During the heat of the summer, most people can benefit from a skin care approach that pacifies Pitta dosha. The exception is for those who find themselves with excessively oily skin all year: they may benefit from a Kapha pacifying approach, even in the summer months. KNOWING YOUR SKIN TYPE Vata Vata skin is generally…

Meditation, Yoga and other “mind-body interventions” (MBIs) has been shown to reverse the damaging effects of stress and anxiety on the level of our DNA. When our body becomes stressed, our sympathetic nervous system (SNS) goes into survival mode and tells our body to increase the production of a molecule called Nuclear Factor kappa B,…

According to Ayurveda, the eyes are the seat Alochaka Pitta, one of the five subdoshas of Pitta. Pitta governs heat, metabolism and transformation. Whenever our eyes are open, they are involved in the complex process of transforming light into ideas: distilling foreground from background, recognizing objects presented in a wide range of orientations, and accurately interpreting…

Menopause occurs when the ovaries stop producing large amounts of estrogen and progesterone, two hormones intimately involved with the menstrual cycle. Modern medicine tends to view this process as an unhealthy state of deficiency. This is because certain diseases have been shown to be related to the lack of hormones in a woman’s body. For…

With the fullness of summer comes bustling farmers’ markets and overflowing shelves in the fruit and vegetable sections of our grocery stores. It is the time of the year when the availability of local produce is at its peak. Indulge! Studies have shown that eating seven or more servings of fruit and vegetables a day…

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American men. In addition, prostate enlargement is found in 50 percent of American men in their sixties, and up to 90 percent of men in their seventies and eighties. While modern science claims that the specific cause of prostate cancer is unknown, the traditional view from Ayurveda…

Ayurveda complements the modern medical approach to migraine, cluster and tension headaches by introducing subtle techniques for determining the root imbalance at the basis of headaches and providing natural approaches to removing those imbalances. There is a general agreement as to what physiological changes in the brain create headache pain. In every case there must…

For the US and other mid-latitude countries north of the equator, the sun’s rays in the summer months hit the Earth at a steeper angle than in the winter. Because the sun’s rays at this time are not as spread out, they hit the earth more directly. Therefore the environment absorbs more of the sun’s…

While the usual focus of Triphala usage is to relieve constipation, it is timely to note that triphala is also said to help boost the immune system, offering both anti-inflammatory and anti-viral properties. Let’s look more at this valuable herbal combo. Triphala has long been known as one of Ayurveda’s best herbal remedies for keeping…

During the summer months, both Pitta dosha and Vata dosha can become aggravated. The increasing power of the sun’s rays takes away the earth’s cooling qualities and allows dryness and heat to predominate. It also causes an increase in wind, which further decreases the quality of Kapha and increases Vata. Exercise during the summer should…