Balance

“The health of a nation’s food system is a critical issue of national security. Food is about to demand your attention.” -Michael Pollan, Farmer in Chief

Join Basmati.com every week for a Q&A session with one of Basmati’s practitioners, Melissa Hill (FDN-P)! We know that there is a lot of confusing information out there, which can make applying health advice overwhelming.  Sometimes, it’s best to ask a practitioner directly, so each week we’ll cover a common health question!

Tui Na 推拿 translates as “Push and Grasp” and indicates the active, hands on form of massage/bodywork sometimes referred to as “Chinese Meridian Massage.” Developed and practiced over thousands of years, Tui Na follows the theories and concepts of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), utilizing the remarkable energies of the hand guided by the mind/heart Xin ⼼. In short, Tui Na utilizes the strength and suppleness of the human hand to work the body/mind/spirit like acupuncture does, just without needles! 

There are 5 Elements in Chinese Medicine: Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal.  These Elements follow the seasons of the year, the time of day, the life cycle, and the creative process of life.  The 5 Element system is a system of checks and balances.  It is based on the idea that all things in nature will eventually balance themselves.  For example, the season of Summer will eventually yield to Fall, the longer days will turn into longer nights, and the excitement of new ideas will eventually turn into precious personal wisdom.

As the sun moves into the deep waters of Scorpio we are all being called to face all that which has been cloaked in the unseen. Scorpio rules the 8th house in the astrological chart which includes magic, sexuality, death, inheritances/other people’s money, investments, crimes, dreaming, regeneration, reincarnation, shamanism, the subconscious mind and the mystical underworld.

When the sun sits under the constellation of Libra, the scales come into balance and relationships come to the forefront of our minds and our experiences. By utilizing the stunning blue or yellow variety of Apatite gemstone, you can feel expanded clarity around issues of the heart and a refinement in Libra’s already enhanced intuitive force.

My first introduction into Swara Yoga was in India, attending Yoga School in an immersion course. Prior to my first induction, I had no previous awareness that my nostrils took turns being dominant or that this had anything to do with which tasks I could perform more effectively or how my psychology was affected by such. The thought had just never crossed my mind, nor the wisdom, my path.

Many of us work with computers or other types of equipment that keep us sitting or in another single body position for much of the day. If this is the case in your life, you are likely well aware of the physical discomfort this can cause due to sore and tight muscles.

Sattva: Balance. Purity. Calmness. Neutrality. Equilibrium. Peace.

Imagine a raging fire consuming a forest of ancient trees, the charred branches left after the fact, the newly fertile soil, and then the regrowth of the shrubs, bushes and trees over time to again reveal a pristine woodland of animal life and nature. After the burn and regrow, there is a space and time of balance that is achieved and seems to be maintained over time, during which you can hang a hammock in the trees and fall peacefully asleep while crickets sing and water flows down the mountain.

“Welcome to the world of authentic spiritual power” she said to me as we sat in our first astrology coaching session. Andrea Bryant from Awaken Astrology is as inspired as she is articulate, and I am so lucky that I have the opportunity to sit with her.