Dr Mark Vinick, Chiropracter and Ayurvedic expert, will be co-teaching our upcoming SVA Marma-thon. Here’s what he has to say about Vaidya’s Marmavigyan course
SVA MarmaVigyan – still can’t decide?
join us for the the first session on March 5th
~ free and open to all ~
you can ask any question to the instructors who will be live, to find out if this course is for you!
Corinna Maharani offers SVA services and teachings in Santa Barbara CA. She will be joining us for the marma course. Find out why she loves SVA Marma.
The Corona Virus:
What you Can Do
SV Ayurveda Tips & Recommendations
CORONA VIRUS. WHAT TO DO? As of now, there is no treatment for this virus, according to the CDC. However, we have lots to offer our patients to both prevent and treat this potentially serious virus. Before we all panic, let’s keep in mind that it’s not so much the severity of the infective agent, but the degree of immunity of the person contracting the virus and how well they can fight it off.
Therefore, we must always remember to keep up our ojas levels high. Ojas, the essence of the 7 dhatus or tissues, gives us strength, stamina and immunity to all diseases. The food you eat must first be metabolized and absorbed from the digestive tract and then become rasa dhatu, the first tissue. From there the food stays in each tissue 3-5 days as it progresses through all the 7 tissues, and at the end of the 7th tissue the food is then transformed into Ojas. Ojas is our immune shield.
So, first and foremost, we must keep our digestive tracts running smoothly so the food can break down and be assimilated into rasa dhatu, and in addition, the food itself must be easily absorbed out of the digestive tract and into the cells.
Therefore, we want to eat fresh warm cooked foods, cooked vegetables, lentils, chicken, turkey, fish (if not vegetarian), freshly made cheeses and yogurt, takra/buttermilk, yogurt/lassi, grains, fresh fruits, olive oil, good quality boiled milk and cultured ghee made from grass-fed cows.
Avoid eating heavier foods such as nut butters, red meats, hard aged cheeses, bananas, large beans, mushrooms, chia, hemp and pumpkin seeds, cold dairy (such as ice cream, frozen yogurt and cold milk), chocolate and cacao as these foods have a hard time absorbing into our cells and remain behind, stuck in the channels, clogging them, and can become a fertile breeding ground for infection to grow.
And as stated before, avoid the nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, white potatoes, bell peppers, and eggplant) as they contain nicotine and shrink the channels down.
We usually don’t recommend the use of onions and garlic as their long-term use can deplete the friendly bacteria, however, if you are coming down with a cold you can cook with them temporarily to stall the infection. Vaidya once told me he was coming down with a cold and knocked it out by introducing raw garlic into his diet. A really good way of doing this is by crushing a pod or 2 of garlic and adding it to 1 tablespoon of yoghurt, add 1/4 cup water, a drizzle of olive oil, ½ tsp crushed mint, some salt. Mix all together, and eat with your lunch. Eating the garlic with yoghurt helps create balance between the effect of the garlic on the gut, and helps restore the bacteria, even as the garlic will do its job of killing the unfriendly bacteria.
Here are some other tips and supplements to help protect you against the virus
If you feel you are getting sick, stop using cow’s milk and milk products (cheese, yoghurt, milk, but ghee is ok with spices). But do however, consume goat’s milk — simmer one cup with 3 cardamom pods, 1 cinnamon stick and 2-3 pinches of turmeric for 2-3 minutes. Add a small piece of crushed ginger – this is optional but will help. Strain and drink once a day on an empty stomach. The goat’s milk is less mucous-forming and can actually dry up congestion. The turmeric in the milk helps to kill infection. Drinking warm milk with spices goes into the cells and forms ojas immediately.
At the first sign of a sore throat, gargle with ½ tsp turmeric and ½ tsp soma salt mixed in 1/2 cup warm water. Stir and gargle every 2-3 hours to try to kill the infection (which starts in the throat) – this will strengthen your body so the virus doesn’t spread.
Every breath we take carries the risk of infecting us, and it is the friendly bacteria in the mouth and throat that helps us thwart these invaders so they don’t take hold in our bodies. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to keep up these friendly bacterial strains alive and thriving so they can kill the infection before it goes systemic throughout your body.
Make your own home-made yogurt with Natren’s Yogurt Starter. You can have 1 tsp of yoghurt with your lunch – never do yoghurt in the wintertime past 2pm – or you can make “lassi” or yoghurt drink. Mix 2 tablespoons of yogurt with 3/4 cup water and stir or blend well. Separately warm some Mom’s Ghee and add 1 pinch ground or seed cumin,1 pinch Mom’s Malasa (optional but delicious), 2 curry leave (optional but delicious and helps with metabolism) and 1 green thai chili (optional but will aid in undercutting the mucus forming properties of yoghurt and aid in digestion too). Sip on your yoghurt drink it in-between bites of food at lunch only (when the digestive fire is strong enough to digest cold dairy).
Or you could make real buttermilk (aka takra_ as you make your cultured ghee. Once you churn the yogurt cream into butter save the buttermilk. Then you can melt ghee, add some warming spices such as curry leaves, a pinch of cumin seeds and another pinch of Mom’s masala, along with a small Thai chili pepper to your cup of buttermilk. The curry leaves support protein synthesis and metabolism (and the liver), the cumin helps absorption and assimilation into the cells and the chili pepper adds some heat to the otherwise cold dairy. Sip on the takra in between bites of food at lunch.
Be careful with the consumption of yoghurt in cold weather and in the wintertime as it can bring about mucus and slow down digestion and invite a cold. In this scenario, and if you don’t have time to make yogurt, lassi or buttermilk, you can always take Natren’s probiotic Trenev Trio — 1 a day before breakfast — to keep up your levels of friendly bacteria up and your immunity strong.
Keep in mind that the liver is also part of the immune system, so pamper it with healthy food (everything you swallow must go through the liver to be processed), avoiding processed, dumb and leftover food. Also avoid eating out as virtually every restaurant uses vegetable oil blends for cooking. When you heat these vegetable oils they form a plastic molecule that clogs your arteries and are poisonous and damaging to the liver. For optimum health, use only cultured ghee in your cooking, olive oil to drizzle on your food, and occasionally organic sesame oil.
The bone marrow is another huge part of the immune system, which is where the immune system cells (the white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets) are born. Keep this tissue as clean as possible by avoiding immunizations (the heavy metals in the immunizations go directly into the bone marrow), and many other pharmaceuticals.
As a sidenote, birth control pills and antibiotics destroy the friendly bacteria in the gut and heat up the liver, preventing it from working correctly — so avoid these as much as you can.
Keep your bone marrow clean by taking guduchi tablets, or guduchi satwa (if your pitta runs high), moringa leaf soup mix, moringa drops (3 drops sipped in 24 oz water all day) or eat fresh moringa leaves and/or drumsticks (from the moringa tree), all of which will support your immunity.
The tulsi tea formula that Vaidya left for us has both tulsi (a potent antiviral) AND harsingar flowers. Some studies are now reporting the Harsingar flower can neutralize the Coronavirus! As science catches up on findings and new knowledge, we can make the most of Vaidya Mishra’s guidance – he added harsingar flowers in his Tulsi tea which is an excellent tea for cough and colds and a known immunity booster.
In addition, there are tulsi drops and the very potent Maha Tri Tulsi, which has 3 species of tulsi — add 15 drops in one liter of water (for adults) and sip on it all day. Children can safely take 1 drop of plain Tulsi drops in one cup of water and sip on it all day. We also give Wild Amla drops (one drop a day) to the children and 3 drops a day to the adults.
Wild Amla powder can be taken as well as the more tasty Chyawan Prash paste, where the amlaberry is cooked in ghee and 52 other herbs known to enhance and support immunity. Take 1 tsp after breakfast and 1 tsp after lunch (for adults only) — refrigerate it after opening.
If you get a cough, there are numerous of Vaidya’s glycerite drops you can take to heal your lungs: Bharangi, Devil’s apple, Pushkarmool, Vasa, Maha Kantakari Plus and Boswellia.
And don’t forget Immuno Support tea — one of the last remedies Vaidya left for us which supports all aspects of immune function. Many have reported incredible immediate results from just one cup of this tea.
If your sinuses are congested we have Nasya oils (2-3 drops into each nostril 3-4x a day) and Maha Sinus Formula Drops (15 drops in 1 liter water, sipped throughout the day).
If you have shleshma – a thick mixture of mucus mixed in with bacterial build-up, try Vaidya’s Sinus Nasya oil. A couple drops in each nostril go very far.
I especially love steaming the sinuses with the Herbal Sinus Infusion Mix which incorporates boswellia to open up the inflamed sinuses and lungs, neem (which kills infection), pushkarmool (further support for the mucous membranes in the lungs and sinuses) and some drops of essential oils to open up the sinuses and lungs. Read the directions on the package and inhale the vapors for 10 minutes 2-3 times a day.
Barley is very good for congestion as it breaks up kapha. Avoid sugars as they create more kapha and congestion, but consume honey in your tea (once it has cooled off to the point where you can sip it) as honey is heating and can clear up congestion.
If you are experiencing a heavy chest and cough, Vaidya’s Kantakari Cough Syrup will work wonders. If you have a productive cough coming up from the lungs, add 3 capsules of Healthy Joints capsules, as they contain shring bhasma and boswellia, both of which are excellent for lung health.
Try making delicious ginger/lime/mint tea: Simmer pieces of fresh peeled and chopped ginger root in plenty of water to cover for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat, squeeze in the juice of 1-2 limes and add chopped mint leaves. Let steep 10 minutes, strain and add raw honey to taste. The ginger will burn up ama and congestion and the vitamin C in the lime juice is a boost to the immune system.
Melt 1 tbs ghee, add 1 tsp turmeric with 1/8 tsp black pepper. Toast the turmeric and black pepper in the ghee over a low heat for a minute or two, then add this to your food at lunch and dinner. Turmeric is great at killing infections (both bacterial and viral) and we can temporarily increase the use of turmeric during the time of an infection, then go back to our usual intake when not sick.
Don’t forget our zinc bhasmas (we have regular dose and a high dose) — put 5 drops of either in a cup of room temperature water and sip slowly. Zinc kills infections on contact! And the bhasmas absorb better into the cells than the other brands sold in food coops and health food stores. 5 Drops of Zinc coupled with 5 drops of Boswellia Drops will strengthen and boost your immunity.
And above all, get plenty of rest to help your body fight off the virus. Keep up your levels of Vitamin D, which also boost the immune system (using our transdermal vitamin D products) and avoid stress at all costs, since the cortisol you release when stressed shuts down your immune system.
So here you have several tools to fight not only the Coronavirus, but any cold or flu virus that comes up. No need to worry — just educate yourself and get ready to put your plans into action at the first sign of a cold or flu. You will be amazed how well your body will fight these invaders if you give it proper rest, fluids, herbal supplements and good quality food!
Sinus Support: discourages bacterial growth and support your sinus cavity when inhaled. Spray it on a scarf and gently inhale. Keep away from your eyes.
Sanitize and prevent infection: apply on your toe and finger nails after clipping them to ward off the chance of infections;
Anti-bacterial air-freshener: spray it in your room – on your couch, pillows, carpet, desk, or just in the air. All the ingredients in this formula help remove bad odors through their “krimigni” or anti-bacterial properties. You can also use with it with an essential oil diffuser.
Uplift and pacify the mind: Tribindu pacifies Vata dosha through its thermogenic properties and support kapha dosha by improving circulation – it’s your best friend in the winter time and in cold weather; and when you are feeling vata-ed out or stuck and stiff!
Ward off mold and fungus: through its potent bactericidal properties this formula can be used in area where there is mold and fungus growth. Spray on directly (carpets, upholstery; drawers; nooks and crannies!) – 2-3 times a day.
CAUTION: if you inadvertently get the spray in your eyes, rinse with cool/cold water and it will wash off easily and immediately.
Corona Virus SVA Tips For Self-Care
~ with Cary Twomey ~
Friends, I’d like to address the Corona Virus outbreak, and particularly the fear and panic that this kind of situation can bring. Fear will subside if you begin to put into action some of the foundational laws of nature and take care of yourself with a more loving intention. I will offer a few basic SVA tips here. These are really important, and if you’re able to incorporate just these alone to begin with, you will be increasing your immunity. I’ve been advising all my Ayurveda patients to remember to go back to the basics. We often like to think that we are really doing these basic foundational things, but if we take an honest look, often we are not! Start by aligning yourself with the flow of Nature and surrendering to her natural laws. Put yourself into the Great (Grand) Mother’s kitchen and start to follow these recommendations to safeguard your body and to strengthen your immunity! I’ve included just a few to start so that you will feel empowered to take them on and not get overwhelmed.
Here’s what you can start to do:
Get enough rest~go to bed earlier than you usually do, at least by 9:30 pm but earlier if you can. Wake up with the rising sun. If you do this consistently for 3 months you will begin to feel like a totally different person AND you will have stronger immunity.
Start now cleaning up your diet. Eliminate all the junk food, processed food, sugar, and salty junk snacks. If you start by just doing this already you will feel better. In taking away those things, you may see how much you fill up with dead food that has no Prana~pure life-force energy. That can be a very good mirror showing how you are depriving yourself of clean, life-giving foods. That hole will need to be filled, this is what you should start filling it with:
Add more fresh vegetables to your meals each day. They should be warm, not cold salads it’s still too cold for that and it will disrupt your digestion and your immunity. Everyday be sure to lightly sauté some fresh veggies in good pro-biotic Ghee. Add turmeric, cumin, coriander-1/4 tsp each. Do this every day at lunch and dinner if you can. If not at lunch, then at least at dinner time. Include lots of green veggies, but also rotate your vegetables so that you are having a variety of vegetables and micro-nutrients.
And add Vaidya’s staple of a spiced stewed apple to your day every morning. Chop one apple with skin left on. Add water until covered. Add 3 cloves (cloves need to be there to open your channels) and if you’d like, add 1 cinnamon stick. Simmer until softly cooked. Eat this EVERY morning first thing when you rise. Wait 1 hour to have your breakfast.
Go outside and take a 15 min walk in the fresh air and breathe deeply. Preferably in the MORNING SUN to support your vitamin D synthesis. Take deep breaths, lift your gaze and let your eyes take in the beauty of nature. Keep your mind on the Divine-this one is key and really important. Do this for 15 mins or more every morning that you are able to.
These tips are rooted in the Laws of Nature. These are things you can feel empowered to do that don’t cost anything except for a little self-discipline! The cosmic laws, and the elements that make up your body are intimately interconnected. By starting with these things you will receive the innate protection of Nature. If these things aren’t in place, then all the other things we try to do to protect ourselves from coming down with the virus aren’t as potent, nor will they last long. Put these tips into action in your life starting today and you will feel an immediate difference.
It may take several weeks before you can actualize all of these as a part of your daily life, but you will be setting the ground for protection from the Corona Virus by strengthening your immunity. Please feel free to give me your feedback & questions here. And please share this with others so that they can benefit as well.
You can find my simple warm veggie meals on our website blog posts or watch for them on my FB page as well.
