The 14 Nadis – The Subtle Body

I have a doctor friend in Holland and while he was in India we were checking our blood pressure and heartbeat.

Egon is +50 and has a slightly high blood pressure than me (sssshhhh, I have a slightly lower blood pressure than my peers) I am 31 wow, he is amazing his resting heart-rate which he immediately brought down with few deep breadths after we walked for few minutes in a congested hall was 55 bpm, I was stunned, my heart-rate was 70 bpm and that I always thought I could control and that I used to sometimes bring it to 65 but never below that, even though I can bring my heart rate from 180 or 150 to 90 quite fast. It is a rule in aerobics that your heart is healthy if you can bring the bpm to about half within the first two to three minutes of stopping the exercise. Now a days you can see cricketers’ heart-rate on the idiot box and see they are not the fittest of athletes. I have more respect for footballers and tennis stars than cricketers.

Now how does Egon manage to have 55 bpm and a perfect blood pressure? Yes go figure. He explains that he hits gym 5 days a week and does yoga, his regime consists of meditating and eating whats right for his doshas. He used to be physical instructor turned doctor turned ayurvedic and alternative practitioner. He is currently working on Bio resonance and advance Ayurveda. He is quite vocal with the findings of how latest bio resonance devices can cure an ailing body by bringing it in equilibrium. Similarly he says, Ayurveda too can treat the same symptoms by bringing the body in equilibrium.

I was impressed. The finding is that Triphala if used over long duration of time will not only maintain the body in the state of equilibrium but also keep the nervous system and subtle body rejuvenated. This helps maintaining softer arteries and veins that are the contributing factor for higher blood pressure. Coming from a European I felt how much they study our culture and practices and how our own people have left the wisdom for quick fix lifestyle. Come on people its your own body, dont do it for me, do it for yourself.

While I struggle to manage a focused vision and concentrate to meditate, I slowly started learning more about subtle body. There are 3 main Nadis in the body. Then these divide in 14 and then into thousands that I cant talk about, here I am going to briefly talk of only 3 the main ones. Our ancient science is as good as it was 5000 years ago. I am amazed how people in past knew exactly what is the use and how to regulate the body parts. If I tell you that you can bring down the resting heart rate by lowering the breath you will laugh, right, try not breathing and see if your heart-rate increases or decreases?

Now to a few facts and how we can improve upon.

The Sushumna Nadi, along with ida and pingala nadis to her left and right respectively, are the three principal channels of the subtle body. These three branch into fourteen main nadis, which in turn divide into the many thousands of nadis which fill the entire system. Located within the central nadi, or sushumana, are subtle energy centers, or chakras. These chakras operate in close conjunction with the nadis.

All that you can think of happening in the body has its origin in these nadis and interaction with the chakras.

1. Sushumna Nadi
The sushuman nadi, located within the spinal cord, begins at the pelvic plexus and ends in the space of the cerebro-spinal axis between the two hemispheres of the brain. The seven chakras of the body are aligned along the sushumna nadi from the top of the head to the coccyx. Left of the sushumna is the ida nadi and on the right the pingala nadi. Ida represents feminine principle, which is the lunar energy; pingala depicts the masculine principle, which is the solar energy.

2. Ida Nadi

The ida runs fromt he left testicle to the left nostril. All inhalation begins with the left nostril in yogic practices. The left breath stimulates the ida nadi and promotes creativity, visualization, and the nurturing of the emotions. It calms the nerves and silences the mind. The yogic science exhort the use of left nostril breathing during the day, when the body is vitalized by the sun’s energy. This creates harmony and balance and is said to increase longevity. Ida is considered to be both a pranavaha and a manovaha nadi.

3. Pingala Nadi

The pingala runs from the right testicle to the right nostril. It is activated by the breath of the right nostril. This stimulates the rational, practical self. Whereas both the breaths are cleaning, ida cleanses the mind and pingala revives the dynamic energy of the body. Right nostril breath promotes stamina, vigor, and vitality. It is wise to practice right nostril breathing during the night when the lunar energy is dominant. This activates a superior level of balance and vigor in the body, just as left nostril breathing during the day balances the aggression of the dominant solar energy. Pingala is considered to be both pranavaha and a manovaha nadi.

So now you have in short that once you feel stressed you need to calm your mind use left nostril and if you are in for longhaul work use right nostril breathing. Brings down your bpm too. I have tried it, now its your turn.

Go Green Go Organic Save Thy Earth

Ginger Tea

How to prepare Tea?
(Note: Tea in India is always with milk)

I am no great chef but I sure know how to brew my style of nice hot cuppa tea.

I prefer Tulsi, Ginger, Black pepper and Masala (all mixed and few more) tea.

Everyone who has tea at my place wants to know the Secret ingredient. And if I promptly mention that “There is no Secret” everyone thinks I am not willing to share the knowledge. Common guys everything does not have to be complicated to taste good.

Now unveiling the mystery (rather non mystery) from my tea making is as follows.

For two cups of tea.

Step 1: Bring to boil nice clean water. RO water is great, tastes really nice. (Keep hydrated)
Step 2: Chop a nice stub of fresh ginger or organic ginger powder (my favorite Kamadhenu Ayurveda) and put one tea spoon of water and in a mortar grind it for a minute or two.
Step 3: Now add this paste and juice to boiling water.
Step 4: In a minute add the next ingredite (Tulsi/Blackpepper etc.) one at a time.
Step 5: Once the boiling water has some color add your favorite taste of tea leaves/granules. Note: Everyone uses more than required quantity of tea and this makes the tea bitter/over power the taste.
Step 6: Now the aroma has filled your senses and this is the time you add milk in desired quantity. The boil immediately reduces intensity and in a minute or two you can stain the tea directly to the cups.

I like to add sugar some people like it without. I hope you will try my style and enjoy the flavor and good health benefits of having tea.

If you require tea from India I can send it to you anyplace worldwide. I will edit this section with few of my favorites blends and a catalog so that you all can enjoy tea along with me.

Note: Ginger/Tulsi/Blackpepper+Honey is an effective way to be healthy. But do not add honey to tea.

Go Green Go Organic Save Thy Earth

Winters are gloomy – who says so?

Every now and then people say winters are dark dull and gloomy. All landscapes are monochromatic and no one likes to be out.

Whoa! that is absolutely not true. I can imagine that yes, Vata people do not like this season at all as they feel much worse when the mercury drops but ask a Kapha person or for that matter a Pitta person. I love absolutely love Winters. Time to go out and take the crispy fresh air in and enjoy the vastness that the color white brings. Go on a slope and do warm up with a slalom or just make a snowman, though in India it melts before you can put it all together and take a snap ;)

For people who really really do not like the season I have some stress free advice, take these herbs and do some little massage on the body and you will be delighted as I am.

For Happy Stress Free Mind Body & Soul

Have Kamadhenu Ayurveda’s Organic Ashwagandha Powder or Vegetarian Capsule (Ashwagandha + Gotukola )
Also Ashwagandha Rasayana + Tulsi powder/vcaps/ tea.

Do some head massage with Shirodhara oil and you are ready to go.

Skin getting dry? : Try Vata Oil / Sesame Oil massage pre shower. Please take shower please ;) That is good for your body.

All the best!

Are you now up to a Snowball fight?

Go Green Go Organic Save Thy Earth

Weight Loss

I have a sweet tooth. And I am happy to report that every winters I get to eat all that I dig for, dry fruits wrapped in sweet sweet sugar/jaggery ;) I am salivating just at the thought. Every action has a reaction, Cause and effect my dear.

I gain lots of muscle and my shape changes from V to U and then starts to look like I am Saturn with a ring on my belly.

No more, this season in spite of me being Kapha-Pitta kind of person, I have got my Pitta burning in the right measure and avoided Kapha aggravation symptoms while I munched the dark chocolate cake and the puddings mum makes this time of the year.

I have successfully been munching and lost weight at the same time. Indeed you my friend are wondering if I have got hold of some secret medicine/drug/genie. Not correct, I have opened books of Ayurveda and I have learnt few things about my body and mind.

A straight forward search at organic health supplements and I get to Kamadhenu Ayurveda.

For Weight Reduction just have Kapha Spice Mix + Trikatu powder + Triphala daily morning and evening + Kapha Oil + Honey

Now these things in detail that I use.

1. Whenever I eat food (I eat a lot) – Breakfast (big plate) + Lunch (normal plate) + Evening tea (nice variety) + Dinner (poor eating and before 7pm) + 9pm Hot GingerTea: All the time I eat food I sprinkle Kapha Spice mix and this helps me digest and keeps the Kapha in check.

2. Trikatu: is mixture of spices and this I take as 2 grams powder mix it with Honey and eat the paste.

3. Triphala: add hot water to the teaspoon and drink empty stomach in morning and before bedtime at night. The trick is that you need to know how to consume Triphala. I will write a detailed separate blog.

I write for you? but who are you?

I spoke about my Ayurveda and Organic blog to few school friends whom I met after long time (about 17 years) thanks to Facebook. They had no reaction to blog, that got me thinking if there is anyone actually benefiting from my blog. Or is it just me sending the posts for archiving on the web.

My main motive is that people should benefit else I would have aligned the blog to ad-sense and wrote about sex or movies (+61% traffic is there) to make a parallel income source while providing zilch value.

Any how any who I will still write and continue to be positive that someone somewhere is reading and actually benefiting.

Would love to hear from you and try to get and Ayurvedic herb to cure your illness.

Cheers!

Go Green Go Organic Save Thy Earth.

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