Close this window Summer 2004 Dear Friends: In this newsletter you'll find the following: Seasonal Tips Class Schedules Practice News SPAyurveda™ News/Specials Product News Seasonal Tips In our climate, summer is one of the great seasons for Vata and Kapha. Higher temperatures keep the chilly Vatas nice and warm. Ambient moisture balances their tendency to dryness. Early light helps the sluggish Kaphas get moving. Longer days get them off the couch and out into the yard or countryside. But for Pitta, summer is the season of greatest concern. As many of you know, if the season is like the dosha, any tendency to imbalance is amplified. A hot Pitta will be hotter in the summer, increasing the chances for indigestion, heartburn, acid reflux, or diarrhea. If the Pitta is prone to skin problems, conditions like rash, hives, acne, and eczema flare up. Inflammations of any kind occur more easily when it's hot. So do reactions of irritability, impatience, anger or hate. What's the antidote? Put the fire out. Get into the shade or a cool interior when you exercise, or go for your walk in the cool of early morning. Protect your neck and shoulders from the sun by wearing a brimmed hat that casts a shadow on them "The neck is close to the medulla oblongata, near the brain stem. When the neck is hot, it sends heat to the medulla oblongata and one becomes more susceptible to sunstroke." (V. Lad) A little sandalwood oil dabbed inside the hat will also help cool you. Eat more sweet, bitter and astringent foods and reduce the hot stuff like sour, salty and pungent. Be kind to your liver and avoid alcohol. If you want some quick Pitta balancing, drink some cucumber milk in the morning. Grate ½ cucumber into ½ cup cool milk (please make sure the milk has already been boiled). Add 1 tsp rock candy and 1 pinch of cardamom. It's instant air-conditioning. Try some Amalaki. http://www.ayurveda-md.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=213 It's a wonderful herb for Pitta, good for liver, spleen and heart support, digestion, gentle detoxification and increasing lean body mass. Amalaki also helps maintain healthy blood sugar levels, strengthens bones and teeth, promotes hair growth and is an excellent source of antioxidants. Do some Sitali breathing. Curl your tongue up on the sides and extend it slightly through the lips like a straw. Inhale through the tongue, holding the breath in the stomach for a few moments, then exhale through the tongue. This technique is pacifying to Pitta and cools the physiology quickly. Good for anger and other Pitta type upsets. Doing this for a minute before meals can reduce the incidence of heartburn and indigestion. Keep your yoga practice gentle and quiet, with a minimum of inverted postures. Make more time for quiet reflection and meditation and less for competition and judgment. Avoid "hot" topics or heated discussions in the middle of the day, or any time the thermometer soars. Wear natural fiber clothing in light pastel colors. (For more warm weather strategies, go to our archived summer newsletters http://www.ayurveda-md.com/newsletters/archived/2003_summer.htm Get a copy of Ayurvedic Cooking for Westerners and incorporate more Pitta balancing dishes into your repertoire. http://www.ayurveda-md.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=178 Baby Massage Class Summer Schedule Saturdays from 9-10 am: July 10th, August 7th Call Mil on the SPAyurveda line: 703-779-7789. Practice News We hope to see some of you in Albuquerque at the Ayurvedic Institute later this week where we will be taking an intensive in Marma therapy. Occuring at 107 sites on the body, marmas are very special junctures- dense concentrations of nerves, blood vessels, tendons, muscles and bones. Massage of these points has great therapeutic value, and will be available later this year at SPAyurveda. Stay tuned. SPAyurveda™ News/Specials For the rest of the summer (through Sept 30th) take advantage of our SPAyurveda Special--15% off Panchakarma and all other Ayurvedic therapies. (For more information on Panchakarma go to http://www.ayurveda-md.com/newsletters/archived/2003_winter.htm" and read "The New Detoxification Program"). If you need more good reasons to book Panchakarma now, we will not be offering it during November and December, and due to rising costs, there will be a price increase after January 1, 2005. Other therapies (Abhyanga, Shirodhara, etc.) will be available in November and December. Product News In case you missed it the first time . . . At last. We have Vata, Pitta and Kapha tea again. After being out of stock for several months, VPK tea was reformulated by our supplier at double the price, so we decided to pass and look for an alternative. We?ve found a new, good tasting, reasonably priced brand and those who?ve tried it like it even better than what we had before. If you have a spring cold, ProKapha will help move that mucous out of your system. For all you Pittas, ProPitta will lower the temperature of your fire (physical, mental, emotional) and help you sail into summer without aggravation. If you are traveling, consider some ProVata to help the body overcome the effects of all that movement. Click on this link to get to our store: http://www.ayurvedicmd.com/display_results.cfm?category=Store&user=21931244" We hope your summer includes some time for relaxation. As always, we appreciate the opportunity to be of service. Namaste, David and Debbie Mathis Close this window