Reenita's Wisdom

Cold and flu got you down?  Turn to your Ayurvedic medicine cabinet to help you kick those flu blues.’

According to Ayurvedic medicine, the common cold results largely from an imbalance of the  Kapha and Vata doshas. Vata (air-space element combination) imbalances lower immunity.  This invariably leads to a build up of the Kapha dosha (water-space element combination) to compensate. However, Kapha mechanisms typically overcompensate to make up for the ‘dryness’ associated with imbalanced Vata and lowered immunity. The result is excessive ‘coldness’ that creates mucus. This in turn reduces your ‘Agni’  or gastric fire, leading you to have the ‘chills.’

Ayurvedic remedies involve using warming herbs and spices to help you break down and expel mucus while re-building your gastric fire. So, while the idea of a runny nose might not appeal to you, chances are that if you can transition from  being ‘stuffed up’ to ‘blowing it all out,’ then you are well on your way to recovery.

My favorite herbs to remedy the common cold are tulsi (‘Holy Basil’), the universal immune booster and ginger which helps to ‘loosen and liquefy’ stuck mucus. Both are great for helping balance Vata and Kapha.

Try these simple Ayurvedic home remedies to unclog your ENT system and help you breathe easy.

1. Ginger and Tulsi Tea

Make a brew of tulsi and ginger herb tea and sip it every couple of hours.

As always, I recommend fresh ginger root and tulsi leaves. The former are easy enough to find at most natural food stores, the latter you can find with a bit of looking, or just order seeds and grow your own. Use 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs per 1 cup of water.

Alternatively, check out Organic India’s Tulsi and Ginger tea or Ayoma’s Kapha Tea. Both are made with dried tulsi and ginger.

Consider using honey not just to sweeten your tea but also to help soothe  a sore and abrasive throat.

2. Herbal Inhalation Therapy

Inhalation therapy is an age-old trick for breathing in the potent powers of herbs and releasing mucus.  It works every single time!

Boil 3-4 tablespoons of freshly grated ginger root and chopped tulsi leaves into a pan filled with a quart of water.  Alternatively, add a 3-4 drops of tulsi and ginger essential oils into a quart of boiling water. When the decoction begins to release steam, remove the pan from the stove-top and bend over it to inhale the herbal steam for about 10-15 minutes.  For best results, ‘tent’ your head and the pan with a large bath towel to prevent the herbal steam from escaping.

Resist the temptation to ‘sniff or swallow’ back mucus as it begins to decongest in your nose and throat.  If you find that you are expectorating quit a bit, then take a momentary break from your inhalation therapy to blow it all out.

Image Credit: Creative Commons – Superhua

Lately, I have been getting a series of Ayurvedic remedy requests for poison oak.  Oddly enough, they all seem to be coming from pregnant mamas or women who are planning to be pregnant. But when I provide my favorite poison oak relief recipe with turmeric, I am presented with nerves and anxiety.  Is it safe for a pregnant woman to use turmeric?

The Story With Pregnant Mamas Using Turmeric

First, it’s important to understand that turmeric is highly detoxifying and cleansing. Which is why it is commonly used in various Ayurvedic detox remedies. Now when it comes to pregnancy and breastfeeding, a soon-to-be mother is not usually advised to take detoxifying herbs and spices internally in a ‘medicinal capacity’ as it can cause her to release toxins right into the baby’s bloodstream or into her breast milk (if you are planning to become pregnant any time soon then wait for at least a couple of months following any kind of detox program).

By ‘medicinal capacity,’ I mean several capsules-ful or several spoonfuls.  A pinch of turmeric in your cooking is not going to harm you. Same goes for other detoxifying herbs like manjishtha (a heaven-sent blood purifier).

Secondly, while taking detoxifying herbs and spices internally might be a bad idea, external application is not a problem. So, I recommend the use of a lepa (pronounced lay-puh) or medicinal plaster. A lepa can be somewhat messy to work with but it is a great way to draw out toxins in the skin. Here is my favorite recipe that offers advice on how to deal with poison oak using an Ayurvedic lepa.

Poison Oak Relief Lepa

What You Need

• 1 Tbsp ground turmeric*
• 1 Tbsp ground neem*
• 1 Tbsp ground manjishta*
• 3 Tbsp fuller’s earth or any mud

* Using fresh herbs is always preferable.  But if you cannot find fresh herbs, then go for dried, powdered herbs instead. If you can only find them in capsule form, then open up the capsules and measure the powdered herbs into a spoon.

What To Do

• Mix the herbs and fuller’s earth  together with water into a smooth paste.
• Apply the paste onto the affected area and let it ‘dry’ into your skin.
• When it is mostly dry, remove the excess.
• Avoid washing the herbs off. Your skin might be a little stained. Don’t worry, the stain will go away.
• Apply neem oil after (watch out, it’s awfully smelly).

Shopping Resources

You can buy  neem and turmeric at Indian grocery stores and natural food shops everywhere.  Manjishtha is a little harder to find. Here are a couple of online shops:

• Bazaar of India (www.bazaarofindia.com)
• Banyan Botannicals (www.banyanbotanicals.com)

The Indian tradition believes in the concept of atman, an inner light of strength that resides in the individual soul. Just as each individual celebrates the birth of his physical being each year, Diwali celebrates the inner strength of the soul. One reason why the darkest night of the Krishna Paksh, (the month of the Diwali holiday) is lit with a row of lights outside each home is to remind individuals of their inner strength, one that can light up even the darkest night.

India is celebrating Diwali, a major holiday not only for Hindus, but for Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains, too. Check out this beautiful picture of Diwali light in the UK Telegraph.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics has changed its stance on its Vitamin D recommendations for kids. Up until now the accepted daily dosage of Vitamin D intake had been 200IU. However, pediatricians are now recommending that children receive double this amount of because of increasing evidence pointing to its ability to help reduce the risk for cancer, diabetes and heart disease [...]