SEASONAL SELF-CARE BLOG
SLEEP ELIXIR – GOLDEN MILK
Posted on March 25th, 2020
One of my favorite sleep rituals is to drink a nightly cup of India’s Ayurvedic gem, “Golden Milk.”
Every night before going to bed, I drink Ayurveda’s “Golden Milk.” It’s an incredible sleep elixir and also very good for your digestion. It helps me calm down and relax so that I can get a good nights sleep. The golden color as well as it’s potent immune boosting power comes from tumeric, the gem of Indian medicine and cooking. Tumeric has incredible digestive, anti-inflammatory as well as antioxidant properties. Coupled with ginger and the spices, it becomes a digestive powerhouse and immune booster, as well as a magical sleepytime elixir! I’ve been drinking it every night. I love the ritual of grating the fresh tumeric & ginger and grinding the spices. The pepper unpacks and increases the benefits of the tumeric. Cardamom helps cleanse the body during the night with it’s detoxification properties. Cloves are a digestive stimulant as well as a great boost for the immune boost system helping release sinus & bronchial congestion. Cinnamon is also a digestive tonic. Nutmeg is an amazing sleep aid. The coconut cools all the heating spices down creating balance.
I find it the ritual of making Golden milk comforting and helps me start to relax. Then I light some candles, and put some essential oils in my diffuser (lavendar, clary sage, geranium, and bergamot are my favs these days) and curl up on my couch and sip my “Golden milk”. It makes me deliciously relaxed and sleepy! Try it – You’ll love it!
Golden Milk
Serves 1
1 mug of milk (almond or other nut milk, or coconut milk )
1 tsp fresh tumeric
¼ tsp fresh ginger
4 black peppercorns
2 cloves
2 pods green cardamon
Pinch cinnamon
Pinch nutmeg
½ tsp coconut mana or coconut oil
honey to taste
Heat up the milk and simmer. Grate the fresh tumeric & ginger and add to the milk. Grind the peppercorns, cloves and cardamon and add with coconut mana, cinnamon, nutmeg to the milk. Whisk until it becomes a gorgeous golden color. Strain & add honey. It’s deeeeelicious!
Enjoy & stay well!
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
Sacred Sounds of Sanskrit
Posted on September 8th, 2015
Through my deep explorations of my body as a yogini and dancer, I have found that actually the delicate intricacies of the subtle body are most eloquently unveiled through sound.
As my yoga practice deepened, I was drawn to study Sanskrit. I had the great fortune of attending a Sanskrit workshop with Jo Brill. I loved exploring how to create the sounds of Sanskrit and thrilled to be able to actually begin to decipher the squiggly script of devanagari in just one weekend! I felt like I was cracking the code and entering a new level in my yoga studies and awareness!
At the time I was also working on a new performance piece, “Traces”, which explored memory, origin, and roots. Since Sanskrit is the mother of all Indo-European languages, it seemed to me to be a perfect way to explore the root of language in my performance piece. I took the Sanskrit alphabet with me into the rehearsal studio and played with the sounds and how they emerged from different places in my mouth. I created a sound score which became a very powerful part of the piece and my favorite part to perform. I loved the sounds and felt intrigued by how they affected me.
As I studied deeper, I learned that there is a vibrational correspondence with each of the sounds of the Sanskrit alphabet and the chakras. There are 50 letters in the Sanskrit alphabet and in total 50 petals on the chakras. Each of the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet is said to open one of the 50 petals of the chakras. Chanting the entire Sanskrit alphabet reverberates through all the petal of the chakras and their related areas in the body! Additionally the sounds of the Sanskrit alphabet offers healing and cleansing in the body by sonic stimulation of particular areas and marma points. Marmas are energy points in the body which connect with your underlying organ systems and energetic channels.
“The subtle body of sound vibration relates to the mental body and to the subtle or astral body in general, the site of the seven chakras. It creates and sustains the physical body, supporting health and well-being within it. Through changing the frequencies of the subtle body of sound, we can bring healing into the physical body and remove negativities from the mind.” David Frawley
The powerful healing offered through sound vibration is an area of deep interest to me. I am excited to share the explorations through our Yoga Sukhavati: ART OF SOUND weekend workshops. Join us Sept 12, 13 for a Sanskrit immersion with Jo Brill, and Oct 2-4 for the Healing Power of Sound.
joyous heart!
Leigh
