Ayurveda

Meditation and Your Dosha
Use silent meditation to balance the doshas and bring yourself back into a calm and centered state.
Meditation to Create Balance for the Doshas
Familiarizing ourselves with the dominant doshas of the season and acknowledging what feels in (and out) of balance in our own constitution allows us to choose activities, foods, and even meditations that can support us through changes in seasons and in our personal lives.For example, in the spring the dominant dosha is Kapha. Because Kapha is associated with the elements...
Sacred Space: How to Make an Altar in Your Home
Having a home altar is one way in which you can connect to the sacred and your spirituality on a daily basis. Here are some tips on how to make an altar for your home.
A Great Addition to Meditation: Conscious Breathing
A new medical breakthrough that is actually very old is known as controlled breathing. The practice is simple. You take a deep breath, feeling your lungs expand fully, then slowly exhale to a count of five. Repeating this practice four or five times sends a signal to the brain that creates a variety of beneficial responses.As a recent article in...
Una Gran Adición a la Meditación: Respiración Consciente
Un nuevo avance médico que en realidad es muy antiguo se conoce como respiración controlada. La práctica es simple. Respiras profundamente, sientes que tus pulmones se expanden completamente, y luego exhalas lentamente hasta la cuenta de cinco. Repitiendo esta práctica cuatro o cinco veces se envía una señal al cerebro que crea una variedad de respuestas beneficiosas.Como dice un artículo...
4 Soft and Soothing Breathing Techniques
Breathing connects you to the natural cycles of ups and downs, giving and receiving, and death and rebirth. These cycles govern everything around you. When you inhale, you receive energy and life; when you exhale, you let it go.In fact, Yoga—together with other ancient disciplines—has always seen the breath as a source of mystical connection between physicality and spirit, and...
Guided Meditation: Ground Yourself Using the Earth Element
There was a time, not so long ago, when the topic of energy was considered to be the “woo-woo” language of the New Age movement that had no real basis in reality. The notion that we had any sort of ability to wield energy for the purposes of healing ourselves and others was a bit too far out there for...
The Foundations of a Spiritual Practice
You can think of a spiritual practice as something similar to building a beautiful, tall mansion set in lush gardens. This mansion is like no other. When finished, it will be filled with exquisite works of art, celestial music, and treasures beyond compare. Everything you could ever want or need will be in exactly the right place at the right...
3 Ways to Rid Yourself of Negative Thoughts
You’ve probably noticed that your mind engages in an inner dialogue. It never seems to stop, producing one thought after another. Like a difficult partner, the mind reminds you of what you did or did not do, what you said or shouldn’t have said, what you noticed or did not notice, and on and on. “I shouldn’t have said that.”...
Enhance Your Meditation Practice with Crystals
You may meditate, but have you taken your practice one step further by using crystals? Learn the benefits of crystals and how to us crystals in your meditation practice.
8 Ways to Make Daily Meditation a Habit
Are you having trouble sticking to your meditation practice? Perhaps you have every intention of meditating, but you run out of time each day. Or maybe you get flooded with texts and emails before the day officially gets started, so you skip your practice to get a head start. Perhaps you flat out don’t like meditating.There are many reasons you...
5 Breath Practices to Cool You Down in Summer Heat
As the heat of summer washes over you, look to your breath to help keep you cool with these cooling breathing techniques to keep you cool from the inside out.
A Summer Meditation to Help You Slow Down
Summertime conjures up images of ice cream cones, neighborhood swimming pools, family vacations, and beach bonfires. The rhythm of longer, warmer days makes summer the favorite season for many. Difficult decisions like Pool or beach? Strawberry or coconut popsicle? BBQ or picnic? may be at the forefront of your mind.While the summer may be filled with all kinds of exciting...
How to Fit Meditation Into Your Lifestyle
One of the major medical advances in recent decades has been the importance of lifestyle choices. Your body's cells eavesdrop on everything you say, do, and think, along with the food you eat, the sleep you get, and the exercise you take. Coursing through the bloodstream is a superhighway of information in chemical form. We are just beginning to understand...
Awaken to Spring: 3 Steps to Use the Energy of the Season in Your Meditations
The qualities you associate with spring center on renewal. Just as nature renews itself with the awakening of spring, so can you. Renewal is a quality of consciousness that permeates body, mind, and spirit. In the body, renewal involves feeling fresh, energetic, and youthful. In the mind, renewal is about new creative possibilities. In spirit, renewal is about living from...
Spring Meditation: Come Alive This Season
Spring has arrived! With the return of the sun, new blooms begin to sprout up all around. The emergence of spring may find you yawning and stretching after a nice, long winter hibernation. Your days may seem brighter, your mood lighter, and a new sense of inspiration may begin to stir within you. Have you noticed the bubbling up of...
Detox Your Home: 3 Ways to Remove Indoor Air Pollution
Spring is traditionally a time of renewal. The air gets warmer, plants form new buds, animals return from their wintertime retreats, and many embrace the urge to thoroughly clean their homes.Typically, spring cleaning includes a focus on the things you see daily—the cluttered drawers, dusty curtains, and smudged mirror. However, the most important area to be cleaned is perhaps the...
How to Find Gratitude in Your Hardest Moments
One of the main pillars of today’s mindfulness-based practices is the art of cultivating gratitude. You may hear it as a theme in yoga class, read about it in self-help books, hear about it in seminars and retreats, or see it every day in your social media feeds. Cultivating gratitude every day can be a powerful catalyst for creating a...
Fall Meditation to Embody Openness and Self-Reflection
Ancient cultures welcomed the changing of seasons by adapting to and synchronizing themselves with nature’s cycles and rhythms. For many of us in modern day society, autumn is marked by the leaves changing color, back-to-school sales, and the arrival of fall décor in department stores. While you’re pulling out your favorite cozy sweaters and sipping pumpkin spice lattes, mother nature...
Harnessing the Power of Vedic Rituals
India pulsates with rituals and sacred ceremonies, many dating back thousands of years into Vedic times. The Vedas themselves are filled with mantras, chants, and rituals for just about any purpose you can imagine.These sacred rituals are an integral part of Indian life, used before any new undertaking and to: Mark rites of passage. Change a situation. Give thanks. Honor...
What is Cosmic Consciousness?
Learn from Chopra about cosmic consciousness and how to achieve it. By learning about master consciousness, you can work on achieving it yourself. Learn more today.
Find Your True Self Through Meditation
We weave lifes story from thoughts, feelings, emotions We live our life with expectations for the future meditation self discovery is a tool to find your true self.
A Mother’s Ayurvedic Recipe for Self-Care
Enjoy this recipe of Ayurvedic rituals that can support you on your sacred journey of motherhood and beyond.
The Power of Exercise: When to Work your Body and How Much
Through the lens of Ayurveda, exercise can be an extremely personalized and healing practice. With intention, self-awareness, and knowledge, movement can nourish not only the body, but mind and spirit as well.
Herbal Healing: Nature’s Pharmacy in Ayurveda
Disease is an obstacle in the way of being able to identify with our true Self. To overcome this obstacle, the sophisticated science of Ayurveda offers many solutions to roga (disease) through Dravyaguṇa karma, the practice of Ayurvedic Pharmacology.Dravya means substance, and every substance on earth can be used medicinally depending on the guṇa, the qualities or attributes of the...
Ayurvedic Rituals Of Self-Love
Ayurveda believes that your Self chose your body to fulfill your life’s purpose; it is crucial that you honor your life as a gift from the universe. The body you inhabit is an essential part of your journey as it is the carrier for your soul. Which is why it is important to express love towards all aspects of yourself.
Your Doshas and Your Heart
One reason that Ayurveda is holistic is that the doshas permeate everything—every quality in Nature, including human nature. We need to look beyond physical health to apply the doshas to how our emotions work, particularly when it comes to relationships and love.For centuries the heart has been considered a spiritual center, and in the system of Yoga, the heart is...
Understanding Nature’s Role In Ayurvedic Healing
The human body is the product of five elements of nature: Akasha i.e. Space; Vayu i.e Air; Agni i.e Fire; Jal i.e. Water; Prithvi i.e. Earth. In Ayurveda, each body is considered to be a blend of these five elements
Healing Through Nature with Plants
In Ayurveda, as well as in all traditional healing systems, the ancient healers and seers did not see humans and nature as separate entities. The foundations of healing were rooted in the idea that we are intimately connected to nature, and that nature, including the plant world, can facilitate our healing.Ayurveda describes almost 20,000 plants with medicinal potential and documented...
A Guide to Vata Season
Stay healthy and balanced during the cooler months with this guide to Vata Season.
Self-Care Guide: Your Doshas and Your World
Because you are unique, adapting to the world is different for you than for someone else. One environment is beneficial to some people but not to others. If you want to practice self-care, this is a critical aspect. Ayurveda has been a self-care system for thousands of years, and understanding how your doshas work remains one of the best ways...
Ask Dr. Sheila: Staying Balanced During the Fall Season
As a physician, one thing I hear often from patients is the question “This has been working fine for me, so why isn’t it now?” They are usually referring to a diet, exercise program, or lifestyle that had been keeping them balanced previously, but doesn’t seem to be anymore. The simple answer, according to Ayurveda, is that nature is constantly...
Routines and Rituals to Balance Vata
How to round your energy and keep Vata at bay this season.
Looking at Abundance Through the Lens of Ayurveda
Ayurveda looks at a human being from the lens of abundance. In Ayurveda, perfect health is not simply an absence of disease but rather an abundance of vitality.Swastha Vritti means perfect health. It is the state in which the body, mind, soul, and senses are in a blissful equilibrium.In the era of video meetings and endless hours of screen time,...
Ask Dr. Sheila: How Ayurveda Supports Resilience
There are many tools and practices to cultivate resilience, and the healing system of Ayurveda gives us some of the most practical and effective tools.
Five Qualities that Help Balance Pitta Dosha
To keep Pitta from being aggravated, a few simple key words should be kept in mind. Healing words for Pitta dosha are Cool, Dry, Bitter, Sweet, Moderate.
On Agni and Āma: The Sacred Fire of Digestion and Metabolic Impurities
The cornerstone of health in Ayurveda comes back to the simple concept of agni, our digestive fire. Balanced agni is the key to proper digestion and sustained energy.
The Subtle Powers of Prana, Tejas, and Ojas
There are three essences that govern the functions of the sthula sharira and sukshma sharira (gross and subtle bodies) on a finer plane than the three doshas. These subtle essences are known as Prana, Tejas, and Ojas.Prana – Life ForcePrana, or life force, is the subtle essence of the ether and air elements. Prana is the vital principle that keeps...
Pitta Balancing Herbs to Include in Your Summer Rotation
Add these cooling herbs into your diet this summer to keep Pitta at bay all season long. 
Ask Dr. Sheila: Managing Acid Reflux and GERD with Ayurveda
For the Ask Dr. Sheila column, Dr. Sheila Patel, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer, answers questions from our community. If you have a general question for Sheila around health and wellness, please send an email to askdrsheila@chopra.com, and your question may be the one she answers next.In this article, Dr. Sheila answers a question about how to manage acid reflux and...
15 Ayurvedic Travel Hacks for Balanced Vacationing
Traveling endows us with the clear, light, mobile qualities of Vata, and can provide insights and open our eyes to a perspective we may have been missing. Vacations inspire us with new beauties of the world, cultures, and nature, and remove us from the redundance of our day-to-day energy bubble and life routine.Whether you are embarking on a romantic getaway,...
5 Ayurvedic Practices for Aging Well
We all want to age gracefully, but sometimes it can feel like life is working against us. So how can we stay on top of our health while also managing a busy life?Ayurvedic medicine shows us that the key to longevity comes down to having regular practices. Just like any other habit, once a healthy practice becomes a part of...
How to Keep Pitta Balanced This Summer to Enjoy the Season
A guide to keeping cool all summer long.
Creativity and the Doshas
Creativity is an inherent quality of being human. Everywhere within us, in every cell and atom, is the creative energy of the entire universe. This energy is creating new cells and tissues every day, as well as allowing for new ideas and inspirations.Creativity can show up in many different ways in our lives. Sometimes we think of creativity exclusively as...
Ayurvedic Herbs to Boost Concentration
Enhance your focus and supercharge your workday with these Ayurvedic herbs for concentration.
Understanding the Doshas at Work
When we find meaning and purpose in our daily activities, we experience vitality in our lives. We have access to an abundant source of energy, and we feel joy and passion in all aspects of our lives. When we are able to express our unique gifts and talents, while contributing to the happiness of others, we feel happy and fulfilled.Having...
Practical Tips for Easing Back Into Eating After a Cleanse
It is not only what we do during cleansing that results in a healthier, happier state of the body, but what we do after cleansing that determines the longevity or transience of any changes we undergo. Properly coming off a cleanse is a vital stage for achieving cleansing success. In all stages of a cleanse, patience is key to honoring...
Three Ayurvedic Tools to Help You Reduce Stress
Stress is an inevitable part of life. The impact of stress on human health, especially in today’s world of overstimulation, is alarming. April has been observed as Stress Awareness Month since 1992 to raise awareness about this condition that lies at the root of most diseases.Stress Awareness Month is a national effort designed to create awareness about the detrimental effects...
Ayurveda for Spiritual Well-being
Ayurveda is the traditional healing system from India that is literally translated as ‘the science of life.’ Through healthy daily practices and aligning with natural rhythms, one can prevent disease and create health on a daily basis. And although the outcome of Ayurvedic lifestyle and medical treatment is a healthy body and mind, the true aim of Ayurveda is to...
Ayurvedic Remedies for Healthy, Glowing Skin
Try these holistic tips for a glow from the inside out this spring.
Ayurvedic Herbal Remedies for Springtime
Keep your Kapha at bay this spring with these Ayurvedic herbs.
Ask Dr. Sheila: How Can Ayurveda Help When Nothing Else Has Worked?
For the Ask Dr. Sheila column, Dr. Sheila Patel, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer, answers questions from our community. In this article, Dr. Sheila answers a question about how Ayurveda can offer support for health issues when the individual has tried a variety of modalities without success.
8 Ways to Nourish Mind, Body, and Spirit During Seasonal Transitions
As we move from the cold blue winter into the warm and sunny summer, it is the time to transform with nature. The spring equinox marks the start of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere while it is the start of the autumn season in the Southern Hemisphere. Spring: The Kapha Season Spring is a time of transformation. Elements...
7 Ways to Boost Your Energy with Ayurveda
In Ayurveda, creating energy in the body is a function of agni, or our digestive fire. This includes the digestion of food into nourishment, as well as the digestion of our daily life experiences into nourishing thoughts and emotions.
Ask Dr. Sheila: Understanding Vikruti, Your Current State of Health or Imbalance
Our prakruti, or nature, doesn’t change. It’s like our unique fingerprint, or DNA. Our individual proportions of the doshas are what makes us unique. However, since we have all three of the doshas within our constitution, any of them can accumulate and get out of balance, which is our vikruti.
6 Ayurvedic Tips to Take Care of Your Mental Health
Let’s dive deep into the importance of taking care of your mental health and shed light on the ways in which you can create a community around yourself in the digital age. In the stone age, sitting by the fire at the end of the day with your loved ones was a way to reconnect and regroup.Physiologically speaking, it is...
How to Overcome Limiting Beliefs and Connect with Your True Nature
As children, we go from knowing ourselves as a field of infinite possibilities to a more limited identity. This limited, or conditioned, identity comes from outside of us. Instead of knowing ourselves from the inside, we begin to internalize our outer experiences and create a limited identity. We create stories about ourselves around these limitations and take them to be...
How to Cultivate Peace and Calm through the Healing Properties of Tamo Guna
Imagine a day without night, or a summer without winter. Things would be out of balance. Through proper application, quantity, and timing of tamas, it can be a medicine for us to arrive at a state of peace and harmony.
Ayurvedic Herbs for a Positive Mental State
Incorporate these Ayurvedic herbs in your rotation for a healthy and balanced state of being.
The Six Tastes and Emotions
From an Ayurvedic perspective, the phrase "you are what you eat" takes on a much more significant meaning. Beyond the physical impact of your diet, the food you eat can significantly alter your emotional state. Why do you crave sweets when you're missing a loved one? The answer can be found when we examine the emotional qualities of the six...
Ask Dr. Sheila: Daily Routine for the Doshas
For the Ask Dr. Sheila column, Dr. Sheila Patel, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer, answers questions from our community. If you have a general question for Sheila around health and wellness, please send an email to askdrsheila@chopra.com, and your question may be the one she answers next.In this article, Dr. Sheila answers a question about how to determine the best daily...
Reconnect With Your Soul to Manifest Your Goals
As we welcome in the New Year, resolutions might be on your mind. Your goals for the year ahead can fall under a plethora of categories: financial, physical, family-related, education, etcetera. However, the one thing that is going to make it possible for you to manifest these goals is to reconnect with your soul.Ancient texts of Ayurveda have exalted the...
Dosha Dreaming: Intention Setting According to Your Dosha
It’s that time again, when we are collectively dreaming about a new year and all the fascinating possibilities it could bring. Intention setting around the start of a year is a powerful tradition that actually dates back to ancient Babylon (~2000 BC). In those days intentions were most likely about pleasing the Gods. Presently, there is still a spiritual thread...
Cómo el Ayurveda Ayuda a las Relaciones
El Ayurveda es un enfoque de bienestar completo que se extiende mucho más allá de un cuerpo sano. Una vez que comprendes tu dosha, o tipo de cuerpo y mente, y las constituciones de tu ser querido, el Ayurveda puede mejorar tu relación de maneras únicas.Este artículo se publicó originalmente en inglés en noviembre de 2021.This article was originally published...
Transforming Our Habits Through Mindful Resolutions
For many of us, ringing in the new year with fresh resolutions is a great opportunity to bring awareness and attention to our aspirations to break free from our current unhealthy habits.Our vices fall under a category called Prajñāparādha, which is one of the most common hetu or causes of disease according to Ayurveda. It can be described in its...
Staying Balanced Over the Holidays
In the Northern Hemisphere, fall is coming to an end and we move into the winter season. During this time of year, people all around the globe are also preparing for a season of holidays. Many cultures organized rituals and celebrations around seasonal transitions that honor the cycling of nature, and the end of the year brings us opportunities to...
Om for the Holidays: Finding Your Center Amidst the Chaos
The good cheer, connection, and fun of the holiday season is often juxtaposed with stress, overwhelm, and pressures. Fortunately, Ayurveda offers practical strategies to mitigate energy depletion and maximize enjoyment during the most festive time of the year.Ayurveda approaches wellbeing through the lens of five elements. By intrinsically and extrinsically balancing space, air, water, fire, and earth, one can maintain...
Healing Through the Sense of Touch
A foundational principle in Ayurveda is that the senses and sense organs are the gateways to the mind and body and that we can use the sense for healing. Although for centuries this was a difficult concept to understand from a Western medical perspective, we are now validating this ancient observation with modern science.The Importance of Our SensesSurvival is dependent...
Reducing Toxins During the Peak of Holiday Season
During the winter season and holidays, many of us have the tendency to want to stay inside, snuggle up, share cookies, food, and wine with friends and family. While having small amounts of our favorite holiday treats is an innocent celebration, if we over-indulge for too long, we will inevitably start facing the consequences of imbalance and the increase of...
Ask Dr. Sheila: Ayurveda and the Doshas in Relationships
Every month, Dr. Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer will be answering questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness, please send us an email to askdrsheila@chopra.com, and your question may be the one she answers next month. This month, Dr. Sheila answers a question about how Ayurveda can provide insights into who...
Make Menopause Marvelous With Ayurveda
There are three major hormonal shifts in the life of a menstruating and life-producing individual: puberty, childbirth, and menopause. While the two former events receive a plethora of societal attention, menopause tends to be proportionally minimized. Individuals coming to the end of monthly cycles are frequently left to navigate their last major physical transformation using the physical, psychological, and spiritual...
Five Practices to Amplify the Benefits of Autumn
During this time of year, the effects of fewer hours of sunlight begin to affect our mind and body. This can be a positive experience. The darker months create conditions for much-needed restorative time, and our circadian rhythm adapts to prepare us for winding down earlier in the evening. When we align our lifestyle with the pace of the world...
Use Abhyanga for the Ultimate Self-Love Daily
The Ayurvedic term for self-love is Snehana. Love is nothing but unconditional acceptance of the other person. We love our parents. We love our children. We love our friends. Parents’ love for their children is exalted as unconditional.Now, ask yourself, do you unconditionally accept yourself?How do you express your love to your loved ones? Buy gifts for them, make them...
How Ayurveda Helps Relationships
Ayurveda is a complete wellness approach that extends much farther than a healthy body. Once you understand your dosha, or mind-body type, and the constitutions of your loved one, Ayurveda can improve your relationship in unique ways.Compatibility in RelationshipsIn any relationship the first issue that Ayurveda can help with is compatibility. The doshas give you a good idea about the...
Overcoming Burnout Through Ayurveda
Our body and mind are constantly adapting to the demands placed upon them. When we have adequate time, energy, and emotional resources to meet those requirements, we experience a state of balance. If our ability to fulfill responsibilities runs low, we encounter stress. When we no longer have the physical or emotional bandwidth to meet life's demands, we encounter burnout.Though...
Ask Dr. Sheila: Ayurvedic Stages of Life and Menopause
Every month, Dr. Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer will be answering questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness, please send us an email to askdrsheila@chopra.com, and your question may be the one she answers next month. This month, Dr. Sheila answers a question about the seasons of life and how they...
The Importance of Daily Elimination
An ancient Ayurvedic sutra from the Suśruta Saṁhitā states: “A person who is established in the Self, has balanced doshas, balanced agni, balanced tissues, proper elimination of wastes, properly functioning bodily processes and who is peaceful and content in the mind, senses and soul is defined as a healthy person.” (Su. Sū. 15)It is evident from this classical text written...
Get to Know Hormone Cycles for Aging Well
Hormones play a large role in our overall well-being, and for people who menstruate there are ways to support the body through the different phases each month. Most of us aren’t familiar with the natural hormone phases associated with the menstrual cycle and how they are designed to change over time. Learning how to skillfully ride the predictable, normal hormonal...
Stay Balanced This Fall with Ayurveda
Your personal body is inextricably connected to the environment around you. When you explore the ancient holistic lifestyle medicine of Ayurveda, you remember and rediscover this core teaching and deep truth.We can think of the environment as your extended body. The air outside becomes your breath as the temperature and moisture outside affects the internal body. The prominent qualities that...
The Best Sleep: Ayurveda’s Answer
Unseen by you, thousands of processes take place in your body every minute, and all are timed and balanced by biological clocks. Medicine is far from knowing how these biorhythms stay perfectly in sync, but it is known for certain that the master biorhythm is sleep. Missing even one night’s good sleep affects hormonal balance, digestion, stress response, and mood.It...
Ayurveda for a Calm Mind and Spirit
Thousands of years before the advent of modern medicine, Ayurveda taught humans that everything in nature is interconnected and interdependent and that human beings, blessed with a sound body, mind, and spirit, are inseparable from the natural world, are an integral part of the living, intelligent, and self-regulatory entirety.Ayurveda teaches us that the way to create an alignment or “balance”...
Ayurvedic Routines for Busy Families
Nearly every family struggles to meet the demands of work, school, domestic responsibilities, and extracurricular activities. Combined with the unpredictability of another pandemic-influenced school year, many families are feeling anxious and overwhelmed. While external factors and uncertainties cannot be changed, there are things that can be done to mitigate their influence.Adding a few simple Ayurvedic-inspired practices to the morning and...
How Much Rest Do You Really Need to Feel Your Best
“Rest if you must. But don’t you quit.” – Edgar A. Guest The human body is smart. When you feel exhausted, you “feel tired to the bone”. When you start feeling sleepy, it is the body’s way of asking you to slow down and rest. It is the body’s natural way of letting us know that it is time to...
Your Guide to Traditional Ayurvedic Massage
Many of us have had conventional massage that works to release tight muscles and create relaxation. In Western medicine, massage can be used for specific issues, such as musculoskeletal sports injuries and performance, massage for lymphatic drainage after cancer surgery, or for certain pain syndromes.Massage may indeed be the most primitive treatment for pain, and instinctually we massage areas of...
Renewal for Summer
A core teaching in Ayurveda is that your personal body is inextricably connected to the environment around you. The environment can also be thought of as your extended body. So, whatever is happening outside in nature is expressing itself through you as well.The qualities of the Five Elements—Space, Air, Fire, Water, and Earth—are expressed everywhere in nature, including the seasons...
Five Tips to Ignite Your Passion
When I find myself stuck – in work, relationships, even daily routines – I often feel too lazy, uninspired, or fearful about taking steps to ignite my passion. It is when I find myself in a such rut that I desperately need new ways to connect with others, feel curious, and be open to new possibilities and relationships.One approach I...
Ask Dr. Sheila: Ayurveda and Menstrual Health
Every month, Dr. Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer will be answering questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness, please send us an email to askdrsheila@chopra.com, and your question may be the one she answers next month. This month, Dr. Sheila answers a question about Ayurveda for people who have periods.The traditional...
Sage Advice From My Great Grandmother on Health at Any Age
I was born on the South Side of Chicago where the city blocks are wide and the cookouts are live. My parents raised four children and I am the youngest. Growing up I spent every weekend and every summer at my great grandmother’s house. I called her “Grandma.” By the time I came to this earth, Grandma was already 80...
Ask Dr. Sheila: How to Balance Kapha
If you’re feeling a little unmotivated, lethargic, dull, or have put on some extra weight, have sluggish digestion, or can’t get out of bed, there’s a likelihood that this is an expression of excess Kapha in your mind-body physiology. This is fairly common this time of year due to the heavy energy that has accumulated over the winter and early...
Why Deep Detoxification Is for Everyone
More people are aware than ever before of how many meanings the word “toxic” has. The subject of detoxification was completely ignored when I was in medical school, but the most recent research connects blood toxins and chronic inflammation, suddenly opening up new avenues for preventing lifestyle disorders like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and perhaps even many cancers...
Why You Should Become an Ayurvedic Lifestyle Teacher
As a physician, I have come to understand the impact that lifestyle choices have in preventing chronic disease. And although approximately 90% of chronic diseases can be prevented by lifestyle, we are seeing all chronic diseases on the rise around the globe.In an age where people have access to more information than ever before, people are more confused about what...
9 Practices for Seasonal Detoxification
During transitions between any season, it is an ideal time to sit back and reflect on what may be out of balance in our lives, then take steps to restore our equilibrium.Ayurveda recommends a seasonal cleansing, purification, and renewal process in which we eliminate whatever physical and emotional toxicities we have accumulated during the prior months, allowing our mind-body to...
Ask Dr. Sheila: Is Ghee Really Beneficial?
Every month, Dr, Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer will be answering questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness, please send us an email to askdrsheila@chopra.com, and your question may be the one she answers next month. This month, Dr. Sheila answers a question about ghee.What is Ghee?Ghee, or clarified butter, is...
10 Rules for an Ayurvedic Diet
The Ayurvedic diet has a set of simple rules to ensure you make the most of your daily meals. Learn how your meals can be your best medicine from Chopra.
10 Pieces of Ayurvedic Wisdom for the New Year
The New Year brings about feelings of starting fresh and being inspired. During times of change, it’s helpful to have a guide, offering glimpses into the possibilities of the life you desire. It doesn’t have to be big changes; small changes every day can lead to major transformation. Here are some pieces of wisdom inspired by Ayurvedic teachings that can...
Ask Dr. Suhas: How Can Ayurveda Help Beat the Winter Blues?
Every month, Dr. Suhas will answer questions from our followers about men’s health and wellness. If you have general questions for him, please send us an email to askdrsuhas@chopra.com, and your question may be the one he answers next month.This month, Dr. Suhas answers questions around seasonal blues.Question 1: What Is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)?Dr. Suhas: SAD is a mood...
Ask Dr. Sheila: How Do I Create an Ayurvedic Self-Care Routine?
Every month, Dr. Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer, will be answering questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness, please send us an email to askdrsheila@chopra.com, and your question may be the one she answers next month.Thank you for your questions this month. Many people are beginning to learn about the wide...
Ask Dr. Sheila: How Can I Improve My Lung Health?
Every month, Dr, Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer will be answering questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness, please send us an email to askdrsheila@chopra.com, and your question may be the one she answers next month.There were several questions that came in this month regarding lung health. Certainly, lung health is...
Ask Dr. Suhas: What Is the Protocol for a Castor Oil Cleanse? How Much and How Often Should I Use...
This month, Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar answers follow-up questions to how castor oil is a great purgatory in Ayurveda. The oil-based purgative supports the pathways for liver detoxification. It has a very lubricative effect on the colon and doesn’t dry you out like most common laxatives.
Ayurveda for Millennials: Career vs. Education
This is the third installment of our series, Ayurveda for Millennials around the decision between career vs. education.
Ayurveda and the 6 Tastes of Life
Ayurveda gives us a lot of great information about healthy eating, and one of the most important is understanding the six tastes of life: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent.
Ask Dr. Sheila: Do Certain Doshas Do Better with Different Styles of Meditation?
Every month, Dr. Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer answers questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness. This month sha answers questions around meditation and preventing boils, abscesses, and cysts.
Understanding Ayurvedic Terminology: A Simple Dictionary
Ayurvedic terms are spread throughout this website, app, and our community as a whole. You’ve probably picked up on the meanings of a lot of them, but why struggle when we’ve made this simple guide to understanding common Ayurvedic terms with definitions and examples of how to use them in sentences. Enjoy! Agni: Translates to "fire" and is commonly referred...
An Introduction to Panchakarma: The Ayurvedic Art and Science of Detoxification and Rejuvenation
Most people think of a detox as a superficial process. You change your diet, take supplements, or abstain from harmful substances, and the body does the rest. I am an advocate of all of these things. Unfortunately, many of my patients have health concerns that go beyond a poor diet. They need a multifaceted approach to rid their bodies of...
Coffee Benefits, According to Ayurveda
According to the National Coffee Association, coffee is one of the most sought-after commodities in the world. The history of drinking coffee begins with an Ethiopian goat herder who first discovered the effects of coffee beans when he noticed that his goats would dine on the beans and forego sleep. He shared this observation with a monk in a local...
Ask Dr. Suhas: Is It Good to Do a Castor Oil Cleanse Every 3 Months? Why?
Every month, Dr. Suhas will be answering questions from our followers around men’s health and wellness. This month Dr. Suhas answers questions arounf cleansing, castor oil cleanse and exercise in relation to men's health.
Kind-Hearted Kaphas! Why It’s Great to Be a Kapha
If you have a predominance of the Kapha dosha in your mind-body constitution, you possess many wonderful qualities that arise from the combination of the earth and water elements that comprise Kapha. While sometimes Kapha types are teased for being “too slow” or set in their ways, when they’re in balance, Kaphas are extraordinarily kind, accepting, and strong.Discover your dosha...
Positively Pitta! Why It’s Great to Be a Pitta
Pitta is the principle of transformation. It represents energy, heat, or fire—and it gives rise to many powerful qualities in your body and mind. Although Pittas are sometimes teased for being “hot-headed” or domineering, when they are in balance, Pittas are kind-hearted, enterprising souls with the courage to follow through on their dreams.Discover your dosha type here.Today let’s celebrate the...
Vibrant Vata! Why It’s Great to Be a Vata
If you have a predominance of the Vata dosha in your mind-body constitution, you have many wonderful qualities that flow from the combination of the space and air elements that make up Vata. While Vata types are sometimes teased for being “spacy” or overly sensitive, when they are in balance, Vatas are extraordinarily creative and open to the gifts of...
Ayurveda for Millennials—A Series
Starting this month, we will explore a series of articles about helpful Ayurveda tips for millennials.Now more than ever before, the younger generation is questioning a lot of the fundamental ideas and notions that have become a staple in an established society. As a millennial myself, with a family background and professional education in Ayurveda, I’ve come to understand this....
Ayurveda for Millennials: How to Apply Ayurvedic Principles for a Healthy Work-Life Balance
Happiness lies in striking a balance. As millennials, we are entering the phase of life where we end up focusing on work, hoping and believing that work is the only thing that is going to make us happy. What we tend to ignore is the inevitable burnout. Your body is going to give up at some point! That is the...
5 Ways to Boost Your Pet’s Health and Well-Being Using Ayurveda
The ancient wisdom and tradition of Ayurveda applies to every living being, including every sentient being. Here are five tips that can be easily incorporated into any animal’s life to promote optimal well-being.When someone’s lifestyle is focused on living in harmony with nature, it can make the difference between them surviving or thriving. It is something that comes naturally to...
The Benefits of Tongue Scraping
Tongue scraping is an important aspect of ayurvedic practices, learn today how to use a tongue scraper and how it can affect your overall well-being.
Ask Dr. Sheila: Does My Dominant Dosha Change?
Every month, Dr. Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer answers questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness, please send us an email to askdrsheila@chopra.com, and your question may be the one she answers next month. You can also submit questions during her Instagram Lives that take place every Wednesday at noon (PST)...
How and Why to Use a Neti Pot
Exercise, clean diet, and adequate sleep are a few of the more obvious ways to maintain your health. Your nose is another vital pathway to a healthy body.Nasal passages are the first line of defense against pollution, allergens, and other irritants; it’s important to keep them clean and functioning. A nasal wash, also known as a sinus rinse or irrigation,...
Ask Dr. Sheila: What Is Ayurveda?
What Is Ayurveda?Ayurveda is a complete healing system that is focused on giving you tools and practices to create health on a daily basis by using your innate healing ability. In doing so, it allows you to thrive physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Ayurveda originates from ancient Eastern philosophies that describe the nature of reality, the 'laws' of the natural world...
A Simple Ayurvedic DIY Sunshine Mask to Boost Your Mood and Glow
The coronavirus (COVID-19) is forcing most of us to stay inside. While that happens, Mother Nature is taking a breath. Her revival as humanity takes a pause is a reminder of the benefits of rest to sustain your health and well-being. Now is the time to put self-care at the forefront.There are many beauty practices from all over the world,...
Ayurvedic Approach to Dealing with Depression
An Ayurvedic approach to depression takes into account mental, spiritual, and physical aspects of health and well-being. Ayurveda has three subsets of depression.
3 Tips to Balance Kapha Amid COVID-19
From an integrative Ayurvedic perspective, your natural state is one of balance. This is exemplified by movement and circulation in the body or ojas. When there’s a lack of movement and circulation, it creates ama or congestion, inflammation, and, ultimately, allows in disease such as COVID-19.Particularly in the face of COVID-19, a highly contagious and severe virus, Ayurveda can empower...
10 Ayurveda Tips to Stay Healthy and Boost Immunity Amid COVID-19
With the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) all over the news, now is a great time to do what you can to boost your immunity. Ayurveda has always taught that the host (human body) is the most important tool to defend any invasion. The concept of “individual immunity” (Vyadhi Kshamatva) depends upon your diet and lifestyle. Especially during a change...
Building a Six-Taste Bowl with Sahara Rose
In fact, today it’s more important than ever before to keep our immune systems in balance! This is where my Six Taste Bowl comes in, from my book Eat Feel Fresh: A Contemporary Plant-Based Ayurvedic Cookbook.When you consume a meal that contains the Ayurvedic six tastes, you are nourished from a cellular level. Each taste corresponds with different qualities, as...
5 Ways to Have More Energy Throughout the Day
Do you find yourself barely making it through the day? Are you exhausted long before it’s technically time to fall asleep? It’s not surprising that stress is a major cause of fatigue and yet this is the state of being many people have become accustomed to living. It’s important to start exploring ways to use the body and mind in...
6 Ways to Make It Easier to Wake Up in the Morning
Do you find getting up in the morning a drag? Maybe you are a night owl and nighttime is when you have energy and morning is when you struggle to wake up and get going. That can set the tone for the rest of the morning. Even if you are not a morning person there are strategies to help you...
What Is Ghee and What Are Its Benefits?
Ghee has been front and center in Indian cooking and spiritual practices for thousands of years. In North America, however, its rise to fame has been much more recent. In the past few years, paleo, keto, and Whole30 diet enthusiasts have discovered that it can take the place of dairy creamers in coffee and make bone broth taste—and feel—more decadent.What...
Understanding Vata: Minimize Stress and Feed Your Creativity
Learn the physical and emotional characteristics of Vata and how to keep it in balance, along with the importance of vata in Ayurveda.
5 Ways to Embrace the Great Outdoors This Autumn
As the fun, sun, and play of summer winds down, it can be easy to fall into the slump of back to school—and back to the couch. But autumn promises cooler temps and plenty of opportunities to embrace the great outdoors. Did your summer include out-of-doors adventures that you wrote postcards about? Did you spend some days swimming in the...
4 Ayurvedic Self-Care Tips for Fall
Fall is the season of transition. Your finely tuned senses are usually the first to alert you that change is in the air. Nature is tuning in as well and in response knows it’s time to begin preparing for winter, and so must you.Fall is a time to truly nourish yourself and practice self-care by slowing down, reflecting, and renewing...
What is Ashwagandha
Learn about how the powerful Ashwagandha herb can improve and help your Ayurvedic healing. Let the experts at Chopra explain the benefits for you today!
An Ayurvedic Approach to Anxiety
The comprehensive Ayurvedic approach to anxiety includes meditation, yoga, dietary changes, and more. We also explore the use of herbs to calm nerves.
3-Day Weekend Ayurvedic Detox Plan You Can Do at Home
Learn our home remedy for detoxing the body that can facilitate your body’s release of toxins. Reverse some of the effects of chronic stress and detox at home in 3 days.
The Benefits of Ayurveda Self-Massage “Abhyanga”
A daily Abhyanga massage will balance the doshas and enhance your well-being and longevity. Learn more about abhyanga from Chopra today.
Basic Principles of Ayurvedic Medicine
What is Ayurveda? It is considered by some scholars to be the oldest healing science in the world. When this broad science is applied to the prevention and treatment of illness, it is referred to as Ayurvedic medicine. The word medicine may be a bit of a misnomer, however, as Ayurveda uses little of it in the conventional sense. Unlike...
How Did Ayurvedic Spa Treatments Originate?
For millennia, Ayurvedic spa treatments have been a powerful method of releasing tension, calming the mind, and harmonizing the energy field. They do this by simultaneously addressing imbalances in the layers of body, mind, and energy; according to Ayurveda, a disturbance in one layer, creates a disruption in the other two. It is this interconnectedness of body, mind, and energy...
How Ayurvedic Spa Treatments Clear the Mind, Body, and Soul
The practice of Ayurvedic bodywork, which originated under the umbrella of Ayurvedic medicine, has long been a powerful means of detoxifying, replenishing, and restoring harmony to both body and mind. Ayurvedic bodywork is a specialized form of massage that balances the physical and energetic layers of your being.Though there are a number of traditional Ayurvedic practices and remedies, each one...
Learn All About Marma Point Therapy
Your body contains 108 marma points, or junctions of consciousness and matter. Learn about how marma therapy and massage can help you today.
The Many Benefits and Uses of Ashwagandha
Popular herbs such as lavender and chamomile are commonly found in many holistic products. These herbs, in the form of essential oils, are known for their calming effects, with many people turning to them for relief during periods of high stress. A lesser-known herb but one with similar benefits (in addition to many others) and gaining in popularity is ashwagandha....
What Is an Ayurvedic Massage?
There are a multitude of massage types. Uncover exactly what is involved in Ayurvedic massage, the types and techniques.
How to Cleanse, the Ayurvedic Way
Avoid the unhealthy fads of juice cleanses and the next newest thing and discover the healthy balance of the centuries old ayurvedic cleanse, panchakarma.
Everything You Need to Know About Panchakarma Treatments
Ayurveda is an elegant system of healing, first described around 5,000 years ago in ancient Vedic texts as comprehensive teachings on preserving and maintaining health. The fact that this ancient medicine is still in use today is a testament to the wisdom it holds when it comes to understanding the human potential to achieve a happy and wholesome life.Primordial in...
5 Benefits of a Shirodhara Treatment
What is shirodhara massage and how can it benefit you? Learn how an oil massage can improve your sleep, vata dosha, and more.
6 Essential Oils for Winter
As the new year gets underway, you may think that the thaw of spring is well on its way. But winter has only just begun! In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice in December marked the beginning of the return of light and the coming of longer days. Even so, you may still struggle with this cold, dark, and potentially...
How to Manage Holiday Stress: A Guide for Each Dosha
And so it begins. You deck the halls, prepare the food, get gussied up, and … whoosh! There is that debilitating wave of anxiety, aggravation, and … dread? Even for those who enjoy celebrating with family meals and company parties, this time of year can be triggering. Who hasn’t had a celebratory meal turn sour due to long-swallowed resentments or...
5 Vata-Balancing Strategies for Fall
Ahh, fall — the beautiful autumn foliage, pumpkin picking, and drinking warm apple cider as the air cools and the wind picks up. Just as doshas govern your constitution, they also govern the seasons. Summer has transitioned into fall, which is considered to be the Vata time of the year. The Vata dosha is made of the elements air and...
7 Ayurveda Tips to Keep You Cool This Summer
Ah, summer—long days of sunshine, picnics, vacations, gatherings with friends and family, ice cream, and good reads are just some of the things that you get to indulge in during this wonderful season!In Ayurveda, every season is governed by a unique element and its associated dosha. It’s no surprise that the warm (and sometimes hot or very hot depending on...
6 Ayurvedic Travel Tips to Keep You Healthy and at Peace
Traveling can be exciting, full of treasured memories in the making. Part of the fun is the anticipation, waiting for the day to finally arrive when it’s time to head out on the open road or board the plane to your dream destination. Much time and effort is spent planning a trip—when it finally happens, the excitement is palpable. What...
Tap Into the Power of Color
Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways. ~Oscar WildeThere is no question that as a human, you are a sensual being. You rely on your senses to help you both survive and enjoy the pleasures of life. Ayurveda, the ancient mind-body healing system developed in India, teaches...
Kapha Season: Clear Yourself Inside and Out
Spring is the season of rebirth, renewal, and fresh beginnings, and the ideal time for clearing out the old and making way for the new. As the buds stretch toward the light, you have the capacity to grow in new ways each time spring comes around. According to Ayurveda, spring is a Kapha season, comprised predominantly of the water and...
An Ayurvedic Approach to Cleansing Your Home
If you are wondering where to begin, a good place to start is “cleansing” the home. Most of us spend a great deal of time at home, and it becomes our sanctuary full of our creature comforts. Over time, natural accumulation occurs, both physically and energetically, which can impact the feeling of the house and also affect your psyche.For example,...
Harness the Power of Your Sensory Input
“Reality is a selective act of attention and interpretation.” This deeply profound insight (attributed to Chopra Center co-founder Dr. David Simon) reveals your hidden ability to influence the experience of life. You may consciously choose what you give your attention to and how you process what you perceive. Consider the phrase, “you are what you eat.” Dr. Simon’s understanding goes...
4 Gentle Cleansing Techniques for Spring
According to the principles of Ayurveda, spring is the cleansing season. The same way that you spring clean your home, this is a great time of year to cleanse the toxins from your body.While there are many cleanse programs available, some methods can be intimidating and extreme. The good news is that there are more subtle and gentle techniques that...
How to Balance and Recharge Your Diet This Spring
Ayurveda divides the year into three seasons based on the predominant dosha, or governing energetic quality, associated with each. Springtime, lasting from March through June, is governed by the Kapha dosha. Kapha combines the elements of earth and water, making Kapha a season of moist, heavy, and oily properties.You can notice these elemental qualities by observing nature. Spring brings showers...
11 Tips to Thrive in the Winter
The most difficult season for many people, especially as they grow older, is winter. The issues are cumulative—dropping temperatures, intermittent storms, seasonal cold and flu, and extra traffic hazards. When you add the additional stress and strain that many people experience over the holidays, “I can’t wait until spring” becomes the common sentiment.But the body-mind is designed with adaptability as...
El Sueño, la Droga Milagrosa que Restablece tu Cuerpo y tu Mente
El siguiente es un extracto del libro de Suhas G. Kshirsagar BAMS, MD-Cambie su Horario, Cambie su Vida.En los laboratorios del sueño de todo el mundo, los investigadores estudian la respuesta del cuerpo al descanso. Observan la correlación entre el sueño y el estado de ánimo, el control de peso y la función cognitiva. Los grupos de personas pueden compartir...
Unconventional Ayurvedic Food Tips to Stay Healthy
The wisdom of Ayurveda has been around for over 5,000 years. It is time-tested and provides helpful guidance on Ayurvedic foods to help you stay healthy.
3 Ayurvedic Tips to Nourish Your Body and Mind This Thanksgiving
When you think of Thanksgiving, the first thing that tends to come to mind is the meal. While this day serves as an annual reminder of the joys of eating good food together, many people experience the annual side effects of overeating: mainly an increase in lethargy and a decrease in overall vitality.However, by incorporating basic Ayurvedic principles into your...
Autumn Eating: Ayurvedic Tips for Fall
Discover why pumpkin falls perfectly in line with seasonal Ayurvedic recommendations for the fall diet. Plus, learn about the perfect ayurveda winter foods.
4 Ayurveda-Inspired Practices for the Fall Season
Finding balance and happiness are lifelong processes. The ancient medical system of Ayurveda can provide guidance and tips along the way, especially as the season changes.According to Ayurvedic wisdom, as the days get shorter and darker, transitioning from Summer to Autumn, we’re moving out of pitta season and experience vata elements. In Ayurveda: The Science of Self-Healing Dr. Vasant Lad...
Kriyas for Kapha: Poses to Get You Off the Couch
Have you sent this text to your best friend recently? “I just don’t feel like doing anything. I don’t want to deal with it. I’m so exhausted!” Or have you been feeling unhinged and ungrounded—like you’re juggling dozens of balls in the air? “I am so busy. I just can’t get everything done. I feel like I’m running on empty!”...
Cool Summer Foods for Balancing Pitta
Learn about cooling summer meals that can help counter imbalances in your pitta dosha. Enjoy the warm weather with these cooling summer foods.
Summertime Ayurveda for Dogs: 6 Ways to Keep Your Pup Healthy This Season
It’s that time of year again when you get to enjoy longer days, more time outdoors, and generally more space to relax and experience life’s blessings. Each season brings its gifts, as well as its challenges.Ayurveda suggests that you make considerations for each season since they can have a strong impact on your body and mind. Being that Ayurveda is...
What Is Guggulu?
Discover the guggul herb and its many traditional uses in ayurveda with whole body benefits including joint, sinus, and skin relief.
What Is Shatavari?
The Shatavari plant has many health benefits and uses that help your mind and body. Originating from Ayurvedic medicine, Shatava
Everyday Magic: 3 Daily Rituals to Connect You to the Present
Psychologist Dr. Jean Houston has said that we are the victims of an "age of interrupted process." Meaning, you generally know a bit about how things begin and how they end, but you are rarely present throughout the middle – or the process. The point she makes is that people tend to either be ruminating about the past or worrying...
5 Ayurveda-Inspired Springtime Activities
Finding harmony and inspiration is a lifelong process, and the ancient medical system of Ayurveda can provide guidance and tips along the way, especially as the season changes.According to Ayurvedic wisdom, as the snow is melting and the air is warming, transitioning from winter to spring, you’re moving out of Vata season and aligning with Kapha elements. As the days...
5 Practices to Balance Your Kapha This Spring
The changing of the seasons is always a marvelous sight to behold. If you live in an area where winter is bold and proud, spring is a long-awaited and welcoming season. The first flowers start to bloom, snow turns into rain, and the grass starts changing from brown to green once again. And as much as you’d like to trade...
How to Become an Early Riser
You likely know someone who has expressed his or her disdain for mornings. Or perhaps you’ve thought it yourself when the alarm goes off early Monday morning, or your kids wake you up before the sun rises. Then there are those who are up before their alarm even sounds, well rested and motivated to get a head start on their...
12 Ayurvedic Practices to Help Alleviate Spring Allergies
Spring is a time of beauty and sweet smells as nature unfurls from the heaviness of winter. It’s a time to soak in the sunshine, breathe in the new blooms and enjoy all the outdoors have to offer—that is, until allergies kick in.Allergies can be miserable with seemingly no end in sight. They keep your body in a perpetual battle...
Can’t Sleep? How to Treat Sleep Issues Without Medication
Sleep is vital to your health and well-being, but for some people, it’s elusive. According to the American Sleep Association, there are an estimated 50 to 70 million U.S. adults who experience some type of sleep loss or sleep disorder. Sleeping issues can interfere with the quality of your life, your physical health, and negatively affect your emotional balance, cognitive...
An Ayurvedic-Inspired Wintertime Morning Routine
The wind is mighty chilly. The heater is blasting all night. The smoke from the fireplace is lingering in the air. And perhaps you’re feeling a bit blue. Is it from the news or the cold, dark days? Wintertime takes its toll and wreaks havoc on the body, mind, and spirit.Ayurveda is the “science of life” or the holistic health...
Ayurveda for Dogs: Tips to Balance Your Furry Friends
Natural healing practices and a healthy lifestyle can make all the difference to your human body, mind, and spirit, so why would it be any different for your dogs? The impactful natural healing practices of Ayurveda, which many of us follow daily, apply equally as well to your canine companions.Ayurveda, the mind-body healing science of the East, can be beneficial...
No Makeup Agenda: 9 Ways to Maintain Your Inner and Outer Glow
Humans have always appreciated and emulated beauty in all its forms as it has evolved over time. Recently, there has been a movement toward paring down the makeup routine in favor of a more natural look. While this trend sounds like a good idea, pulling it off places you in a bit of a quandary. You know beauty goes farther...
6 Ways to Fall Asleep Fast
Better sleep, better life! When you sleep well, you are not only healthier, but happier, too. And when you are healthier and happier, you are able to create stronger relationships, bring about stronger manifestations in your life, and enjoy increased productivity.But how do you fall asleep fast, rather than lying there with hundreds of thoughts running through your mind? Try...
7 Natural Ways to Prevent and Fight Off a Cold
During the winter months, your tendency to spend more time indoors, combined with the cool, dark external environment, can lead to an accumulation of earth and water elements in your body. In practical terms, this accumulation may look like: Fatigue Depression Weight gain Colds Flus By integrating the following Ayurvedic practices into your winter routine, you can stave off the...
The Inward Journey: How to Cultivate Well-being
Everyone seeks well-being, but there is little consensus on a firm definition for what it is or how best to foster it in your life. With so many defintions and approaches, it can feel difficult to know where to start. Deepak Chopra, MD, often speaks of the pillars of individual well-being as: Good sleep Stress management Movement Emotional balance Proper...
5 Crucial Habits for Restful Sleep
Modern life works against sleep and its restorative powers. Instead of taking over-the-counter or prescription sleep aids, which force an unnatural state of sleep, try putting into daily practice these five habits for restful sleep, recommended by Deepak Chopra, M.D.
How to Choose a Vacation for Your Dosha Type
Knowing your Ayurvedic mind body type is about honoring yourself and your true nature. It also helps you learn how to balance your health and your life. Just as there are different types of foods and exercise to balance your dosha, you can also pick leisure activities and vacations to enhance wellness.Here are some recommendations for choosing a vacation that’s...
Ayurvedic Tips to Reduce Stress and Rebalance Your Dosha
Burnout is pervasive in the Unites States. You know the feeling. Maybe you’ve had to put out so many fires or had so many emotional experiences that you almost feel numb. It can be hard to focus. You don’t know what to do next.And it’s at that moment that you can always turn to your Ayurvedic practices.Vata PracticesVata is the...
7 Ayurvedic Secrets for Weight Loss
We live in a diet-obsessed culture. It seems like every week a new diet makes headlines, claiming to be the best path to weight loss. From Paleo, South Beach, and Atkins, to Primal, Ketogenic, and Zone, it can be hard to decipher the best way to shed excess weight. Isn’t there a tried-and-true plan that has been around the block...
How to Get Kids to Sleep | Seven Ayurvedic Rituals for Bedtime
There are many different tactics for how to get kids to sleep and we want to share with you seven Ayurvedic sleeping rituals we believe will help get kids to sleep and fast.
How to Maintain Balance During Seasonal Transitions
Humans aren’t the only parts of the universe with different doshas—nature has different mind-body types, too. The seasons reflect all three doshas—Vata, Kapha, and Pitta. Vata is a mind-body type consisting of air and space, Kapha is a cold, wet, and heavy mind-body type that is composed of earth and water, and Pitta is made up of fire and water....
What Is Boswellia?
Boswellia (Boswellia serrata), also known as Indian frankincense, belongs to a family of resinous trees renowned for their aromatic oil. Boswellia trees are native to North Africa and the Middle East, but the particular species Boswellia serrata grows in the dry, mountainous forests of western and central India. Boswellia trees have a thick, papery bark that yields a gum containing...
Travel Tips: How to Keep Your Doshas in Balance While on Vacation
Traveling is such an exciting time. Packing the suitcases, buying new clothes, and dreaming about your destination enliven the spirit as you anticipate unplugging from daily life. However, travel also brings unpredictable aspects in your daily routine and new stimuli for your body and mind. While you may welcome the change of pace, your body may feel the changes unfavorably....
What Is Indian Gentian?
Indian Gentian (Andrographis paniculata) and has been renowned in India for thousands of years for its detoxifying and anti-infectious properties. The tropical shrub has delicate pink-purple flowers that produce small fruits containing six to 12 flattened seeds. It tastes intensely bitter, which is why it’s referred to as “the king of bitters.” The bitter taste is due to iridoid glycosides....
The 6 Tastes of Ayurveda
Uncover the 6 tastes: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. Learn which foods fall into these categories and how they effect your doshas.
What Is Black Cohosh?
Black cohosh (cimicifuga racemosa) is a native North American plant that has been used for thousands of years by Native Americans to treat women’s health issues, as well as other conditions.A member of the buttercup family, black cohosh is a perennial shrub with serrated leaves and clusters of tiny white flowers. Herbal preparations are made from the plant’s roots and...
5 Ayurvedic Spa Treatments to Energize Kapha
We all need some Kapha dosha in our constitution. It provides stability, strength, and structure to the body and grounding energy to the mind. When in balance, Kapha types have sturdy builds, good stamina, regular digestion, and a tranquil personality. Even-tempered, patient, and kind, Kapha types power through the stresses of everyday life with ease and grace.Excess Kapha dosha can...
5 Spa Treatments for Pacifying Pitta
If you have a predominance of Pitta, you have a fiery nature in mind and body. When it’s in balance, you tend to be joyful, friendly, and energetic. Your digestion is strong, metabolism is efficient, and your mind is clear and focused. But too much Pitta can lead to impatience, irritability, and hostility, along with physical symptoms such as inflammation,...
How to Use the Ayurvedic Herb Guduchi
Guduchi, or amrit, is considered to be effective for helping with a number of conditions, from mild allergies to inflammation. Discover the guduchi's benefits today!
What Is Holy Basil?
Discover the benefits of holy basil, a versatile Ayurvedic herb. Learn of its many forms, whether you're taking it in pill form or as holy basil tea.
5 Ayurvedic Spa Treatments to Balance Your Vata Dosha
In Ayurveda, Vata is the force that governs all movement in the body. When in balance, Vata can make you enthusiastic for life, clear thinking, intuitive, expressive, playful, and creative. In excess, though, it can manifest as pain, lack of appetite, tremors, coldness, constipation, anxiety, arthritis, racing thoughts, insomnia, and more.Even if it’s not your primary dosha, everyone has some...
7 Ayurvedic Tips to Avoid Weight Gain During the Holidays
Trying to keep off the pounds during the holidays? Follow these 7 Ayurvedic tips and recommendations to keep the weight off.
All About Ghee: Why It’s Good for You and How to Make It
Ghee comes from the Sanskrit word meaning “sprinkled,” which means that the milk fat is rendered from the butter to separate the milk solids and water. It’s essentially a form of clarified butter. In Ayurveda, it’s been lauded as an essential superfood with dozens of health benefits for thousands of years. Here’s why: It promotes a healthy digestive tract: Healing...
What Is Amalaki?
Learn more about the Amalaki fruit, commonly known as Indian gooseberry. Discover the benefits and uses in ayurveda of Amalaki powder.
Understanding Pitta: How to Feed Your Inner Fire
Learn the physical and emotional characteristics of the Pitta dosha and how to balance your diet from the Ayurveda experts at Chopra.
Understanding Kapha: How to Stay Healthy and Energized
Learn the physical and emotional characteristics of the Kapha dosha, how you can balance it, and what the proper Ayurvedic diet is.
Coping With Chronic Fatigue
A lack of vital energy is a problem that often defies conventional allopathic medicine. In most cases, if you go to a doctor complaining of nagging fatigue and flagging enthusiasm for life, you will have a series of blood tests to rule out the diseases that sometimes cause these symptoms. Chances are high that the tests will come back normal...
6 Ways to Process the Experience of Life
The world is a great big buffet of experience. Through the perspective of Ayurvedic philosophy, this statement couldn’t be truer. While mainstream society does place importance on dietary choices, very few people pay attention to what else they put into their bodies, especially the sensory intake of their lives.You can achieve and maintain good health by making conscious choices. But...
How to Balance Your Dosha in Nature
According to Ayurveda, spending time in nature helps heal the body and mind. The ancient Ayurvedic medical texts provide a long list of outdoor sensory experiences that promote well-being and balance the doshas. Here are a few as they relate to each dosha.Balance Vata: The Earth Beneath Your FeetIf you’re feeling ungrounded and your mind is racing—clear signs of excessive...
How to Get Restful Sleep
Restful sleep is the foundation for your mental and physical well-being. After a day of stimulating activity, your body needs deep sleep when your mind and body can rest and reset. When you’re well rested, you’re more alert, able to process new information more efficiently, and you make better decisions. On the other hand, when you’re sleep deprived, you’re more...
The Link Between Your Emotions and Your Digestion
Your emotional state affects your mind and body. Learn more about your stomach issues and spiritual meaning to stimulate emotional digestion for a healthier body.
Gardening RX: How to Grow 5 Ayurvedic Herbs
Growing a mini-Ayurvedic pharmacy at home isn’t as hard as you might think—and the benefits are huge. Imagine being able to reach into your own garden, where you know exactly how plants have been grown, and picking medicine for you and your family’s well-being. There is nothing more natural; and it can be a fulfilling way to add to your...
Expand Your Definition of Health With Ayurveda
An excerpt from Michelle’s book, The Wheel of Healing with Ayurveda: An Easy Guide to a Healthy Lifestyle, New World Library, May 12, 2015.When we think of health, we often refer to the physical body. If the body is strong and pain free, we declare that we are healthy. But if the body is experiencing aches and pains, or other...
Explore One of Ayurveda’s Most Popular Herbs: Triphala
The Ayurvedic formulary describes hundreds of plants that have the ability to keep us healthy as well as help us heal from disease. One of the most well-known and commonly used herbs is triphala, which means “three fruits.” As its name implies, triphala is a combination of the fruits of three plants, which are dried, ground into powder, and precisely...
Keep Calm and Centered: A Daily Balancing Routine for Vata
Routines can help keep your body and mind in a balanced and peaceful state Vata types are vulnerable to imbalances and illness in the absence of consistency.
Don’t Feel the Burn: Exercise Tips for Pitta
Here are a few Pitta-balancing exercise tips to help you harness the power of physical activity to create radiant health and emotional wellbeing, without burning out.
Keeping Your Children Healthy: Doshas for Kids
Finding balance is one of the greatest challenges in an ever-changing world. And keeping yourself balanced is difficult enough before you add children to the mix. They too have their own doshas and their own daily imbalances, and it can be tricky to figure out what to do to help create harmony for them.The good news is that children tend...
5 Ways to Tune Into Nature
With spring comes warmer weather, the sounds of birds chirping, sunshine, and rain. There’s a bustling of activity as people emerge from hibernation anxious to feel the sun on their faces and breathe in a new wave of fresh spring air. There’s a fundamental reason for this increased activity and it’s the essence of life.The life force, or Prana, within...
5 Ayurvedic Detox Tips for Spring
Spring and fall are important times of the year to detoxify, according to Ayurveda. A spring detox is especially important as an antidote to the slower season of winter.To maintain health and balance in the long run, however, Ayurveda also recommends a daily detox protocol. If you don’t yet have one, spring is the best time to put one in...
7 Simple Ways to De-Stress
If you feel that stress is affecting your physical health and emotional well-being, you’re not alone. An estimated 75 to 90 percent of all doctor visits are for stress-related issues and ailments, and this is certainly what I see in my medical practice. But don’t let this information increase your stress levels, for there are simple practices that you can...
7-Day Detox Routine
According to Ayurveda, good health is dependent upon our capability to fully metabolize the nutritional, emotional, and sensory information that we ingest. When the digestive energies, known as Agni (fire), are robust, we create healthy tissue, eliminate waste products efficiently, and produce a subtle essence called Ojas. Ojas, which can be described as the source of vitality, is the basis...
How to Beat Unhealthy Habits With Ayurveda
The main thing standing in the way of optimal health is most likely you. There are two main categories of health problems: those that are linked to genes, injuries, or the environment and those that are a result of self-abuse. A lot of modern health concerns today are linked to the latter, and most of those are preventable.“Self-abuse” sounds harsh...
Cooling Herbs to Balance Your Pitta Dosha
Discover the cooling herbal remedies that can help balance and detoxify Pittas. Beginning with what pitta dosha are and extending to which herbs can soothe inflammatory conditions
Light and Aromatic Herbs to Balance Your Kapha Dosha
In Ayurveda, health is much more than the absence of disease; it is the dynamic integration of the body, mind, spirit, and environment. Herbal medicine offers a gentle approach to enhance this integration and correct subtle imbalances. For Kaphas, herbal remedies can be especially helpful for promoting detoxification and renewal. Not a Kapha? Herbs to Balance Your Vata Herbs to...
Calming Herbs to Balance Your Vata Dosha
Herbs can help enhance the integration of the mind, body and spirit. Learn about these great herbs that will balance your Vatas.
Healthy Habits for Kapha Season
As the cold and wetness of winter settle in, in the Northern Hemisphere we are moving from Vata season to Kapha season. In harsh winter climates, the effects are obvious, but even in more temperate climates, you can still notice the subtler changes that come with winter. With any shift in season, there are steps you can take to stay...
Garshana: Detoxify at Home with Ayurvedic Skin Brushing
The Garshana is a traditional Ayurvedic dry massage that refreshes and stimulates the skin and lymphatic system, enhancing blood circulation and the release of accumulated toxins. To perform a garshana, you will need natural silk gloves, a soft sponge, or a dry brush that gently removes dead skin layers leaving the skin supple and glowing.The ideal time to dry brush...
5 Luxurious Ayurvedic Spa Treatments
Ayurvedic spa treatments are the crème de la crème of the massage world. They've been tried and tested through the ages in India, not only for relaxation, but for health benefits such as improving circulation, toning the muscles, calming the nerves, lubricating the joints, and increasing mental alertness. They are also used for supreme detoxification, skin health, energy, stamina, and...
The Benefits of Triphala
Widely known for its laxative qualities, Triphala can also be used to balance the doshas. Learn more from the experts at Chopra.
The Time Change Blues: How to Adjust to Daylight Savings
If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, the time change in the fall can throw off your healthy schedule, leaving you tired and blue. Barbecues and fresh fruit snacks turn into pasta and potato meals. After-dinner walks or runs are replaced with time on the couch as darkness sets in. For many, late fall means driving to work in the...
3 Ways to Use Aromatherapy to Heal
Aromatherapy is not just a tool to make your home smell fresh before company arrives. The relationship between your nose and certain fragrances is a powerful bond that can directly impact your overall well-being. This ancient healing exercise can be used as a therapeutic practice with great healing benefits.Ayurveda teaches that everything that enters your body is woven into your...
15 Ayurvedic Practices to Improve Your Health
A balanced diet and daily exercise routine is only the beginning of achieving Ayurvedic health. Tap into some of Ayurveda's lesser-known ancient teachings.
How to Read Your Pulse
Your pulse is not just a number on a doctor's chart, it's the rhythm of consciousness in your body. Learn how to take your pulse.
A Vata-Pacifying Routine for Fall
Leaves cover the ground, school buses dot the roads, and there’s a crisp chill in the air. These are all signs that Vata season is upon us. If you’re a Vata type, you may have a history of getting sick with colds, sore throats, or the flu in the fall. And the media’s warnings of impending flu and cold viruses...
What Is a Dosha?
Doshas are the three energies that define every person's makeup. Knowing your dosha can help you live a healthier, more balanced life.Discover your dosha type here.In Ayurveda, the five elements that are found in all living things—ether, air, fire, water, and earth—are the building blocks of life. While this foundation unites all humans, the manifestation of those elements through the...
Get Energized: A Daily Balancing Routine for Kapha
Routines can help keep your body and mind in a balanced and peaceful state. Try these easy-to-follow daily routines to stay energized.
Stay Cool and Collected: A Daily Balancing Routine for Pitta
With Pitta as your predominant dosha, you’re naturally intense, joyous, and focused on fulfilling your dreams and desires. However, if you accumulate an excess of the Pitta elements of fire and water, you can find yourself feeling Pitta-inflamed, with symptoms of irritability, impatience, and rigid or controlling behavior.An accumulation of Pitta can also manifest in a variety of health issues,...
Using Aromatherapy to Balance Your Kapha
Kaphas are calm, steady, and reliable when their dosha is balanced, but as soon as they fall off kilter, Kaphas can slow down to the point of inactivity. This means they can be sluggish, have a hard time motivating themselves, and can struggle with weight gain, allergies, and even depression.Aromatherapy is one way Kaphas can reinvigorate their dosha and get...
Balance Your Pitta With Aromatherapy
Pittas are strong and energetic when their dosha is balanced. When the Pitta dosha is off kilter, however, it can result in a short temper, skin rashes, and indigestion. Using scents and Aromatherapy is a powerful way to soothe the Pitta dosha and brings things back into balance. Not a Pitta? Aromatherapy for Vata Aromatherapy for Kapha Take the Dosha...
How to Balance Your Vata With Aromatherapy
Vatas are full of energy and creativity when their dosha is in balance. When unbalanced, however, Vatas have a hard time focusing that energy and they can become anxious and restless. That's where aromatherapy comes in. Not a Vata? Aromatherapy for PittaAromatherapy for KaphaTake the Dosha Quiz The energy and information you take in through your senses influence the quality...
Energize Your Life: Exercise Tips for Kapha
As a Kapha type, you’re blessed with great physical strength and steady energy. Because of this, you can excel at physical activities that require endurance, such as long-distance running, rowing, cycling, and hiking. You also have well-lubricated joints and are the least likely of the three dosha types to get injured.Frequent vigorous exercise is particularly important for Kapha types, who...
Create Sustainable Energy: Exercise Tips for Vata
Looking for the best way to exercise as a Vata? Let the experts at Chopra help with our Vata guide online today.
Kapha Self-Care: Seek Stimulation and Movement
Each dosha expresses balance and imbalance in different ways. Kaphas tend to be calm and relaxed when balanced but will lean toward lethargic and apathetic when out of balance. One of the important goals of Ayurveda is being able to tune into yourself and become aware of the signs that you are getting out of balance so that you can...
Pitta Self-Care: Take Time to Rest
One of the important goals of Ayurveda is being able to tune into yourself and become aware of the signs that you are getting out of balance so that you can make shifts to restore your natural equilibrium. As a Pitta, you are naturally energetic, but left unbalanced, that energy can lead to burnout. Self-care can help you keep your...
Vata Self-Care: Find Your Rhythm
One of the important goals of Ayurveda is being able to tune into yourself and recognize the signs of imbalance. As a Vata type, you feel energetic and creative when balanced but become restless and unfocused when out of balance. When you’re able to recognize the difference you can make shifts to restore your natural equilibrium. Not a Vata? Pitta...
The Art of Digestion: Ayurveda’s Key to Perfect Health
In a world of advancing discovery and development, one eye-opening statistic is that Americans today use more medications than in any other country in the world. With all of our progress and evolution, the luxury of health still eludes us.While this cultural situation spirals in an “out of control” fashion, many individuals seek to expand their awareness and quality of...
The Inner Fire: The Key to Healthy Digestion and Detoxification
Aggravation of the doshas can dramatically affect the digestive fire, or Agni, in the human body. According to Ayurveda, the condition of the digestive fire determines the health of our entire being, which is why it's important to monitor how well your inner fire is burning. When the digestive fire is disturbed it generates toxins, also known as Ama. A...
Astrology and the Doshas
Dosha in astrology indicates our unique energy patterning that manifests as our physical, mental emotional characteristics Planets constellations are types of doshas.
How to Maintain an Ayurvedic Lifestyle While on Vacation
Summer brings with it beautiful weather, a change in daily activities and—for many people—a complete lifestyle makeover. Family reunions, summer camps, social activities, and vacations are in full swing, which can affect the time we rise and sleep, the nutritional choices we make, our exercise routine, and our schedule.Healthy habits take a long time to form, but sometimes not much...
Stay Centered and Energized During Vata Season
In Ayurveda the fall season corresponds to two major doshas or mind-body principles: Pitta and Vata. (Learn more about doshas here.) Autumn is considered Pitta as long as hot weather prevails, and Vata as it becomes cold. Late fall and winter are known as “Vata season” because they are marked by some of the same qualities that characterize Vata: cold,...
Love Your Body
If we have been blessed with general good health, we may tend to take our body for granted, not paying attention to what a miracle it is that we can see the colors of the landscape, hold the hand of a loved one, savor a delicious meal, listen to our favorite music, and breathe in the scent of freshly mowed...
The Key to Perfect Health
"Making your doshas happy will make you happy. This is the secret to balancing the whole mind-body system.”In the past decade, personalized medicine has emerged as one of the most promising developments in modern healthcare, offering an approach that tailors medical care and treatment to an individual’s unique characteristics, including a person’s molecular and genetic profile. Advances in scientific research...
An Ayurvedic Approach to Seasonal Allergies
Our immune system is a complex and wonderful system. When in balance, it does a seamless job of identifying and eliminating potential threats to our health, such as toxins, bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. However, sometimes our immune system responds too vigorously to a substance in the environment that is usually harmless, such as pollen, animal dander, or mold. As...
Ignite Your Immune System
Every day we confront challenges to our health. Viruses, bacteria, and toxins are all around us, but our bodies manage to ward off the great majority of them. Why is it, then, that sometimes our defenses can’t keep up? The answer lies in the health and balance of our immune system, the body’s primary defense against infectious disease. The human...
Stay in Balance During Vata Season
In Ayurveda winter is known as “Vata season” because the season is characterized by some of teh same quare marked by some of the same qualities that characterize Vata: cold, dry, light, clear, and moving.As long as these qualities are in balance, a person whose dosha is predominantly Vata will be healthy, creative, and exuberant. But when too much Vata...
Heal Naturally with Ayurveda
Ayurveda teaches that good health depends upon our body’s ability to metabolize all aspects of life, assimilating that which nurtures us, and eliminating the rest. When we can’t completely digest our food, experiences, and emotions, toxic residue gets stored in our bodily tissue, creating imbalance and – ultimately – disease.Thousands of years ago, the ancient ayurvedic physicians developed panchakarma, an...
Living Perfect Health
Lack of vital energy is a problem that usually defies conventional allopathic medicine. In most cases, if you go to a doctor complaining of nagging fatigue and flagging enthusiasm for life, you will have a series of blood tests to rule out the diseases that sometimes cause these symptoms. The chances are high that the tests will come back normal...
Eating to Balance Your Mind-Body Type
Eating to Balance Your Mind-Body TypeAyurveda teaches that all health-related measures—whether an exercise program, dietary plan or herbal supplement—must be based on an understanding of an individual’s unique mind-body type, known as a dosha. Your dosha reflects your innate tendencies, including your temperament, metabolism, energy level, learning style, and many other aspects of your body, mind, and emotions. To figure...
Is there an Ayurvedic view of plastic surgery?
Dear Deepak,Lately, out of my insecurities, I have been toying with the idea of doing plastic surgery for my nose. Yet at the same time, I am aware that I want to develop my spiritual life (I have been practicing yoga for 11 years and I’ve been teaching it for the past three years) in more depth. I am starting...
How to Balance a Pitta body and a Vata Mind?
According to Ayurveda, the body is DNA woven with food and, therefore, the most direct way to affect the body is through what we take in through our mouth. Since your body is predominantly Pitta, you will want to focus on Pitta-balancing foods, spices, and teas.
Relief from Chronic Yeast Infections
Question: I suffer from recurring yeast infections. I have tried over-the-counter medications, but the problem is worse than ever. I love sweets and I have cut back. Is the yeast an internal problem as well as vaginal?Answer: It’s important to keep in mind that all infectious agents live perpetually in our environment. Illness is due as much to the quality...
How to Help a Daughter with an Autoimmune Disorder
Question: My daughter has just been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, the same one that I have! I feel terrible . . . as if I’ve passed it on to her. What can I do to help her?Answer: Don’t add insult to injury by blaming yourself for your daughter’s situation. Most autoimmune disorders have a genetic component, but we have...
Help for Sore Throats
Question: I am constantly getting sore throats that often don’t develop into colds or anything else. What do you think it is and how can I prevent these sore throats?Answer: Recurrent sore throats or upper respiratory tract infections are either due to suppression of your immunity or repeated exposure to irritants in your environment. We would recommend that you first...
A Mind-Body Approach to Diabetes
Part of truly appreciating our human experience is enjoying the sweetness of life. A perfectly ripe peach. A fresh slice of homemade bread. A scoop of chocolate ice cream. In life’s paradoxical way, however, at the same time that we have greater access to the world’s rich variety of sweet delicacies than ever before, the number of people with difficulties...
5 Tips to End Insomnia and Get Restful Sleep
According to Ayurveda, sleep is the nursemaid to humanity. During deep, restful sleep, our body recovers from stress and we wake up feeling refreshed, clear-minded, and energized. Unfortunately, with the turbulence in people’s personal lives and in the world at large, many of us suffer from insomnia and a lack of adequate rest.While sleep medication can provide a temporary altered...
A Timeless Treatment for Modern Stress
The Shirodhara Will Help You Let Go into Present-Moment BlissThe shirodhara is one of the most well-known and powerful treatments in Ayurveda, the holistic system of traditional medicine that developed in India over 5,000 years ago. In ancient Sanskrit, shiro means head, and dhara means flow. Hence, shirodhara is a continuous stream of warm oil that is gently poured over...
5 Tips to Prevent Jet Lag
We received many interesting questions about sleep in response to Dr. Valencia Porter’s article on the keys to restful sleep in our July newsletter. One reader asked about the problem of jet lag. Here is Dr. Porter’s response:Thanks to the advances of modern aviation, it is possible for us to cross multiple time zones in a short period of time,...
Conscious Eating for Perfect Weight
What is perfect weight? It is tempting to think that there is a certain number on a scale that defines a person’s “perfect” weight. The problem with this, as many recognize, is that even when they reach their goal weight, they still don’t feel healthy and vital. On the other hand, some people may not meet the criteria for “ideal...
Make Ayurveda Work for You
Almost two years ago, I attended the Chopra Center’s Perfect Health with Panchakarma program, and the experience was transformational. The classes were chock full of valuable tips to help live a healthy, balanced lifestyle from the perspective of Ayurveda, a 5,000-year-old healing system that originated in India.In fact, so many tips and tools were provided that initially I felt a...
Treating Migraine Headaches
QuestionFor many years I have suffered from migraine headaches. Sometimes I have to miss work because the pain is so debilitating. I’ve tried conventional medical treatment, but it hasn’t helped very much. I’m wondering what alternative and complementary approaches you could suggest.The Doctors RespondHeadaches are an extremely common problem for human beings. Studies have estimated that about 90 percent of...
Eating a Balanced Diet the Ayurvedic Way
Long before the U.S. FDA issued recommended daily allowances for fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, we listened to our taste buds to determine which substances were edible, how much of each to consume, and how to create balance in our bodymind. A core concept in the ancient Ayurvedic healing system is the six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent.A...
Healing Through Nature
NamastéShhh, can you hear it?Can you hear the sound?I think I can.Wait. First I must thank my mind for weaving thoughts, emotion.Instantaneously transformed, feelings.Wait. First I must thank my intellect for being so smart.Ideas to fix, evaluate, discriminate.Wait. First I must thank my ego for defending with vigilance.Vast universe, infinite perceived threat.Ahh!Gratitude allows silence to emerge!There it is. Now I...
Natural Allergy Relief
As springtime begins in the Northern Hemisphere, the landscape is alive with nature’s beautiful expression, enlivening our senses with an infinite variety of color, scents, and forms. Unfortunately, for those of us with sensitivities to pollen, spring can also be a time of watery eyes, chapped noses, and other allergic symptoms. The healing system known as Ayurveda offers some time-honored...
Ayurvedic Approaches to Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic condition of the joints in which the cartilage cushioning the ends of the bones gradually loses its elasticity and wears away. Without the protective cartilage, the bones begin to rub against each other, causing stiffness, inflammation, and loss of movement. It can occur in any of the body’s joints but most often develops in the...
Ayurvedic Approaches to Osteoarthritis–Part II
This is the second part of a special two-part series on Ayurvedic approaches to treating osteoarthritis. In Part I, Dr. Sheila Patel discussed research showing the benefits of various ayurvedic herbs and meditation in treating this disorder. Read Part I here. In Part II, she looks at how yoga can help people coping with osteoarthritis increase mobility and flexibility, relieve...
The Key to Keeping an Active and Healthy Lifestyle with a Busy Schedule
Let’s face it, although many of us strive to be the healthiest, best version of ourselves, sometimes our hectic lives can make us feel like this is not within our reach. Many of us succumb to the demands that our everyday lives bring and leave our health and well-being to the last second. However, our health should be molded into...
Five Reasons to Attend a Chopra Wellness Retreat
We live in a fast-paced world. Take a break and rejuvenate with our mindfulness and wellness retreats in beautiful locations.
Practices for Releasing Anger
Learn to let go and feel lighter with these clearing practices to clear anger and stuck emotions.
Holistic Approaches to Immune Support
Have you ever noticed you’re more likely to catch a cold if you’ve recently been stressed, slept poorly, or been emotionally upset? That last one is particularly interesting evidence of the mind-body connection! Most humans are much more likely to succumb to an infection or a flare of an auto-immune condition or fibromyalgia if they have recently experienced emotional distress....
Four Mindful Practices to Lighten Dark Winter Days
Do you love the long nights of winter, or do you dread the early sunsets? Our mindset has quite a lot to do with how much we enjoy this time of year, and trading resistance for gratitude can change everything about how we experience it. It is colder, darker, and wetter in winter, and that can be seen as a...
Natural Ways to Boost Immunity, Balance Vata, and Lean into the Joys of Autumn
Welcome autumn when school begins, the number of evening hours increase, and vata dosha characterizes the new season. September marks the perfect time to reinstate routine into our lives, as we walk in autumn air that cools our cheeks. For some, the idea of routine might sound restrictive. In reality, routines help balance vata dosha, leading to a sense of...
Seeking Balance—Finding Your Life’s True North
In a world full of chaos, it becomes even more important to focus on balance for your overall well-being. The good news is it’s your natural state. But if you go astray, there are ways to find your way back.
Buscando el Equilibrio - Encontrando el Verdadero Norte de tu Vida
En nuestra búsqueda del bienestar total, hay un principio, una guía que, como un faro, siempre nos llevará de vuelta a nuestro estado más natural de calma y bienestar centrado. Ese principio es el equilibrio.
Breathing for Life: The Mind-Body Healing Benefits of Pranayama
Discover the breath of life with our four deep breathing techniques. Learn how the deep breathing yoga practice of pranayama can heal your mind and body.
Ask Dr. Suhas: How Do Men Cultivate Good Health Habits?
Every month, Dr. Suhas will be answering questions from our followers around men’s health and wellness. If you have general questions for him, please send us an email to askdrsuhas@chopra.com, and your question may be the one he answers next month.This month, Dr. Suhas answers a question around how men can create and maintain healthy habits.How Do Men Cultivate Good...
A Guide to Resilience on World Health Day
Staying healthy is at the top of everyone’s mind in times like these, and on April 7, the globe recognizes World Health Day. As the world works to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, there are a few easy ways you can keep track of your health and wellness on World Health Day and every day after.Emotional Health1. It’s OK to...
A Soak and Massage Ritual to Calm the Mind, Body, and Spirit
As a natural beauty and wellness expert working mostly with clients in New York City, I knew before the coronavirus (COVID-19) hit that my clients were already living with a high level of stress. Now, in the midst of this new experience, with confusion and uncertainty all around us, we are collectively experiencing a new and unprecedented level of stress.While...
5 Prácticas de Mente-Cuerpo para Aumentar su Energía
Este enfoque suele provocar un aumento de los niveles de azúcar en la sangre, y el inevitable colapso del azúcar; un breve pico de energía desequilibrada; o nerviosismo provocado por la sobre estimulación del sistema nervioso.
The 10 Best Yoga Poses for Winter
Ayurveda teaches that winter is a primarily a Kapha season, with a strong influence of Vata energy. In the Ayurvedic healing system, like attracts like and opposites balance, so during this chilly season, you’ll want to invite grounding and warming postures into your practice to balance Vata’s cold and dry qualities. Meanwhile, stoking your inner flame with twists and invigorating...
3 Ways to Boost Your Immune System with Self-Massage
Tune up your immune system for cold and flu season. Good nutrition, proper rest, and regular exercise are the basics of staying healthy. However, you can pump up your resistance even more by adding self-massage to your daily or weekly routine.Massage promotes relaxation and increases circulation. It also triggers measurable changes in the body’s immune and endocrine systems. One 2019...
10 Tips for Eating Healthy
It’s been said that food is the best medicine. It’s true that the right foods will make us feel both energized and nourished. These 10 tips will make it easy to get started.Defaulting to what comes easy or is familiar can be a hindrance when it comes to cultivating health and well-being. Today’s fast-food culture is a perfect example; people...
Why Self-Care Is the Best Medicine for Managing Stress
Self-care is the best medicine for managing stress. Indeed, it may be the only medicine for managing stress. Stress builds up as you move through the world. Bills to pay, mouths to feed, dreams to follow, bodily functions to manage, relationships to nourish, world news to process, social activism to make the world a kinder place—life is stressful! Even the...
4 Ways Seasonal Changes Can Affect Your Mood
If you find yourself feeling a little less happy go lucky—or, on the contrary, you have an extra skip in your step—as the seasons change, it’s not your imagination. It’s happening.Length of daylight plays a major role, but temperature and lifestyle also have a say. Not everyone reacts the same way to seasonal shifts. But if you find that your...
6 Ways to Boost Your Mood This Fall
As the days grow shorter, the leaves turn to shades of burnt orange, yellow, and red and are eventually released to blanket the earth. The air is a bit crisper. The seasonal change from shorts and sandals to jeans and boots is underway. Iced tea shifts to lattes. Fruits such as berries and tomatoes make room for pumpkins and squash...
The Health Benefits of Ginger Tea
Ginger tea is one of the oldest medicinal drinks. From digestive health to helping inflamed airways, there are plenty of benefits. Learn more at Chopra!
Beginners Guide to Holistic Health
You may have been raised with a black and white approach to health. Why not take the best of both worlds? This approach to holistic healing might be for you.
Exploring Saucha: The Purity of Mind, Body, and Intention
Thanks to Marie Kondo and her Konmari Method, decluttering and finding what “sparks joy” is all the rage right now. Of course, spiritual practices around cleanliness and order are age-old practices, and the yogic teachings found in the Yoga Sutra contain powerful inspiration for how to create an inner environment for peace, joy, and freedom.Saucha means cleanliness or purity, and...
Transform Winter into a Restorative Season
With the holiday season behind you, pause for a moment to reflect on how you experience winter. Was your holiday activity so frenetic that you wound up exhausted? Did you go through an annual cycle where you felt more stressed than uplifted, much less rested? Some people get the winter blues or even suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) due...
7 Steps to Embracing Mind-Body Wholeness in the New Year
If you want next year to be better than ever, you need to think about making changes—meaning improvements—in your life. Instead of picking out a single bad habit or negative part of your life, which is how the vast majority of people approach New Year’s resolutions, do something different: go into the whole issue of how people actually change—or don’t....
3 Strategies to Remain Centered During the Holidays
The holidays are here! This may be your favorite time of the year, celebrating with loved ones and taking a pause form your busy and hectic life. However, the holidays can be stressful as well, giving rise to emotions as varied as loneliness and grief, and to feeling overwhelmed and anxious. Family gatherings can be downright stressful and emotionally draining!Here...
5 Healing Modalities That Could Change Your Life
There are many types of healing one goes through, be it mental, spiritual, or physical. Learn how these 5 traditional practices can heal and rejuvenate.
How Practicing Self-Care Can Improve Every Aspect of Your Life
Turbulence. Chaos. Frustration. These words may describe your days. You are over-stimulated, frenzied, stressed, exhausted, fatigued, and desperate as you attempt to cope with the challenges of modern life. If this sounds all too familiar, you’re not alone. You live in a culture of compulsive over activity—a society driven to work harder, faster, and longer to accomplish more in less...
Reducing Inflammation Starts with the Vagus Nerve
Learn about the vagus nerve and how it plays a role in inflammation. Learn vagus nerve massages and other ways to naturally reduce inflammation.
Managing Menopause: Lifestyle and Nutrition Changes to Ease Symptoms
Hormones are chemical messengers that are released by different glands and travel through the bloodstream to influence organs and processes throughout the body. The endocrine system is made up of glands such as the thyroid, adrenals, pituitary, ovaries, testes, and pancreas, which work together to control the levels of different hormones and help the body function and maintain balance.Each woman...
How to Design a Customized Self-Care Routine for You
Self-care has become quite the buzzword. Hashtags such as #selfcare or #selfcaresunday pepper social media feeds as people display activities, quotes, foods, etc., that reflect their “self-care” lifestyle. Numerous books and magazine articles are dedicated to this trending topic. It’s overwhelming, with the amount of information available, to figure out what this is really about and if it’s something you...
Spring to Life: How the Season Sets the Tone for Optimal Energy
Spring is the period between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. It's considered a symbol of rebirth and is associated with new beginnings. Farmers and gardeners plant their seeds as temperatures slowly rise. The formerly frozen ground grows softer and more yielding. Gentle rains tease new life into dormant grasses and help seeds take root, leading to buds and...
What to Look for in a Good Doctor
Everyone is a patient and healer in some respect. Your body is constantly breaking down and repairing itself whether you realize it or not. If you have ever been to a doctor, whether for yourself or for a loved one, you know there are as many types of doctors as there are patients. Each doctor has a unique personality (rapport),...
Coping with Weight Means Coping with Life
Eating is a natural part of digestive rhythms set in your genes, largely controlled by two hormones, leptin and ghrelin. When these hormones are in balance, the alternation between being hungry and being satisfied is also in balance. But these simple facts about the physiology are beside the point when weight becomes a problem.A Whole-System Approach to Weight ControlThe real...
7 Homeopathic Remedies for Your First-Aid Kit
Whether you’re feeling the onset of a cold or looking for a natural topical for a insect bite, homeopathic remedies can help you. Keep these homeopathic care ideas.
6 Myths About Aging: How to View Maturing in a Positive Light
Aging is a natural process in life. Every single day you are older than you were the day before. Stereotypes about aging would have you believe that as you get older your health suffers, you become a burden to your families, your sleep patterns change, your mind is less sharp and flexible, and you become grumpier.According to Mark Twain, “Age...
Addiction Recovery: Meditation and Yoga for Healing
Many individuals recovering from addiction feel they’ve lost touch with how their minds and bodies feel, because addiction serves as a way to numb and disconnect you from your mind and body.Many studies have observed the effect of yoga and meditation on the fight-or-flight response, which is the body’s natural reaction to stressful and life-threatening situations. While this response is...
Quit These 5 Habits to Help Reduce Anxiety
Nervousness, panic attacks, road rage, and feelings of sadness plague more Americans than you might think. According to CCHR International, 36 million Americans were taking anti-anxiety drugs and 41 million Americans were taking antidepressants in 2014.Anxiety disorders are the most common form of mental illness in the U.S., and many people don’t seek help because they are uncertain of how...
The Caregiver’s Guide to Self-Care: Part I
“Never give from the depths of your well, but from your overflow.”--RumiAt 22 I decided to put my career on hold and return home to take care of my grandfather who was struggling with Parkinson’s disease and dementia. I devoted my life to his daily care, determined he would not end up in a nursing home, surrounded by strangers. He...
How to Make Self-Care a Priority
Throughout life, you’re taught to extend love outwards—to be kind to others, to share, to shower others with compassion, empathy, and generosity. Yet, when it comes to directing all those gifts to yourself, it often feels less natural. If you’re inclined to live your life with feelings of guilt, shame, and perhaps self-loathing, it can be challenging to replace that...
4 Daily Self-Care Practices for Alleviating Anxiety
For the past 20 minutes, you have been sitting at your desk, a blank computer screen staring back at you. The cursor at the top of your open Word document flashes rhythmically. Thump… thump… thump.You become aware of your heartbeat and notice it steadily increasing. You feel it becoming stronger and you feel it in your stomach, traveling upward into...
Eating Seasonally for Your Dosha, Plus 3 Springtime Recipes
The ancient Ayurvedic text, Sushrita Samhita, states: “He whose doshas are in balance, whose appetite is good…and whose Self, mind, and senses remain full of bliss, is called a healthy person.” Eating specific foods can help balance your dosha—and so can eating according to the season. As you move into springtime, explore these time-honored diet tips that can help you...
5 Aromatherapy Recipes to End Holiday Stress
The spicy, sweet aromas of the holiday season can spark joyful memories, strong emotions, and big appetites. They can also offer health benefits. Pure essential oils such as cinnamon, clove, pine, orange, peppermint, and frankincense—all classic holiday scents—can help you weather seasonal stress.Essential oils are synergistic blends of chemical compounds that plants produce to defend themselves against pathogens and to...
How to Pick the Best Doctor for You
When choosing the right, or “best” physician, the first step is to remember that you’re choosing the best physician for you, as an individual. This takes into account your definition of health and your goals for healing and wellness. Your best physician is one who shares your perspective on health so that they can give you guidance and recommendations that...
5 Mind-Body Practices to Boost Your Energy
The mid-afternoon slump hits when your energy supply is exhausted and your tank is on empty. The activity of the day has begun to wane, along with your enthusiasm, vitality, and drive. The quick and easy fix for this decline in energy often comes in the form of a snack loaded with sugar or caffeine. A candy bar or espresso...
5 Ways to Nurture Your Inner Fire
Agni, or digestive fire, processes more than just food in your body—it helps you assimilate all aspects of your daily life including your experiences. If your Agni is strong, your body is better able to absorb nutrients and process events. If Agni is weak, however, toxins, or Ama, can start to build.As such Agni plays a crucial role in your...
You Can Transform Your Own Biology
To date, one of biology’s greatest achievements, mapping the human genome, is only just beginning to translate into medical advances. But in 2014 there will likely be more headlines about another type of study in genetics that is already impacting everyone.We are referring to a different aspect of our genome, which radically revises a model that is decades old, dating...
Healing Through the 5 Senses
In this very moment you are seamlessly connected to the cosmos. The same deep intelligence that streams through the rivers flows through your bloodstream, and the same breath that nourishes your cells animates the life of a rain forest. Although it may seem like you are separate from the world “out there,” in reality your body and the universe are...
Chopra Center Certifications
Chopra Center Certifications offers teacher certification programs in meditation & Ayurvedic lifestyle. Transform your life, with meditation teacher training.
Chopra Addiction & Wellness Center
The Chopra Addiction and Wellness Center is the first truly holistic addiction treatment program, combining the latest in modern Western medicine with the traditional healing arts of the East. Founded on the principles from the Freedom from Addiction program developed by Deepak Chopra, M.D. and David Simon, M.D., the program emphasizes physical, emotional and spiritual healing. In addition to the...
Mindful Eating
In a world plagued by food shortage that are reaching crisis level, carbohydrates are the easiest salvation and yet the greatest temptation to abuse. Ironically, the same is true in prosperous countries but for opposite reasons. Where food is desperately needed, vast portions of the ecosystem are obliterated to make way for a small handful of crops, particularly rice and...
A Mind-Body Approach to Carbohydrates
In a world plagued by food shortage that are reaching crisis level, carbohydrates are the easiest salvation and yet the greatest temptation to abuse. Ironically, the same is true in prosperous countries but for opposite reasons. Where food is desperately needed, vast portions of the ecosystem are obliterated to make way for a small handful of crops, particularly rice and...
Type 2 Diabetes and the Circle of Life
Type 2 diabetes has become an increasing problem in modern America. Because it is chiefly linked to obesity, as more people become overweight, and as the age of gaining weight reaches down into childhood, a largely preventable disease turns into an epidemic. The litany about such lifestyle disorders is now familiar to almost everyone. The changes that prevent Type 2...
Are You Depressed?
It’s not news that depression has become a kind of invisible epidemic, afflicting millions of people. We live at a time when depression is approached as a disease. That has a good side. Depressed people are not judged against as weak or self-indulgent, as if they only need to try harder to lift themselves out of their sadness. Yet depression,...
Eating for Enlightenment: Why Mindful Eating Matters
One of the best times of day is when it is time to eat. Being fully present during this sacred time of bliss is of utmost importance. What we consume, how much, and what time we eat affects how we digest, along with our sense of wellbeing.
Vata Balancing Recipes
Enjoy these simple recipes to warm and balance your system.
Pitta Balancing Beverages to Help You Feel Cool and Refreshed
Try these simple and delicious pitta balancing beverages to keep your cool all summer long.
Detoxifying Spring Recipes
Kapha balancing recipes to stay healthy and balanced this spring.
Holiday Recipes with an Ayurvedic Twist
This holiday season, we may find ourselves torn between eating nutritious foods and sharing in holiday treats. Ayurveda can help us do both at once, while including one of Ayurveda’s Four Aims of Life: enjoyment. These are some simple variations on holiday recipes that will satisfy your sweet tooth and appetite, as well as your agni.By swapping out common ingredients...
Warm Up with Sweet Potato Black Bean Soup
Cozy up with this soup as the days get a little shorter and evenings get cooler. This sweet potato and black bean soup is not only delicious, but provides healing Ayurvedic properties and boosts immunity with the combination of ginger, garlic & onion. It also includes a cashew cream sauce, which can be grounding and satisfying as we enter the...
Get Grounded with Sweet Potato Chai Pancakes
In the Northern Hemisphere, we’re in the midst of Vata season, with cold, windy days that increase the Vata dosha in the body, mind, and emotions. If you accumulate too much Vata, you’re likely to feel nervous, spacy, or overstimulated. To keep your Vata in balance, start your day with a grounding breakfast routine to feel rooted, warm, and nourished.Discover...
Pumpkin Power: 4 Recipes Featuring America’s Favorite Squash
From lattes and lasagnas to soups and salads, pumpkin is suitable for endless culinary creations. It’s also a nutritional powerhouse.Pumpkin’s deep orange color means it’s packed with powerful compounds called carotenoids. Carotenoids have been linked to cancer prevention, reduced risk of heart disease, and improved vision, according to the American Society for Nutritional Sciences. This fruit also comes with beaucoup...
Fall for This One-Pan Turmeric Healing Bowl
Turmeric is a staple in balancing the body from an Ayurvedic perspective. It’s a powerful anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and detoxifier and balances all three doshas. It’s particularly beneficial for balancing excess Kapha in the body. Many people know that turmeric is good for them but beyond a turmeric latte, it can be initially difficult to integrate turmeric into everyday cooking.Discover your...
10 Foods That Help Boost Your Immunity to Fight COVID-19
Here is a list of 10 immune-boosting foods with antiviral properties helping the immune system’s ability to destroy pathogens In combination with good hygiene.
Conscious Cooking: Preparing Meals with Mindful Awareness
“A recipe has no soul. You as the cook must bring soul to the recipe.” —Thomas KellerMany of us are familiar with the practice of eating meditation, or a mindful approach to consuming your food with reverence, deliberate attention, full sensory embodiment, gratitude, and present-moment awareness. Mindful eating is a great way to infuse a deeper awareness into one of...
What Should You Eat During a Pandemic?
What should you eat during a pandemic? This question seems to come up a lot these days, and rightly so. The focus on strengthening your immunity and steadying your mood is vital when thinking about what to eat during a pandemic. Implementing simple ways to build your body’s defenses to reinforce its protective powers is paramount for when (and if!)...
Celebrate National Hummus Day with These Three Recipes
Although hummus now has a significant place in the western snack and appetizer world, it has been a staple of Middle Eastern cuisine for centuries. Hummus (or hommus) means chickpea in Arabic and can be found in recipes as far back as the 13th century. As meat was often hard to come by, the hearty bean dish has many variations...
5 Fall Foods Full of Flavor
Have you heard of the six flavors? Each flavor is known in Ayurveda (the traditional medicine of India) for different qualities and elements. Each of the six flavors has its own unique medicinal properties that can be honed and fine-tuned within your eating. Often known as the taste of satiation, the combination and balance of all six flavors are said...
What Is Vedic Cooking?
Ayurveda, an ancient, holistic practice rooted historically in India, is guided by two main principles: The mind and the body are connected. The mind has the utmost power to heal the body. Within that framework, being healthy depends on harmony between the two. In fact, living an Ayurvedic or “vedic” life is all about balance and, not surprisingly, vedic cooking...
6 Steps to Ease Into a Vegetarian Diet
Transitioning into a new way of eating should be slow and steady. When you make a massive change or go “cold turkey” with something, it’s less likely to last for the long-term. And with any lifestyle change, having a reason why you’re doing it will help further the success. Make a decision to change based on your why and then...
5 Dishes to Make Your Thanksgiving Vegan
Thanksgiving is a time when families and friends gather together to share a specially prepared feast, camaraderie, and each other’s company. Why not put a different spin on your Thanksgiving meal this year by incorporating the time-honored wisdom of Ayurveda and embracing ahimsa (nonviolence) by making the meal completely vegan.The following recipes incorporate the six tastes of Ayurveda—sweet, salty, sour,...
5 Ways to Boost Your Immunity
Who has time for getting sick? I know I don’t! Whether it’s just a common cold or something as miserable as the stomach flu, it always seems to come at the most inconvenient times—especially during the fall and winter season when kids are in school and the holidays are in full swing.The more things you can do to boost your...
8 Healthier, Real-Food Halloween Treats
With Halloween just around the corner, you may be wondering how to keep you and your family healthy during the most sugary holiday of the year. While most Halloweens will be chock full of conventional, sugary candy, there are quite a few natural, real-food snacks for you to incorporate, too.Once you (and your family) develop a taste for healthy real-food...
5 Ways to Use Food as Medicine
“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need.”—Ayurvedic proverbIt’s hard not to notice the books, documentaries, and podcasts that present research on the association between diet and chronic disease or illness. Emotional well-being is also affected by diet, something that can be overlooked when seeking treatment for mental health issues....
6 Ingredients That Aren’t as Healthy As You May Think
When looking at a nutrition label, most people think it’s important to look at the calories, fats, sugars, etc. However, the ingredients are just as important as anything else on the nutrition label. Those calories, fats, and sugars are all made up of the ingredients that are in that product.What about “healthy” foods? Are ingredients important in healthy packaged products,...
6 Superstar Spices of Ayurveda, Plus 3 Recipes
Ayurveda considers food to be one of the most important pillars of health. You have heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” Ayurveda takes this one step further—you are what you eat and how you digest what you eat. Digestion is the cornerstone of health and immunity in Ayurveda. This is where the magic of spices comes in.Spices have...
5 Vegan and Gluten-Free Cooling Summer Recipes
Ayurvedic healing rests on the simple, yet profound principle that like increases like and opposites decrease each other (or, as Hippocrates wisely put it, “opposites are the cure for opposites”). So to find balance during the hot summer (Pitta) days, you may counteract the warm weather by including more of what Ayurveda considers “cooling” foods, while limiting or avoiding “heating”...
The Vedic Chef: 3 Ayurvedic Recipes that Balance All 6 Tastes
In Ayurveda, there are six tastes that you can include in every meal: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent. Meals with all six tastes are great opportunities to help balance flavors and nutrition for better health for everyone in your family (or whoever you are serving).The following three recipes are built from many small dishes and include all six...
The Whys and Whats of GMOs
Since the beginning of modern agriculture, humans have been genetically influencing crops by cross-breeding to produce desired qualities. In recent times, scientists have leveraged the use of biotechnology to speed up this process and make it more reliable. The process of altering the genetic makeup of a plant to produce desirable characteristics is known as genetic engineering, or GE.For now...
The Vedic Chef: 3 Vegetarian Recipes for Spring
One of the best parts of the changing seasons is that new vegetables come into season. Although the interconnectedness of the world means that most produce can be found year-round (it’s always being grown somewhere!), your palate is primed for the changes in what’s available locally at their traditional in-season times.Broccoli, ginger, and zucchini are flavorful and healing ingredients that...
3 Reasons to Cook Your Own Meals
As the saying goes, “You are what you eat.” The human body is made of trillions of cells involved in a continuous cycle of cell death and rebirth. Although genetics plays a large role in susceptibility to disease, you have an opportunity each and every day to feed your cells with vital life energy from the food you eat. The...
Exploring the Mindset and Psychology Behind Your Food Choices
As you look into the future of nutrition and weight loss, it is evident that dieters are in need of a new approach. There were an estimated 108 million Americans on a diet in 2012. Surprisingly, there is no single scientific study that proves that dieting even works for long-term weight loss. Even though consumers are spending $66.3 billion on...
9 Ways to Detox at Home
You may have been led to believe that in order to detox your body you need to follow an extreme diet plan—like fasting, removing all fats, or restricting yourself to only fresh-pressed juices for several days in a row. But did you know that it is possible to incorporate smaller and more realistic detox practices into your daily routine at...
5 Fresh Summertime Sauces to Take Your BBQ to the Next Level
Summertime is upon us, which means laying by the pool, weekend camping trips, fresh watermelon … and barbeques! The tricky part of backyard BBQs is they are always filled with calorie-laden potato salads and unhealthy hot dogs and burgers. Think it’s impossible to host a healthy BBQ for your family and friends? Think again: These recipes are easy to make...
Autumn Cooking: Fall Foods, Guidelines, and Recipes
Each year, the environment provides subtle hints that fall is on its way. The air smells different, the winds are stronger, and there’s a slight crispness to the atmosphere.Fall is a time of preparation and change for the colder days ahead. It evokes images of bundling up, sitting around fires and enjoying warm, soul-soothing meals. Fall also brings a predominance...
3 Recipes with an Ayurvedic Twist
We often think of Ayurvedic foods as healthy and flavorful, but full of hard-to-find ingredients requiring hours of preparation.Not so with these three recipes—they will not only help balance your dosha, but also dazzle the dining table and go easy on your schedule.Fresh Pesto and AlmondsAlmonds are considered one of the most sattvic or pure foods in Ayurveda, enlivening the...
The Vedic Chef: Sweet, Sour, and Salty Spanish Tapas
Did you know that tastes can heal you? Ayurveda cooking traditions have long acknowledged the six tastes—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, astringent, and pungent—for their balancing properties. The goal is to incorporate all tastes into each meal, which can sometimes be challenging. One fun way to make sure you include all tastes is to mix and match snacks. You can incorporate...
The Vedic Chef: Ayurvedic Late Summer Soups and Salads
Carrot Juice and Coconut Milk Soup With Cardamom and Fresh MintPitta, VataWith accents of cardamom and mint, this soup is refreshing. The potassium in carrot juice can help reduce cholesterol and the manganese and magnesium help stabilize blood sugar levels, thus reducing risk of diabetes. Vitamin K helps in blood clotting and is essential for protein building and the healing...
The Vedic Chef: 3 Gourmet, Vegan, Ayurvedic Dinner Dishes
Whether you’re cooking for a special friend, entertaining family, or treating that special someone to a romantic meal, these dishes are guaranteed to make an impression. Hint: Serve them with fresh organic salad or start with a light soup.Amaranth Crepes With Saffron SaucePitta and Kaphasaffron-amamrnth-asparagus.jpgCrepes are thin pancakes from France. Made with amaranth, a tiny seed related to spinach, these...
Vegan Comfort Food: 3 Ayurvedic Recipes
Who said vegans don't care about flavor? Everyone needs to know how to make a few go-to comfort food dishes. If you're following a vegan diet, get your fill of nutritious, delicious comfort food that’s both vegan and gluten-free with these three recipes. Pittas will jump for the parsnip and leek patties, while the Cornish pasties will benefit all three...
What’s Cookin’? Kapha-Friendly Nutty Broccoli Soup Recipe
Nutrition and diet are great tools to help you keep your doshas in balance. Since the Kapha dosha is heavy, oily, and cold, it’s important to favor foods that are light, dry, and warm. Foods with pungent, bitter, and astringent tastes are most beneficial for pacifying Kapha. This delicious recipe is filled with ingredients, flavors, and spices that help balance...
What’s Cookin’? Pitta-Friendly Tabouli Recipe
One of the best ways to balance your dosha is with your diet. Pitta types have the propensity to get irritable and overeat if they let themselves get too hungry, so foods that provide a steady flow of energy—like vegetables, grains, and beans—are best. Try this tasty tabouli salad recipe to sustain your healthy Pitta appetite for the long run....
What’s Cookin’? Vata-Friendly Pumpkin Soup Recipe
Keeping tabs on what you eat is a great way to keep your dosha in balance. Vatas are more susceptible to digestive disorders than the other doshas so what you eat plays a big role in keeping your Vata dosha in balance.This simple pumpkin soup recipe is made for Vatas. Since Vata is drying, cooling, and light, you should favor...
The Vedic Chef: 4 Dosha-Specific Recipes
Doshas are the three energies that define a person’s makeup. Depending on your Dosha, you may be drawn to certain foods. For example, a Vata Dosha might favor sweet, heavy, and warm aromas while a Pitta Dosha responds better to spices that are cooling. Knowing how to eat for your Dosha is one way to keep your body in balance....
The Vedic Chef: 3 Vegan Meals to Balance the Doshas
According to Ayurveda, good digestion is the most significant factor in our overall health. It will not only ensure prevention of disease, but ultimately lead to feelings of lightness, energy, and bliss. Eating the right foods for your dosha, or mind-body type, is one way to keep your digestion strong. Read more about Chef Johnny Brannigan’s view on the Art...
Featured Recipe: Mediterranean Pasta
Autumn has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, and we’re entering the period known in Ayurveda as “Vata season.” Vata is the mind-body principle of air and space, and this is the time when we need to pay particular attention to staying warm and grounded, so that the imbalances in Vata don’t leave us anxious, spacy, and prone to insomnia, digestive...
Yoga for Seasonal Harmony
Winter offers us the invitation to slow down, ground, and turn inward after the busy and mobile summer and fall.The season is dominated by kapha dosha with dormant energy and typically dark, cold, cloudy, and sometimes wet weather. The stillness of winter calls us to rest, reflect, rejuvenate, and imagine. It is an opportunity to breathe fully and deeply, lean...
Yogic Practices to Feel Balanced Heading Into Autumn
Vata season is associated with autumn. Just as we see the wind blowing the colored leaves down to earth, the qualities of air and ether become dominant in our constitution. Leading up to the vata season, now is a perfect time to start changing routines and modifying yoga sequences.Days are getting shorter, sometimes we feel a crispness in the air,...
A Yoga Practice to Clear Your Mind and Boost Your Energy
Try this yoga practice to invigorate and inspire your mind and body
Kapha Balancing Sequence for Optimal Digestion
Practice this yoga sequence to stimulate digestion as we transition into springtime.
Grounding Yoga Practices for Vata Season
As the brisk air of autumn arrives, we are reminded that vata season is approaching. The cycles of nature move in different forms and at different times depending on where you are located. Vata season is present during the time of year that most embodies the qualities of the vata dosha: dry, airy, light, cold, changeable, and mobile.When these qualities...
8 Books About Yoga for Your Library
It’s time to get out your yoga reading materials and dive in! Books about yoga are a beneficial addition to the library of any seeker. There are thousands of interesting, insightful, and inspiring books about yoga. From yoga books for beginners to the mystical aspects of meditation to the anatomy of specific yoga poses the to the influence of yoga...
Enjoy a Full Moon-Inspired Yoga Practice
The Sanskrit word purnata represents a sense of all-encompassing fullness, or divine perfection. Connect to the completeness of your inner being with this full moon-inspired yoga practice.According to Tantrik philosophy, every aspect of reality is perfectly whole, even when it might appear otherwise. Suffering occurs when a being identifies with some limited aspect of him or herself, instead of the...
Let Your Leaves Fall: 5 Yoga Poses to Release the Old and Prep for the New
The shift in seasons is nature’s way of reminding you to pay attention. While it seems obvious that you adjust your outer life to acclimate to the changing weather, you may often forget the shift that is necessary in the inner realm when seasons change.Yet, aligning yourself with nature helps you to live in the path of least resistance. If...
Summer Salutations: Poses to Honor the Sun and Stay Cool
Warmer days make for lazy yogis. Whether you’re vacationing or working through the season, sometimes a regular yoga practice falls by the wayside in the summer months.As you move into the final months of the summer season, you should honor the light and life-giving force of the sun. Egyptians, Indians, Romans, Greeks, Aztecs, and cultures on every continent have worshiped...
Chill Out with These 6 Cooling Yoga Poses
Take time to nourish your emotional, mental, and physical body with these cooling yoga poses for summertime yoga sessions.
7 Yoga Poses to Connect You to the Space Element
In my previous articles in this series, I discussed how to better connect to the fire element, earth element, water element, and air element through a series of yoga poses and meditations. In each article, I emphasized the importance of connecting to each element, and how an imbalance of one—whether too much or too little—can impact your body and mind....
7 Yoga Poses to Connect You to the Air Element
What better way to strengthen your connection to the air element than through your daily yoga practice. To get started, try these air element yoga poses.
8 Yoga Poses and a Meditation to Connect You to the Water Element
Learn to nourish yourself and reconnect with these eight water yoga poses that are aimed to balance the water element within you.
7 Yoga Poses to Connect You to the Fire Element
One way to better attune with the fire elements is to incorporate them with your yoga practices. Here are seven poses that focus on sparking your internal flame.
What to Expect at a Yoga and Meditation Retreat
You know you need to take a break when you can’t even remember the last time you took a vacation. You’re interested in going on a retreat, but not sure when you’ll find the time go, which retreat to try, or what to expect.There are dozens of different types of retreats out there, from power yoga vacations and Vino and...
Honoring Our Inherent Connection with the Environment
We are all intrinsically connected to nature. The more we awaken to this truth, the more powerful we become. The same five elements in nature- fire, water, earth, air and space- are the same five elements found within our bodies; in Ayurveda this is known as the Panchamahabuta theory.The Ayurvedic tradition recognizes that there is a delicate balance between these...
How Nature Helps Solve Any Crisis
If you were asked to name a major crisis facing humanity right now, most people would include the environment at the top or near the top of the list. Thinking about climate change, how do you feel personally? The range of responses for most people is dominated by anxiety, a fear that Nature is approaching a disaster that seems inevitable....
4 Tools to Nourish Your Mind & Body for the New Year
As you stand on the threshold of the end of one year and beginning of another, you may pause to reflect on what you hope the earth’s next trip around the sun will bring. Perhaps you long for new opportunities, an improved financial situation, better relationships, more stillness and calm, or a deeper spiritual connection. No matter what your desires...
4 Techniques to Outsmart Your Mind to a Better State
You may have noticed times when you want to feel a certain way, but your mind isn’t cooperating. Have you ever wanted to feel confident, but you didn’t? Have you ever been in a funk, and you wanted to get out of it? Have you ever felt anxious about a situation, and you needed to be calm?Perhaps someone has suggested...
Nothing Is Coincidental—Everything Is Meaningful
The word “synchronicity” has become popular for describing coincidences that seem to come out of nowhere. You think someone’s name, and a few minutes later the person calls. You want to read a certain book, and without telling anyone, a friend suddenly brings you the book. Synchronicity is defined as a meaningful coincidence, setting it apart from random coincidences that...
8 Simple Ways to Improve Your Mood in 5 Minutes or Less
Mood plays an important role in determining your quality of life. It can affect your perception of the world, influence your relationships, and affect your mental and physical health.Have you wondered how to improve your mood? Fortunately, the simplest of pleasures can elevate your mood and cost next to nothing in both time and money. Research supports the efficacy of...
20 Tiny Acts of Kindness to Make a Positive Impact
Sometimes carrying out small acts of kindness can be a simple way to make a huge difference. When you commit to practicing mindful acts of kindness every day, they become a part of who are and how you engage in the world around you. Here are 20 kind and easy things you can do to cultivate compassion and improve your...
8 Limiting Beliefs That Are Holding You Back from Success
You have infinite potential but sometimes your results don’t reflect that potential. Deeply ingrained unconscious beliefs (feelings of certainty about what something means) are influencing these results in ways you cannot see. When you have a deep belief, even unconsciously, it can sabotage your potential through the actions or non-actions you take based on the belief. That then creates the...
10 Excuses Why You're Not Reaching Your Goals—and How to Push Past Them
You have an intention. There’s something you really want to achieve in your life, possibly several things, and no matter how hard you try you’re just not able to make it happen. It’s frustrating beyond measure. Eventually, feeling destitute and deflated, you trade in your ambitions and dreams for the ordinary and mundane.But what if you had a way of...
Reveal Your Purpose and Take Inspired Action
If you were adventurous of spirit and chose to embark on the feel-your-feelings experiment, you’ll know that putting down those old familiar mental identities of thinker and doer is not for the faint-hearted.It takes courage and conviction to live a different way of life to those around you, but once you’ve been bitten by the “being-ness” bug there’s no turning...
How to Create Summer Rituals to the 5 Elements
Summer is a season that comes with many rituals. For some, summers include a move to a cottage for the season, while others enjoy weekends at the lake or traveling for holidays to the same annual destination or someplace entirely new. These traditions allow you to experience a sense of coming back to a beginning, of sharing connection, and of...