testimonial from silent retreat

Thank you so much for an incredible retreat. It was a profoundly deep experience. I am very grateful for the depth of healing and release that has occurred with me. I feel totally rejuvenated and much softer and lighter within myself. It is as though I have been through a deep cleansing process whereby I have been scrubbed clean from the inside out.
Rosa

mantra to call prosperity

This mantra is a blessing to clean the environment, to calm your heart and to deeply connect with divine resources.

MANTRA:

OM Tryambakam yajamahe

Sugandhim pushti vardanum

Urvaarukamva bandhanaat

Mrityormuksheeya maamritat swaha 

Love: the painful awakening

The laws of human love

We are born out of love, we live and grow because of love, we seek love, and we long for love. For us love is always an incomplete phenomenon. We need to understand the principle of incompleteness in order to feel at peace and to stop thinking about getting the unattainable.

Living on the human plane gives us a few rules and laws to conform to and live by. There are 3 laws to be aware of: the law of change, the law of opposites and the law of complement-ness. Each day is different from the last, each day is followed by night, and day and night complement a cycle or activity and relaxation. Equally, we experience love in the same way. We are attracted to an opposite force that complements us and that union is in constant change and amalgamation.

The painful awakening

We take the laws of the earth lightly or with ignorance. We have a very unrealistic expectation about the union of love. We conform our emotions to external influences without questioning the facts of the situations. We adopt a romantic view from Disney movies or immature fantasies about loving, accepting, melting, surrendering, trusting and being at the service of the beloved. We want to meet a complementing force without accepting the polarity, the differences and the oppositions.

We want a man that is sensitive, emotional, nurturing, mature, and able to follow our complexity and emotional undulations, able to understand us and to be with us in full awareness and depth. We keep looking to parents, teachers, and mates to fulfill all these aspects. We get frustrated, hurt, manipulative and angry if our pride is not fulfilled and our control does not achieve the results we want.

Understanding the opposite

I have found when working with women and couples that most of the problems in relationships lie in the fact that the parties do not know the basic psyche of their counterpart. When combined with unrealistic expectations, this creates resentments, anger, disappointment and a sense of isolation and loneliness.

Women have unrealistic expectations about men: how they should love women, their capacity to love, and the actual way they do. Women want men to love them like another woman would and men want women to love them in a stable, consistent way. Women expect men to love them in an emotional way with feminine qualities. Man on the other hand, is designed to love and support woman in a rational, linear way. We are truly the sun and the moon, with expectations that the opposite be like us.  No man is able to match our romantic ideas, or has the capacity to fulfill the list of requirements we place on him.

Women need and resist stability

On the other hand, in the depths of the woman’s psyche, there are 3 dynamics happening.

Women are questioning if 1) this man is able to stay with her forever, 2) if this man is a good father for her children, and 3) if this man is able to provide financial support for her and her children. Women are interested in stability, emotional stability, financial stability and commitment. We also, even if we resist, appreciate when men put our emotional fluctuations in perspective, when they don’t go downhill with us. Man is designed to be stable and to verbalize that. Woman takes that as a rejection, gets hurt, resentful and deviates from the appreciation that this is actually complementary; it is a pedestal for her to be contained and to gain perspective. Those are the moments where women need to learn either to reach out to other women or to take time for themselves to come back to the centre.

What men want from us

Our pride, stubbornness and attachment to control and get the unattainable, blinds us from seeing what the real facts are about loving a man, what they are really looking for in us, what the need and how we can supply them with their basic needs.

Man looks mainly for 3 things from woman:

1. Nourishment
2. To be represented socially
3. Contact

We need to reflect deeply on what exactly that is and what our capacities are to deliver it.

When we think about nourishment we have the tendency to go into concreteness. Food is of course the primal aspect; a good cup of tea at the proper time can do miracles in any relationship. We also need to consider the way our grace, speech, home and sexuality form a sustainable package to support a non-overextending nourishment for them and for us.

We also need to be aware of our inner and outer beauty; we are born with divine  attributes of joy, love, peace, compassion, understanding, kindness and the possibility to realize that we are them. Our simplicity and presence are the beauty that will attract the man with honor and values that will sustain our spiritual development. Do not trade these values of yours for a cheap image sold by television. Present the values you wish to have complemented, have courage and contact your relationships with that frame of mind.

The big man and the small man

In order to contact the man properly, we need to understand and determine the moments where he often takes 2 different positions.

There is one position where he is insecure, sensitive and disoriented. He will come to you looking for those sweet words of appreciation, encouragement and guidance. These are the moments where demands, inner reflections and sharing our own emotions are not going to be heard and will leave them feeling overwhelmed. This can be very disappointing for us. We don’t want to see that fragility, neither take the time to take care of it. We see that inner softness, as an impotency of the man and as total discouragement. To expose this part of them is touchy and in most cases accompanied by a sense of shame and embarrassment. Man expresses that part not very humbly, making the process of contact difficult. Understand that the small man is insecure, childish, irrational, stubborn and proud. With this you can access your own capacities and compassion to deal with the situation. You surely need to be open, creative, patient, supportive and light.

On the other hand, we need to be aware of the “the big man”. The big man is the potent man. The one that believes he can conquer the world and bring it to you. The big man is the King Kong, only your kindness, beauty and love can conquer him. If you stand in competition, in opposition or defensiveness you will create a handicapped man, a resentful man, an impotent man and a miserable relationship.

Wake up with self-worth

Knowing the facts about love, your capacities and man’s ways of relating, is an opportunity for you to grow in the reality of the man-woman ways of communicating, sharing and connecting. All that is requested from you is to respond to the challenges in a real way and to create within you a self-worth that is solid, uncorrupted and un-negotiable. That is the base of your success, your wealth and your happiness.

Calling to be respected: Moon cycle power

 

We as women are privileged to have a natural cycle that gives us the ability to understand two important aspects of life. We can engage in activities that are constructive, creative and expanding and we can sense when we are called to internalize, reflect and  renew ourselves.

What society wants from women

Modern society encourages the productive and fast-paced life. Many women have been trapped into the superwoman role forgetting (or wanting to forget), the other side of the coin.  We have now reached the insanity of accepting contraceptive pills to completely eliminate our periods. All types of non-sense theories are given to women to make them yet another slave of production of the modern society. This attitude needs to be understood from the roots, it needs to be reflected and it needs to create an unshakeable and personal position of respect and integrity.

Time to go inside

Healthy women have always bled monthly with no harm to the body. In many cultures and across time, women withdrew from everyday life during their moon cycle, ceasing all social activities and intercourse with men. They retired, meditated and performed certain rites. In that sacred seclusion, free from worries and others’ psychic energies, women had the opportunity to use the moon cycle as a catalyst to bring their energies inward, and to renew themselves. This process may sound simple, but this was the moment when they gained and increased consciousness, devotion and perspective of themselves in relationship to nature.  The understanding of this internal cycle from an intuitive perspective gives women a deep wisdom. It was women’s vast moon-based wisdom and understanding of these life cycles that provided the foundation for agriculture, astronomy and even mathematics.

From sacred to taboo

Over time, women have lost the real meaning of menstrual blood: a symbol of regeneration or rebirth. Instead, women’s blood has gradually become redefined by men or churches as something contaminated instead of sacred, and the self-imposed seclusion has become an exclusion from the community. We have put much guilt on our bleeding and our moon cycle, it has become a taboo that is now crushing the vital feminine force to a concept of illness and inconvenience. Women have placed upon themselves a prohibitory law that has dehumanized and isolated them. They have opened the door for society’s work force, religion, and men’s desires to mutate them and degenerate coming generations.

What the moon cycle does for women

Our moon cycle is a sacred cycle on many levels. At the physical level, menstrual bleeding releases excess stored iron, which is a risk factor to cardiovascular disease, heart attacks and strokes. This without doubt puts women before menopause in a lower percentage to have heart attacks or strokes. The peak release of hormones during the menstrual cycle is important for the health of the breasts and bones, especially among the development of adolescents.  At the psychological level this is a time where woman learns how to stop her countless activities, worries and burden, and instead she can access her emotional process and bring those insights into the family renewal.

The flow is spiritually and socially supporting

According to the level of awakening of the woman, this time can be used to exercise surrendering, devotion and prayer. It is a time where meditations can be so sweet, personal, poetic and soft. The natural weakness of the body at this time opens the door for the spirit to be concrete, present and experienced (yogis have to fast and perform many austerities to reach that level of experience).

At the social level, we can give the family a break--all we need is to take that day off and reduce expectations, and to show that this is a time where you welcome that warm bowl of soup or that foot rub. The family can learn that nourishing aspect and that sense of service by taking care of you.

The sweet surrender to our moon cycle is a celebration that can rescue the grace and wisdom of nature in us; it will increase the collective acceptance of women, and it will teach men the hidden force of our changeable nature. Most of all, it will give that grain of wisdom and regeneration to future generations--so bombarded now with dishonor, shame and guilt--of this dance between our bodies and the universal law of renewal.

Meditation to heal addictions

Sit in an Easy Pose, with a light jalandhar bandh. Straighten the spine and make sure the first six lower vertebrae are locked forward.

Eyes: Keep the eyes closed and focus at the Brow Point.

Mantra: SAA-TAA-NAA-MAA

Mudra: Make fists of both hands and extend the thumbs straight. Place the thumbs on the temples and find the niche where the thumbs just fit. This is the lower anterior portion of the frontal bone above the temporal-sphenoidal suture. Lock the back molars together and keep the lips closed. Keeping the teeth pressed together throughout,
alternately squeeze the molars tightly and then release the pressure. A muscle will move in rhythm under the thumbs. Feel it massage the thumbs and apply a firm pressure with the hands. Silently vibrate the five primal sounds—the Panj Shabd—SAA-TAA-NAA-MAA, at the brow.

Time: Continue for 5-7 minutes. With practice the time can be increased to 20 minutes and ultimately to 31 minutes.

Comments:
This meditation is one of a class of meditations that will become well known to the future medical society. Meditation will be used to alleviate all kinds of mental and physical afflictions. But it may be as many as 500 years, however, before the new medical science will
understand the effects of this kind of meditation well enough to delineate and measure all its parameters. The pressure exerted by the thumbs triggers a rhythmic reflex current into the central brain. This current activates the brain area directly underneath the stem of the pineal gland. It is an imbalance in this area that makes mental and physical addictions seemingly unbreakable.

In modern culture, this imbalance is pandemic. If we are not addicted to smoking, eating, drinking, or drugs, then we are addicted subconsciously to acceptance, advancement, rejection, emotional love, etc. All of these lead us to insecure and neurotic behavior patterns. Imbalance in this pineal area upsets the radiance of the pineal gland itself. It is this pulsating radiance that regulates the pituitary gland. Since the pituitary regulates the rest of the glandular system, the entire body and mind go out of balance. This meditation corrects the problem. It is excellent for everyone but particularly effective for rehabilitation efforts in drug dependence, mental illness, and phobic conditions.

Fifteen Minute Vegetable Curry

(taken from "The Ayurvedic Cookbook" by Amadea Morningstar)

Preparation time: 15 minutes
-Vata, -Pitta, 0Kapha

          1 cup raw carrots (2 medium carrots)
          1 cup fresh green peas (1 lb.)
          2 tbsp sunflower oil
          1/8 tsp hing
          ½ tsp black mustard seeds
          1 tsp whole cumin seeds
          ½ tsp sea salt
          ½-1 pound tofu (optional, omit for Kapha)
          1 tsp curry powder
          1 tsp coriander powder
          ¼ cup water
          2 tsp brown rice syrup (use ½ teaspoon for Kapha)
¼-1cup plain yogurt (use the smaller amount for Pitta or Kapha)

Heat oil in heavy skillet.  Add mustard and cumin seeds.  When mustard seeds pop, add curry powder, salt, tofu and vegetables.  Cook uncovered for 5 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Add water and cover.  Cook another 5 minutes (or until vegetables are tender) on low heat.  Shake pan occasionally to prevent sticking.  Add all remaining ingredients, mix well and serve.
Blessings of bold culinary creations!

The Kitchen Virgen by satkiana

One of the students from my current Ayurveda Lifestyle and Nutrition class wrote me a very funny email, announcing herself a virgin in the kitchen.  In fact, she told me she didn't even know how to boil an egg!  I was once in her shoes too.  I avoided the kitchen like a mouse avoids a cat.  I was introduced to Ayurveda and learned how to make kicharee, a healing Ayurvedic stew.  Feeling a sense of elation at mastering one dish, that's all I would cook from that point on.  My alternative to kicharee was pancakes!

You are unique
With much prat ice, many burnt pots, unpalatable creations and some sweat and tears...I've learned how to cook.  The Ayurvedic approach to cooking is unique in that it is very intuitive.  It is based on a combination of all of the elements found in nature.  It is based on how to put this combination together so that it suits your unique requirements. 
 
What's your dosha baby?
In Ayurveda, we call your unique constitution a dosha.
People are made-up of  a combination of:
air and ether = Vata
fire and water = Pitta
water and earth = Kapha
Opposites are complimentary
Vata needs the warmth of fire and the grounding of earth to remain balanced
Pitta needs to coolness of earth and the dryness of air to balance
Kapha needs the lightness and dryness of air to balance
  Food: the balancing act
foods have doshas too
Vata foods: crackers, lettuce, chick peas
Pitta foods: ginger, raw carrots, garlic
Kapha foods: basmati rice, sweet potatoes, milk

Creating the right stew for you
no two stews are alike.  This is creative and intuitive cooking that looks at what you need to nurture and balance yourself in the here and now.
food nurtures and sustains you, spices are the medicine, the magic in the brew.
we naturally want to eat warming, grounding foods in the winter and lighter cooler ones in the summer.
eating foods that are in season, fresh and organic is how Mother Nature intended it to be.
Feed your mind sattvic foods
sattvic foods promote:
clarity of mind
mental calmness
lightness
alertness
sweetness
intuition
inner peace
self-love