The Heart of Ayurveda by Lea Kraemer

Ayurveda is the longest continuously practiced medical system on the planet! I've been studying it's classical teachings since about 2005 and from the start I loved the idea of Ayurveda as the "Science of Life" because it spoke to the same wholeness and wellness of Being that comes alive in a really good Yoga practice. The root of spiritual psychology is right in the texts of Ayurveda, an ancient system that views mind-body-senses-being as a continuum. 

Yoga and Ayurveda merge very closely in their view of synergistic wellness. A healthy mind and body is one that supports joy, Ayurveda says, and the path for natural healing is in this wisdom. It's an emotional grounding that is one of Ayurveda's most welcoming aspects. You know how after a Yoga class the patterns of our lives can just start to naturally shift? Without force, the way we eat our lunch, or the way we think about scheduling the day, or even how we arrange our houses, just start to shift a little and it feels like things fit in place in a better way. I always hear students talk about this as they come in and out for classes  .... saying things like how their diet changed after a few months of Yoga ..... or how they notice the calm sound of their voice when they are speaking to their child. When our life-style practices spring from consciously observing our own tendencies, inherent reactions and even our vulnerabilities, we are understanding Prakriti, our very nature, and Ayurvedic Yoga is coming alive in us. 

Everything on Earth can be understood in relationship to its qualities. For instance, in everyone's life, day and night time have different energies and should have separate rhythms and practices around them. Maybe it's a lot for a blog ... but it's so nice to start to ponder these relationships that I'll include the"Twenty Types of qualities" here:

गु मद हम िनध लण सा मदृ ु िथरा: । गणु ा: ससू म वशदा: वशं त: स वपयया: ॥

Guru(heavy) X laghu (light in weight)       Manda(slow) X tiksna (quick,fast)               Hima (cold) X ushna (hot)

Snighda (unctuous) X ruksa (dry)               Slaksna (smooth) X khara (rough)              Sandra (solid) X drava (liquid)

Mrdu (soft) X kathina (hard)                       Sthira (stable) X cala (moving, unstable)    Suksma (stable, small) X sthula (big,gross) 

Vishada (non slimy) X picchila (slimy)

A great way to start working with the qualities and forces around you and within you is to notice what tastes you are drawn to. What foods are you missing out on? Are you creating balance in your mind and body at breakfast, lunch and dinner? Ayurvedic Yoga teaches that you will bump up your nutrition if you include all six tastes, but not in the same amounts! Are you over-emphasizing your fire? Or under-whelming your taste buds with a sugary palette? Watch which of the six tastes you go to and you will honestly see your tendencies in action! The Astanga Hridaya Sutrasthan says: 

During Winters, (Hemanta and Shishira) and rainy season (Varsa), sweet, sour and salt tastes should be especially used to support as our tissues build. Bitter, pungent and astringent tastes should be used more during Spring Season (Vasanta) to clean us out and keep our fire kindled. Sweet tastes should be used more during Summer (Nidagha) when we can get drained, and sweet, bitter and astringent tastes should be used during Fall (Sharath) when we are in transition. 

Just like the Yogis, Ayurveda teaches that to be healthy, one should get up from bed at Brahmi Muhurtha, as the dawn light is rising! Yes, it's an ideal, but you can do it if you allow your body to rise around 45 minutes before the Sun, around 5 – 6 am. That's the perfect time to meditate, practice Yoga and to balance your spiritual and physical self as the day-light is coming up around you. Many Yoga practitioners rise much earlier to catch this "ambrosia" and for me my ideal time to meditate is at 3:15a.m. 

This past year in a master's class with the DINacharya Institute I had the opportunity to go back and study Ayurveda's incredibly specific morning routine, from what kind of plant material is best for the bristles of your tooth brush to exactly how to clean your nose and eyes. It's all much more detailed than you might have imagined but Yoga and Ayurveda have in common this beautiful idea of waking up to our senses each day. Through special ways of washing and bathing, through Yoga and self reflection best calibrated for you, waking up by cleaning and clearing each sense will give your mind and body a luminous quality that seekers have been enchanted by for eons! We will investigate this higher level of Yogic balance in my upcoming workshop in March. Until then, if you would like to do a bit of self research, take time to clean and clear each sense each day, until .... smelling - tasting - seeing - touching - hearing .... are gateways to the clarity of your mind and power of intuition! 

And last, a kind of charming, curious teaching from a major Ayurvedic text. Don't hold on to crappy energy, is the take away. Be the person you want to be, don't diminish your self for those that are yucky. As life goes up and down, know how to feel like your Self. 

उपकारधानः यादपकारपरे अयरौ सपवपवेकमना,हेतावीयफले न तु

"One should be very helpful even to his foes, even though they are not helpful.

One should maintain a balanced mind both during calamity and prosperity.

One should not be envious towards wealth and happiness of others."

Page No. 20 Astanga Hridaya Sutrasthan

I am giving a workshop called the Heart of Ayurveda on Sunday, Mar 15, 2020 from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm. I hope that you will join me as we explore. It's about radiance through conscious living and there will be a strong Yoga practice as well as discussion.

Teacher of the Month: Nora Brank

If you came by Namaste a few months into our inception as a studio, you would probably see Nora's smiling face behind the desk. From the get-go, Nora was an ambassador for our community, helping bring more people into the folds of yoga, regardless of their background or interest level. Nora is now a teacher, and her aim remains true: she loves honoring yoga's original intention for self-care, growth and reflection for all people.

Namaste Highland Park: What inspired your move to Los Angeles? Did it meet your expectations?
Nora: My parents lived in San Francisco in the 1970s, and my sister was born there. My family and I moved around a lot, but I went to high school in the desert by Joshua Tree, so I feel a pretty deep connection with California. I came out here again about four years ago after finishing graduate school in New Mexico. I was either going to move to New York and complete my PhD at the New School for Social Research or move to LA and drink smoothies and do yoga. Obviously, LA was the winning choice, and it has far exceeded my expectations.

NHP: You have been practicing yoga since childhood. What did yoga mean to you then, and how has that changed (if it has changed at all) as an adult?
Nora: My dad was an avid yogi and meditator, and taught me the sun salutes when I was really young, and took me to the local Zen center in Chicago when I was in my early teens. Yoga then meant to me a fun connection to my dad. For kids, yoga can be so playful and challenging! Meditation at that time, though, was very earnest and significant for me. I think when I started as a teenager that was the most focused I've ever been in my whole life. I took my zazen practice really seriously and I it had profound effects on my body and mind. Since then, my yoga practice has become more focused and serious, but my meditation practice has never been quite as strong as it was when was thirteen.

NHP: At what moment did you go from thinking, "I like yoga," to, "I'm a yoga teacher?"
Nora: I still have a hard time seeing myself as a teacher! I know it sounds cheesy, but I think of it more as being with a group of people I really like and us doing yoga together while I do more of the talking. Of course, I have lots of information to share that could help the people who come to my classes, and I do feel authoritative about many aspects of the practice. However, everyone is their own teacher, and everyone is so different ­ I much prefer to let the attendees of my classes find their inner teacher first, and then listen to me for all the extra tips, pointers, cues, and bits of philosophical information.

NHP: What do you hope people take away from your class?
Nora: I hope people leave my class feeling better than they did when they arrived. I hope people find a sense of comfort and nourishment within their bodies. I hope they find strength in their bodies and minds. I hope they find, for at least one fleeting moment, that quiet place where their true self dwells, the self that is eternal, indestructable, without borders, is at the same time one and all things. Getting a good hamstring stretch works too.

NHP: How does yoga go beyond the mat in your life?
Nora: I try my best to practice Karma Yoga as it was discussed by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. The main idea behind karma yoga is that we have karmic duties that we must fulfill through our actions. Karma yoga teaches us that it is best to try to not be attached to the outcomes of the actions that we perform along the way, since the actions are being performed to serve our karmic path rather than to serve our individual selves. According to Swami Sivananda, "Karma Yoga... purifies the heart by teaching you to act selflessly, without thought of gain or reward. By detaching yourself from the fruits of your actions and offering them up to God, you learn to sublimate the ego. " Even though we cannot predict or control our futures, we can act in the ways that serve our karma and our path in the most authentic and loving manner by detaching ourselves from the outcome and focussing on doing the best that we can in the present moment with the task at hand.

As I attempt my karma yoga practice, as I go about my actions, I do my best to be unattached from the results. Here, I have to keep the attitude that all work is worship, that my motive to work is not primarily that of seeking reward, that I have a duty to act and I must act well, and that I have to do my best every single time. The idea contained in Karma Yoga that all work is worship is very powerful for me ­ it's a good motivator to stay engaged and do my best.

NHP: What does your personal practice entail?
Nora: It changes a lot. There is a constant undercurrent of reading and thinking about yoga philosophy, and attempting engaged mediation sits with varying levels of success. But the physical asana practice fluctuates so much depending on how my body feels, depending on where I am, and how much I can prioritize the physical practice that day. Tonight I attempted my personal asana practice at home, thinking I’ll do a vigorous vinyasa flow and ending up holding a forward fold for five minutes and then lying down. So I try to take classes as much as I can ­ I need the group environment to help keep me on track! Ideally I’m in class five or six days a week.

NHP: What is something we'd be surprised to learn about you?
Nora: I’m also a champion race car driver.*

NHP: You are starting a new class­style at NHP, incorporating Pranayama and Kriya. What is your intention with this class, & what inspired you to create it?
Nora: I’m SO excited about this class. Vanda, the owner of the studio has been wanting to introduce a Kundalini­-style class to the studio for a long time, and although I am not a Kundalini teacher, I have always loved the kriyas and mantras specific to that discipline. My intention with the class is to simply introduce a few different options of movement to our students besides the typical Hatha or vinyasa methods. The class has been super fun so far. I love kriyas because anyone can do them, they are not too complicated or demanding of the body, but usually end up being the most intense and challenging parts of the class. It’s been really exciting to share this other element of yoga with the wonderful people who come to classes at Namaste Highland Park.

*Nora: I lied about the race car part, but I couldn't think of anything.

Self-Care Saturday: Self Reiki with Chona

For the Morning, or Before Going to Sleep: 

If you just want general healing to recharge and balance your energies, place both hands over the solar plexus chakra, just above the navel, the left hand underneath and the right hand on top. The solar plexus is the life energy battery of your body. Breathe in white light through the nostrils, down the spine to the base. On the out-breath push the white light up the spine a little, then out to the solar plexus center and exhale the energy into this center. Do this exercise for no more than 21 out-breaths. On completion of the healing you may conclude with a prayer of thankfulness and then detach.

Chona offers Reiki on a donation basis on Thursday evenings at the studio. You can sign up on our workshops page. 

Recipe Share: Easy & Delicious Anti Inflammatory Vegan Lunch

Citrus Cilantro Kale with Quinoa and Cauliflower

This recipe is a cinch and will leave you feeling nourished and light. 

Ingredients:

• 4-5 Kale leaves, stems removed
• 1/2 cup quinoa, cooked
• 1/2 cup cauliflower rice, either processed on your own or purchased (Trader Joe's has premade cauli rice in the produce section!)
• 1/4 cup EVOO
• 1-2 tbsp cilantro (to taste)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2-3 tbsp lime juice (to taste)
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Steam the kale & cauliflower, either on the stove top or in the microwave, to your desired doneness. I recommend leaving a little crunch.
• Combine kale, quinoa and cauliflower in a bowl.
• Combine remaining ingredients in a blender & blend until combined.
• Pour dressing over your veggies.
• ENJOY!

Self-Care Saturday: Self Reiki with Chona

For Self Healing: 

Place your hands where you would like the healing to take effect. For example, if you need healing for your knee, place both hands on the knee, one above and one below. Continue breathing in white light but, on the out-breath, allow the energy to flow down the arms and hands as well as the heart chakra. Feel the healing energy leaving the palms of your hands and entering the affected area. Spend about 10 minutes on each body part that needs healing. The energy centers in the palms of your hands are your healing tools.

Chona offers Reiki on a donation basis on Thursday evenings at the studio. You can sign up on our workshops page. 

Self-Care Saturday: Self Reiki with Chona

To Harness the Energy:

Sit upright with the head in line with the spine and both feet on the floor (or cross legged), and hands gently placed on your lap. Close your eyes. Become relaxed by slowly breathing in and out for a few minutes. Now, visualize the universal life force as a glowing ball of light from the sun, and draw it into your body as you breathe in. See it as a white light and direct it from the crown of your head down the spine all the way to the base of the spine. On the out-breath, bring the white light back up the spine but push it out through the heart chakra. Allow the heart chakra to be charged with this white light. You are now charging yourself with universal life force or prana.

Resource: Amma Magi, http://www.ammamagi.com/freebook/index.htm

Chona offers Reiki on a donation basis on Thursday evenings at the studio. You can sign up on our workshops page. 

4 Rules to Follow when Shopping for a Yogi: with bonus gift suggestions

Follow these rules when buying a gift for the yogi in your life:

1. Avoid waste. Get your yogi-friend something very usable rather than simply beautiful. Some go-to suggestions? 
1. A yoga class pass is a sure bet. All month long, if you buy an unlimited class pass gift card ($135 value), you receive a FREE tee "Namaste" teeshirt for your friend or your recipient.
2. Give food: a gift certificate for a juice cleanse, a case of kombucha, hand-crafted healthy fare from your local organic market, or - if you want to give a gift that keeps giving - a subscription to a CSA box service that will deliver fresh, seasonal fruits and veggies to your recipient each month.
2. Buy eco-friendly. Even if you weren't buying for a yogi, an eco-friendly gift is just the responsible way to spend money and resources. Our favorite eco yoga products?
1. Jade Yoga mats. If eco-friendly is the number one priority in your mat, go for Jade. The company is committed to organically-sourced yoga mats, and the quality is on par with any equally-priced yoga mat. 

2. Patagonia Provisions. This is Patagonia's line of camping food, such as fruit and nut bars, buffalo jerky and black bean soup. Like everything Patagonia makes, these products are environmentally responsible and tell a wonderful story about our world.
3. Give an experience. Yoga is all about experiencing each present moment, and you can help your recipient do just that. Some amazing yoga experiences?
1. Biggest budget: teacher training or retreat
2. Little less dough: tickets to a yoga festival
3. Nice but not breaking the bank: A pre-purchased workshop with a favorite teacher
4. An easy way to make it happen: Take your loved one to a class and brunch. 
4. Help them take their yoga home. Everyone is looking for ways to deepen a practice, and yoga at home is the best way to do just that. Here are some supplies your recipient would love:
1. A subscription to a yoga video service like YogaGlo, YogisAnonymous, Grokker, or a similar site
2. A set of props: 2 blocks, a blanket and a bolster are great starters
3. Books on philosophy to invite them deeper into the practice. Recommended: Meditations from the Mat, Light on Yoga/Light on Life, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, The Autobiography of a Yogi
4. Music and mantra to fill their home. Recommended: Snatam Kaur, Ram Dass, Girish, Wah!

Happy shopping.

Mindful Fooding: How do we eat with presence?

We think of nutrition as "what we eat," but how we consume our food matters. Cooking mindfully stimulates digestive enzymes, and eating with presence helps us consume appropriate portions. We can call this "eating mindfully," or, in the case of our recent Teacher Training class: Mindful Fooding.

Throughout training, each Saturday we participated in a mindful potluck. Trainees prepared food inspired by the chakras, Yoga Sutras and … in some cases … by the only foods they could cook (Dave may have taken all the gorgeous photos on our website, but he can only cook one thing.)

Want some inspiration? Check out the tips below for eating mindfully, or explore the cookbook created by Namaste Yogi Kimberlee Cordova here.

• Prepare your food. Take the time to make your food visually appealing, and even enjoy some music while you make your meal. This is not only fun and present, it also stimulates digestive enzymes.
• Sit with good posture. I like to sit on a yoga block and place my food on a low bench.
• Put down your silverware in between bites. Seriously. I know, this is the hardest part.
• Chew each bite fully and completely, paying attention to taste and sensation as you eat.
• Keep conversation to a minimum until after you are finished eating.

Join us on our patio the first Saturday of every month for 'make your own' oatmeal, coffee and tea. We hope this inspires you to eat mindfully in your daily life.  

2 Ingredient Organic Face Scrub

As we age, our skin stops turning over as quickly as it used to. This process makes it more important to exfoliate our skin to promote healthy turnover of cells. Here are some basics to help give your skin a healthy glow:

1. Sleep! If you are tired, your skin will show it. Get at least 7-8 hours of sleep each night.
2. Hydrate. Proper hydration will keep your skin "plump," while dehydration will increase the appearance of fine lines.
3. Eat a healthy diet full of antioxidants.
4. Put some of this antioxidants on your skin. This is where our recipe comes in for an organic, simply face and body scrub you can make with items you likely currently have in your pantry.

Coffee is one of the world's strongest antioxidants. It is also highly acidic, so it can be tough on the gut when consumed. Thankfully, we can use coffee in our beauty regimen to benefit from its potency. For this scrub:

Combine:

• Organic olive oil
• Fine ground coffee (I recommend fresh grinding to an espresso grain)
• Ratio is 3:2 coffee to olive oil

Whisk

• Whisk it up until it is the consistency of grainy mud

Scrub

• It is messy! I recommend scrubbing in the shower or tub to keep things contained.
• Apply liberally to your skin and rub in circular motions, careful not to press too hard, especially around the delicate skin of your eyes.
• Rinse away.

Benefits

• Coffee
• Antioxidant
• Rough grain is perfect for exfoliation
• Subtle darkening of skin like a fake tan without the chemicals
• Caffeine will constrict your blood vessels to decrease puffiness
• Olive Oil
• Incredibly hydrating
• Don't worry about getting all of the oil off of your skin. Instead, allow a little to sit to encourage your pores to close back up after your scrub.

That's it! Your bathroom will smell awesome after this one.

Sondra's Secret to Vitality

Disclaimer: This recipe is not vegetarian-friendly. We fully support efforts to eliminate animal cruelty caused by factory farming. 

The first time I told Sondra I wasn't feeling well, she said, "You need bone broth. Wait, you're not vegetarian are you? Of course you are."

At the time, I had been vegetarian for about five years. I was diagnosed with multiple auto-immune diseases a few years into my stint as a vegetarian, and doctors everywhere were telling me I needed to change my diet. My M.D., who is also an Ayurvedic doctor, told me I was eating wrong for my body type. My acupuncturist encouraged me to eat some meat to heat up my digestion, as vegetarianism is actually contraindicated in Chinese medicine. 

Sondra took one look at me and knew my dosha type - vata dosha - and knew it wasnt't being served by my diet. It took me some time to come around to the idea that some meat may help me heal. Once I did, I set out to find the healthiest and most responsibly sourced meats to add to my diet. Here is my experience making Sondra's prescribed "bone broth." As a recovering vegetarian, I'll warn you there is a chicken caracas involved. 

But, my theory has always been, if I'm going to eat the meat, I want to feel very connected with the animal and use its gift to the fullest potential. This recipe certainly does that.

Step One: Find a responsibly-sourced chicken

I recommend Healthy Family Farms which makes weekly visits to the South Pasadena Farmer's Market. From their website: "Healthy Family Farms is a sustainable, pasture-based farming operation in Santa Paula, California." You can even tour the facilities to see for yourself how the animals are raised. Animals raised in a pasture-based system are not only happier and healthier but serve the Earth they live on.

I purchased a half-chicken, bones and skin, for my recipe. If your farmer will sell you chicken carcass  (i.e., the left overs from their butchering), you can skip straight to step four. I enjoy using the chicken in my own meals first.

Step Two: Roast the chicken and enjoy it for a meal

I love a simple roast chicken. It helps connect me with the food I'm eating, which stimulates digestion and pays homage to the life given for my health. 

Here is my recipe:

• Preheat oven to 200
• Clean chicken and pat dry
• Prepare a roasting dish with a tablespoon of olive oil or grass-fed butter
• Dust the chicken in salt and pepper, rubbing in with your hands
• Line the pan with chopped carrots
• Rub minced garlic (3-4 cloves) over the chicken
• Sprinkle thyme over the chicken
• Pour a tablespoon of olive oil or grass-fed butter over the chicken
• Roast for 30 minutes, covered at 200 degrees
• Increase temperature to 400 degrees, roast for 30 minutes
• Take lid off the roasting pan, watch for the chicken to start to brown
• When internal temperature of the breast and leg have reached 180*, take the chicken out of the oven and allow it to rest for 20 minutes. It should continue to cook to 190* while resting.
• Enjoy!

Step Three: Pick the bones

Pick the leftover meat off the chicken bones. If you have pets, this is a great add-in for their meals to give them some good fats and healthy protein. If you have some quality meat left over, it is excellent on salads and sandwiches for your week. You'll want to pick the bones relatively clean before making the broth. 

Step Four: Chop your veggies

You can add any veggies to your stock, but I recommend at least setting a base with aromatics. For one-half chicken, I recommend:

• 3 large carrots
• 1 head of celery
• 1 medium onion. I replaced onion in my stock with leeks because I love their flavor in soups and broth.
• Anything you have in your fridge! You can add mushrooms, radish or beets to your stock. 
• Reserve part of the onion or leek if you'd like to add it to your broth as a finishing ingredient. I love some fresh leeks or green onion on soup. I also reserved some radish for topping

Step Five: Prepare your stock pot

• Start by adding a very small amount of olive oil or butter to your pot, and turn the heat on to medium
• Add your seasoning FIRST! This is an Indian cooking tip that will greatly improve your flavor profile. Here are some spices you can use:
• Celery salt
• Bay leaves
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Ground pepper
• Cinnamon (just a pinch)
• Mustard seeds
• Once your spices start to smell yummy, it's time to add your onion or leeks. Cook these down until just translucent.
• Add the rest of your veggies, stirring with the spices for about 5 minutes

Step Six: Add the chicken bones

• Add the chicken bones
• Add enough water to cover your bones and veggies with at least a few inches to spare
• Turn down the heat to low

Step Seven: Walk away

• Stir about once an hour for 6-8 hours
• Add water if needed
• That's it! Drain your both over a strainer. The ingredients can be used again for a second stash. Your soup should have a healthy dose of collagen (i.e., should have a jello-like element to it). This is the beneficial part! 

Step 8: Enjoy warm

Spoon your broth as is into a cup for drinking or a bowl. The benefits of bone broth come from the collagen, which will help nourish you from the inside out. The warmth will stimulate your digestion and heat up your agni (inner fire). 

Step 9: But for real, what about the vegetarian/vegan folks?

We hear you, it's not easy eating meat. If you are adamantly veggie, you can still enjoy the benefits of broth. We recommend fermented vegetable broth for the biggest health benefits. You can find great stuff at Dave's Gourmet Korean, featured at the South Pasadena Farmer's Market (and others around town).

Enjoy!

Namaste,
Bethany

Get Well Soon! Love, Your Teachers

Cold and flu season are upon us. Feel a sniffle coming on? Here are some tips from your teachers to help you get well soon.

Epsom salts ease muscle pain and encourage rest. 

I usually do oil pulling with coconut oil at the first sign of a sore throat (*Instructions below!*) Tons of vitamin C. Ample sleep and rest. Lots of hot herbal tea and local raw honey. Neti pot with Alkalol added. Oil of oregano can knock out most bugs, and if you can't handle the taste try colloidal silver instead. Keep up with the probiotics. Restorative yoga is great when you get sick! - Matthew 

I take lots of ashwagandha, vitamin c, and some wellness formula. A nice Epsom salt bath can be very helpful, and truly give myself good time to rest. - Shoshana

Healing myself from a sickness is a practice in itself. The moment I feel symptoms, I go to Eagle Rock Juice Co. and get myself a "Flu Shot" (2 oz. of cold pressed lemon juice, ginger, oregano oil & cayenne). Then I ingest foods high in probiotics such as kombucha, miso soup, sourdough bread and take probiotic pills with every meal. I take echinacea and goldenseal herbs with colloidal silver. And drink all kinds of fluids- ginger tea, licorice & marshmallow root tea (for the throat), hot water with apple cider vinegar, and lots of alkaline water. If that wasn't enough I see my Traditional Chinese Herbalist and gives me these herbs tailored to knock the symptoms out almost immediately. Last but not least, I always give myself Reiki while I'm resting. - Chona

Ingest probiotics like those in Health-Ade Kombucha 

When I get sick I feel like the world is coming to an end. I like to be active and outdoors so being sick really interrupts my day to day life. I have found that nothing cures an illness like rest. I try to get as much sleep as I can, coupled with as much water as I can drink. If it's an upset stomach I limit my food intake to just bread, rice, apples or applesauce, and tea. These are very easy for me to eat and help to settle my upset stomach. - Steve

This is a "when I think I'm getting sick" or "when my allergies are bad," remedy. I make a healing juice (*recipe to follow!*) My other go-to for sinus troubles is raw garlic. All it takes is chewing and sucking on a single raw clove to get my nasal passages nice and open-- it's nature's spicy, mean lozenge. I do usually spit it out, as raw garlic can be a little rough on the digestive system. Lastly: zinc. Whenever I'm feeling run down, I take a zinc after dinner-- 9 times out of 10, I wake up feeling back to normal. In addition to nutrients and liquids, the best possible thing really is rest. It took me many years of trying to "work through" being sick, only to realize that if I take just one day of rest (usually the first day of symptoms), my sickness doesn't last nearly as long. Oh, and by rest I mean actual sleep-- if I am dying to watch netflix, I opt for something monotonous that might put me to sleep. Okay that's my 2 cents :) - Ani

When I start to feel as though my health is suffering, I use it as an excuse to downshift. I curl up on the couch with my dogs and a mug of tea and read books for hours. I do this a lot even when I'm perfectly healthy, but it's nice to take the time to mindfully relax and let the rest of the world fall away. - Jamie

Start the day with hot water, honey, lemon and apple cider vinegar. Sleep a lot, snuggle your pets, and call your mom if it gets really bad! - Bethany 

Ani's Killer Cold Kicker

• 4 oranges
• 2 lemons
• 2 cucumbers
• 1 palm-sized piece of ginger
• turmeric (to taste, I shook it maybe ten times)
• cayenne (to taste)
• 4 drops oregano oil
• 1 tsp raw honey

From Ani: FYI this juice is no joke and will really burn-- but it really opens up the sinuses and cleans everything out.

Matthew's Oil Pulling Secret

Teacher Feature: Chona Bernardo!

Hometown?

I’m from Long Beach, CA.

How long have you been practicing yoga and Reiki?

Yoga 3 years, Reiki 6 years

How did you know that these were things that you wanted to pursue?  

I moved from home and didn’t have the convenience of my chiropractor, so that’s why I first started yoga. I wanted to try something different for my spinal alignment, and yoga has been that alternative healing.  Not only has it helped my back, but it's helped my spiritual and personal growth as well.

After I got laid off from my first career job, I was going through a rough time figuring myself out.  I met an intuitive healer at a gathering and she could sense my need for some energetic healing.  So she laid her hands on me (doing Reiki) and I could feel the old negative energy shaking out of me.  After 10 minutes of this I felt so much lighter, like a load was lifted off my body.  That’s when I realized there was something beyond this physical reality that can’t be seen, and wanted to learn Reiki to heal myself.   

What do you hope people will take away from your sessions?  

I hope people can see that energy is a real thing.  When we go through stress, trauma or any negative emotions, if we don’t process them thoroughly, the energy stays in our bodies and develops into diseases over time.  That’s why it’s important to practice self care to process our roller coaster of emotions.  I hope after a Reiki session, my clients will be mindful of their whole self, and strengthen their self care practice. Some great ways to practice self care are cultivating a regular yoga practice, meditating, or journaling on a regular basis.

What advice do you wish you could give your younger self?

1. Be  your most childlike self as you are because when you get older, you’ll work on remembering who your inner child was.
2. Be as weird and wild and unique as you can.  In the art world, originality is what is sought after.
3. Start meditating.

What do you do when you are not in the studio?

I like to do many things when I’m not at the studio.   Generally, I tend to nourish my introverted self by journaling, drawing & painting, connecting with trees, or going to Korean spas.  I value my alone time and would feel drained and ungrounded if I don’t do that for myself. Sometimes I go to coffee shops to read, or put shades on to secretly sketch the people in my view.

What two or three books would you always recommend to a friend? Women Who Run With The Wolves by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Life You Were Born To Live by Dan Millman, Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Do you have a favorite place to meditate? I usually sit in front of my altar filled with crystals at home.  But if I want change it up, I drive up to Self Realization Fellowship in Mount Washington. Or anywhere in nature I can sit down and tune in.

Where is your favorite place to go camping?

Camp Navarro in Mendocino County.  It has a lot of redwood trees with a river that runs through.  That forest makes me feel like I belong there, as if the trees are my aunts and uncles opening their limbs for hugs.  

What is something that most people would be surprised to learn about you? I aspire to open my own wellness community center that offers energy healing, acupuncture, massage, art therapy, yoga, and so much more. Once that’s well established, I hope to open another one in the Philippines so my family there can have easier access to holistic health care.

Chona Bernardo holds weekly reiki healing sessions for the community on Thursdays from 6:30-7:45pm for students that need to restore, heal and balance their subtle energies.
Chona’s sessions are donation based and suggested donation ranges $40-$80, cash only.