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Ayurveda & Yoga Blog

Foundational teaching on the doshas, agni and digestion, cleansing, herbs, daily routine and seasonal care — written by our founder Carlisle Amlak.

47 articles — start typing to search by title, ingredient or topic.

Traditional Herbal Medicine Making Ayurveda

November 5, 2024

Ayurvedic Herbal Medicine Making Techniques

Essential Ayurvedic herbal medicine techniques to harness nature’s healing power; fresh juices, pastes, decoctions, infusions, for wellness at home. Learn the traditional practices shared in Ayurveda.

post cleanse care

September 22, 2024

Post-Cleanse Care: The Essential Guide

There’s no doubt that committing to a cleanse—whether it’s a juice cleanse, water fast, liver flush, raw food diet, or an intensive Ayurvedic detox like Pancha Karma—can be a powerful process and an effective leap in your journey toward rejuvenation and healing. Completing your cleanse is a significant achievement. But the journey doesn’t end there. The post-cleanse phase is just as crucial in ensuring that the benefits you’ve gained become a lasting foundation for optimal health.

Why Pre-Cleanse Care is Crucial for an Effective Detox

September 6, 2024

Why Pre-Cleanse Care is Crucial for an Effective Detox

Pre-cleanse care lays the foundation for a successful detox, ensuring your body, mind, and spirit are fully prepared to receive the maximum benefits. Embarking on a cleanse—whether it’s a juice cleanse, water fast, liver flush, raw food diet or a more intensive Ayurvedic detox like Pancha Karma—is a powerful step toward rejuvenation and healing. Let tradional Ayurveda guide you towards simple ways to maximize results.

Anxiety Ayurveda

June 14, 2024

Ayurveda for Anxiety Relief

Ayurveda anxiety treatments offer natural, holistic, time-tested solutions that go beyond symptom relief. By addressing the root causes, it helps restore equilibrium and inner peace. Anxiety shares qualities with Vata—such as lightness, coldness, and mobility. Ayurvedic practices focus on cultivating the opposite: warmth, stability, and nourishment. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the Ayurvedic understanding of anxiety, explore how balancing Vata can help, and provide practical remedies you can incorporate into your daily routine to invite more peace into your life.

Beginner’s Guide: Integrating Ayurveda into Daily Life

February 15, 2024

Beginner’s Guide: Integrating Ayurveda into Daily Life

Have you ever heard the myth that Ayurveda is all about restrictions? Let’s bust that myth together! Ayurveda, the ancient science of life, invites us to embrace growth, learning, and simple yet profound shifts in our lifestyle. Imagine enhancing your and your family’s well-being through gentle, mindful changes—sounds exciting, right? Integrating the Ayurveda 101 into your daily life can be easy with our Beginner’s Guide.

Ayurveda for Healthy Weight Loss

January 15, 2024

Ayurveda for Healthy Weight Loss

Food plays a pivotal role for a multitude of reasons in Ayurveda, and particularly when it comes to healthy weight loss. Indeed dietary regimens are recommended and we will talk about the best approach to food choices in this blog post for healthy weight loss or weight management. However, our approach to the Ayurvedic diet is more about embracing possibilities rather than imposing restrictions.

Best Natural Flu Remedies with Ayurveda

November 29, 2023

Best Natural Flu Remedies with Ayurveda

In Ayurveda there are three main causes of disease. Failure of the intellect, misuse of the 5 Senses and time. The good news is flu prevention lies in these three areas as well. What we find fascinating and encouraging about Ayurvedic health care and natural medicine is it’s all about prevention. Boosting digestive health and allowing the body to maximize immunity through nutrition is the best medicine for both keeping the flu at bay and treating it if you find yourself suffering from seasonal illness.

Ayurveda and Mushrooms: From Side Dishes to Psilocybin

November 27, 2023

Ayurveda and Mushrooms: From Side Dishes to Psilocybin

The fall and spring are “mushroom season” and we see recipes online with everything from main courses, super food sides along with the occasional micro dose of psychedelics. This begets the question, what does Ayurveda have to say about mushrooms? We are going to discuss the ayurvedic take on mushroom meals and magical adventures. Let’s dive in.

November 13, 2023

Digital Detox: Ayurvedic Wisdom for the Modern Age

As we seamlessly shift between digital tools, educational platforms, and online leisure, achieving a health-conscious balance is more crucial than ever. As technology cements itself as a staple in our daily lives, embracing these Ayurvedic Tips for Digital Detox is not just beneficial, it’s essential to harness the benefits of our digital world while protecting our wellbeing.

Three Main Causes of Disease in Ayurveda: What You Can Do About It

October 10, 2023

Three Main Causes of Disease in Ayurveda: What You Can Do About It

The ancient scholars had knack for numbers, systematic approaches and outlines for just about everything. You know Ayurveda is the “science of life” so of course they had to cover creation from in and out, top to bottom. The three main causes of disease are simplified and outlined in each of the major texts (Sushrut Samhita, Charak Samhita and the Ashtanga Hridayam). As simple as they are they form the bedrock for our work as Ayurvedic Health Advisors and Practitioners allowing us to support clients to prevent them.

Food Sensitivities and Ayurveda

October 10, 2023

Food Sensitivities and Ayurveda

If we look at the foundations of Ayurveda this may shed some light and support if you find yourself with food intolerance. Let me give you a clue, maybe you aren’t sensitive, maybe you are aware and your body is actually telling you something. So instead of feeling disempowered by your inability to eat something with ease take it as a superpower of strength to not eat strange things in strange ways. Saying no to crappy bread may not mean you are gluten intolerant it means you are gluten intelligent.

Ama Be Gone

October 6, 2023

Get Rid of Toxins Today: Ama be Gone

Learn what the Ayurvedic scholars had to say about toxic buildup (ama) in the body and what you can do to prevent and get rid of it today! With a deeper understanding of the causes of imbalance, symptoms that your body is holding on to ama, and our top tip for cleansing your body with ease begin supporting yourself and your family today with these simple tips.

Kickstart Your Ayurvedic Kitchen

October 5, 2023

Kickstart Your Ayurvedic Kitchen

Now is as good a time as ever to jump on board the Ayurveda train and begin a life of radiant health and delicious food! When we start working with new clients one concern is often around understanding not only what to eat, but how to shift gears at home to support the process. Not to worry, we are going to share with you our must have kitchen items favorite places to get the goods online.

Kitchari

September 7, 2023

Why a Seasonal Cleanse is Essential

Ayurveda discusses the “Man and Universe” theory which gives us insight to the unique reflection we share with Nature itself. While it can be obvious that ingesting certain qualities in foods and other sensory channels have the potential to increase dosha, or vitiate the body and mind through accumulation of substances it can be overlooked that the same thing can happy due to the qualities in Nature itself. This is why around the junction point of the season cleansing is a recommended practice to essentially wipe out any doshic imbalances created either by intake through the 5 Senses or the Nature we live in and prepare the body with a clean slate for the next season and experience to come.

Benefits of Shirodhara

June 24, 2023

Benefits of Shirodhara

Shirodhara always raises interest as the mystical Ayurvedic therapy that often people sway between thinking it’s luxurious and others confuse with some some of slow drip torture. Surprisingly it could be either and we will tell you all about the benefits of shirodhara, what its recommended for and who may not want to step up to the table to receive this magical treatment.

Summer BBQ Without the Burn

June 14, 2023

Summer BBQ Without the Burn

Ayurveda offers a unique lense of evaluating food that explains not just the what or when but clearly the why. This helps us navigate the wide and sometimes wild world of food that can seem overwhelming and confusing with conflicting information and new tips and tricks popping up everywhere you look. We have already talked about the 6 Tastes in Ayurveda, foods best for Summer and understanding how to evaluate the Qualities of foods themselves. But what about how you cook it? Is grilling good for you?

Detoxing from Air Pollution

June 7, 2023

Detoxing from Air Pollution

What happens when our environment becomes challenging, as if Mother Earth herself is unleashing her wrath?  While the interplay of each element rising will produce various planetary shifts today we will focus on the impacts of the quality of air and detoxing from air pollution. In even the most challenging times, we can lean into simple Ayurvedic practices for support. The Five Element Theory of Ayurveda provides comprehensive insights on how we can balance these elements within ourselves. Similar to understanding the dosha, or vitiation within ourselves we can identify where an excess or deficiency of an element can offset the equilibrium.

Ayurveda Training

May 29, 2023

Ayurvedic Superfoods

The fad of Ayurveda is fast moving through the Western world and unfortunately calling something “ayurvedic” whether it’s a super food, super skincare blend or delicious herbal tea simply IS NOT “ayurvedic” without the consideration of the individual using the products at play. Many of these presentations and combinations are actually not recommended in Ayurvedic practice and much of this is playing with Indian herbs instead of understanding how these herbs work.

Ayurveda Tips for Sleep

May 5, 2023

Ayurveda Tips for Sleep

Getting a good night’s sleep is crucial for maintaining optimal health and well-being. We all notice the difference between the feeling of rest and rejuvenation and being drained from lack of proper sleep and overwork or exertion. The Ayurvedic scholars recognized this with deep regard thousands of years ago when they listed sleep as one of the three pillars of health in Ayurveda. Alongside food and energy control it was clear that nourishment, rest and rejuvenative practices created the foundation for a life of health, happiness and stability.

What is Your Digestion Telling You?

March 30, 2023

What is Your Digestion Telling You?

Agni, our digestive fire is a huge topic in Ayurveda and when we consider what health actually means the ancient scholars includes the status or function of our digestive system as one of the main points in its evaluation. Observing our own digestion can help us to understand the status or state of jatharagni and support determining which foods and herbs can support us right now!

Ayurveda Moon Cycle Support

March 30, 2023

Ayurveda Moon Cycle Support

Healthy Moon Cycles are important! Discomfort and pain may seem quite “normal” these days, but they are actually far from natural. Ayurveda encourages us to notices the signs of our cycles to help generate a greater understanding of the process and consider what elemental qualities are predominant in our body and mind as currently reflected in Nature.

Dinacharya

March 30, 2023

Self-Oil Massage Benefits in Ayurveda

If we were to give one single recommendation for you to jump start your healing practice, self-oil massage would be it. Modern living invites excess Vata dosha into the body from excessive travel, irregular schedules, screen time, fast paced living and overall feelings of being stretched often beyond our limit of personal comfort. While it is indeed lovely to get a massage from someone else, incorporating application of oil and giving yourself the opportunity for self-healing and a multitude of healing benefits to go with.

Ayurvedic Cooking for the Whole Family

March 30, 2023

Ayurvedic Cooking for the Whole Family

Food is a HUGE topic in Ayurveda with an emphasis on digestive health. What and how we eat create the building blocks of whole body healing along with the understanding of personal constitutions and specific outlines for each individual. The jump from personal care to family care often solicits the question: what does Ayurvedic cooking for the whole family look like? How do we approach this individualized dietary presentation when feeding someone else or an entire family?

March 15, 2023

What are the Yamas and Niyamas

The yamas (restraints) and niyamas (observances) are often presented as the first two limbs of yoga. These initiate a growing shift and understanding surrounding the way a practitioner engages with the world (yamas) and themselves personally (niyamas). The integration of these practices can support the facilitation of Ayurvedic self-care practices. Similarly, the application of these self-care practices can support the integration of the yamas and niyamas.

Tea Ball

December 8, 2022

The Ultimate Ayurvedic Holiday Gift Guide

Looking to get your loved ones something special that brings along the gift of health? Check out our top picks for the Ayurvedic enthusiast for this holiday season. They will love them and who knows, maybe you would like to treat yourself too!

Vata Dosha Diet

November 30, 2022

Vata Dosha Diet

The diet and herbs for Vata Dosha and Vata Season. Learn how the sweet, sour and salty tastes along with heavier unctuous qualities can be incorporated into your daily diet to support seasonal health and longevity. Including our favorite warming, grounding daily regimen and recipes. Learn the best practices for the season!

Is Pancha Karma for Me

November 22, 2022

Is Pancha Karma for Me

Pancha Karma, the famous Ayurvedic cleansing and rejuvenation support recommended yearly. Understand the benefits and signs its time for Pancha Karma. For those looking to learn more you are invited to join Maha Vidya in Puerto Rico to experience this special program for yourself.

Three Pillars of Life- Food, Sleep and Sex

July 24, 2022

Three Pillars of Life- Food, Sleep and Sex

The three pillars (supports) of life, traya upasthambhah, when indulged in properly support the body just like the supportive beams in a house. By cultivating healthy practices and understanding ways to balance your own constitution and current season of life by understanding how proper quality and quantity create health surrounding this sacred practices.

Ayurvedic Food Combining

July 23, 2022

Ayurvedic Food Combining

Digestion is the single most important long-term determinant of health. Ayurveda shares not only what and how to eat but combinations of foods to support long term health and longevity. Learn these simple tips that can easily be incorporated into your daily practice and to share with those you love.

Pitta Dosha Diet

May 31, 2022

Pitta Dosha Diet

The Summer Season brings sunshine, excitement and heat! The sharp rays of the sun slowly squeeze out the accumulation of heaviness from Winter and Spring, but eventually can create sharpness, dryness and exhaustion. Summer is the best time to nourish our bodies with easy to digest fresh local foods and cooling treats! Learn the best practices for the season!

Six Tastes of Ayurveda

May 7, 2022

Six Tastes of Ayurveda

Understanding how the qualities in Nature combine to form the six tastes or rasa give us insight as to how and why certain foods are recommended for health. This can support how utilizing this knowledge can lead to self-care, seasonal care and a greater understanding how food can be used thoughtfully within your home and practice to bring about certain desired effects based on its qualities.

Lyme Support with Ayurveda

April 1, 2022

Lyme Support with Ayurveda

How self-care practices and seasonal cleansing can provide support for the symptoms of chronic lyme. After years of tracking symptoms and working with herbs, lyme protocols and cleansing without success I found support by diving into the texts of Ayurveda and following a detailed outline for parasite cleansing and rejuvenation therapy. Read the story!

Sense Therapy

April 1, 2022

Sense Therapy

The five senses are the doorways in which we experience the world around us. Utilizing each of them to find balance can support whole body healing. Discover how using sound, sight, aroma and touch therapy can add layers to your own life experience along with concepts of healthy eating in Ayurveda.

Kapha Dosha Diet

March 7, 2022

Kapha Dosha Diet

The Spring Season welcomes growth, movement and rejuvenation! Energy is bursting forward in all areas of life and it is THE time to lighten the body and mind, reducing any heaviness that may have accumulated during the Winter. The past few months have been focused on strength, stability, building immunity and increasing the quality of the tissues in the body. If the digestive fire has remained strong you may feel the Spring clarity as the snow melts and the growing rays of the Sun naturally increase fire and heat in the body.

Marma Therapy

February 11, 2022

Marma Therapy

Learn the history of Marma Therapy and why you may want to learn this healing practice to share with clients and loved ones. Marma is easy to incorporate into your daily self massage with a powerful impact on energy, health and longevity. Join us for our 3 Month Program for an in-depth presentation on Marma and its application in treatment.

Qualities in Nature- Elements

January 29, 2022

Qualities in Nature- 10 Pairs of Opposites

Once in form everything in Creation becomes a part of Nature and takes on qualities, or the 10 pairs of opposites, describing the world as we know it. Understanding these qualities gives you tangible tools of awareness to keep you in balance as the seasons change, your daily routine shifts and qualities rise or fall creating either health or instability in the system. This is the foundation of learning Ayurveda!

Lighthouse Meditation

January 11, 2022

Meditation Made Easy

The benefit of yogic meditation is that through the knowledge we gain in pursuing that state we purify, release or overcome conditioned patterns of behavior which impeded our capabilities, not just in meditation but throughout our lives as a whole; by addressing each layer of our Being and reconditioning them to be free of old operating systems and present to the formation of new ones.

Yogadandasana

January 10, 2022

Yogadandasana- Asana Highlight

Caught mid-scratch! Sometime there’s an itch you can only get with your foot in your armpit. Surprisingly, yogadandasana is easier to do than it looks and is incredibly useful for lengthening the external rotators of the hip, muscles of the low back and back of the shoulder.

Full Yogic Breathing

January 3, 2022

Full Yogic Breathing

There are a multitude of ways to share this pranayama or yogic breathing practice and even smaller or larger ways that we can dissect this process to solicit different effects. There are many subtleties and considerations to pranayama or yogic breath work; the practice is a vast topic amidst the scaffolding of many other yogic practices.

Natural Urges You Should Not Suppress

December 27, 2021

Natural Urges You Should Not Suppress

The texts of Ayurveda expound upon the daily practices that support the desire for long life. There are 13 Urges that should not be suppressed that can be considered in the support of this effort. Withholding of these natural urges can create a redirection of energy that over time can create imbalance throughout the body in various ways.

Travel Tips

December 20, 2021

Ayurveda Travel Tips

We all love a good adventure to someplace new, but management of health on travel days can make or break your vacation. Both air and car travel can greatly increase Vata Dosha, create weak agni, slow the digestive process and create feelings of unrest if not properly managed. Here we share a few of our favorite tips and practices to keep us feeling balanced no matter where we call home.

Rutacharya Seasonal Regimen

October 4, 2021

Rutacharya- Seasonal Regimen

“It is not in our hand how the Nature is changing, but it is our responsibility to change our diet and lifestyle to reflect these changes to maintain our own state of balance. Nature is always changing so we must change as well.” – Dr Amruta Athale Rutacharya, seasonal regimen is one of the simple beauties Ayurveda offers us to look at Nature to find balance within ourselves and our ever changing environment.

Dinacharya – Daily Regimen

October 4, 2021

Dinacharya – Daily Regimen

Dina= Daily   Charya= Regimen The best container to build the day is through routine and ritual. Ayurveda emphasizes daily regimen as a constant reorientation to balance through the five senses to support a wholistic lifestyle that builds upon itself with a momentum of strength and joy as the accumulation of daily practice.

Surya Namaskar

October 4, 2021

Surya Namaskar – Sun Salutation Basics

If our body is a crystallization of our thoughts words, deeds, diet and dna then we must recondition it regularly to continually align all layers of our Being. Yoga and Ayurveda offer many practices to address and harmonize our outer world with our inner world, practicing surya namaskar or sun salutations is an excellent approach to begin with to support a regular mindful conscious living discipline toward daily life.

How to Dry Herbs

September 28, 2021

How to Dry Garden Herbs

It’s drying season as the herbs and flowers reach their peak performance bursting with fragrant blossoms, many going to seed as we watch the garden cycle strive to continue. There are a few ways that you can dry harvests, here are a few of our favorites.

Healthy Eating Guidelines

September 28, 2021

Healthy Eating Guidelines of Ayurveda

Ayurveda shares the unique insight that health is not only dependent on the quality of the food we eat, but also the way we digest it. This can be achieved by maximizing our digestive fire (agni) so nutrients can be absorbed properly to gain the most impact in what we consume to build healthy tissues in the body. If agni is slow or irregular it can lead to undigested food which becomes a toxic buildup (ama) that can eventually block healthy processes in the body. If agni is to high nutrients are essentially burnt up before being utilized.

How to Make Rose Water

July 30, 2021

How to Make Rose Water

Sweet Sweet Summer means lots of Roses at our house. We dry them, drink them, preserve them and LOVE to make Rose Water. Fresh rose water can be enjoyed as a tea, facial toner when added with witch hazel and other herbs or flowers, used as a cooling facial spritz and as a powerful decharger or clearer of energy. Between work, healing practices and meditations we like to spritz our faces and hands with this sweet tonic.