Mary Beth Shaw is an energy healing practitioner with whom I recently enjoyed a session. The experience was a roller coaster of emotions that left me feeling more strongly connected to my Self and my loved ones, and also with a clearer vision of my purpose and personal priorities.
Some of the most sacred and valued scents over the centuries are those deeper aromatics—Frankincense, Myrrh, Benzoin and others—whose use predates the millennia-old religious texts in which they’re noted. These scents are “heavier” because the chemicals they’re made of are heavier than those in “lighter” oils such as lemon or bergamot. Another way to look at it is that the scents
I recently wrote on citrus essential oils, my favorite oils for scent. Now, we’ll move on to conifer essential oils, another group I love. These are uplifting and motivating, and they blend beautifully with citrus oils for both scent and energetics.
Love honey? There’s a product that’s even better: bee pollen. Bee pollen is a highly nutritious food. We talk a lot about superfoods, but if there’s one that beats all of them, it might be pollen.
Previously in the Ayurveda 101 series, we built the foundation for understanding the potent wisdom of Ayurveda and, more importantly, connected with the knowingness that through this ancient Science of Life, we are at the controls of our own state of wellbeing.
As we step more fully into this power as the conscious creators—the Alchemists—of our own reality, let’s have a look around this living laboratory to discover just what resources are at our disposal to play with!
“We can think of food in general, as well as the very act of cooking, in a similar vein. Good, fresh, wholesome ingredients have tremendous capacity to support the body and all its systems. Preparing those foods in ways that bring out their best—that make them more nourishing for the body and a feast for the senses—is a powerful form of medicine that cultivates the health of the body, mind, and spirit.”
—Brittany Wood Nickerson, Recipes from the Herbalist’s Kitchen
The lily is a member of the family Liliaceae, which contains about 359 genuses with up to 100 species, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. The plant is native to the northern hemisphere that includes North America, Europe, and Asia. Approximately 5000 years ago a tablet found in Sumeria depicted a Persian city surrounded by a field of lilies.
As turbulence shook and rattled the cabin I chanted the Mahamrityunjaya mantra silently to myself to offer protection, to myself and to the entire plane. I had done the same thing in buses and car rides in India, when the terrain was so uncertain, when the cliffs were only inches away and I had no other way to comfort myself. We had chanted this mantra weekly during my time at the ashram and I had felt its power.
If you want to achieve vibrant health and lasting wellness in the new age, you’ve got to be willing to get a little bit old school. And not just to the 20th century. I’m talking about reflecting back at least 5,000 years ago to India… to the birth of Ayurveda.
Ayurveda is one of the oldest systems of health and healing on record and is just as relevant today as it was dozens of centuries ago. Arguably more so, as our inner and outer worlds have become more hectic and demanding than ever.
Sound familiar?
31 million Americans suffer from chronic back pain, and according to one recent study, up to 80 percent of Americans will experience an episode of low back pain during their lifetime. Many chronic back pain sufferers undergo extensive therapy, even surgery, to find relief.