In this Newsletter:

A COOLING DAILY PRACITCE

What are the chakra?

AromaYoga Class details

Aroma Boutique:

Here you can find the products used in the Aromayoga class. You can read about how the products are made and what ingredients are used. The essential oils help to open up the seven chakras or energy centers and can help to release blocked areas of your chakras. They also aid in releasing memory and emotion that are stored within these centers of your body.
If you do have any allergies and sensitivity to essential oils, please let me know before class, or just do not participate in applying them during our pratice. All ingredients used are complelety free of any synthetic additives and chemicals and should not cause any irritations, since they are diluted in a carrier oil. All ingriedients are either organic or wild crafted.

Tuesday AromaYoga Class:
14. August 2007

Staying cool during the summer months

Cooling breaths
Cooling oils
Cooling herbs and drinks
Cooling thoughts
Cooling, restorative asanas

When it is hot, we need to slow things down...
Working with the diet and eating in accordance with the season is the key to beating the summer's heat. But you can also appeal to the senses with aromatherapy, Feng Shui, the right asana practice, cooling breaths, meditation and soothing music. Good breathing habits will then bring this cooling energy down into every cell in your body. By taking these steps, you are helping alleviate the mind/body split, making you more able to live in harmony with your environment.

Below you will find a few tips that I personally incorporate into my daily practice, to help my body adjust to the heat.

Note that there is a new class time:
The new time is from 6:30pm-7:55pm

See you on Tuesday evening,
Namaste,

Tanja
Indira Devi

A COOLING DAILY PRACTICE

Summer is the season which is dominated by the fire element. It is a season characterized by heat and humidity and the growth of flowers, grasses, trees and leaves.
Other important qualities of Pitta include softness, excitation, and joy. In general, we will experience the most difficulty in the season which matches our primary body type: fall/winter for Vata-types; summer for Pitta-types; spring for Kapha- types. This means that we should be particularly be faithful to our prescribed constitutional regimens and, in addition, include measures which honor the season. Here are some of my personal tips during Pitta season (June through September).

Cooling diet

Ayurveda, the ancient medical system of India describes the human body as being composed of element combinations called doshas. The five elements in the Ayurvedic tradition are ether (space), earth, fire, water and air. [This is closely related but not quite the same as the Chinese system of five elements and similar to the system outlined by Hippocrates, of four elements and humurs: Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholic and Phlegmatic]. The 3 doshas are Pitta (fire and water), Kapha (water and earth) and Vata (air and ether).

We tend to have a predominant natal dosha which determines our body type, constitution, temperament, strengths and weaknesses. It is often combined with another or a secondary dosha.

In summer the fire element rules. Pitta, the fire dosha, is not only associated with high temperatures. This fiery energy can fuel hard work and focus, increase passion, motivate us toward structure. Pitta is associated with strong appetite and strong digestion.

At times with the long days and intense heat of summer, Pitta can become overly dominant. Tempers may flare. Physical symptoms of inflammation may show up as digestion or skin problems. You need to balance Pitta.
A cooler diet, with more raw food; rest; swimming or other water related activities; less sun and more shade help calm Pitta.

Increase sweet, bitter, and astringent tasting foods which are light in nature and not steaming hot. Plenty of bitter salad greens such as lettuce, arugula, radicchio, basil, and endive are particularly Pitta-balancing. Reduce sour, salty, and pungent tastes. Include cool drinks and raw foods in the diet, including cucumber, mango and coconut water. Fruit juices without added sugar, mint teas, and raw berries are good choices.As always, avoid over-eating.

For a non ayurvedic diet:

In the summer, our diets should focus on the likes of fruits and salad greens. The juicy fruits and berries are better, since sweeter fruits like bananas can have a mildly warming effect.
Watermelon is the best fruit to eat on a really hot day. Try to eat it alone and not mix it with other fruit, it contains plenty of vitamins.
Cucumbers, plentiful this time of year and are also highly cooling and have the added benefit of being a mild sedative, so they relax the mind and body as well. Heavy, salted foods are warming, as are root vegetables like potatoes and carrots, (winter food). Grains are neutral, although many people tend to eat more grains during the winter.

Consult a trained nutritionist or an ayurvedic consultant for personal dietary advice:

Ina Hanson: ina@integratedbein.org, or
Ruben Villagren: ruben@urbanhealer.com
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Cooling Asana practice

Limit vigorous standing poses like Warrior, Chair and Plank .

Add forward bends, which are cooling postures.

Practice slowly, with awareness focused inward.

Rest in child pose frequently.

Include postures that open hips and sacrum, to release congestion and increase groundedness.

Take extra time in Sivasana

Use calming pranayama (breathing) like alternate nostril breath.

Langana (Cooling) Poses:

· Triangle (Trikonasana)
· Seated Twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana)
· Tranquility Pose or Legs up the Wall.(Viparita Karani var.)

Cooling breath: "Sheetali Breath"

The cooling breath, or Sheetali as it is also called, is a technique in yoga used to cool down and relax the body. The cooling breath is used in a situation when your body is overheated and you have no way of cooling down.

Whether you are overheated or just need to relax, the cooling breath can be used in almost any location to cool down your body using your body's natural/built in AC. To practice the cooling breath follow these simple steps listed below.

Sit or stand in your most comfortable meditative position

Rest your hands on your thighs in a comfortable position

Close your eyes gently and relax your body

Bring your tong out of your mouth and roll the sides to form a tube

Inhale deeply through the tube, pull your tong back into your mouth and swallow the breath

Exhale through the nose

To get the full effect of the cooling breath, practice sets of 10-15 breaths. Some say to get relief from extreme heat one must do up to 50 breaths. Just remember that with the cooling breath, practice makes perfect, so keep trying it and you will get better and better! Check this out for more information.

Excerpts from Richard Hamilton
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Cooling aromatherapy oils

I have a created several aromatherapy mists for the seasons: some of my summer mists are:

Mountain Air Mist, cooling/anti-bacterial
Citrus Sorbet is very refreshing and uplifting
Sweet Sunmmer is feminine and sweet
Lavender Mist, calming/balancing

Peppermint oil is the number #1 coling oil
Chamomile is good for calming the nerves
All citrus oils are refreshing/ uplifiting and anti-bacterial
Clary sage is refreshing and euphoric.
Lavender calms the mind, body and spirit, much like amethyst is said to do, and mixes well with other aromas.

For a more detailed discription of each of these oils you can read about htese on my website under newsletters.
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Cooling drinks

Cool liquids help pacify Pitta. For me personally, I tend to stay away from ice-cold drinks or carbonated beverage, since those will interfere with digestion.

A delicious drink is rosewater, water in which rose petals have been steeped, as an easy way to dress up regular tap or bottled water. The floral taste is reminiscent of the smell that fills your lungs when you inhale deeply from a rose in full bloom. Common to many Persian and Arab homes, rosewater is probably the most ubiquitously available item in Middle Eastern groceries. (If possible to to find organic products whenever possible).

Hot teas, brewed with mint or cardamom or other aromatics, are consumed year round in the Middle East, and many believe this is the best way to stay cool and hydrated during the hot summer months.

Nobody would think that hot tea will cool you down, but it does.
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Cooling herbs

Mints, spearmint, peppermint and lemon mint have a thermal nature that is cooling, spicy and
slightly bitter. All the various mints help with mild digestive disorders and gently cleanse the blood. They are good to use for summer fevers that manifest as excess heat and sweating.

Another good herb for the summer heat is the beautiful hibiscus flower.
Energetically, hibiscus flowers are astringent, sweet and cooling. They are used for problems of the kidneys and reproductive systems that are caused by heat and congestion. Hibiscus makes a good summer beverage because it reduces summer heat and fever. Hibiscus flowers help purify the blood and the heart, both physically and spiritually. They improve the complexion, promote hair
growth, and help relieve menstrual difficulties. For women experiencing hot flashes due to menopausal changes, hibiscus flowers may help to keep them cooler and in balance. The only contra-indication of hibiscus flowers and peppermint is that they should
not be given to those who are constitutionally very cold, chilled and nervous.

Another common herb that is good for summer is rose hips. They are sweet, astringent and slightly cooling. With high levels of vitamin C, they increase kidney energy, relieve staunch diarrhea, and help urinary problems.
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What are Chakras?

Chakras are psychic centers that lie along the axis of the spine as consciousness potentials. The chakras are not materially real and are to be understood as situated, not in the gross body, but in the subtle or etheric body. Repositories of psychic energies, they govern the whole condition of being. In the Hindy tradition they are usually represented as lotuses.

As kundalini energy reaches each chakra, that lotus opens and lift its flower; and as soon as she leaves for a higher chakra, the lotus closes its petals and hangs down, symbolizing the activation of the energies of the chakra and their assimilation to kundalini.

Each of the chakras, according to the Tantras, corresponds to one of the elements of which the known world is compounded. Muladhara represents solidity; Svadhisthana, liquidity; Manipura, the gaseous; Anahata, the aerial; Vishuddha, the etheric, or space.

This ascent through the chakras can be viewed as an upward journey through the self.