PITTA: PREVENTING AGGRAVATION

In general, when you are on the cusp of a new season, your whole being becomes vulnerable to aggravation. How well you balanced the predominate elements in the previous season contributes to how much aggravation will prevail. As we leave the pitta season in August and notice any lingering eye or skin dryness, dehydration, diminished appetite, skin rashes, inconsistent bowel movements, or trouble with blood circulation, it’s best to do some preventative cleansing to nourish and prepare our selves before the fall season is in full swing.

To eliminate dryness and rekindle your spark, consider treating yourself to a shirodhara treatment, where warm herbal oil is poured rhythmically onto the center of your forehead to promote flow and relaxation throughout your entire body. These are offered at Ayurvedic clinics and some day spas.

If you suffer from any digestive imbalances, consider taking triphala for six weeks to clear the lower digestive tract so it can work more efficiently.

Gentle cleansing for the blood and skin includes ingesting bitter herbs such dandelion leaves, burdock root, and turmeric in teas or in powder form mixed with some ghee. Each of these ingredients is helpful in pulling toxins from the blood.

**The yoga postures Tadaka Mudra (supine uddiyana bandha), Prasarita Padottanasana (wide leg forward bend), Sirsasana (head stand), Balasana (child’s pose), Pascimottanasana (seated forward bend), Ardha Matsyendrasana (seated twist) are a few of my favorite poses to practice every day at the tail end of summer.

*Please note these are general ideas to promote wellness. For specific health advice, consult with your health care practitioner of choice!

**You can find all these postures within my Art of Sequencing - Volume One book on my website: www.melinameza.com


To prevent pitta aggravation, enjoy this delicious soup!
Coconut Milk Soup
From Secrets of Healing by Maya Tiwari

4 cups water
1 cup coconut milk
½ tsp rock salt
6 fresh neem (curry) leaves
1 TBS ghee
1 c grated fresh coconut
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp minced ginger

Bring water to a boil in a heavy soup pot. Add the coconut milk, salt, and neem leaves. Heat the ghee in a cast-iron skillet over low heat and add the grated coconut, stirring occasionally until the coconut turns slightly brown. Add to the
seeds for a few minutes until they begin to crackle. Next, grind the seeds to a fine powder and add to the soup, along with the ginger. Cover and simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

Makes 2 servings

Note: Vata types may add ½ teaspoon of tamarind paste to the soup when adding the spices.

Summer Yin Practice with Melina Meza

Dropping into the restorative aspect of a yoga practice during the summertime is one way to encourage you to let go of “trying” to do the pose a certain way, and simply let yourself be guided intuitively into the right shape or position, in order to relax and breathe.

In the summer, which is a Yang time of year from the Taoist perspective, we fill up on solar energy and recharge our internal batteries, while giving a little extra care to specific organs that may be working overtime. In the summer, we guide attention to the heart, small intestines, stomach, and spleen, which work together in many ways to promote efficient blood circulation, temperature regulation, digestion, and hormone secretion; they also function symbiotically to absorb nutrients through what we bring into our body through food and the senses.

Find a comfortable place to rest on your back before drawing your knees close to your belly. Take a few moments to close your eyes, relax and unwind, before starting the summer yin/restorative practice.

This sequence I am suggesting is yin, in that it promote easy, slow, quiet, movement that allows you to visualize and feel where your qi/prana or attention are at all times. With practice, your mind and breath together to move qi/prana into specific places deep in your body such as the ligaments, connective issue, or organs.

With the extra heat and longer days, it is easy to dry up, get angry, irritated, or exhausted, if work and play are not in balance. So, why not take time to complement what’s going on outside in nature by partaking in relaxed, slow, cooling movement and maintaining a playful attitude. Consider closing your eyes during the practice to avoid being competitive with others or yourself, and instead move from your intuition; allow yourself to listen from within, to grow and mature during this season of abundance.

Asana Sequence
•Savasana with a bolster under your spine: pause and relax after each exhale
•Supine twist with bent knees
•Balasana (Child’s pose) with forehead resting on hands
•“Reaching under the bed” pose
•Mandukasana (wide knee child’s pose with chest on the floor or bolster)
•Sphinx
•Virasana
•Ardha Matsyendrasana (mellow version)
•Sukhasana (meditation seat)

You can download this practice or Summer Seasonal Vinyasa Flow at My Yoga Online!

Summer Seasonal Vinyasa Class with Melina

It's summer in the northwest! Time to celebrate, play, eat piles of fruit, swim, be outdoors, and cultivate your intuition in yoga practice by closing your eyes and moving from within. This week in class we've been working on doing our familiar poses with eyes closed, it's been super relaxing and grounds you deeply into the moment, not to mention your being. Give it a try! There are still a few spaces left to join me for the summer retreat at Breitenbush Hot Springs, OR. Call 206-325-1511 to reserve your space.

Pranayama lying on your back with a bolster supporting your spine, hold a comfortable amount after exhale
Tadaka Mudra
Supta Padangusthasana (hamstrings, balance, twist series)
Supta Baddha Konasana w/hands holding head curling up into abdominal curls
Rock and roll on your spine
Cat/Cow with knee to face on exhale, inhale leg lifts look up
Downward shifting back and forth into plank
Forward bend
Elevator squats
Flow 1: beginning with side arch, forward bend, step back to plank, salabhasana with legs opening and closing, up dog, downward dog, high lunge with arms raised, bring feet together for chair with arms up by ears, tadasana. second side.
Flow 2: Twisting chair, caturanga, up dog, downward dog, warrior 1, lean forward into warrior 3 variation "airplane", step up to the top of the mat, second side.
Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana
Prasarita Padottanasana with hand in reverse prayer
Standing neutral
Turn to one direction: Pyramid pose, twisting triange, other side
Turn to one direction: High lunge, revolved half moon
Samakonasana, wide leg splits
Plank
Vasistasana with variations
Childs pose
Headstand
Virasana
Ustrasana with one arm up, one down
Supta Virasana
Pigeon with bolster support
Dandasana
Roll back down to floor
Bride or Shoulderstand
Neutral
Closing ideas....
Cover eyes in savasana ( :

Enjoy. In just a week or two, my new video series with My Yoga Online friends will be available to download. Stay tuned for details. www.melinameza.com

Seasonal Vinyasa Summer Practice #1 with Melina Meza

Happy Solstice Everyone,
Today will be the longest gray day of the year! Hopefully you are being productive, enjoying good health, and spirits. In case you need a little inspiration to practice today, here is what's happening in class. You can find this practice in my new book coming out this fall, The Art of Sequencing - Volume Two!!!

1. Virasana - (visualize the sun up above the clouds)
2. Virasana - grab a strap, reach your arms up holding the strap, open your chest
3. Virasana - gomukasana arms
4. Bharadvajasana
5. Get to your hands and knees, drop your chest down by your thumbs, flow into Cobra, Up Dog, and finish in Child's pose with your arms out in front of you. Repeat many times.
6. Down dog into a lunge. Raise arms up by ears, squeeze arms by head, twist hands around one another
7. Down dog to Uttansana
8 Squat (cover eyes)
9. Tadasana
10. Surya Namaskar A with your eyes closed (repeat many times) move intuitively
11. Surya Namaskar B variation: Utkatasana, Uttanasana, High Lunge with arms reaching forward by ears, bend arms to open chest, drop hands...Vasisthasana, Down dog, Uttanasana, Utkatasana, Tadasana (repeat many times)
12. Vrksasana
13. Bound 1/2 lotus forward bend
14. Pada Hastasana
15. Prasarita Padottanasana variations, add handstands if you wish ( :
16. Down dog
17. Child's pose
18. Sirsasana
19. Rabbit or Child's pose
20 Spinx (like cobra but chill)
21. Bhekasana
22. Supta Virasana
23. Down dog
24. Krauncasana
25. Dandasana
26. Sarvangasana or Setu Bandha
27. Prep for Yoga Nidrasana
28. Whatever you like....

If you can't figure this out...come to class or on retreat where we will be going further into detail with these poses.

Light and love,
Melina

www.melinameza.com

Seize the Summer: Ayurvedic tips about keeping cool and staying balanced during the summer months

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.

Visit: www.melinameza.com for summer You Tube videos and upcoming yoga retreats.

Overview of Robert, Scott, & Claudia Workshop at 8 Limbs Yoga Centers

I’ve officially unpacked from an incredible month traveling around CA, TX, and WA, following Dr. Robert Svoboda, Scott Blossom, and Claudia Welch around on Robert’s farewell tour before he retires from public speaking.

For those of you that were unable to attend the workshop at 8 Limbs Yoga Centers in Seattle, here is a brief overview of what was covered:

Dr. Robert Svoboda:
• “Wherever your attention goes, your prana follows.”
• “Attention is good, being attentive is a good habit. Thinking is good, but thinking is a bad habit.”
• “Westerners are always trying to change their destinies before finding out what they are…first find out what they are before trying to change them!”
• “Prana provides continuity for the organism, prana is purposeful vs. vata, which is not continuous, not stable.”
• Remain calm and relaxed. Don’t freak out when there is a crisis, freak out at another time where there is no crisis.”

Dr. Scott Blossom:
• “The seat of prana is in your pelvis, it will help keep your legs strong and flexibile.”
• “The main downward force is gravity, the bones are the tissue response to gravity.”
• “Find stability in your asana or else you’ll have to meditate on the pain.”
• “Get your attention working, not your mind. Listen to the signals coming from your bones.”
• “Move as if all parts of the body are connected to the other parts. When you move to the right, keep your attention on the left, etc.
• “Keep the bones as your “drsiti”, emphasize the whole over the parts...don't over emphasize the “do-er” let your prana guide you. “
• “Let your practice be a communion with the force that gives rise to all of nature.”
• “Yoga is telling you, you know how to move, to trust yourself. When the body releases tension in yoga, the analogy to that is when the mind releases “mis-trust.”

Dr. Claudia Welch:
• “Focus doesn’t take active effort, it just takes focus. It’s more about surrender than effort.”
• “As your focus moves down, it creates space for prana to BE.”
• “Annamaya kosha follows whatever the pranamaya kosha is doing which follows whatever the manomaya kosha is doing.”
• “Whenever you release “crud” in the body, release it, don’t try to name it, put it in a box, or conatin it…let it go!”
• “The more we remember something, the less accurate it is. Each time we recall a memory, we build a new protein chain in the brain, which creates a “glump, or clump”. So each time we re-create a memory, the less accurate it is.”
•“Don’t become anything!” The second you become something, you arrange your prana that will get enforced whenever we are in front of more prana. When you become something, you can "un-become it", which is so much more painful than becoming it."



Upcoming Seasonal Vinyasa Retreats:
7/30-8/2 Breitenbush Hot Springs, OR with Melina Meza and Tamara Newmoon
9/19-924 Esalen, CA with Melina Meza, Tamara Newmoon, & Benjamin Fahrer
More details: http://www.melinameza.com/YogaRetreats.html

Ayurvedic Cooking Article By Eve Tai

Here's an article from a dear friend/student...and delicious recipe at the end from Sutra recipe in Seattle!

Ayurveda leads us to food that's right for each of us
Cooking according to the ancient principles of Ayurveda helps us keep healthy by emphasizing the foods we need at the time we need them.
By Eve M. Tai


SEATTLE WINTERS are never easy on anyone, but for me, fall is the hardest season of all. My whole body seems to dry up; air bloats my belly. I feel wired. Spacey.

Years ago I mentioned these symptoms to my yoga teacher, Melina Meza, at 8 Limbs Yoga Centers in Seattle. "It's vata season," she said, nodding with understanding.

Vata, it turns out, is the Sanskrit word for wind or air. From the yogic perspective, vata is the most active — often overly so — in the fall. It makes sense. Fall is the season when the winds kick up and leaves wither.

To remedy my dry, airy symptoms, Meza suggested balancing them by eating foods with opposite qualities. Drawing upon Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine, Meza advised cooking soups (wet) and root vegetables (grounded). Yams, carrots and potatoes soon entered my diet. My body rebounded within days.

Considered the sister practice to yoga, Ayurveda means "science of life." Its holistic approach seeks to optimize health before maladies arise. Food is considered medicine. Ayurveda calls for fresh, in-season produce, grains and meats because these foods harbor the most vitality.

This may not be news to locavore/slow food/Michael Pollan devotees. But Ayurveda elaborates on this practical wisdom — calling for specific foods and preparations that target your dosha, or general constitution. Chef Colin Patterson of Sutra, a vegetarian restaurant in Wallingford, finds Ayurveda attractive for this reason. "Food is very personal," he says. "Everyone has different needs."

According to Ayurveda, each of us tends to be governed mainly by one of three doshas and its corresponding natural element: kapha (earth), pitta (fire) or vata (air). Depending on your dosha, you would eat more of certain foods and flavorings, dial down others. General principles, however, apply to most of us each season. As we shift from spring to summer, Ayurveda advises cutting back on heavy and oily foods in favor of spicy, bitter and astringent foods. The latter helps move out the stagnation gathered over winter. For late spring, Meza suggests strawberries, raspberries, pears, lemons and grapefruit, along with asparagus, arugula, radicchio, celery, collard and mustard greens, radishes and sprouts.

"Nature provides us with the food we need when we need it," she says.

Although Sutra does not wear the Ayurveda mantle, the restaurant follows many of the same ideas. "We don't just pay attention to taste, but to the energetic effects food has on the body," says Amber Tande, Patterson's wife and business partner. She cites serving something fatty, perhaps a nut cheese, and following it with something fermented — say, pickled fiddlehead fern — to help break down that cheese.

Patterson echoes Meza's — and yoga's — assertion that ultimately the student becomes his or her own teacher. "Ayurveda gets you started with a road map," he observes. "After that, you find your own way."

Eve Tai is a freelance writer and student of yoga. John Lok is a Seattle Times staff photographer.

Lentil, Carrot & Wild Mushroom Cake

Serves 4 to 6

For the cake

¼ cup loose smoked black tea

1 cup black Beluga lentils

Salt to taste

4 to 6 medium tricolor carrots

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 cups wild foraged mushrooms*

For the sauce

4 to 6 sunchokes

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

¼ medium onion, diced

¼ pound fresh stinging nettles (available at farmers markets)**

2 cups vegetable stock

1 tablespoon chopped thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

1. To make the cake. Steep tea for 5 minutes in 4 cups filtered boiling water. Strain and bring tea back to a boil. Add lentils, cover and lower heat to simmer. Cook 30 minutes, then add salt. Cook another 10 minutes until lentils are soft. Strain and set aside.

2. Coat carrots in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Arrange on a sheet pan and roast in the oven at 350 degrees 30 minutes until soft. Cool, then cut into cubes.

3. Sauté mushrooms in 1 tablespoon of olive oil on high heat for 2 to 5 minutes until tender. Set aside.

4. Combine lentils, carrots and mushrooms in a large bowl; add salt to taste. Spoon and gently press mixture into 4 to 6 ring molds on an oiled baking sheet. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes at 350 degrees until heated through.

1. To make the sauce. Coat sunchokes in 2 tablespoons oil and roast on sheet pan at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Turn every 10 minutes until tender and lightly caramelized. Remove from oven and set aside.

Sauté onion in 1 tablespoon oil in large pan for 5 minutes until lightly caramelized. Add nettles and stock. Cover and cook for 5 minutes until nettles are dark green. Add sunchokes, then simmer for 10 minutes. Add more stock as needed.

Remove mixture from pan and purée in blender. Strain through cheesecloth. Return purée to pan. Add thyme and season to taste. To serve, spoon the sauce on a plate and top with cake.

— Sutra restaurant

* Use cultivated mushrooms when wild are unavailable.

** Handle fresh nettles with tongs. Cooking eliminates their sting.