- Of course, follow the CDC guidelines of washing your hands, practicing social distancing and not touching your face.  
 
-Practice, or discover anew, meditation and mindfulness.  These help you stay more centered and instill calmness and equanimity.  If you are new to meditation, start with 10 minutes, twice a day, simply sitting quietly and observing your thoughts.  You can practice mindfulness 24/7.  
 
-Stay positive. When you notice you are stuck in a negative mind set, focus on the breath instead.  Follow it in and follow it out, repeat; it’s as simple as that.  Choose a word or phrase to give the mind something to rest on.  I often use “breathe in calm, breathe out smile”.
 
        “Breathing in, I calm my body.  Breathing out, I smile.  Dwelling in the present moment, I know   this is a wonderful moment.”     -From ‘Being Peace’, by Thich Nhat Hanh.
 
-Smile, even if you don’t feel like it.  If your body smiles, it calms the mind.  Try it right now.  Better yet, smile at someone else.
 
-Your diet is of utmost importance.  Bad food choices create toxins, and toxins give a virus a place to grow in.  Avoid any food that is heavy and difficult to digest -including any kind of sugar and processed foods, milk and cheese, and heavier meats.  Pizza is not your friend.
 
-Eat light, easy to digest foods such as vegetable soups and broths. Kitchari is very cleansing.  Drink a lot of hot teas such as ginger and lemon, chai (without caffeine) and tulsi. A tea made with equal parts cumin, coriander and fennel seeds is also excellent, especially if you add a bit of chopped ginger to it. If you do not have anything to make a tea, even sipping hot water is good.
 
-Eat mindfully and focus on your food.  Chew your food a lot to help with your digestion.  Eat less than you think you need.  Allow at least five hours between meals.
 
-Limit your screen time. You won’t find any answers by surfing for hours or watching the news continuously.  Use the time to do something positive, something you enjoy, to lift your spirits.
 
-Excercise, consistently, but gently. Walk, stretch, dance, yoga; whatever feels good.
 
-Go to bed before 10 p.m. and get up with the sun.  If you are not used to doing this, it may seem tough, but after a week or two you’ll notice you are resting more and it becomes easier.
 
-Come from a place of love rather than a place of fear you will benefit not only yourself but all those that you come in contact with.  
 
Remember, you are not your body, you are not your mind; you are Pure Awareness.
 
Sending you love and light and well-being,
Shivani
 

Everyone experiences summer in a different way.  If you have a fiery constitution, you might dread the heat and humidity of summer and dream of spending time in a cooler climate.  If you are someone who feels chilled all year round, you might relish the heat of summer.  Either way, we all benefit from making adjustments to our diet and lifestyle along with the flow of the seasons.  
 
Ayurveda says that like increases like and opposites balance which is why summer can increase those cranky feelings in a pitta person, and soothe the coldness in a vata person. Overall, the intense heat of summer drains the energy in everyone.
 

Have you ever felt more irritable in the summer, had dry skin in the autumn, feel heavier in the winter, or have sniffles in the spring?  The change of seasons in particular can upset our balance and bring with it uncomfortable symptoms.   Following a seasonal routine can help us adapt to the changing environment and this self knowledge of self care puts our health and well being into our own hands.

Seasonal Practices: Ritucharya
In Sanskrit, ‘Ritu’ means seasonal and ‘charya’ means lifestyle.  As the seasons shift, and when we spend most of our time in nature, we instinctively make changes to our diet and lifestyle to keep ourselves healthy. In the summer when it is hot and humid, we naturally desire less food and favor things that are cool and light, as well as a more carefree routine.  In the winter, we are drawn to heavier and heartier foods as well as to more sleep and introspection.  In the spring, we eat the young sprouts and greens that come up and enjoy more movement.  
 
However as most of us in the western world live in in a more artificial environment, we have lost some of our ability to “listen” to what we need to stay healthy.  With Ayurveda, we can relearn what is best as we listen to our inner self once again. As Ayurveda focuses on preventing disease, supporting balance in our body and mind throughout the year by making daily and seasonal adjustments to the cycles of nature, will keep us healthy and content.

As each of us has a unique constitution, there is no one way to approach how to handle the seasonal changes.  For instance, someone who is predominantly a fiery pitta will enjoy the coolness of winter, whereas someone with predominantly kapha will feel the effects of the cold more dearly.  A well balanced individual can follow the seasons per se - using a cooling and dryer pitta routine in the summer, a warmer and grounding vata routine in fall and a light and dry kapha reducing routine in the spring.  However, someone who is out of balance or has a very dominant dosha, must soothe that dosha all year round.

In India, Ayurveda divides the year into six distinct seasons. In the United States, we have either three or four, depending on where we live. Generally, the wetness and growth of late winter into spring increases kapha, the heat and intensity of summer increases pitta, and the windiness and dryness of fall increases vata.  But summer in Maine is completely different than summer in Arizona.  So rather than follow a calendar we need to pay attention to the qualities of the season, even the qualities of each day within the season, the time of day and the time of our lives, as well as to our own state of balance or imbalance.  Although this might seem overwhelming at first, by becoming in touch with our inner wisdom we can create powerful changes to our health.

Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall
Whatever is your predominant dosha must be given special care during the season that dosha governs.  So if you are more Kapha or have a kapha imbalance, Spring can be more challenging for you as spring has many of the same qualities of Kapha - cool, wet, heavy and anabolic.  The summer is more challenging for Pitta with more heat, light and intensity, and the fall for vata as it is light, dry, changeable, and catabolic.  A cold rainy day in the middle of the summer when you are challenged with a head cold should be approached differently than on a blazing hot day.

Don’t worry if this seems complicated; it really is simple once you understand the qualities of the elements and the doshas. For now, the basic thing to remember is that like increases like and opposites decrease.  So if you are hot and cranky, apply more things that are cooling and calming.  A cool stroll in the moonlight, wearing lovely light cotton clothes along a lake shore will do wonders. If you have a mucousy cold - wet, heavy and stagnant, increase things that are warm, dry and mobile.  A nice cup of hot ginger tea will make you crankier if you are hot and fiery but will help break up the mucous of a cold.

Knowing the diet and lifestyle that helps pacify each dosha during each season will help you maintain balance and prevent disease.  You'll feel better and stay healthier.
During a consultation, we can decide what is best just for you.

In the meantime, be well and smile often,
Shivani

By making your own chocolate, you have more control of the quality and can choose what to add to it to make it more balancing for you.
Ingredients:

• ½–1 cup raw, organic cacao powder. If this is unavailable, use cocoa powder that has not been alkalized (Dutch processed).
• ¼ cup organic coconut oil
• ¼ cup almond or coconut milk
• Sweetener to taste (30 drops liquid stevia, 3 tablespoons liquid sweetener like maple syrup or ¼ cup date sugar are good places to start).

See below for optional stir-ins
Directions:
Over very low heat, or in a double boiler, melt the coconut oil and then stir in the sweetener and milk until combined. Whisk in the cacao powder until smooth.

You can stir in a small amount of the ingredients listed below to help balance the qualities of cacao for each dosha. The mixture should be thick enough that you can form it into a ball. Roll the balls either in more cacao powder, unsweetened shredded coconut, or sesame seeds. Store in the refrigerator.

Best Stir-Ins for Each Dosha  
Vata would benefit from adding a bit of shredded coconut, chopped almonds, sesame seeds, grated orange peel, cardamom powder, or mineral salt. The best sweeteners would be honey, molasses, or barley malt.

Pitta may want to add shredded coconut, sunflower seeds, chopped dates, mint, or vanilla extract, and use maple syrup, date sugar, or stevia as the sweetener.

Kapha could add chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, ginger, cinnamon, clove, or nutmeg. Honey or stevia is the best sweetener.
 
Enjoy your chocolate in sacred little bites. Focus on its healing benefits and give it your full attention when imbibing. Let it be another part of the bitter-sweetness of life.

In love and light,
Shivani