The Sun in Sanskrit is called “Surya.”  The sun controls leadership, authority, and a strong self-esteem.  The sun shines light on everyone indiscriminately, and encourages happiness and a sunny disposition.  We can honor the sun by recognizing its properties.  Its day is Sunday, so we can make it a special point to watch a sunrise or sunset on that day.  Its color is red-orange, so we can wear that color, or have it in our home decor.  The stone for Surya is the Ruby, and its number is one.  To help bring the energy of the sun into our lives, we can recite the mantra to the sun: Om Suryaya Namaha.

Turmeric (also known as Haldi) is the herb that gives curry its yellow color.  Turmeric is known to support important blood and liver functions, and to be an abundant source of healthful antioxidants.  Many women in India credit their beautiful skin, hair, and nails, to a diet rich in Turmeric.  Turmeric has the tastes of pungent, bitter, and astringent.  These tastes are difficult to find in the typical western diet, but they are essential for balancing the Kapha dosha.  I found a wonderful recipe for Chickpea Curry.  Try it and let me know what you think!  I’ll also have it up in the CoffeyKitchen, where you can share your favorite curry recipes.

2 Tablespoonds vegetable oil

2 onions, minced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 teaspoons ginger root, chopped

6 whole cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 (15 ounce) cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

salt and pepper to taste.  If you like it spicy, use cayenne pepper.

-Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat – sautee onions until tender.

-Stir in garlic, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper  and turmeric.  Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

-Mix in the garbanzo beans and their liquid.

-Continue to cook and stir until all ingredients are well blended.

-Remove from heat.

-Stir in cilantro just before serving.

“Soma” is the nourishing, cooling quality that is associated with the moon.  Water represents this lunar energy.  It helps support each of the three doshas by nurturing, lubricating and detoxifying the body.  When properly absorbed, water offers us many healing benefits.  It helps with digestion, improves the skin, prevents constipation, and cools the body.  Because Vata is so dry, people with a dominant Vata dosha need to drink more water than other types.  And because Pitta runs hot, they may crave more water than other types.  During meals, it is best to sip plain water.  Water should be served warm, or at room temperature, but never ice-cold, because cold water puts out the digestive fire.  About an hour after a meal, if you feel thirsty, it is good to drink water to boost digestion.  To make water even more balancing for the doshas, you can add spices to it.  Boil the water first, then add the spices and let it comes to room temperature or warmer.  For Vata water, add a little fennel seed.  For Pitta water, add dried rose petals.  For Kapha water, add sliced fresh ginger and basil.

Vastu Shastra is one of the texts found in the Vedas, an ancient body of knowledge from India.  Vastu explains how natural laws are universal, and that when we learn to apply these laws to our home or office, our life will flourish.  Robin and Michael Mastro were our Vastu experts on DoshaSpace and they’ve followed us over to intent.com.  They’ve just released a new book that shows us how to use Vastu to create a beautiful love relationship.  “Making Room for Mr. Right” uses three of the ancient tenets of Vastu Shastra to inspire us to be proactive about making room for our soul mate.  The Mastros say that Vastu is “yoga for relationships!”  Vastu eliminates the stress in finding a partner.  Some of the tools they teach us to use include the relationship altar, yantras & mantras, color, gems, and scent.  This is an informative and enlightening book that is full of intriguing exercises and step-by-step instructions.  This book could literally change your life!

Green tea is known throughout the world for its medicinal properties.  It’s the abundance of antioxidants in the tea leaves that make it so beneficial.  Antioxidants slow or prevent the oxidation of other molecules.  Oxidation reactions in molecules can create free radicals, that can turn into disease.  Antioxidants are also important to overall cell health.  Healthy cells mean less chance of disease.  So antioxidants are an important part of preventative health care.  Green tea is also known to reduce the negative effects of “bad cholesterol”(LDL) by making more “good cholesterol” (HDL).  Tulsi is an adaptogenic herb traditionally used in ayurvedic medicine.  Adaptogens help to reduce the negative effects of daily stress.  Like green tea, Tulsi (also known as Holy Basil) is rich in antioxidants and promotes a healthy metabolism.  Tulsi Green Tea from Organic India is an invigorating blend of two extraordinarily potent, naturally restorative plants.  It’s delicious, toasty flavor makes for an excellent afternoon pick-me-up.

Tulsi Green Tea from Organic India

The Sanskrit word “Ahimsa” means “non-violence.”  Deepak Chopra started The Alliance for a New Humanity based on this principle.  Gandhi said: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”  Taking this to heart, Deepak took a vow of non-violence.  And now he is taking this one step further, asking each of us to do the same thing.  Can you commit, honestly and sincerely, to non-violence in your thoughts, speech and actions?  If so, then take the vow.  And pass it on.  This is a global movement for transformation.  If we can get 100 million people to make the same commitment, then we will have reached a critical mass, and the world will be transformed.  What a wonderful way to start the New Year with love and intention.  Visit the site: itakethevow.com for all the information.

Ghee is clarified butter, and the preferred oil to cook with in Ayurveda.  Ghee is also used in some beauty treatments.  You can buy ghee in most health food stores, and you can also make your own ghee at home.  To make ghee, put one pound of unsalted butter into a saucepan and heat slowly until completely melted.  Turn the heat down to low.  The melted butter appears cloudy, and at first a white foam rises to the top.  The foam then falls to the bottom as the melted butter starts to clear, and the sediment is more visible at the bottom.  Simmer until the sediment becomes golden brown and the rest of the liquid becomes clear and golden.  At this point it kind of smells like popcorn!  Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes.  Line a strainer with cheesecloth or muslin and place over a glass jar.  Pour the ghee through the strainer, taking care not to pour in any of the sediment.  As the ghee cools it will solidify.  It does not need to be refrigerated.

Ayurveda has a few recommendations for how to keep ourselves healthy when it comes to the ear, nose and throat.  To clear mucus from the throat, mix a pinch of turmeric and a pinch of salt in a cup of warm water and gargle.  To soothe a sore throat, chew licorice root, or lick a spoon of honey.  For a dry throat, especially good when you have a lot of speaking to do, suck on some cardamom seeds.  For the ears, apply a small amount of sesame oil around the opening of the ear canal with your little finger.  This helps to keep Vata in balance and reduces tension in the jaw.  Massaging the ears with warm sesame oil benefits the whole body.  With the nose, it is also beneficial to apply a little warm sesame oil around the inside of each nostril every morning.  This helps us to have a keen sense of smell and calms the mind by keeping Vata in balance.  When the sinuses are congested or dry, we can do “nasya” or rinse the nostrils with warm salt water. 

Ayurveda explains our thought process by breaking it down like this:

-Manas is the mind.  It senses things outwardly.  It relies on the external to give it an impression to focus on.

-Buddhi is intelligence.  It perceives both inwardly and outwardly.  Buddhi can reason, and put together information based on what we see and what we feel.

-Chitta is consciousness.  It feels internally, instinctively, with its own sense of deep knowing.

In addition, there are collective and cosmic counterparts of the mind.  The collective is the sensory activity of everyone on Earth.  We can sense this, and the media broadcasts some of this.  The cosmic is the sensory activity of all creatures in all worlds over all of time.  We can connect to the cosmic through meditation.

One reason Indian music is so distinct is the instruments that are used.  I got a harmonium for Christmas and I’m learning how to play it!  A harmonium is a keyboard instrument in which the tones are produced by pumping air through metal reeds by means of steadily pushed bellows.  It’s kind of like an accordion, but you sit on the floor to play it, and the sound is really unique.  A Mridanga is a double-sided drum made of clay.  Kartals are hand cymbals.  A vina is a lute-like instrument in the zither family.  It has seven strings and a pear-shaped fretted neck.  This is the instrument that the goddess Saraswati plays.  A tanpura is a stringed instrument similar to a sitar.  It is usually made of dried pumpkin or wood, and it has four to six strings played one after the other.  It is usually background for other instruments.  And of course, Indian music is often accompanied by exuberant singing and dancing.