Glowing health usually requires balance, moderation, and routine. But variety is the spice of life— travel enlivens the spirit and new adventures feed the soul! However, many travelers find it difficult to happily hop around the country (or the world) without feeling some common travel woes, like disturbed sleep, poor digestion , constipation , or mild anxiety . From the perspective of Ayurveda (yoga’s sister science), most travel discomforts are due to increased vata dosha, the energy governing all movement in the body-mind. Despite constitutional differences, everyone has vata dosha, which supports movement in the respiratory, circulatory, nervous, and digestive systems (and elsewhere). When vata is in a healthy state, these systems run smoothly—breath is fluid, elimination easy, thoughts well communicated, etc. But when the momentum of external travel increases the momentum of internal vata, the emotional result is feeling wound up, scattered, forgetful, or anxious, while the p...
The importance of cleansing for improving health has gained immense popularity in the last decade. A wide variety of cleanses are now available with supportive programs, books and online materials. There are fruit cleanses, vegetable cleanses, “miracle” weight loss and metabolic remedies plus countless supplements on the market which claim to detoxify and strengthen the system. Most of us are invigorated to clean up our act during the new year, but for those of us in the dead of winter, we have an extra challenge. Cleansing - and especially many of the fads out there today - can be very depleting and even damaging to our systems In our Ayurvedic practice at Kerala Ayurveda, many clients come to us after trying diets or cleanses which are not personalized to their needs and are too harsh or depleting for their systems, preventing any long term benefits. As a result, many individuals cannot complete the cleanses they begin or find themselves more imbalanced than when they first started t...