Privacy Policy

September 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Privacy Policy

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This privacy policy sets out how {{config path=”general/store_information/name”}} uses and protects any information that you give {{config path=”general/store_information/name”}} when you use this website. {{config path=”general/store_information/name”}} is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement. {{config path=”general/store_information/name”}} may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes.

What we collect

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For the exhaustive list of cookies we collect see the List of cookies we collect section.

What we do with the information we gather

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Security

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How we use cookies

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Links to other websites

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Controlling your personal information

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List of cookies we collect

The table below lists the cookies we collect and what information they store.

COOKIE name COOKIE Description
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STF Information on products you have emailed to friends.
STORE The store view or language you have selected.
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WISHLIST An encrypted list of products added to your Wishlist.
WISHLIST_CNT The number of items in your Wishlist.
Filed Under: Knowledge

Indigestion due to eating mutually contradictory food items

May 29, 2014 by 5 Comments
This week Vaidya responds to Divya Alter’s question below:
“Dear Vaidya-ji,
Thank you for your tireless service of education, research, writing and product formulating. You are divinely empowered!
I would be very grateful if you dedicate a newsletter to the SVA perspective of proper food combining and mutually contradictory foods. What are the basic principles? Why is it important to follow them?
I’ve read explanations based on mainstream Ayurveda, but I know that the SVA tradition goes much deeper.
For example, I was surprised to read that it is not recommended to mix cucumber with lemon. Why is that? Could we mix lime and cucumber in a salad, for example?
Another example: not good to mix nightshades with dairy products? In this case, the Italian cuisine goes out the window! I personally avoid eating nightshades, following your advice, but I am curious why not.
It is not recommended to mix radishes with raisins. So, if I use daikon radish in a soup and raisins in a chutney as part of a meal — is that OK?
[…]
Thank you so much for considering my question.
I hope you are well.
Respectfully,
Divya Alter

Bhagavat Life: www.bvtlife.com”

VAIDYA RESPONDS

“Dear Divya,
thank you for your question. Let me respond point by point.
Cucumber with Lemon
First your question about consuming lemon and cucumber (as in a salad). Yes, you are right, it is not a good idea to consume these two food items together. The Charak Samhita Sutrasthan Chapter 26, verse 81, talks about “deha dhatu pratyanik” or “antagonistic (food items) for deha or the body, dhatu or tissue.” Meaning: some foods can be inimical, or hostile, to the stomach environment and overall bodily tissues. What does this mean?
As you know, in Ayurveda, edible items are categorized not only according to their nutritional content (carbohydrate, fat, protein, mineral, etc), but each edible item carries at least the following discernible properties, the bad combination of which can result in indigestion:
rasa or taste: 6 different kinds of taste – sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, astringent
guna: 20 different properties on the digestive level
virya: 3 distinct effects and properties on the liver level
vipak: 3 distinct effects and properties on the colon
prabhava: more than a 100  subtle vibrational effects on targeted organs or systems

All these properties, in addition to the nutritional content, come into play in the ayurvedic perspective. When food items carrying properties that are hostile to each other  are consumed at the same time, they create imbalance in the stomach, as well as liver or colon areas. For example, in the question about cucumber and lemon, cucumber is somagenic and cooling and acts primarily in the rasa dhatu; while lemon is agneya and heating and also acts in the rasa dhatu. When consumed together, they create a fight in the rasa dhatu, as one is trying to cool things off, while the other wants to heat things up. So it is best not to consume them together. However, if you enjoy the flavor of cucumber with some lemon, you can try to use lime instead. In general, I always recommend replacing lime with lemon, as lime has an alkalizing effect on the body, while lemon is acidic, and will reduce your body’s pH. Lime has enough agni to help with digesting the cucumber, without creating a fight. Add a pinch of Soma Salt. Salt, in general, is agneya and helps with digestion, but Soma Salt, as you know, is cooling, hence its name soma salt. So it is very balanced and balancing when added to your meals.

Milk products and Nightshades
Your second question concerning consuming nightshades with milk products. Yes, unfortunately, it is not recommended that these be consumed together at all, regardless of the fact that one should steer clear of all nightshade vegetables or minimize their intake (tomato, potato, eggplant, bell peppers of any color) as I always teach, and as you mention. In the Charak Samhita, dairy products are no. 1 on the list of mutually contradictory foods to be careful about, particularly milk and yoghurt. The primary reason of course, is that milk is considered a very rich and therefore heavy food in Ayurveda. Milk carries a very sensitive chemical make-up that can get imbalanced readily if combined with improper food items. Because milk is so rich, Ayurveda always recommends it be consumed alone, and then, along with spices to help support its breakdown and absorption. Cheese, made from cow’s milk, carries the same heavy and rich properties. Cheese, like milk, is considered “abhishyandi” or “channel-clogging.” You know, in my SVA lineage, we put a lot of focus on the macro and micro circulatory channels that carry food as well as subtle vibrational energies. The “prabhava” of milk, and therefore of cheese, is “abhishyandi,” clogging, and if you combine this with any vegetable from the nightshade family, you are adding to the heavy property. So, for example, Eggplant Parmigiana, or Pasta Alfredo,  carry the prabhava of “maha-abhishyandi.”
The ultimate purpose of nutrition or food intake is to provide our bodies with the energy needed to survive and grow, For this, the food we intake needs to support our metabolic system to function, so that our body can use the nutrients to build and repair tissues, regulate our daily bodily processes, and convert the food into energy so we can be active.
When a food item is “abhishyandi” it means it needs some help to be digested optimally. In the case of milk, for example, Ayurveda always recommends we consume it with some green cardamom pods, some fresh ginger, or cinnamon stick. These spices help break down the sugar and protein molecules that make milk the rich clogging food item that it is.
When an “abhishandhi” food item is consumed without the support of spices, it slows down or may totally shut down the digestive process, based on an individual case, and we all know, that partial or badly digested food results in the build-up of ama, toxins.
When consuming nightshades with milk products, though, it is not only ama or toxins, but amavisha that can result, because they are “virudh virya” – they carry contradictory potencies, which result in “amavisha” – virulent highly acidic toxins. Consuming spices in this case may help some, but not in the long run.

Daikon radish (mulli) and raisins
With regards to daikon and raisins, in the ayurvedic shastras daikon carries a lot of caution, and is not to be combined with many food items. It is not advisable to consume daikon and raisins in the same meal, even if you have prepared them separately, as you mention, because daikon and raisin carry “rasa virudh” – their properties are opposite on the taste or rasa level: one is sweet, while the other is pungent, plus one is hot while the other is cold. They are, in addition, “virya virudh” – their potency in terms of cold, hot, and neutral, (not temperature-wise as with chilies for example) confuses the digestive system.

However, when you are consuming “rasa virudh” and “virya virudh” food items, you should consider the following categories:
1) pratyanik
2) virudh ahar
“Pratyanik” food items are those that should not be consumed together as they carry opposing properties; however, consuming them will not result in immediate side-effects! Your example of daikon radishes and raisins falls under this category. When you consume them together, you may not feel like it bothers you at all, but if you keep eating them together, in the long run, you may develop auto-immune digestive problems. On the other hand, if you have a milk product along with lemon, you may experience nausea, fatigue, a head-ache, right away – as in milk pudding and a refreshing glass of lemonade!

Food items that we understand to be mutually contradictory but that have been culturally consumed for a long time cause confusion. You raise the question of italian cuisine. One way to understand this would be through the ayurvedic concept of “homeostasis” or “prakriti sthapan” – I’ve written a detailed article about this. What this means basically is that our bodies are coded to do their best not only to survive but to evolve and thrive. They carry an intelligence that allows them to adjust and adapt in the face of a situation to keep things running optimally.

There are many traditional recipes in different cultures of the world that call for mutually contradictory food items. In this case, you want to add spices, so they can act as a bridge between ingredients. For example if you are cooking pasta with tomato sauce (!), you can add fresh ginger, chilies, Mum’s masala or any other balanced masala, to combat the guru or heavy properties of the pasta and the tomato and to enhance your digestive fire. Still, it is recommended not to consume such items on a regular basis.

When you consume “pratyanik” foods that are imbalancing to the stomach environment but not in an immediate way, the body finds ways for itself to accept that diet. However, it does come at a price. You may not observe or experience anything right away, but down the line, depending on your body’s tendencies to imbalance, it will result as a deep tissue imbalance.

When people adopt Ayurveda in their lives, they are usually open and prone to making a lot of changes in their routine and diet to help improve their lives. Herbs and spices consumed ayurvedically go a long way in re-awakening th intelligence of the tissues and organs. Even small doses bring about great awakening on many levels. The more the body awakens, the less it will tolerate diets or routines that go counter to the body’s intuitive intelligence and the natural cycles and rhythms of the sun.  Old habits may die hard, but they do die with perserverance…

To wrap things up, here are some additional general pointers.

1) Slow poisoning of and in the tissues: this is called “deha dhatu prathinik bhutani” – this results from mutually contradictory foods items that will slowly create toxins in all 7 tissues, – your example of cucumber and lemon, or growing up on processed food items or processed cheese, or mixing fruits with yoghurt. If you were introduced to such food items early in childhood and you grew up eating them, you may have developed a situation called “oak saatmiya” – slowly developing resistance to an otherwise undesirable food item.
2) Acute and immediate poisoning of the tissues as when you mix milk products with citrus fruits. This is identified as “deha dhatu virodh.” Such combinations should be avoided by all means.
3) Gun virudh: eating hot and cold together – like drinking coffee and having ice cream. This confuses the stomach and puts out the agni, increasing pitta. High pitta low agni is a very undesirable condition where an individual will keep craving food items, have a large appetite, but not be able to satisfy it, unless they correct the imbalance of high agni and low pitta.
4) Samyog virudh: imbalance by combination, for example,  – fish and milk
5) Samskar virudh: imbalance through cooking items that should not be cooked together: for example, milk and salt – as it is traditionally used in the famous french white sauce also called béchamel sauce.
6) Desh virudh: or imbalances relating to geographical location, or having to do with high or low altitude, too hot or too cold/freezing climate. The Charak Samhita describes 3 kinds of “desh virudh” explaining that certain recipes are good to eat in some parts of the world. The  Samhita explains that “desh virudh” – is when imbalancing foods are regularly consumed by the population of a country without any apparent signs of discomfort, due to their climate and other environmental factors. This is how imbalancing cuisines of the world gain prominence. But it does not mean that peoples from other cultures who have never been exposed to those foods will be able to handle them.

Hope this helps.”

 

 

Filed Under: 2014, Archives, Health & Nutrition, Knowledge, Q & A

Infertility vs Personal Care Products – What You Should Know and What You Can Do!

May 15, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Are you poisoning your health by absorbing toxic chemicals through your skin from personal-care products such as soaps, sunscreens, toothpaste, plastic products? Or by ingesting them from food and drink contaminated with synthetic preservatives? Many of the preservatives or synthetic additives in personal care products are known to be “endocrine-disrupting chemicals” that mimic the female sex hormones – estrogens – or in other cases act as anti-androgens – the male sex hormone – and interfere with the male reproductive system.
According to the researchers at the Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark, male infertility has been on the rise since 1991 – male sperm counts have dropped 50% in less than 50 years. Confirming this connection between chemically laced household products and male infertility, the EMBO Journal (European Molecular Biology Organization) of the Center of Advanced European Studies and Research in Bonn, Germany, recently found that household chemicals had a direct effect on the “catsper” protein which controls the sperm cell’s      motility and its ability to enter the egg cell to trigger fertilization. The study also showed that in human body fluids, even low concentrations of endocrine-disrupting chemicals have the same toxic effect – scientists have now coined the term “cocktail effect” to identify the pattern of chemicals working together to amplify the individual effects of each chemical, even when found in very minimal low doses.
The disruptive effect of environmental chemicals on our personal health have long been known to the ancient ayurvedic siddhantas. Vaidya Mishra has written about xenobiotics or garavisha at length – see his blog dated March 20, 2014 on Garavisha, or click here. A xenobiotic is a foreign chemical  substance found within an organism that is not normally naturally produced by or expected to be present within that organism. For example, industrial grade preservatives that are used in personal care products, such as Parabens; or medical drugs such as antibiotics. These are all xenobiotics because they are found in the blood stream – they either get ingested orally, or get absorbed transdermally. The human body does not produce these itself, so they are external synthetic toxins, not part of a normal diet. Due to the increasing number of environmental toxins, xenobiotics, that we are exposed to, people are driven to adopt one or another type of detox protocol to cleanse their systems.

However, Vaidya explains that detox crises are as big as detox protocols nowadays. Before detoxing, one has to know the origin of the toxins. SVA emphasizes the importance of first identifying the type of toxin that may be causing problems in the physiology and then adopting a detox protocol. The symptom of a rash may just as well be caused by eating heavy indigestible food as by an overexposure to EMF! But the treatment methods to address and eliminate the rash will vary depending on what the cause or etiological factor that brought about the rash were. Doing a liver cleanse with lemon and cayenne (a problematic cleanse in and of itself), or taking milk thistle, or fasting, will only make things worse!

The ayurvedic siddhanta is very practical when it comes to recommending. It says:


The vedas are the means to total knowledge, and the main point about knowledge is its experience, the “prapti sadhanam” otherwise it defeats the purpose of knoweldge. Yet another sutra says:

 


the first line of treatment is try to identify in order to avoid the etiological factor.

This is the first step of detox that even those who are keen on detox always forget: stop doing or using the product that is resulting in the accumulation of toxins in your body in the first place. But for that to happen, you have to be able to identify the root cause.
If you lead a good balanced lifestyle – you have balance in your routine of rest/sleep and activity/work, you maintain a good diet and eat on time, but are still experiencing imbalances, you may be poisoning your body through environmental toxins: toxic fumes that may be present in your home or your workspace ranging from: personal care; detergents; perfumes; carpet; upholstery; etc.
Granted you identify the source of your toxic build-up, what can you do next?
Our bodies are not only made up of Nature herself – all the elements that make up the entire world around and above and below us are the same ones that have gone into making every particle and molecule in our body. But our bodies are also equipped with the intelligence that allows it to interact as well as protect itself from toxicity in the environment. Our body is set up to recognize and protect itself against any ingredients or molecules that are identified as harmful and/or unnatural. This could be an edible ingredient, or an ingredient that is applied to the skin and trying to penetrate transdermally.

When the body is exposed to external toxic elements, it has the ability to identify them as being alien and harmful and it will try to eliminate them via several routes: a) the urinary tract; b) bowel movement; c) the sweat glands. However, there is a limit to how much the body can detoxify itself through these routes effectively. Particularly when it comes to synthetic lab made molecules and chemicals that are slow acting and have the power to linger in the body, penetrating long and deep.

In this sense, 2 things matter: a) quantity, and b) frequency. We know now that scientists have identified the “cocktail effect” where even small amounts in conjunction with other small amounts can result in greater harm, as the chemical molecules amplify each other’s effects. But frequency matters a lot: when you repeatedly expose your skin to toxic molecules through toothpaste, soap, shampoo, perfume, detergent residue on your clothes, again and again, every morning, you are making it hard for your body’s own detox mechanisms to cope with the amount of toxicity it can eliminate in a given day. These xenobiotic chemicals are highly virulent and sharp, they very quickly cross the dhatu  or tissue barriers. They first penetrate transdermally to the rasa dhatu, first tissue, and then appear in rakta or the blood. The blood tissue is very intelligent and tries to eliminate toxins through the urine, but if its load is higher than it can tolerate, then the toxins are able to travel deeper into the next tissue, mamsa or the muscle tissue. If the physiology is lucky and supported by good diet and routine, then the toxins will not  be allowed to travel deeper. But again, if there is daily exposure to even minimal quantities, and the toxins are allowed to penetrate deeper into the tissues, then they go into the fat tissue, or meda. At this stage it becomes even harder to eliminate them because most toxins are fat-soluble, this means they get absorbed and stored in the fat tissue very easily. The fat tissue is a very good host or home for them. The fat tissue is programmed to eliminate its toxic overload through sweat, but it all depends on how much any how frequently it can do it – if an individual’s channels are clogged due to heavy foods or a bad physical routine, or high stress, then the toxins in the fat tissue will just get to sit there!
From the fat tissue to the bone or asthi tissue is just a step away. When the toxins are allowed to travel that far, they can create all kinds of problems the most common of which are familiar to us: inflammation in the joints and the bones, osteopenia, osteoporosis.
However, it is when toxins are allowed to travel even deeper into the human physiology that the most serious situation can arise. When toxins are allowed to sit and dive deeper into the bone marrow or majja dhatu, they can create severe auto-immune imbalances such as MS (multiple sclerosis), eating away at the nerves. When toxins cross the shukra or reproductive tissue, in both men and women, that’s when infertility issues arise, and then the overall ojas of the physiology is affected, throwing off the entire hormonal system, and then cancer can result.

Shield yourself from over-exposure to toxic environmental chemicals. Choose carefully what you apply on your skin every morning while getting ready for your day. Use only natural products. Most vegetarian soaps have a base of castor oil and caustic soda. These ingredients suffocate the outer layer of the skin, taking away the good environment for the friendly bacteria. Vaidya’s soaps have an edible base not only safe to use on a daily basis, but nurturing for the skin, which supplies a good environment to the friendly bacteria of the skin, enhancing the skin’s own intelligence to interact with sunlight. SVA soaps will clean, nurture, and balance your skin without drying and imbalancing it. Vaidya Mishra’s soaps are made of shea butter base, not lard or any other undesirable ingredients. And only natural foaming agents like soap-nut, is used in his shampoo. Read all about his natural personal care products on www.chandika.com. The additional benefit of Vaidya’s SVA soaps is the choice of ayurvedic herbs you get. You are not only cleaning your skin, but you are giving your body an opportunity to absorb the therapeutic benefits of Ashwgandha, Turmeric, Brahmi, Neem, Vetiver, Sandalwood, Ashoka, Rose, Jasmine, Chamomille, and so much more. The fast traveling macromolecules of these herbs enter your body via the transdermal delivery system. When used everyday, they carry a beneficial cumulative value. Discover the world of goodness in the unique SVA personal care products. If you already use good and safe personal care products but are looking to detox from xenobiotics then you can try Vaidya’s “Garavisha Tea” to help support your physiology in its daily detox.

Filed Under: 2014, Archives, Knowledge Tagged With:

Mothers first! Then father, and teachers

May 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Knowledge Tagged With: , , ,

Diet for Women’s Health

May 8, 2014 by 1 Comment

We received more questions regarding women’s diet and general health. This week Vaidya replies to:

Sofia I.

1.     I read two very important articles about pre and post period diet in your last newsletters, what should be a diet for women during the period as blood is lost.

2.  Is it normal to have a period on a new moon or it is best to have it around the full moon.

Vaidya Mishra replies:

1.     The diet to follow during menstruation for each woman depends on her  flow:

·      Heavy Flow – Women with a heavy monthly flow should eat less estrogenic foods during this period. For example: do not consume asparagus, papaya, pineapple, fennel, or any type of dairy products. Also it is advisable to stop eating sweets and sugars. If you are craving sweets, have pears, apples, grapes. Add more cooked leafy greens – kale, collard, swiss chard, etc (vitamin K helps with reduction of blood flow).

·      Regular flow- Women who experience regular balanced monthly flow should incorporate some estrogenic foods into their diet during this period. But not excessively. Have some pineapple and/or papaya every your meal. Have an estrogenic vegetable at one of your daily meals (asparagus or fennel).

·      Light flow- For women with light and/or delayed flow, they need to incorporate estrogenic products, fennel seeds, papaya, asparagus, pineapple in large doses to support the menstrual cycle and a fuller cleansing.

These are general guidelines. For anyone with specific concerns, please consult with a SVA expert to tailor a detailed protocol suited for your individual needs.

 

2.     The ayurvedic shastra-s, ancient medical texts, explain that the expected time for the menstrual cycle is during the full moon. During the full moon, women have access to the flow of uninterrupted soma. However, due to stress, hectic lifestyle, imbalanced diet, and many other factors, many women will tend to have their cycle erratically, not with or around the full moon. Most have their cycle during the new moon. This is an indication that there are imbalances that need to be addressed. It is a sign to pay more attention to restoring the natural cycles of her body, and to support it, so that she can get back on track and have her flow with the full moon.

 

Filed Under: Knowledge Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Additional hormonal balance details for for peri- and post-menopausal women

May 1, 2014 by 3 Comments

Dear readers: we received many questions regarding last week’s article on balancing hormones for women. Many of you were wondering specifically whether the SVA protocols that include the Femi Ojas cream and Nectar drops would be ok to use for peri- and post-menopausal women. Here is Vaidya’s response, in addition to some details about addressing low level of bone tissue and facial skin dryness and thinning due to menopause.
“SVA is all about supporting the physiology in a balanced way. This means: we would  not want to boost the ratio of any hormones at the expense of others, as this would  imbalance the ratio or  proportion of hormones in their relationship with each other . When we do things ayurvedically, balance occurs naturally and innocently. The Charak Samhita says it best: Ayurveda, when followed fully, will not bring about an imbalance in your body while balancing a different condition. In other words: no small print of an endless list of side-effects as we are used to hear or read with modern formulations! In this sense, the SVA Femi Ojas product will support the levels of estrogen, even as it balances progesterone. The whole protocol is based on supporting the production and maintaining the intelligence of ojas.
The article in our previous issue (#16, Vol. 4, April 24, 2014) discussed how lunar energy has a lot to do with the hormonal production and hormonal interaction of the body, and also how solar energy helps transform lunar energy. All 5 tips and factors discussed in that article hold true for all women from pre- to post-menopause. Based on this backdrop, here is a specific protocol for menopausal women.
Remember: whether menstruating or not, in perimenopause, or menopause, women’s physiology is and remains connected to lunar (and solar energy). The primary difference between pre and post menopause is in the reception and delivery of soma, agni and marut. The delivery and reception of these cosmic energies becomes slower. So the point is to enhance the reception and delivery so that things can remain optimal. You have learnt through SVA that this would involve the physical and vibrational channels. Maintaining a regular routine of light exercise and/or yoga, along with a light but nourishing SVA diet so you do not create roadblock through heavy indigestible foods, as well as monitoring your stress levels by keeping a good rest vs activity routine, all these things will go very far. But if you need some additional support, I have put together several ayurvedic formulations to help give you that extra help.
So my first recommendation is to use: SuperSport cream or roll-on on your arms, legs and lower spine. This will improve the vibrational circulation. Once a week do a self-massage with Vata oil with Magnesium and Vitamin D to support physical circulation. Everyday do a quick massage with Women’s Rasayana oil on your arms and legs before your shower, to nurture the cellular system.
The following applies for all women, pre- and post-menopause: 5 days before the full moon and five days after full moon follow an estrogenic diet. Eat the following:

  • Asparagus
  • Fresh fennel bulb – cook as a vegetable
  • Fennel seeds – toasted
  • Pineapple
  • Papaya
  • Sweet items with good raw sugar – avoid processed white sugar
  • Make the pineapple and toasted fennel smoothie
  • take the fennel, shatavari, Zinc, Herbal memory drops – 1-2 drops in 16 oz of water
  • add the For Her cream during these days to your lower back – this cream is estrogen based and will help enhance and support your estrogen levels

 5 days after the full moon, you will revert to the progesterone based protocol. This means:
stop all things estrogenic as listed above
start using the Femi Ojas cream on your pulse and lower back every morning and evening.
start using the Femi Ojas Herbal Memory Nectar drops – this can be added to any other drops you may be taking
you can resume using the Kamini cream, whether you have a problem with libido due to menopause, or are just experiencing excessive vaginal dryness – apply on your lower spine morning and evening, follow the directions from the previous article about testing before using internally
If you are experiencing hot flashes, add Flash Freeze nectar drops to your water.
In addition: some associated symptoms of menopause have to do with thinning sagging facial skin. This is also affected by poor reception and flow of soma in the physiology. Do a facial marma massage at least morning or night every day. You can use the Lalita’s Facial oil. Best is to use the Lalita’s Age-Defying Cream. Ideally do a marma massage with this cream 6 days a week. On weekends, use Lalita’s Prebiotic Cream Clay and then apply Lalita’s Probiotic Cream.

When reception and circulation of Soma is poor during menopause and post-menopause, women may experience problems in the volume and quality of their bone tissue. This is because the bone tissue, or asthi dhatu, receives less nourishment. This is one of the reasons why osteoporosis can occur. Diet wise, a  soma-rich or soma-predominant diet that contains ingredients such as:
milk
paneer
yogurt
coconut
sesame seeds
nuts and seeds
is good to keep. However, remember, you need agni  to digest and metabolize these ingredients. Usually, by the time they are in peri-menopause, most women have discontinued the use of some or all of the above ingredients because they feel they cannot digest them. It is possible and important to continue eating these ingredients as they have a wealth of nutrients to offer, and most of all, because they will keep a good reserve of soma for your body that will help balance and nurture your hormones.
In addition to diet, you can use the Vata Massage oil with Vit D and Magnesium to help with low(er) levels of Vit D. Magnesium in this formula will also help with the absorption of calcium that you may be ingesting. You can also add the Bone Herb Transdermal Cream to your daily protocol – apply on osteoporosis prone areas before going to bed. Last but not least, adding Soma Cal Capsule, one capsule twice a day – morning and evening, as well as Soma Cal Nectar drops to your drinking water, will help with depleted calcium levels.”

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Femi Ojas – New Formula!

April 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Knowledge, New Arrivals

Gall bladder problems, High Blood Sugar, and EMF exposure

April 24, 2014 by 2 Comments

Gall Bladder Problems, High Blood Sugar, and EMF

 

This case history is an excellent example of what we do best:  prevent disease.  Most people in the Western world, especially America, are used to the medical model, which is to diagnose and treat disease.  Modern medicine’s focus isn’t primarily on the prevention of the disease, but rather the diagnosing of disease and managing it with pharmaceuticals and/or surgical techniques.

In this case, (as well as many of the patients I see), the doctors were monitoring her blood sugar.  It kept increasing over time.  She was told once she became diabetic, they would put her on a pharmaceutical to lower the blood sugar.  What should be done, and what we in fact did, was to identify the underlying imbalances which were allowing the blood sugar to go up.  We addressed all those issues with dietary changes and herbs and her blood sugar automatically came back down into the normal range.
The same was true with her gall bladder.  She presented with right upper quadrant pain (pain under the ribs on the right).  She previously had her gall bladder checked and was told it was fine.  However, again, standard western medical tests are usually designed to diagnose disease.  She did not have a diseased gall bladder — luckily she had not progressed to that stage.  However, the bile was too thick, like a sludge — this is an extremely common occurrence.  The fat you eat is emulsified by the bile, but occasionally that bile can become too thick and not flow well out of the gall bladder backing up and creating pain in that area.  So we thinned out her bile, cleaned her fat tissue and taught her which fats to favor and avoid in her diet.  The pain went away quickly.
Because her bile was not flowing out of the gall bladder for quite some time, her fats were not able to be broken down into small enough particles to be absorbed out of the arteries and into the cells.  Thus, her bloodwork revealed high cholesterol. The doctors put her on cholesterol-lowering medication.  She was lucky in that it gave her too many side effects and she stopped it.  The cholesterol medicine damages the liver (and the muscle and nerve tissue, creating problems in walking, neuropathies and dementia as it starves the brain of much-needed fat).  But the bigger problem is that just taking a statin (cholesterol-lowering) drug does not address the underlying problem — the lack of bile flow which is making the cholesterol go up in the first place.
Now she is digesting her fats better, her brain function is better, her blood sugar has normalized and she feels great.
Perhaps the best part of all is that when she first came in, she was so sick from all of these issues she was considering quitting her job.  She was reacting to EMF’s from her computer and cell phone — it created intense tingling down her arms.  Once we addressed the EMF’s almost all of the tingling went away.
So she is back to work and now really understands how to eat correctly and maintain a good daily routine — and she understands the importance of addressing these issues early on so they don’t blossom into pathologies later in life.
Dr. Marianne Teitelbaum

856-786-3330

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5 Key Factors and Practical Tips for Hormonal Balance in Women

April 24, 2014 by 7 Comments

In the SVA tradition, hormones are considered to be ojas. Ojas is the connective factor between the cosmic energy and the biological reality of your body. And hormones are the messengers communicating between the macro and micro-cosm, the universe we live in through our bodies.

When that relationship between our bodies and the environment is in any way threatened or weakened, due to undue stress, our hormonal balance goes off, emitting all kinds of signs and alarm signals. When we are stressed, our bodies produce cortisol, a steroid hormone, in response to stress. When we are stressed, and our cortisol levels become imbalanced, here are some things you may experience:

 

You can manage cortisol by incorporating Ashwagandha, a famous adaptogenic ayurvedic herb. You can use either tablets or transdermal cream (see www.chandika.com)  But if your stress goes unchecked, if you lead a stressed lifestyle, imbalanced levels of cortisol will result in imbalanced levels of estrogen and progesterone that in their turn have additional associated imbalances:

 

and for estrogen:

Stress is a big factor, but here are 5 factors in total that you can identify in your life, according to Vaidya Mishra, along with practical tips, to help you correct hormonal imbalance.

Number 1: Hormonal balance is supported by lunar energy and everybody knows this. Women’s menstrual cycles occur on or near the full moon or on the no-moon day. This is why they are also called lunar cycles. In SVA terms, the vibrational energy of the moon has much to do with the menstrual cycle. The moon’s soma energy is received and delivered in a woman’s physiology through her vibrational channels. For this to occur in a timely manner on a monthly basis, the vibrational channels need to be ready to receive and then clean and unblocked to be able to circulate and deliver the somagenic cosmic energy.

Practical Tips: in order to get the most out of a lunar cycle on a monthly basis, you need to maintain your vibrational channels in good health. For this, Vaidya Mishra recommends doing an abhyanga massage (self- massage with warm oil) with Vata Massage oil with Vitamin D and Magnesium (available at www.chandika.com). Do a self-massage at least once a week. In addition, keep your physical and vibrational channels open and healthy by using SuperSport Roll-on on hands and feet, as well as lower back if needed.

Diet-wise: the balanced use of lunar energy to support hormonal balance will result in optimal health. Unless you have an imbalanced hormonal panel – too much or too little estrogen etc, in which case you need to consult with your physician – you can do the following:  5 days before and 5 days after the full moon, support the lunar cycle by consuming estrogen-predominant foods such as: asparagus, fennel, papaya, pinaeapple.

You can also incorporate the use of SVA Kamini cream. In addition, Shatavari, Zinc (Yasad), or Fennel Herbal Memory drops. You can also add Fennel Transdermal cream on your lower back.

Make and drink the Pineapple and Fennel smoothy recipe: fresh (preferably organic) peeled and cubed or sliced pineapple approximately 6-7 slices, add 1 tablespoon dry toasted and powdered fennel seeds. Blend the mixture by adding some water to taste. You may filter it if you like, otherwise just enjoy!

The rest of the month (5 days after the full moon and up to 5 days before the next full moon), use Femi Ojas drops and Femi Ojas cream – these are progesterone predominant.

These creams enhance the absorption of lunar energy and transforming into specific hormones as and when what hormones are needed for the body.

Number 2: yes, so we know that there is confirmed relationship between women’s monthly hormonal flow and the lunar cycle, but, in order to transform the cool soma of the moon into hormones, or components of the menstrual cycle, the power of transformation, in other words, agni, is needed. Our main source of agni is the sun, or solar energy. Agni is most prominent in our physiology through digestion, and overall metabolism. So in order to balance your hormones, it is imperative that you take care of your digestion and overall metabolism. The body should be fed somagenic intelligent foods – not acidic foods – in a timely mannerOtherwise, here are some additional practical tips:

Practical Tips: make sure that you tend to your digestion during the whole month. This translates into:

  • Don’t overeat. Eat more frequent small meals
  • Eat easy to digest foods – favor fresh over processed and left-overs.
  • Eat on time – this will further align you with the universal clock, making sure all your physiological functions are running optimally on-time.

Eating heavy processed meals in a delayed manner is the sure recipe for creating toxins or ama – as the body is not able to fully digest and metabolize. You need to process the soma of the food to convert it into hormones. If semi-digested material results from your meals, then it will clog youe physical channels. When this happens, regardless of how old you are, whether you are pre-menopausal, or actually in menopause, or not at all close to menopause, your cycle will be disturbed, may be delayed, and/or accompanied by excessive symptoms of imbalance – headaches, heavy mood swings, cramping, sweating and chills, etc. You can also enhance your overall metabolism by using Mum’s Masala in your cooking, use Soma Salt that enhances digestion and absorption without imbalancing any of the doshas.

Number 3: Follow an alkaline diet, and ideally, follow the SVA somagenic diet, that recommends staying away from any food items that have or can lower your body’s overall alkalinity or pH. Eating fresh intelligent pranic food will ensure that the body’s innate system of balance, which keeps a check on how much soma needs to be transformed by how much agni, and how much lubrication is needed for the channels, this system does not get disrupted. Vaidya categorizes food into a) intelligent – fresh, devoid of preservatives or artificial agents, freshly prepared; b) dumb: food that has some amount of freshness but also contains some additives and is heavy on the digestion; c) dead: food that comes in pre-packed format and has years of shelf life and is filled with additives and preservatives. You can guess what your body and brain will feel like after consuming foods with either of the above characteristics.

Practical Tips: Make sure to carry healthy snacks with you wherever you go, to curb your temptation for unhealthy food choices; consume sweet juicy seasonal fruits whenever possible. Incorporate a balanced amount of milk into your diet. Definitely have yoghurt on a daily basis, specifically with lunch, as a medicinal food item. Incorporate some fresh coconut into your meals whenever possible.

Number 4: to get the most benefit out of solar and lunar energies, following a routine is necessary. This will make sure your entire mind-body-heart complex is aligned with the circadian rhythm, and this is the key to total health. What does this translate into? During the daytime, be active with the sun. Eat on time, around noon,  when solar energy and agni is highest in the environment. Sleep at night. And sleep on time so that you can get most benefit from lunar energy. These are the laws of nature that will help keep our entire physiology functioning optimally.

Practical Tips: both solar and lunar energy govern our body’s hormonal system, so we need to develop and maintain a routine based on the circulation of solar and lunar energies. In the daytime solar energy flows, so we have to be more active during the day, not sleeping, eating heavier foods on time at midday so that we use the solar energy during the daytime. Night-time we need to rest in order to recover with the help of lunar energy. Routine plays a major role in the health of your hormones.

Number 5: “spiritual” practice – you have to have one! The entire energy of the universe is ready to flow into you, nourish, nurture, and rejuvenate you. And the primary gateway for this cosmic power is the brahmarandhra or the thousand points’ filter that makes up the aditpathi marma located on your fonatelle, the top front part of your head. Through this point, the energy enters and is delivered to all the organs and systems in your physiology. But stress acts as a barricade to this stargate! It blocks the entrance. When you adopt and practice a daily yogic practice that helps you be on top of stress, that helps you reconnect you with You, then your hormones will be healthy and flow better. Countless scientific studies conclude that stress plays a major role in creating hormonal imbalance.

Practical Tips: Yoga, prayers, meditation, in other words: balance between rest and activity, is an essential component for hormonal balance and health. Adopt an anti-stress routine. Make sure you have some quiet time for yourself on a daily basis, to re-align yourself with the big picture of things.

 

 

 

 

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Prana in Food vs Medicine

April 3, 2014 by 4 Comments

Greetings Dr. Malvika, The talk you gave about foods, body, mind and spirit, at the Anniversary Conference, some months ago, was great!!!  Thanks much for sharing your knowledge. So far, I have prepared teas for different dhatus.  Yet, I have the following questions: 

1.  What is it the best time to have the teas?  First time in the morning?  Between meal? After meals? Or before going to bed?

2.  Is it ok to add raw honey to these teas, as soon they have cool down?

3.  According to your teachings foods must be eaten fresh every day.  Although very powerful spiritual purpose, this is very difficult to follow now days.  

I’m a lucky person, who has the “luxury of time” to cook at home, almost 75% of the time. But, I have to cook for 2 days (some times 3), since we prefer reheating in our home tridoshic foods, than buying foods from the frozen section at the supermarkets. Do you have any mantra, praying or other suggestion that one could follow while reheating foods…so foods are somehow recharged with the divine prana?

4. This subject is quiet difficult to ask, (and in any way I want to be un-respectful) but very relevant for me to understand. You and Dr Mishra sell numerous supplements made of natural herbs and other ingredients.  However the plants and other ingredients have gone through a lot of process.  These products, or other many so called Ayurvedic supplements and medicines in the market have been processed, and travel distances, and sit in inventory until they are bought.  It is not the same that consuming Tamasic foods?  If this is the case, then, what one can do to awake the prana healing in the supplements you sell and advertise? I think you are with me.  Following the traditional way of eating in Ayurveda is very challenging now days.  Many things have changed…one simple example is looking at the capricious weather and earth in many regions in the world.  One doesn’t have fresh foods around the corner, unless one is in a state like CA, or a country with multiple climatic conditions like central and part of South America. I coach people with organic-wholesome nutrition, and the base of my coaching is Ayurveda. Very soon I will take this nutrition to the next level, teaching disadvantage people who are eager to learn the Ayurveda way.  But again, I have to be realistic with their “thirst” and their needs, in a world that doesn’t favor the many peoples that just make the minimum wage, and their access to whole-organic foods or supplements are out of their reach. Any comment, info, knowledge regarding this subject is greatly appreciated.

With honor and respect, Namaste,

Monica R. 

Dear Monica, thank you for your question(s). Here are some answers for you.

When to have the dhatu teas?

With regards to your firest question, when is the best time to drink the “dhatu tea”s – the answer would be as and when needed, for example, if you have a heavy meal that you have a hard time digesting, then it is good to have the rasa dhatu tea. Follow the guidelines I gave in the talk. But otherwise, based on imbalances you tend to carry due to individual make-up or seasonal conditions, you can choose to have a cup of any dhatu tea after breakfast and/or after lunch.

 

Can you mix raw honey in a hot drink?

With regards to raw honey, yes, it is ok to add it to hot drinks. It is never ok to heat up (raw) honey, or to use it in cooking or baking. Ayurveda explains that honey already contains a lot of agni, it is by nature a high agni product. Heating it in our kitchens add more agni to it, making it highly imbalancing to our physiology. This is why Vaidya underlines never cooking or heating honey. And this is why it is best to buy your honey raw – unprocessed, and unheated – to start with. When your cup of tea or chai masala tea is cool enough and ready to be sipped, you may add honey and mix it in.

 

Must we really eat only freshly prepared meals? What about herbal supplements with extended shelf life?

According to the ayurvedic shastras, the cut off time for consuming a meal that was prepared fresh is 4 hours. Yes, this is hard. In this day and age, having to spend time not once a day but perhaps 2-3 times a day planning for and preparing meals that get consumed within minutes is no small task. And then to have to start all over the next day. Specially now that we women have gained our right to be part of the workforce in a full time basis if we chose to, this is an added strain.

 

But here is the thing: the ayurvedic shastras say it as it is! The ancient vedic seers “downloaded” – as Vaidya Mishra says – the knowledge about our universe about all the elements that make up life as we know it, of our bodies, etc. Based on this, and with the objective of keeping the body working optimally and blissfully for the longest time to come, they recommended not consuming food that is older than 4 hours.   

And this is regardless of whether one has a fridge or not. Think of fresh cilantro chutney. When we first blend it and add the lime, it has a beautiful bright grass green color. If we don’t finish it all up and store it in the fridge to consume at dinner time, even though it has lime that acts as a good preservative, and even though it is refrigerated, you will notice after 4 hours its color becomes darker. This is the sure sign that oxidation has occurred.

This is very easily visible in cilantro chutney, but less so in other food ingredients. But the same thing happens. After 4 hours, there is oxidation. And oxidation is the first step towards the formation of toxic residues that can harm or damage our tissues, channels, take away our bliss. Proteinous food items such as lentils are also very sensitive and must not be consumed after 4 hours either. Foods high in protein decompose faster and they harm more because the decomposed molecules of protein cannot get synthesized properly. After repeated use, due to the improper synthesis of protein one can acquire auto-immune toxins.

There are, however, recipes in Ayurveda, for food items that can be prepared and consumed hours or sometimes days later. I have heard Vaidya Mishra speak of “sattu paratha” – a speciality of the area he was born in, in North West India – prepared with toasted and pulverized black chickpeas and spices and lime. He mentions how his mother used to prepare these for him and his father whenever they had to go on a trip for several days.

The majority of the SVA diet followers have put a system into place that helps them get organized. For example, you can use slow cookers and start cooking your next morning lunch the day before. If you have to leave for work, you can spend 2-3 minutes warming some ghee and spices and adding to the slow-cooked meal and taking with you or giving to family members to take with them in thermoses. You can also prep vegetables the night before for next day’s dinner. It becomes a matter of being very structured. Sure, it requires sacrifice and attention, but nothing quite matches the joy and wellbeing of eating fresh meals rather than left-overs, even if they were prepared by you. Once your physiology gets used to eat freshly prepared meals daily, it will not want to eat anything older than 4 hours. You will feel the difference in your body as well – it will feel lighter, your mind will feel brighter, etc. Instead of cooking for 2-3 days ahead of time, you can spend time on the weekends baking some sweet and savory crackers and cookies that can be consumed in between meals to give you and your family time to hold until the next meal is prepared and ready to be consumed. The “traditional way of eating of Ayurveda,” as you phrase it, is what people are themselves re-discovering all over America, because of research findings confirming the benefits of freshly prepared meals. Like I said, it just takes organization and structuring, but it is worth all the effort. One does not have to be rich to buy the basic vegetables and/or meat or lentils. We are indeed fortunate in America, as fresh produce is available throughout the country. Buying organic is definitely preferable, and the price of organic produce has gone down, however, regular vegetables can be consumed when organic is not available. And freshly prepared non-organic vegetables are to be preferred over left-over organic cooked food. I think you get the point.

If fresh meals are eaten daily and a good rest/activity routine is maintained, then supplements are not needed!

 

How come prana in food should not be older than 4 hours, but herbal supplements are ok to consume long term?

As to what concerns the next part of your question, according to Ayurveda, there is a structural and functional difference between food and medicine. The shastras say that the food we consume on a daily basis is rasa predominant. As you know, in ayurvedic dravyaguna (properties of herbs and food items), we read about:

  • rasa (taste),
  • guna (property)
  • virya (potency)
  • vipak (post-digestive taste based effect)
  • prabhava(ultimate most subtle vibrational post-digestive effect).

Although every edible material, every dravya, carries all of these abovementioned 6 properties, food is primarily taste oriented. When we consume food, we worry less about these 6 properties than about the 6 tastes. We make sure that our meals are balanced in the 6 tastes (madhur amla lavan, kattu tikt khshay ).

Unlike dravyas, the 6 tastes of food are delicate, that is, they are chemically transient. They get decomposed easily. And they are time sensitive. For example, if you cook food for lunch, unless you use toxic chemical preservatives, we scientifically know that the food gets oxidized, taste and color changes, the enzymes decompose within the 4 hour frame that the shastra-s discuss. That’s why we recommend fresh food, it should be consumed within four hours. Perhaps in our busy life it is not possible for everybody to cook fresh food, but we cannot compromise the teaching and say left-overs are ok.

As far as the supplements go, all the shastras are filled with different kinds of preparations. Some preparations such as teas, herbal items to be consumed orally, etc – these things need to be consumed right away. But pills or vatis, mineral preparations or bhasmas, as well as many other preparations given in the shastras are known to be ok to be prepared and used for years. Again, it is because these preparations are not rasa predominant. In addition, there are very specific steps of processing that are used to maintain their guna, virya, vipak, and prabhav intact. This is also where Vaidya’s lineage comes in with its ancestral processing secrets handed down from generation to generation. There are ways of protecting and maintaining the original pranic energy of herbs and preparations of roots, flowers, minerals, etc.

In Vaidya’s lineage, preserving prana is the most important aspect. Not just in the final product, but Vaidya also considers how that pranically encapsulated dravya or herbal material will be active once it enters a body, how it can function without disrupting the overall energy that may be obstructed by a poor digestive system, an overworked liver, the poor environment of the colon, etc. And because every individual is different and is receptive in different measures, he has created alternative advanced  delivery systems:

  • delivery through the skin or the transdermal system;
  • through oral mucosa (transmucosal) as in the Herbal-Memory Nectars line;
  • or through inhalation with sprays etc.

Finally, it is unfortunately not possible to re-infuse prana into old food that has started decomposing. No matter where you may keep your food – in the fridge or elsewhere – the chemical enzymatic changes occur, and oxidation is initiated, the molecules have changed. No mantra or prayer can reverse this process. You may invoke Annapurna, the goddess that epitomizes feeding, by saying her short prayer, “om annapurna mahamaye, anna pradayini namostute”; however, no mantra or prayer can re-instate the original molecular structure. This is a practical truth. Hope it inspires you enough to inspire others as well. Best of luck in your ayurvedic teachings.

 

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