SEASONAL SELF-CARE BLOG
COOLING ELIXIRS!
Posted on August 10th, 2017
Try these cooling elixirs to help you get through the heat and boost your digestive system!
I’m back in New York. After the past few months of traveling and teaching, I really needed to ground myself when I got back home- my vata dosha, air element, was way out of balance! So I’ve been doing very rooting yoga practices and have been really enjoying getting all cozy and homey in my apartment! These last few days, it’s been hot and muggy and the fire element is in full blaze again and my pitta dosha is going crazy! I’m feeling irritable. I have a rash, and some heartburn. Oh my what is a person who is vata/pitta to do? Well, I’m doing everything I can to keep cool and boost my digestive system. Right now, I’m sipping on CCF + rosebuds, one of the delicious cooling elixirs from our retreat with Narayana Integrative Center! It is a digestive powerhouse as well as cooling for the system. In late Summer it is particularly important to stoke the digestive fire, as the wisdom of Chinese medicine encourages us to tend to our stomach and spleen, to nurture and cleanse our earth element.
CUCUMBER, MINT, LIME ELIXIR
This Summer cooling elixir is so pretty-just looking at all the sweet greens cools my overheated, agitated mind! Sipping on this is like taking a dip in the ocean and luxuriously floating on your back, gazing at the clouds moving through the sky. Time suspended in dreamy late Summer bliss!
Cucumber is a cooling classic. It immediately brings to mind an image of a woman lying down with cucumber slices on her tired, puffy, computer strained eyes. Yes, cooling cucumber to the rescue! Due to it’s high water content (96%) cucumber actually increases hydration in your body as well as reduces inflammation and overheating. Cucumber is very alkalizing so it helps neutralize your overacidic system. AND they’re packed with vitamin C, A, and many B vitamins. Bring the cooling cukes on! Mint is a favorite cooling herb. Perfect for Summer drinks, delicious, sparkly mint helps soothe your digestion as well as relax the body and calm the nervous system. Ahhhhh! Limes, are very cooling and hydrating for you system. They are deeply cleansing and a great digestive aid. Limes are similar to lemons as they both have the sour taste, but limes don’t aggravate pitta dosha as much as lemons. So in Summer…squeeze in the limes and remember to include the peel in your drink to receive all of the health benefits!
Cucumber, mint & lime elixir recipe
4 cups of water
12 cucumber slices
4 lime slices
4 sprigs of mint
You can lightly crush the cucumber, lime, & mint and then put them in the water.
Sip, hydrate, & chill out!
CCF + ROSEBUDS TEA
I was first introduced to CCF (cumin, coriander, fennel) tea by Dr. Vasant Lad, my Ayurveda teacher. It is a traditional Ayurveda tea used to boost the digestive fire, referred to in Ayurveda as agni. It is good for digestive health for all of the doshas. Used often in Ayurvedic cooking for it’s delicious taste and medicinal qualities, Cumin stokes the digestive fire, increases mineral absorption in the intestines, and helps relieve gas. Particularly helpful for pitta digestive issues, Coriander soothes an irritated digestive system and cools inflammation in the body particularly in the stomach and urinary tract. It helps prevent gas & bloating as well is a diuretic. Fennel, the third magic medicinal ingredient, is one of the best herbs to use to if you have weak digestion and heating spices, like chilis, would overheat your system. After a meal you can eat 1 tsp of roasted fennel seeds to help your boost your digestion. The three herbs together create a powerful digestive tonic, stoking the metabolism while reducing inflammation and agitation. Try adding some rose buds, as Katia suggests, for an extra cooling twist to help reduce pitta. The rose flowers will help subdue the heat, and relieve congestion in the blood and inflammation.
CCF + rosebud tea recipe
1 cup water
⅓ teaspoon cumin seeds
⅓ teaspoon coriander seeds
⅓ teaspoon fennel seeds
2 rosebuds
Boil the water. Add the spices & rose buds. Turn off the heat, cover & let sit for about 5 minutes. Strain & Enjoy. I add a little honey in it to sweeten.
For more ways to cool Pitta dosha, as well as get a good foundation in the principles of Ayurveda and all of the doshas, join me for my Ayurveda Teacher Training Module at Sacred Sounds Yoga this weekend, Aug. 12, 13 in Manhattan.
Joyous heart!
Leigh
Fruit Salad = Better Sleep!
Posted on May 5th, 2017
Do you know that you can increase your sleep by eating pineapples? Wow, I’m in luck because I love pineapples! I like using them in my juices because they’re good for your digestive system and cleansing. Well, it turns out that this juicy, yummy fruit also helps you sleep! Yes, it has has melatonin in it. You’ve heard about melatonin. If you are struggling with sleep issues you may have even purchased synthetic melatonin as a sleep supplement. But your body produces melatonin naturally. It’s our sleep hormone which gets activated by darkness. What you maybe don’t know is that you can increase the melatonin in your body naturally by eating certain foods – pineapple being one of them! Sounds better than taking a pill to me. Some other melatonin rich fruit sources are bananas and cherries! Sounds like the makings for a delicious sleep inducing fruit salad!
Join me this Fall for my 6 week online course Sleep and the Art of Rest – starts Sept 19. Learn common barriers to restful sleep and a diverse set of solutions to help you get back on track. With ancient healing techniques and instruction from the schools of yoga, ayurveda, chinese medicine, and modern-day neuroscience, I will provide you with and accessible set of tools to help you find a more restful life and gain better sleep.
Happy Sleep!
Leigh
Q & A with Annie Kunjappy
Posted on October 14th, 2015
Annie Kunjappy was born and raised in Malaysia by immigrant parents from Kerala, India. She has been in New York since 2004, spreading her knowledge and love for food and conscious eating. Annie will be leading the food portion of our Seasonal Self-Care workshops on November 1 (Winter Wellness) and April 3 (Spring Detox).
How do you know Leigh?
Leigh was my first yoga teacher! She started teaching her first yoga class at the warehouse loft space where I lived in San Francisco in 1990. I feel that her amazing teaching laid a strong foundation for my yoga practice in the years to come. We were both artists in the theater/dance/ performance world and have collaborated on several projects over the years.
Have you always been interested in food? When did you realize you would have a career as a chef?
My mother was a fabulous cook, so I had the good fortune of growing up eating very good food! I have always loved delicious, creative food, but my specific interest in food and healing came about from my own investigations into healing myself from eczema and other sensitivities that had plagued me since childhood. Western doctors at that time offered very little beyond steroids and cortisol creams as salves for the symptoms. My “return” to Eastern medicine and particularly to discovering the power of the daily practice of conscious eating was what finally healed me. This lead me to getting trained as a chef specializing in food and healing.
You studied and taught at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts. How did you decide on that specific program? What was it like going from student to instructor?
The Natural Gourmet Institute offered a program that included the study of Ayurveda, Chinese 5-phase Theory, Macrobiotics, etc. Their approach to gourmet cooking had, at its heart, a devotion to health and healing.
Your approach to to nutrition and self-care is based on Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine and western nutritional science. Can you explain how you integrate all of these “systems” into one?
Each tradition has fine-tuned it’s approach based on the truths of their environment, culture, history and value system. They have their differences and underlying similarities. I do not integrate all these systems into one by any means. Each person, under their specific set of conditions will ideally learn to address their own physical and spiritual needs informed and aided by the richness offered by these various approaches.
What can people expect from your upcoming seasonal attunement workshops? Is it accessible to people who have not been exposed to ayurevda, chinese medicine and seasonal practices?
It is designed to be accessible to the newcomer with plenty of inspiration for further study and investigation. There will be very do-able recipes and easy to follow charts, etc. to take home and start your own practice.
New Yorkers tend to be perfectionists. Is there a way to eat “perfectly” for the seasons? How would you suggest people approach a seasonal diet?
With a keen sense of listening to your own body, curiosity, and flexibility.
When you eat in alignment with the seasons, how do you feel?
Vital, energetic, strong, healthy. Not suffering from overheating in the summer, nor freezing in the winter. There is a sense of flow and ease.
You are also a performer. Do your two passions ever intermingle?
There have been a few shows that included the eating of cupcakes, the cooking and consuming of food on stage, and recipes… And I try to bring my performance background into my workshops, with the hope of making them fun and inspiring…
What do you like to do in your free time?
Hmmm….. “free time”? Time is time for me… I write and paint and read and do fun things with my family and friends….
If you could go anyplace in the world, right now, where would it be and why?
Right now, not always, it might be Tibet, as it used to be… I am curious to experience what a country whose governmental mission was the research into spiritual life would have been like….. Also the thin air, the high plateau the vista…