Tag Archives: Ayurveda

ayurveda, happiness, recipes

Saag, my new comfort food

Saag, saag, saag, I love it. It’s my go to order at any Indian restaurant. It’s become my adult comfort food in the same way that grilled cheese and tomato soup was in my childhood. I’ve been trying to figure out how to make it at home, and to make it kapha pacifying (which is what I need right now).

I have a habit of finding something I like and then eating it for ages until I finally get sick of it. Then I have to rotate off for a while, enjoying something else before I come back around to it. These days I’ve been working on a kapha balancing saag. Perfect for what I need to be balancing for myself and perfect for kapha season.

I leave out the more traditional paneer and cream to lighten it up a bit to pacify kapha. Feel free to add some if it’s your desire.

Our local co op has their own garden and their spinach is ready. It has such a fantastic smell. Like real food. It reminds me of being in the garden back home. I can’t wait to have a garden again.

Fresh spinach in the pot

Combination of split mung dal and basmati rice in a separate pot

Add water to the rice/dal mixture- if possible let it soak for a few hours, then boil and simmer on low until done

Add boiling water to cover the spinach in pot. Cover and let it sit for a few minutes to blanch the spinach

Water on the spinach.

Meanwhile chop up some ginger. There’s fresh turmeric at our Co op right now so I add some of that too (instead of adding powdered later on)

Finely chopped onion

After about 5 minutes strain the spinach into a colander and put in a bowl with ice water (I get lazy here, I just put it in the colander and run cold water on it, shhhh don’t tell anyone) doesn’t it look fantastic? I love spinach. Have I mentioned how good it smells?!


In the pot that had the spinach melt some ghee ( I keep a bit of water in the pot to ensure the oil does not get to too high a temperature) and add cumin and fennel seeds, let fry for a couple minutes

Add the onion, continue to fry until the onion has turned kind of translucent

Meanwhile put the ginger, turmeric and spinach in a blender and whirr it all up until it’s completely blended (you may need to add a bit of water)

Here are the onions all done and ready for the next step

Add some chopped up fresh tomato. It’s March in Virginia and we have 6 inches of snow outside. There are no good tasting tomatoes, I’ve been using these ones by Muir Glen

stir it all in and let simmer a minute or so

Add the spinach mix into the pot – pretty green isn’t it?

Add some spices – here I’m using garlic, and a curry spice. We were snowed in and I had to use what was available. Normally I’d have made a kapha churna to add in

Here it is all done. I added some pumpkin seeds on top. I made this before my yoga class and put it in the warming oven for 2 hours. It tasted much better with the long slow low cook. 

I’m bad at exact measurements but here’s what went into one serving

1/4 cup basmati rice

1/8 cup split mung beans

1 3/4 cup water

(those things I actually do measure)

These go in the separate pot. Bring to a boil then simmer 20-30 minutes until done. Soak the mung beans first in water

3 or so big handfuls of spinach. Remember it shrinks up to nothing when it cooks

2-3 tablespoons of onion (I like onion, you could use less)

2 tablespoons of canned tomatoes. In the summer I’d use one smallish tomato

1 tablespoon kapha churna (in this case since i didn’t have the ingredients for it –  I used a tsp cumin and a tsp curry and a pinch of garlic)

Big pinch of fennel, big pinch of cumin

1/2-1 tsp ghee

little nub of ginger, smaller one of turmeric – do it to taste.

I am going to grocery shop tomorrow. I will make the kapha churna and post it then

My happiness moment on day 41 of the 44 days of happiness came this morning. Jenna has a sleep over tonight and decided that instead of going to buy a bag or wrapping paper that she would sew a bag to put her present in. She sat at the table and figured out all by herself how to put this bag together. She even put on a handle for easier carrying. It brought me such joy to see her sitting enjoying herself while learning a new skill. I was so proud of her – but mostly so happy that I got to be there enjoying the process with her. She’s pretty awesome.

(she was happier than she looks in the picture….)

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ayurveda, cooking, happiness

Barley Kitchari

Another snow day here. Seriously, it’s March 6th. Spring can not come soon enough for me. Most of the winter was pretty mild – until the last 6 weeks when it seems like we’ve had storm after storm. Then I go on Facebook and see pictures of our friends up in Rhode Island and the Boston area and realize we don’t have it so bad. Plus I have had a lot of bonus home days with the monsters – and I love that.

It was cold and damp feeling out today – Kapha like day. And we are entering into Kapha season, so I decided to make an appropriate meal – barley kitchari. Super simple and super yummy.

You need: (for one serving, increase accordingly)

1 tsp ghee

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 heaped tsp kapha churna (you can buy this at MAPI.com, and in the next day or so I will post a recipe you can make at home)

1/4 cup pearl barley, rinsed

1/8 cup split mung beans (let soak in water for an hour prior)

1.5 cups water

optional: steamed broccoli, pumpkin seeds, raisins

Heat the ghee in saucepan over medium heat. Add the fennel and coriander seeds and saute until fragrant (3-4 minutes)

add the barley, mung beans and water and simmer for aprox 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

If desired add broccoli, raisins, and pumpkin seeds.

So yummy

Kapha season is in the spring when it is wet and damp and sometimes still chilly. Unless you live in Alberta and then springtime is about an hour and a half sometime in June (but that hour and a half is awesome – I love standing out in my parents’ yard looking at the cherry blossoms – until that chinook wind blows them all off).  Kapha is comprised of Water and Earth and is cold, heavy and stable. It governs the structure and the lubrication of the body. Kapha is most aggravated by sweet, salty and sour tastes and is balanced by bitter, astringent and pungent tastes.

Kapha is what I need to be balancing right now, and since it’s the season for it – it’s kind of a double whammy reason for me to get some kapha recipes ready.

Happiness moment for day 40 (40 already!!) of my 44 days of happiness came this morning. Ms. Ella has stashed away all of her mice and we can’t play fetch anymore. She says she does not remember where they are, and has informed me that this is my problem and that I need to fix it. Jenna – bless her – sat down at the table and pulled out her sewing box. She spent a great deal of time figuring a way to stuff catnip inside a cotton ball and then sewing that inside some fabric.

Ella approved. She is content for the time being.

I am so proud of Jenna for learning how to sew and figuring things out as she goes. Goodness knows she’s not going to learn anything from me. But she is determined and loves making new creations.

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Ghee, that was simple!

For some reason I found the idea of making my own ghee quite intimidating. I don’t know what gave me the impression it would be difficult because the reality is that it is so very simple. The most challenging part of the whole process was trying to remember where I’d stored my cheesecloth.

We’ve had so many snow days in the past month (we get a 4 day weekend this week thanks to the latest storm), it’s given me a chance to try out some things in the kitchen I’ve been wanting to get to.

Ghee – or clarified butter – is widely used in Ayurveda. It is said to balance all three doshas (although it should be used sparingly for Kapha due to it’s oily nature). It can be used as a vehicle to carry herbs and other medicines deep into the tissues of the body. It also helps kindle Agni – or the digestive fire.

Here’s my ghee making process. I start with this grass fed unsalted butter – it’s so yummy. 

Put the butter in a pot on the stove, turn the stove onto medium heat and let the butter melt

Melt, melt little stick of butter

After a bit you’ll start to hear a crackling kind of sound. Turn to medium low and let crackle for about 20 minutes. My butter is less than a pound so it finishes at about 15 minutes. You don’t want to leave it for too long and have it burn.

Crackle, crackle…..

Put your cheesecloth over a glass jar and pour the butter into the jar. All the impurities from the butter stay in the cheesecloth and your butter is clarified. 

Look at how nice and golden it is! Let it sit on the counter until it hardens into solid form

Then you can put the lid on it and put it in the cupboard. It does not need to be refrigerated. It will keep in a cool, dry place for a couple of months (like it will last that long)

So ridiculously easy. So yummy.

The kids and I were home today because we had yet another massive snow storm. The storm was expected to hit early this morning, but didn’t come until early afternoon so we escaped the house to do a few errands. Because we were expected to be snowed in I left the house a complete disaster safe in the knowledge that no one would want to be out house hunting on such a day. Naturally we got the call. I was standing in Panera with the kids ordering soup when the realtor called and wanted to come see the house right away. Ummmmm – no. I just don’t live in a show ready home. I bought us a couple of hours to get ready so we had our lunch and raced home to clean up.

When we finally were feeling like the house could be seen by other people, I called the realtor and left him a message telling him he could come early if he wanted. Then the kids and I sat on the couch teasing each other about who was the most immature person in the house (this is a badge of honour for us). I was busy claiming most immature person of the year when my phone rang. Jacob was closest to it so he answered. I figured it was the realtor, but couldn’t understand why Jacob got this stressed out look on his face and turned kind of a funny colour. He handed me the phone – it was the realtor – and we sorted out times.

After I ended the call Jacob said “well, that was weird. I answered and the guy just started talking to me. He said ‘I just had a message from your wife about seeing the house earlier’ and I had to cut him off and hand the phone to you.”

This is what happens when you are 13 and your voice changes into a big deep man voice!!! Jenna and I literally fell down on the floor and rolled around we were laughing so hard. I said ‘I guess you’re the mature person in the house then, bwaaahaaa I’m off the hook’. Even Jacob found it funny – although I think he found our laughter funnier. That was our happiness moment on day 39 of the 44 days of happiness.

The people showed up at the same times as the snow storm. Here’s crossed fingers that they liked the house, because I’m right tired of this whole selling process.

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Good Vibrations

The case I’m working on right now in my Ayurveda course is dealing with colds and flus – a good topic for this time of year. I believe this is the first year in a long time that the kids and I are going into spring season strong, well rested, and in general good health. If we can avoid being knocked flat by the seasonal illnesses that’s a blessed thing.

In Ayurveda there’s more emphasis put on the host body (me or you) vs. the bacteria, virus, or illness. That is to say that if you have a strong and healthy body there is no place for the virus to take root and grow. It needs a fertile ground in which to plant root and flourish. The reasoning is that if your body is healthy and in balance these dis-eases will not be able to stay.

Western medicine looks at illnesses as something external that attacks the body. In reality we live with millions of bacteria and viruses surrounding us. Not everyone who is exposed to someone who is sick gets sick themselves. It is not the pathogen so much as the state of the host that makes the difference. These viruses, pathogens, bacteria, won’t have a place to take hold in the body if the ground is not fertile. It needs ama (toxins) in order to take hold and grow.

Something else that either prevents or encourages the chances of us being ill is the energetic vibration that we are on. Everything comes from the field of consciousness – humans, plants, animals, bacteria, viruses… That bacteria or virus is a physical form of a nonphysical energy just the same way that we are here in a physical vehicle (our body) for our nonphysical selves. The vibration of these viruses is on a lower emotional field, and in order to resonate with it we must also be on this lower field. The field that they resonate on is the same frequency of fear. Being full of fear can open to the energy of the virus and harmonize with it, allowing it to take root and multiply. When our vibration is high and we don’t identify with the vibration of fear, we are better protected against getting flus and colds.

Think of all the hype that comes out every year about the cold and flu. Every year it’s the worst year yet for being sick. The media throws out scare tactics – we must be afraid of getting sick. Go stock up on medicine, get flu shots (sometimes there is value to these, but not for everyone), be afraid of getting sick. Everything except make sure your body is healthy so that viruses can’t take root and flourish.

I personally can attest that when my vibrational frequency is low I get sick. When I’m happy and healthy and on a higher emotional frequency I don’t get sick. The Law of Attraction follows the same beliefs as Ayurveda – what you concentrate and put your focus on you attract. Think about being sick all the time and you will be sick. Think about being strong and healthy and you push yourself up onto a healthier frequency.

For me, releasing black clouds of doom (mine and other people’s) has put me in a healthier place than I’ve been in years. I can feel my emotional vibrations getting happier and stronger, and I can see my health getting stronger.

I have two happiness moments today for day 32 of the 44 days of happiness. The kids were off school for snow (again) today. I was sitting cross-legged in my chair in my bedroom getting my iPad ready to do my healing light yoga therapy class (there are recordings from the Saturday class we can do during the week if we choose – I’m loving this class). I was hunched over focusing on getting to the right spot in the video when Ella jumped up on the chair beside me. She glared at me and meeeooowwwwed, then jumped up onto the top of the chair. Well, she landed with such force she flipped the entire chair over leaving me stuck on the ground wrapped in the chair much like a turtle flipped on it’s back. I was lying there yelling for help – however when help arrived it was in the form of Jacob laughing so hard he was unable to do anything. Finally I was able to roll myself out of my mess. Because of course as soon as the chair flipped, Ella was out of there. She ran into Jenna’s room and pretended she knew nothing about what was going on.

The second moment came this afternoon when I was driving to the library to pick up Jacob. I was winding down the backside of the mountain and came around the corner to see a boy about 12-14 out shoveling snow. What was fantastic was that he was using the shovel as a dance partner. He was jigging all around, twisting and turning with the shovel. It was such a happy, glorious sight. So wonderful to see someone “dancing like no one was watching”. Made me smile for a long time.

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Honouring the Introvert

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It’s taken me a lot of years to honour my introverted self. I used to get teased a lot for being shy, and in my teenaged years was stunned to find out that a lot of people thought I was stuck up and kind of a b!tch, when the reality was that I was neither. I was just a quiet, introverted person. I still get harassed by the extroverted people in my life for not being more outgoing, louder, more extroverted. But, it’s not who I am. Much as I can’t get those extroverts to be more quiet, to crave their alone time, to be more introverted, it’s not right that I be expected to be more like them. Of course being extroverts, they tell me loudly how I should be behaving, and being an introvert I usually just think my replies about how I wish they would zip it shut while retreating into my quiet. Neither way is better or worse, they’re just different ways of being.

Like most introverts I have a lot going on in my head and as a result I need a lot of quiet time to process all those thoughts. Don’t worry, it’s not crazy people voices chatting away in there. There’s just a lot of thoughts, a lot going on, a lot I like to process. Without the quiet times I can’t do that.

I was raised by introverts and I’m raising introverts of my own. Even my child who craves social contact (Jenna) has her moments where she runs into her room and says “Quiet time! Don’t come get me unless it’s an emergency!” Or often after a long day of playing with friends “That was fun, but I haven’t really had any me time yet today if you know what I mean.”

This didn’t really lead to a life of introverted loneliness before we started moving either as I was blessed to have been born into a very large extended family full of introverts. We could be at a large family function but everyone would be in their own comfort zone supported by other familiar introverts (and the odd loud extrovert).

Even if I wanted to (which I don’t) I will never be a really extroverted, outgoing person. That’s ok. There’s lots of wonderful extroverted, outgoing people out there, just as there are lots of wonderful introverted people. It’s all about honouring who we really are and letting that light shine.

Today’s moment of happiness (day 29 of my 44 days) came in a quiet afternoon. We were on yet another snow day but the roads were decent in the afternoon so I took the kids out to play with friends. I came home and spent a few hours on my Ayurvedic course work. It was quiet, but it makes me happy to be able to do this learning. It’s changed everything about how I live my life.

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And this is love

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I actually don’t need much more than this for my 20th day of happiness. It’s love day and love is happiness. We had pancakes for breakfast and they drank hot cocoa and tea from their new valentines day mugs. We played Uno, Jacob and I had a very silly, very awkward and probably inappropriate conversation with Siri which was full of giggles. It was a love day.

It was also the first day of my latest session of the Healing Light Yoga Therapy  I’m taking through New World Ayurveda. I did a few of these last year and they were so yummy. It’s restorative yoga, so I guess I should clarify that the end result is yummy, but as it’s clearing out a lot of old gunk sometimes the present moments are kind of yucky. Today’s was just really clearing and healing for me though. I felt a lot of old emotions float by and hopefully clear out. Second Chakra work – it’s where all my gunk lives. So good and so powerful to be able to move some of that stuff on out. I am so thankful for this course. I could feel so many emotions move around. Things that I know I’ve been tying to let go of for years.

It goes back to that forcing vs the path of least resistance and allowing. I have spent so much time trying to *force* all these bad feelings out of my body, when what I really need to do is allow my body (and spirit) to heal and let go. I’m feeling very blessed to be back at this important work.

Happy Love Day! xoxo

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Finger on the pulse

One of the biggest diagnostic tools I’m learning in my Ayurveda course is how to determine imbalances from the pulse. While I’ve been able to understand the teachings, I had a difficult time putting it into practice because I basically had no pulse. Like, if it wasn’t me taking my own pulse I’d think I was dead.
I believe the reason for this comes from both a build up of ama – and the larger cause – total depletion.
I check it every day and every day there’s either nothing at all or the faintest of blips.
I’m doing (or allowing) everything I can to restore and heal myself to regain balance.
Today – my 19th day of the 44 days of happiness – I finally and consistently had a pulse today!! This means that I’m gaining strength (and on a lesser note I will be able to further my studies with the pulse). I’m insanely excited. It’s working!!

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A sunbeam nap

Naps are the best thing in the world. I feel so happy when I am able to get one. And a sunbeam nap is the best kind of nap of all. This is one of the great life lessons I have learned from having cats (although my dog is also fond of the sunbeam nap). If there’s a sunbeam shining into the house you can bet that at least one of my pets is lying directly in that beam happily snoring away.

According to classic Ayurveda you are supposed to avoid naps during the day. When I first started studying Ayurveda I found this very difficult because while I understood the intention behind this rule, I was exhausted and taking a nap made me feel like a decent human again. It didn’t even make me want to stay up later, I could still go to sleep at my regular time. In fact, one of the best things I did for myself was read the first chapter of The Happiness Project where she talked about her decision to get a good night’s sleep. For the last two years I have been pretty fierce about being in bed, 10 toes up by 9:00 and lights out by 9:30. I usually get up around 5:00, although sometimes sleep in until 6:30 (or every once in a while later). According to Ayurveda you should sleep between the hours of 10:00pm and 6:00am.

I was struggling with how I was going to make this work. How do I follow these guidelines and not nap during the day when I feel so drained and tired, but feel so much better when I can get in a little cat-nap during the day? Fortunately during one of my early classes my instructor explained that our culture is so chronically sleep deprived that we generally fall into one of the exceptions given whereby it actually is recommended that we take a nap. Thank Goodness.

As I’m (finally) getting some of my reserves back, regaining some strength in my physical body and in my soul I am finding I don’t crave the nap every afternoon the way I used to. Before I used to sit down at 1:00 and have a cup of Earl Grey or something of the sort (usually also accompanied by a sugar craving) to jolt myself awake enough to get through the rest of the day. After I stopped drinking caffeine, I discovered that if I gave myself that 20-30 minute time to just lie  down and close my eyes it did a better, more effective job of pushing my re-start button.

Today however, was a nap day. We got home from church, had lunch and then the three of us each bolted upstairs. This was followed by the sound of three doors slamming shut and words like “don’t come talk to me unless the house is on fire or you’re dying” before all of us lay down for a little while. I opened my blinds and discovered that a bright, happy sunbeam was shining in on my bed. I lay down in the middle of said sunbeam, closed my eyes, and drifted off for a little while. Ok, today may have been a long while. But, I feel awesome for having done it. All three of us are in such better moods.

Today, my 7th day of 44 days of happiness is the joy in an afternoon sunbeam nap.

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Closing out 43

Tomorrow is the start of my new year. I know it’s more popular to make your new years resolutions for January 1 but since my birthday or “new year” is on the 26th I have found it makes more sense for me to focus on my intentions for the new year on that day. It’s not something I ever used to do, I preferred to wing it and focus on things as the desire hit me. But, when I turned 41 something inside me changed and I decided to make a concentrated effort to make who I am a better person.

41 was the year that I followed the philosophy “be the change you want to see in the world”. I decided that if I was going to live in a better world that the changes for the better had to begin with me. I started looking long and hard at how I was living and making changes that would make that life a better, happier and more balanced one.

42 was the year that I worked on “healing”. All the thought of the year before had made me realize how broken I was. I had stripped myself down to my core in the effort of rebuilding and that drained me completely. I started learning about Ayurveda, learning how to feed myself better, discovering the importance of a good nights sleep, learning to meditate. Learning to heal myself.

43 was the year that I worked on “strength”. I wasn’t healed yet, but I could feel inside that I was ready to get stronger. Right before my birthday I saw a picture of someone doing the dancer pose and decided that was something I wanted to be able to do myself. I worked on it all year. When I started (and I wish I had taken a picture) I couldn’t stand on one leg and pull my other leg up towards my bum to grab it with my hand. I had to use a yoga strap to pull that foot up. Tonight I had Jenna take a picture of my progress over the year:

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It’s huge progress. I’ll keep at it and post another picture next year.

44 will be the year of “my happiness” my happiness. Because I’ve learned that when I’m happy I spread happiness which makes the world a better place. I’m going to walk myself down my path of least resistance and consciously allow good things happen to me. Way too many times in my life I’ve had wonderful opportunities knock on my door and I’ve turned them down because I felt I didn’t deserve that kind of happiness. Now I feel not only do I deserve it, but it’s my duty to seek it out. We all deserve to follow our bliss.

My pose goal for the year is to be able to sit and stretch forward reaching my toes and have my body lie flat against my legs. I’ve never been able to do this. In junior high I used to do terribly at the flexibility toe touch. Although, while I’ve never been really flexible that way it did annoy me years later when I got married and we were comparing how we could touch toes. He could reach hands on the floor no problem. Then I realized that while he was taller than me his legs are 4 inches shorter. Which helped me let go a lot of the “I can’t touch my toes” insecurity of jr. high. I can touch my toes now. I love that yoga is noncompetitive – I need that.

Here’s my pose at the beginning of the year:

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I’m excited about this year. A whole year focused on happiness. I have a feeling that wonderful things are going to manifest this year.

~ namaste

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Extreme Frustration + Power of Intention = Christmas Miracle

Despite our best efforts we have been sick here in our house. Jenna had it first – 5 days of fever finished up with a couple days of runny nose. Jacob had 2 days of fever followed by 10 days of intense, spasmodic coughing. I am finally able to swallow again after strep.

To say I was frustrated would be putting it mildly. We have worked so hard to be healthy and look after ourselves, and just like that we were brought to our knees by these viruses. With our trip home looming just ahead of us it was getting more and more urgent that we all get healthy and stay that way.

Jenna recovered a couple of weeks ago and has been totally fine since (thank goodness). I knew that my throat would run its course and I’d be fine.
What was causing me concern was Jacob and his cough. It was the same nasty cough he had last spring that lasted for 3 weeks. Harsh, deep, dry coughs that were relentless. Non stop, all day and night with no relief.

We tried everything. Every Ayurvedic medicine I could get my hands on, all my essential oils, all the western medicine the doctor suggested. Nothing was giving him any relief. He lay in bed coughing and coughing and coughing.

Finally last night I broke down. I was so frustrated, upset, annoyed that nothing we were doing was working. I knew with the way he was coughing that there was no way we would be able to travel. Against my better judgement, in my frustration, I told him that there were only a few more days left and with him not getting better there was a good chance we would not be able to go. I was just so frustrated and upset and I didn’t want him to find out the day of travel that we would not be going.

Of course as soon as I said it I wished I could cram it back in my mouth. But the three of us sat there and cried for a little bit and then they went to their rooms to get ready for bed.

I sat on my bed and thought about what had just happened. Then I thought about the work I’d been doing with my positive intentions. About how I was learning that nothing on the outside of my life will work properly unless I’m properly balanced and aligned on the inside. About how all the work and action that I *do* don’t matter unless I’m coming from a place of peace and balance on the inside.

I realized that we all had been *doing* things to try and get Jacob better. But one thing we hadn’t done was set our intention inside ourselves that he be healthy. The kids know this setting of intention as prayer.

We got back together and I told them that we were the strongest, most stubborn, most willful people I knew and that we were going to use all those traits to look deep inside ourselves and find feelings of love and health and peace for Jacob. We sat there and prayed and put in our hearts that he was just going to be better.

When I went in to tuck him in he wasn’t coughing – when I asked him why, he said because every time he wanted to cough he thought of healthy thoughts and of all the fun he was going to have at home and he stuffed the cough away.

Well, he woke up this morning and was healthy. No coughing. He went from spasmodic coughing that was relentless yesterday to no coughing and going to school today.

A Christmas Miracle. Brought on by our positive intentions (prayers), fueled by a little frustration meltdown.

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