Whether you’re new to Ayurveda or have been learning about it for a while, you may or may not have heard about Panchakarma (Sanskrit word). Pancha means five in Sanskrit, and Karma action or therapy. It’s a deeply cleansing, rejuvenating, and long-term effective process of ridding the body of ama, or toxins. It needs time, it’s not a quick fix and the integration process after the therapy is just as important as the cleansing itself. In fact, if the time after isn’t respected, it can cause more harm than good. Usually, therapy is done over 14-21 days in India.

Meditation can be many things. This morning when meditating, I realized that over the years, I have tried several different techniques. With a very flexible (Hello Vata!) personality and body type, I’ve come to accept that only doing one type will get too boring for me. I meditate every day no matter the circumstances, but what that meditation is, varies. A clear structure is needed for when I practice, but flexibility within the frame for how is necessary to keep interested.

On new years eve 2022 the loved ones I celebrated with and I choose a word to represent the year. Freedom came out of my mouth. Boy, I did not know what was coming at me. To be free, we have to let go, right?

The one size fits all approach is not very effective when it comes to food. One person’s medicine is another’s poison. It’s therefore important to understand what body type someone has, what foods they digest well and which foods they feel best leaving out or reducing. Sometimes we can notice this clearly ourselves, at other times it is trickier to tell what and when each food is right for the body. This also varies with the seasons, what time of day the food is consumed and how it is eaten.

The pizza requires a little bit of preparation before you begin cooking. Once you’re set up, however, the cooking process is quick, easy, and really fun. The toppings can be varied, and if you digest tomatoes well, tomato sauce could also be used.

This cake was named by newfound and old dear friends and sisters last week. It also goes under the name the orgasmic cake. I think you can guess by now what kind of cake we’re talking about here. Even though so seductive, it is gluten-free, vegan, refined sugar-free, and nut-free. It’s moist, sweet, dense, and offers quite a pleasurable experience. Since it contains large amounts of chocolate, enjoy it on rare occasions and in the morning if you have any difficulties sleeping or feeling overstimulated at all.

From an Ayurvedic perspective, digestion doesn’t only focus on how we process food, but also how we digest life. Everything we perceive through our five senses, sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell makes impressions on us, and the experience needs to be digested and processed.

This is a very light and refreshing dish perfect to have in spring when we can feel more sluggish, heavy, and have more mucus present than at other times of the year. Rhubarb tastes mainly sour and is heating in the body. Anything had in excess will cause trouble in the long run, therefore this crumble is best had once a week or less. I’m warning you now since it’s so easy and delicious to make. It may very well be one of those recipes you end up creating over and over again.

Many think of dandelion as the pestering weed that pops up in clean-cut lawns every spring. What some may not know is that this weed is one full of magnificence and resilience as it bursts through city sidewalks and cracked concrete walls. All parts of the dandelion are edible and you can enjoy the leaves sautéed and add them into soups, salads, pesto, and other dishes. The roots can be roasted and used as a coffee substitute (see recipe below) or from my experience, simply taken as digestive bitters to aid in the digestive process.

If only it was that simple. I have been interested for a long time now to understand Covid from an Ayurvedic perspective. It is a controversial subject and since I only knew very few people who practice these tools that got ill, I began asking around.