In Ayurveda, medicine often fits the form of applying opposites. When the illness involves heat or inflammation, apply cold. When the problem is excess moisture, apply astringent or drying. When there is too much movement, it’s time to get still. Intuitive and common sensical. Life in a modern technology-driven society is, by definition, COMPLEX. There … Continue reading Cultivate Simplicity

We are fast approaching summer’s end. Early summer invited us outside, where the sun’s energy is easily accessible, nature’s gifts are abundant, and physical activity flows more easily into our lives. The warmth of early summer relaxes and softens the muscles and inspires more movement, helping to pacify the heavy, moist, phlegmy kapha of spring. … Continue reading The Summer Rest Imperative

I have not had a garden before. (Well, I did when I lived in Portland, Oregon, but on a recent trip to the pacific northwest, my sister said with disdain, “These people aren’t gardeners. They could throw seeds out the window and they’d sprout here. That doesn’t count at all.”) Indeed, summer gardening in the … Continue reading Sunrise Gardening ~ and Other Summer Medicine

It’s not an exaggeration to say changing deeply ingrained habits is the hardest - AND most necessary - step to being healthy. By definition, habits put us on auto-pilot, which is either a good thing or a bad thing. Habits can free us up so we don’t have to think too hard about something, like … Continue reading Video: The only shortcut to changing an old habit

I'll admit I'm not generally a summer enthusiast. My pale skin makes me a far-too-easy target for the sun, and my Pitta-dominant constitution gets easily overheated. I’ll happily take good sweater-weather over sweating any day. However, this precise moment in the calendar year - let’s call it “summer’s eve,” just days before the Summer Solstice … Continue reading The Post-Supper Summer Stroll

May is rich with the real-life drama of transition. The warm weather that’s been poking around finally comes out and takes over the streets. Trees leaf out with such vehemence you can almost hear them unfurling. May is the start of the season of graduations, commencements, and family reunions - and inevitably, the season of … Continue reading The Path out of Disappointment

One day last week, I was scurrying out of my house at an early hour to get to a meeting, looking ahead to a particularly scheduled day - several client appointments, two meetings, a few pockets of time to make some serious headway on a pending project - the kind of day when it feels … Continue reading An Antidote to Overwhelm

The arrival of daffodils announces the beginning of Spring, yet cool mornings remind us why Spring is the season of Kapha dosha . While moisture’s return in the tender petals and frequent rainfall banishes the dryness of Vata season, the cool temperatures maintain the sluggish stickiness for which Kapha is renowned. Snot season is upon … Continue reading In Praise of Perspiration

I want to share with you a glimpse into a place that has changed my life - my home away from home in India. In a few weeks, I am returning to vaidyagrama, a panchakarma treatment center in Tamil Nadu just outside Kerala. Panchakarma is an intensive detoxification and rejuvenation treatment, truly unique to Ayurveda. … Continue reading A Village where Health is Contagious