Earlier this week, I found myself suddenly wide awake in the middle of the night and held captive by my runaway mind as it darted down various rabbit holes of rumination. It was my classic 2am brain that is pretty sure the end is nigh, and that if I just think harder, I will find … Continue reading How’s your Sleep? Anxiety and the 2am Bewitching Hour
I’m on my way home from India, suspended in time somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, and wondering what reality I will find on the ground when I get back to the U.S. It’s hard not to jump ahead to the future in this shifting social and political landscape we find ourselves in. Based on what … Continue reading Staying Present & Resisting Urgency
Today is the first day of Pitru Paksha, a two-week period dedicated to honoring the ancestors in many communities throughout the Indian diaspora. While specific traditions and rituals vary, the common intent is to remember and make offerings to honor and literally "nourish" the ancestors, to acknowledge their contributions and to offer gifts of gratitude … Continue reading Honoring the Ancestors: the Observance of Pitru Paksha
This fall and winter, I’m taking a sabbatical. I’ll be spending September in New Mexico and then 3 months in India at my house in Vaidyagrama, the community where my Ayurveda teachers live and work. Construction on the house was completed last year, and aside from a few weeks’ visit last November, this will be … Continue reading Taking a Sabbatical: How to Make Empty Space
Ojas is a substance made in every tissue of the body, and it corresponds to our vitality, energy reserves, and immunity. It’s not the energy we use in routine activities, but rather a deeper resource or buffer. It’s our natural protection against disease, general wear and tear, and premature aging. We use our Ojas whenever … Continue reading What Ojas is – and Why We Need Some!
Cravings can take over our perfectly intelligent minds, pulling us towards things we know don’t support us. Like the mythical sirens’ call enticing us to crash our ships on the rocks, cravings can completely demolish all of our carefully crafted intentions, decisions and declarations. I like to view cravings as very good reminders that our … Continue reading What to Do When Cravings Arise
Summer is right around the corner, beckoning us with a twinkle in her eye. Here in North Carolina, it already feels decidedly like summer, although we won’t hit the official start date until the Summer Solstice on June 20 this year. Summer reminds us to find our inner child and to let her out to … Continue reading Pocket-Sized Summer Vacations to Feed the Soul
I love the symbolism in the movie The Wizard of Oz. A whirlwind tornado takes Dorothy far from home to an unfamiliar land, and after a long quest, she learns that she had the means to get home all along. What if we all had our own personal Glinda, Good Witch of the North, who … Continue reading Glinda the Good Witch, and a Shortcut Back Home
Why Being Outdoors is Good Medicine Our systems have an amazing ability to sync up with rhythms we find ourselves next to. Scientists call this “entraining” and it was first observed in clocks - when left alone, they will end up synchronizing the swing of their pendulum. A similar phenomenon is apparent in other contexts … Continue reading “Take Two Walks and Call me in the Morning”
Here in North Carolina, we like to say our seasons are Summer, Autumn, Winter and The Pollen. Right now, the entire landscape is blanketed in yellow. Pine pollen molecules are so large that a fine yellow mist is visible in the air, like smoke. Other pollens are out there this time of year too, many … Continue reading 2 Easy Defense Strategies for Pollen Season
Ivy Ingram, MA, AP 