainty. Here, we often fret, fight, resist, panic, lose our power in the battle for control and guarantees. Most of us can relate to one or all of these sentiments… I want this new possession / status / growth. I need this idea to work faster. I wish he / she / they would (…your intent goes here). I want this cycle to end.

The truth is that trying to deny or fight the reality of a situation is like fighting a rip tide. The harder you push the more it resists, and the more agitated you get. There are the rare few that seem to have life come easy, seem to be ok with anything, and are rewarded with the sweetness of their desires coming true. What are they doing differently?

Learning to read and align with the reality of your circumstance, understanding yourself and the web of universal timing using pausing and reflection can help you find not just the sweet spot but also help you ride life in a way that opens up a universe of possibilities so that the world really does become your oyster with or without your need/wish/desire going the way you initially expected.

Here are a few guidelines that may help…

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An Evening of Kindness & Mindful Meditations

We had a lovely little session exploring the link between kindness, mindfulness and well-being in the CBD last evening for this group of busy wellness seekers

Lots of practical breathing and meditation techniques and exploring anecdotes of how we can bring about a more healthy inner dialog through practice of ahimsa and mindful release of tension. Everyone left feeling light, clear and calm. Bliss!

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Breathing to relieve anxiety

The way we breathe is strongly linked to the way we feel. When relaxed, we breathe slowly, and when anxious we breathe more quickly.


When we inhale we take in oxygen (O2), creating a waste product carbon dioxide (CO2) when we breathe out. With relaxed breathing, the levels of O2 and CO2 we produce are balanced, allowing us to function efficiently. Exercise too leads to an increase in breathing rate to take in more O2 to fuel the muscles, thereby producing more CO2 being expelled, and the O2/CO2 levels are balanced. However, when we are anxious our breathing rate increases and this same process applies but our bodies are not working any harder ie we are not necessarily exercising and not using up any extra O2 and thus the CO2 level in blood concentration drops, creating a state of alkalosis. This is why we feel light-headed, tingly, clammy and sweaty.

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Connecting with Earth’s Healing Vibration

Recently, I was sitting in my meditation space and watching the rays of the early morning sun bringing things to life in the room around me. The light flooding through the windows had ribbons of colour as they hit the ground, and there was vitality, freshness and ‘prana’ in the air I breathed in. There is something special about dawn, and I began to contemplate the interconnectedness between living things and the earth’s energy.

Later on, in my desk research I read about a phenomenon known as Schumann’s Resonance, which is like the Earth’s heartbeat - a pattern of electro-magnetic waves that sit between the Earth surface and ionosphere (this is a layer of Earth’s upper atmosphere that is ionised by the sun and cosmos).

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Staying mindful in daily life: An observation through yoga asana

Balancing asanas can bring an amazing sense of freedom, strength and discipline but can be challenging – mostly for the mind. We pick a point to focus on but then the mental commentary starts, and rattles us!

Quite often we hear a lot of utterances of annoyance and frustration around us at this part of the practice too. Digging a bit deeper, this reveals a lot about our mental commentary or sense of ‘ahimsa’ (non-violence) toward ourselves, not just in practice,` but also in daily life. Practicing Ahimsa is one of the foundations of a well rounded yoga practice, and bringing our awareness to how this can be tested helps us develop not just our practice but also our inner peace and resilience.

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Tried a Hygge?

A good case in point are some communities in Northern Europe, living in some of the coldest parts of the world such as Denmark and Scandinavia. How do people living here get through cold Winters, yet come out being rated as some of the happiest people in the world? I recently learned that much of this is because of the celebration of warmth and community. The Danes have a special term for this, Hygge (prounounced ‘hooga’) meaning creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people. I had a chance to experience this around the time of the start of the Winter Solstice this year, when I attended a beautiful hygge celebration (thank you lovely Sarah), which was an evening of sharing and community.

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