I received this great recipe from Dr. Scott Blossom, a yoga teacher and Ayurvedic practitioner in the Bay area. Cilantro is truly a healing food, it has been proven to chelate toxic metals from our bodies in a relatively short period of time. Combined with the benefits of the other ingredients, this recipe is a powerful tissue cleanser.

I have been making it almost weekly for the last year as a way to detoxify from heavy metals (hello 70’s mercury fillings!). Whether you need to release heavy metals from your body or just wish to use it as a preventative measure, 2 teaspoons a day is all you need to take. It’s not only easy to make but also really yummy.

Disclosure: I am a big cilantro fan. I’ve shared this with many converts and we agree that it goes with just about everything savory. Try it on a baked potato, beets, or your favorite protein.

Enjoy!

Cilantro Chelation Pesto
4 cloves garlic
1/3 cup Brazil nuts (selenium)
1/3 cup sunflower seeds (cysteine)
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds (zinc, magnesium)
2 cups packed fresh cilantro (coriander, Chinese parsley) (vitamin A)
2/3 cup flaxseed oil (can substitute with olive oil)
4 tablespoons lemon juice (vitamin C)
2 tsp dulse powder (seaweed is also a detoxifier)
Sea salt to taste
Process the cilantro and flaxseed oil in a food processor until the coriander is chopped. Add the garlic, nuts and seeds, dulse and lemon juice and mix until the mixture is finely blended  into a paste. Add a pinch to sea salt to taste and blend again. Store in dark glass jars if possible. It freezes well, so purchase cilantro in season and fill enough jars to last through the year.

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer

Visit www.doctorblossom.com to learn more about Scott’s detox work. Scott will visit 8 Limbs for a workshop with Melina Meza January 4-6, 2013. Can’t wait? Check out Melina’s Seasonal Vinyasa Workshops February 10-12 that blend her passions for yoga, food, and Ayurveda.

In Ayurveda, winter is the season associated with Kapha and all the imbalances associated with the earth and water elements. The Kapha qualities outside can make you feel heavy and lethargic and/or pull you towards foods that promote weight gain or the use of recreational drugs or alcohol to cope with depression, stress and the winter blues. The following tips from my new book, “Art of Sequencing – Volume 2” will help to balance Kapha, creating a more calming and grounding presence during the winter.

One of the ways you can prevent slipping into the winter blues is to be become more mindful about what you are eating when you are eating. This helps avoid overeating, which can lead to depression. Eating when you are not hungry is one of the easiest ways to dampen your agni (digestive fire) and put on extra weight, a special challenge during this time of year when many people reduce their level of invigorating outdoor exercise due to rain, ice, and snow.

What if you let eating become part of your meditation practice? When you eat, simply focus on eating-nothing more, not your emails or processing thoughts of the day, etc. Learn to savor how your food tastes and smells, pay attention to how well your body digests it, and tune into how much you need to satisfy your hunger.

Here are a few ways to begin:
• Choose one place to eat each meal, free of clutter and distractions.
• Slow down when you’re eating, putting your fork, spoon, sandwich or burrito down in between bites.
• Stop eating when you no longer have hunger.
• Chew your food until it becomes liquid to promote the first stage of digestion, which begins in your mouth.
• Avoid eating when feeling emotional or stressed out.
• Eat well-balanced meals with sufficient protein and fat to minimize hunger between meals.

In regards to your asana practice, consider incorporating the following postures to help ward off typical Kapha imbalances by raising your core temperature, enhancing your metabolism and increasing your circulation and spirit.
• Sun Salutations or rhythmic, Hatha yoga postures to promote circulation and emotional well being.
• A vinyasa flow practice that incorporates asanas like Plank, Caturanga Dandasana (lowered plank), Bhujangasana (cobra), or Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (up dog) in between forward bends and backbends.
• Forward bends with flowing transitions into backbends to keep your spine supple.
• Inversions and arm balances to promote blood flow throughout the whole body, invigorate the brain and reduce dullness.
• Twists to reduce inflammation around the organs, minimize weight gain and promote digestion, which can get sluggish or overtaxed in winter.

Posted by: Melina Meza

Winter Elements = Earth + Water
• Earth qualities: stable, rigid, grounding
• Water qualities: fluid, cooling, calming, graceful

Here we are again on the cusp of another winter. Are you ready? I hope so! In this blog and upcoming Seasonal Vinyasa Winter retreat in Mexico January 22 – 29, 2011, I will be sharing numerous ways to drop deeper into your sadhana (path of practice) and awaken your own potential for self-healing and bliss.

The cold, dark, wet nature of winter makes it the easiest time of year for me to personally drop deeper into my sadhana. My winter practice includes more silence, longer meditations, focused home practice, change in my diet, and boundaries around my social life. If I’m going to bed early and saying “no” to excessive amounts of sugar, caffeine, and alcohol throughout the day, I find it’s easier to sleep and maintain a healthy immune system, avoid seasonal affect disorder and decreases the chances of putting on too much extra winter weight. Keep in mind that the more imbalanced you get at this part of the year, the harder it is to get back on track in the springtime. I highly recommend over the next few months discovering what inspires you to stay healthy this winter and make that part of your daily sadhana.

Since we are part of Nature, you too have the opportunity to be graceful and let the seasons flow without clinging or grasping. It’s natural to have preferences for certain seasons, times of year that resonate with your core elements and make us feel more like ourselves. And yet, developing equanimity and contentment with all seasons—regardless of dosha, or where you live—is essential to well-being. This is where the art of sequencing can be instrumental and serve of great benefit. Here are a few suggestions from my upcoming Art of Sequencing – Volume Two book, to start weaving into your morning winter ritual:
• Wake up at 6:00-7:00am (the yogic version of sleeping in) and greet the day with gratitude for another opportunity to celebrate life.
• Wash your face, brush your teeth, scrape your tongue, do a neti pot, and lubricate your nostrils with oil or ghee.
• Drink hot lemon water with a little sea salt in the morning to stimulate elimination.
• Meditate 5-30 minutes (on snow, candle flame in the cave of the heart, or image of the sun).
• Do your active, warming asanas, Sun Salutations, inversions, and balance poses to promote circulation, or go outside, or to the gym, for a 20 minutes (minimum) cardiovascular workout.
• Sit in front of a light box if you struggle with seasonal affective disorder (S.A.D.).
• Exfoliate your skin and improve circulation with a gentle dry brush rub before showering.
• Perform abhyanga, a full-body self-massage, which calms the nervous system and hydrates the skin. In the winter, apply sesame oil (leave the oil on for 10-30 minutes) and then take a hot shower, which will open your pores and allow the oil to be absorbed into your skin.
• Enjoy a warm breakfast in a quiet space.

Stay tuned for more ideas to grow your daily ritual next month or register today for the Seasonal Vinyasa Winter Retreat at Haramara Retreat Center in Mexico.

Posted by: Melina Meza

Ever wonder why we get more scattered in the fall? Think of it as our insides echoing the outside wind and movement in the air. To stay grounded as we transition from summer to winter Ayurveda offers many tools for our health and well-being. Ideally, all these practices can be followed, but if the list seems overwhelming, choose a few practices that resonate with you and commit to them for up to three months.

• Try to stick to a daily routine in the fall, scheduling in more down time than usual to prevent Vata imbalances.
• Wake up at 5:00-6:00 am (do your best!) and greet the day with gratitude for another opportunity to celebrate life.
• Wash your face, brush your teeth, scrape your tongue, do a neti pot, and lubricate your nostrils with oil or ghee.
• Drink hot lemon water with a little salt in the morning to stimulate elimination.
• Meditate (on grounding imagery, like a stone or a mountain).
• Do slow, warming, rhythmic movement or asana practices to set the pace for the day. Moving slowly and consciously in your asana practice will also help stabilize your mind and make it easier to stay focused throughout the day.
• Perform abhyanga with warm sesame oil. Leave the oil on your skin for 10-30 minutes to help nourish and protect your skin from drying out; follow with a warm shower.
• Homemade soups are good dietary mainstays during this season, as they are both hot and liquid, the opposite of Vata, which is cold and dry. In your soups or stews include copious amounts of root vegetables and hearty grains to keep the essence of the earth down in your belly. In general, prepare warm, moist foods for every meal while you are in the fall.
• Sit down to eat at regular times throughout the day; the more routine your meal times are the better. Practicing eating as a meditation, chewing your food until it’s liquid, and putting the utensil down between bites are just a few simple ways to ensure good digestion and strong agni.
• Increase your enjoyment of foods that are sweet (like rice, milk, and dates), sour (like yogurt and fermented foods), and salty (like sea kelp) as they help calm down and nurture Vata.
• Avoid starting too many new projects that pull your energy in multiple directions! Remember fall is a time to wrap up projects and prepare for winter hibernation.
• Aim for bedtime before 10:00 pm and get a full eight hours of sleep each night.

GENERAL ASANA TIPS FOR THE FALL
Incorporate more of the following into your practice:
• A routine where the time of day and length of your practice is consistent. It can be helpful to build your routine by writing down your committed yoga and exercise time slots on a weekly calendar.
• Yoga poses that allow you to incorporate the bandhas to guide prana deep into your body, which then prepares you for: pratyahara (the moment your sense organs no longer seek nourishment from the external environment), dharana (concentration), and dhyana (steady concentration or meditation).
• Steady, slow, mindful Sun Salutations to increase circulation of blood through your muscles and organs as well as standing poses, squats, twists, bridge pose, supported back bends, and inversions to clear the lungs and maintain heat in your core.
• Practice seated poses that allow the breath to move freely into the lower abdomen and pelvic floor, the parts of the body ruled by Vata.
• Take long savasanas to stabilize Vata. Cover yourself with a blanket to stay warm, use an eye pillow to soothe the eyes, and drape a sandbag or two over your thighs or ankles to promote the downward movement of prana deep into the bones of your legs. The extra weight of the sandbags reinforces the idea of staying present and can be useful for anyone at anytime who struggles with staying present in savasana.

Posted by: Melina Meza
Melina Meza is a Co-Director of the 8 Limbs 200 and 500-hour Teacher Training Program, author of “The Art of Sequencing,” and leads Seasonal Vinyasa Retreats throughout the year. Join her to learn about practices that support us in the winter at the 8 Limbs Mexico Retreat January 22 – 29, 2011. www.melinameza.com

In the world of Ayurveda, we are now in the summer season (June – August), which means whenever summer arrives in your geographical location, you will have a stronger relationship with the elements fire and water for three months. Ayurveda views the physical body, along with everything in the Universe, as being composed of the five primary elements; earth, water, fire, air, and ether or empty space. These elements are expressed in the physical body as qualities of stability/support (earth), feeling/fluidity (water), heat and metabolism (fire), respiration and circulation (air), and space and lightness (ether).

When the fire and water element are out of balance, it creates a dosha called Pitta. In Sanskrit, dosha means, “that which spoils or causes decay” as they are not only the forces which produce and sustain the body in their normal condition but those which, when out of balance, serve to destroy it. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each element can help you make daily choices that reinforce health and wellness for the season. As my teacher Scott Blossom said, “It is important to work in a way that “feels right” but also consciously cultivates complementary traits, such as grounding and stillness for the air type, or coolness and relaxation for the fire type in order to strike a balance.”

To help create balance, consider one of the classic Ayurvedic sutras that says, “like increases like and opposites balance.” This ancient wisdom can be extremely helpful when creating your daily rituals around the seasons.

Asana Advice for the Pitta Season
• Let each asana practice be soft, intuitive, forgiving, creative, and emphasize surrendering in order to prevent overheating.
• Perform all asana or sports in a way that is non-competitive, nurturing, and playful! Practice vigorous sports or asana in the early morning.
• Incorporate counter-balancing postures for poses that create heat such as Sun Salutations, balance poses, strong backbends, etc.
• Practice with your eyes closed.
• Emphasize a cooling breathing pattering during practice where the exhalation is longer than inhalation. Holding the breath out after exhaling has a powerful effect to concentrate the mind, which stabilizes your agni, purified essence of fire.
• Practice shitali or left-nostril breathing after asana.
• Try the Metta, Loving Kindness meditation to release anger.

Summer Foods
• Never miss a meal, especially if you are have a Pitta constitution!
• Eat cooling, sweet, bitter and astringent foods (coconut, cucumber, watermelon, all the fresh fruit in season, steamed greens, multicolored salads, watercress, endives, mung beans, basmati rice) and avoid spicy and fried foods.
• Drink cumin, coriander, fennel and rose hot tea. Cilantro, cucumber, and mint are great additions to water for a refreshing beverage that will cool you down.
• Eat few dairy products and meats (unless you are doing intense physical activity)…they are too yang!
• If your digestive fire is weak, try this for a week or two until your digestive fire improves: Cook together equal parts of: brown rice, lentils, and sun flower seeds. Eat 1-2 cups daily for 2 weeks. This will also improve body heat.

Daily Routine
• Give yourself a full body massage before showering. Coconut oil is best.
• Enjoy the rose, sandalwood, jasmine or lavender essential oils to relax the senses.
• Wear light colored clothing, loose cotton, linen and silk (ex. White, blue, green) so air can circulate between your clothes and your skin.
• Do inside cooking early morning in the morning before it gets hot.
• Spend time in Nature, swim, retreat, and enjoy the moonlight.

Posted by: Melina Meza, BS Nutrition, 500-RYT
Melina has been exploring the art and science of yoga and nutrition for over 16 years. She combines her knowledge of Hatha Yoga, Ayurveda, whole foods nutrition, and healthy lifestyle promotion into a unique style called Seasonal Vinyasa.

What is Seasonal Vinyasa – Yoga for the Seasons?
Seasonal Vinyasa describes an artistic style of sequencing asana and seasonal daily rituals. The main inspiration for Seasonal Vinyasa comes from the Hatha Yoga and Ayurveda traditions, two complementary sciences that promote health in body, mind, and spirit. While inspiring the self-knowledge to adjust your day-to-day choices and align with what is occurring outside in nature, Seasonal Vinyasa emphasizes the teachings of the yogis—that there is no separation between humans and nature.

Join Melina for a Summer Seasonal Vinyasa Retreat, July 30 – August 2 at Breitenbush Hot Springs in Detroit, OR.

Spring has sprung! The flowers are blooming and there are cherry blossoms everywhere on the streets of Seattle. With spring, however, comes allergy season.
I have had students coming to class and asking if there are any poses they can do for allergies. My first answer is always Jala Neti. Jala Neti is an ancient yogic cleansing technique, which involves the use of a neti pot filled with warm saltwater.

I have used a neti pot for the past few years on almost a daily basis. Not only has it been hugely effective in treating my seasonal allergies, but also in helping to prevent illness. The neti gently washes the sinus and nasal cavities, rinsing out germs and pollens that have built up in the nasal passages. The salt in the water also helps to reduce the inflammation and swelling in the tissues, helping to reduce the symptoms associated with allergies. It is a great preventative technique that can be done regularly and it can also be done in conjunction with the use of herbs or Western medicine and allergy medication.

The biggest challenge to the neti pot is finding the exact angle to use it comfortably. Here is a great video which will run neti pot rookies through the process. Click here to watch the video.

Personally I recommend a ceramic or steel neti pot as opposed to plastic and encourage students to use non-iodized sea salt (or purchase the neti washes they have available). If you’re interested in exploring a neti pot we have them available for purchase at our Capitol Hill studio boutique.

For those looking for asana that will help support them through the allergy season. I recommend any kind of inversion: head stand or shoulder stand or even forward folds like uttanasa or prasarita padottanasana. These poses will help move congestion in the body by opening nasal passages and encouraging drainage. Bridge pose can also be very beneficial for opening up the lungs and increasing breath capacity. I also recommend calming poses like child’s pose to help relieve the stress on the nervous system that allergies can create.

Hopefully these suggestions will help make the spring a more enjoyable time for allergy sufferers.

Posted by: Megan Costello

Megan is a firm believer in working with the cycles of the seasons. Join her for a Chandra Yoga & Meditation Workshop on Mother’s Day, May 9th, at 8 Limbs Phinney Ridge. The class will help students learn to align their yoga practice with the cycle of the moon and the cycles within their own bodies.