UA-141369524-4

Category: Anti-Inflammatory Recipes

Mountain Pose Yoga Journey For Kapha Stimulation

Mountain pose yoga is a great way to get you into your daily groove in more ways than one.

Mountain steps are often uneven like these where you can practice your mountain pose yoga at the mountain top.
This is a 340 natural mountain step challenge 🎉

 

Mountain Pose for starters can be a morning pose to wake up your body. You can do wherever you have a floor or ground to stand on.

Standing tall with hands in the air helps additional blood circulation and Ayurvedic Kapha stimulation especially when you’re in a tired season (that can rob any imbalanced Kapha mind-body of excited feelings).

This article is about how to use Mountain Pose yoga this season, both in yoga and climbing your mountain top or hill.

Yoga Mountain Pose

To get the most out of your yoga Mountain Pose, swoop swan dive arms gracefully down like your arms are eagle spanning wings. And then forward fold your hands to your yoga mat or your ankles grounded on the floor. 🦅

And then weightlessly reverse swan dive your arms back up into the air. That’s a good way to be purposeful in your daily moves.

Mountain Pose yoga can be part of your Vinyasa flow.

It’s a way to finesse  your ways as you grow, and is a good metaphor for personal growth moves with intentional motion today.

Repeat your Mountain Pose, but next time, coordinate your deep breaths, with inhales up and exhales down in going up and down your pose. This keeps you purposefully engaged from head to toe.

Remember this Mountain Pose and your breath practice when you’re outdoors on a walk, hike, or journey up a mountain.

This outdoor practice is a great way to get energy flowing when you’re lacking energy, need new calm headspace, or just a ‘lil motivational push. It’s great exercise for your entire body.

And when you challenge yourself to get up a mountain if you’re nearby to one, you’ll get all the mind-body benefits.

If you’re feeling tired, stop and take a sip of water to refuel. Look around at your surroundings in awareness and mindfulness. Maybe do your stretching Tree Pose.

“They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” – Isaiah 40:31

Mountain climbing is a great way to accompany a mini-sabbatical journey. What’s interesting about each hike, is that there are different trails to choose from.

And every day, each trail is slightly different because the nature elements change… everything from the trees, sky, and ground you walk and rely on with each step.

Changing foliage reminds us that this moment is just a blink.

When you come back around, leaves and twigs have fallen and flowers and fruit change up the scenery.

Selecting a path or trail that suits you is fun. Take the hike that inspires you or sounds inspiring. The first time will always be a surprise. 🎉

Usually people who’ve never been on a trail, listen to what others  have told them who have walked the trail. Sometimes it’s better  to listen to your heart and nature as guides instead of other’s opinions.

Because we all interpret differently…

One time, I kept hearing the message about how much more difficult a specific trail would be. That reminds me of younger years when we didn’t have info. at our fingertips.

And so I avoided that one as a first-timer, so I could build up.

And then when I actually did the hike, I found it was the easier one than the long winded one. The “strenuous” reputation trail had hundreds of steps at the end, and that’s what was meant by “harder.”

But, steps to me actually shortcut the climb process because it provides interest and variety that keeps present awareness. So fully engaged, that feels like the process is sped up.

Mindful about your uneven steps, you’re already at the top before you know it.

The alternative is to take a longer trail path without a steep incline and as many steps. And that’s where natural Kapha tendencies differ from Vatas.

Know Your Individual Strengths

There’s a general fork in the road in body types.

Kaphas naturally prefer the endurance exercise which means longer courses and duration over steps that is perceived as work.

Vatas prefer the shorter, variety trail with different interest points that doesn’t seem like work.

And Pittas just want the challenge, so either trail is fine as long as there’s a little sprinting up and down the hill that wouldn’t hurt either. 😉

Each of us have our body strengths.

Climbing trails is an individual journey.

And in each season, we’re holding onto an imbalance even if just a smidge that we can course correct on our individual journey.

The first steps are the ones that can be mentally the hardest to get going on. And a part of you might be wondering: is it too late to turn around?

But when you focus on the baby steps of each step, it’s easier. You remove the blocks. And actually that’s what little kids on the trails do on their steps. They enjoy the climbing challenge and play with the immovable Lego blocks.

We need more of that in our everyday, where we look forward to trying a healthy challenge as part of our play.

It’s great natural exercise in the process.

With every step and turn, you can find your balance and appreciate how your body assets work for you.

Having a nudge motivation like seeing the mountain top view helps us get to the goal. The cherry on the top of the mountain doesn’t disappoint. And that’s a general consensus for all…

The ending is predictable. But the getting-there journey is not. The middle changes as you get different perspectives. And the next time, you’ve grown some. So you see life from a different lens and that can help you maneuver this season.

Balancing Kapha On Your Trail

If you’re needing a little push out of a tired mind that can make a tired body, on your trail, look for pops of color like fiery red leaves in autumn. Or berries on trees.

Wear a pop of color on your arm or shoes… (if you’re drawn to the bright or neon colors, that could be why as your body is intuitive). Just a pop of color though because bees are attracted to bright clothing and mountain air. 🐝 We can share the calm space.

Find a pine cone or forest fresh scent. Some natural bug spray scents have lemongrass and rosemary that help to wake up the senses. They’ll keep the certain bugs away and keep you awake.

Take energy food and water. Great snacks are nuts and energy bites. So, ready to get your Mountain pose on? ⛰️

Print Recipe

carrot energy squares recipe
Print

Gluten-Free Carrot Bread Squares

Course Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine American
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup gluten-free almond flour or coconut flour
  • 1/2 cup oats
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 2 tsp honey
  • 1/2 cup raisins and chopped walnuts (optional)
  • 1 cup finely grated carrots
  • 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg each (optional)
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Mix ingredients and bake on 350°F for about 40 minutes.
Homemade energy squares with: carrots, raisins, coconut, and apple cider vinegar.

Relaxing Easy Autumn Bread Recipes to Inspire You

autumn leaves inspires autumn creativity and autumn bread recipes for me that i share in this blog article.
When you blend autumn leaves together, they look like a colorful painting that life is. And that can give you inspiration for expressing creativity and your creative talents! One way I like to stay creative and express creativity is through baking. I share autumn recipe inspiration below that can help YOU find your colors. 🌈
Autumn bread recipes can be comforting for the soul. After baked, the hearty loafs with sweet or savory flavors bring moments of joy and satisfaction.

And creating your own easy autumn bread recipes is easy when you know what to do! You probably already have the few essential bread making ingredients needed in your kitchen cupboard. So you’re already half-way (or more) there to spark your inspiration. 🎨

After you’ve practiced and perfected your foundational bread making skills (aka making progress over perfection), you realize you don’t need “special” recipes to create your own bread masterpiece that will wow your taste buds and friends.

…And that can even be a table centerpiece for a few days, just long enough for you to have that enjoyment factor before it wears off. 😉

The simple things like bread can bring the most joy in this life. 🎉

And with satisfied feelings, bread baking is more an art, than a science experiment with baking measurements (in case that scares you off).

Bread chemistry science happens in the oven, so it’s mostly outta your hands! That can be comforting and take the pressure off.

And below step-by-step, I show you the easiest bread you can make and bake.

Your part is to put your love in your bread dough making process, and not to get mired down with complicated step-by-steps that doesn’t always pan out.

…And I learned this over many self-taught bread lessons. The a-ha is that sticking to the basics pans out every time. And that’s good for balancing Vata where the balance recipe is consistency.

The secret in making good bread is using your calm energy and heart where you enjoy the process. And maybe finding your bread making relaxing place, kinda like the one you find outdoors on a perfect fall day with no clouds in the sky.And then when the clouds roll in, spend time in your kitchen making progress on your bread baking skills. 🥖

Bread Making 101

Starting with pizza dough or crust is one easy way to learn bread making.

Because pizza crust is bread, and even if there’s no or low rise (or you don’t get it exactly right the first time), it usually tastes great. And will get eaten in minutes if you have delicious ingredients as toppings.

Oh, btw, did I mention I was a pizza maker for 4 teenage years, lol?

So in many ways, I got my feet wet with bread baking lessons starting from a young age. And in my more mature weekly recent home baking experiences, my pizza making lessons come inspired from those years.

When I do the bread in the young at heart way, then  it works out. And you can do this too with practice.

You need four common ingredients: bread flour, water, salt, and instant yeast.

(Tip: keep the salt and yeast in separate corners of the flour before the dough is formed, as salt can kill the yeast early on).

After breaking down the gluten by kneading and then forming a cohesive dough ball, you can let the dough rest and proof in a covered plastic bowl for a couple hours or longer. That’s proof that even bread need rest! 😁

You will get the hang of the elastic dough texture (like soft Play-doh) after you do it a few times. It becomes some of the easiest baking prep you can do!

Instead of intricately cutting out cookies or delicately icing your cake just right, bread doesn’t need slicing or icing precision. You might add a decorative incision or a glaze at the end, but those take less focused gaze on your part.

You can make rustic and airy bread when feeling a bit Kapha tired because it doesn’t require finesse (for my Great British Baking show friends who like to make cottage loafs). 🎪

Spice up autumn bread recipes with cinnamon like this bread muffin.

The hardest part (if there is one), is remembering to make and prep the dough hours or a day in advance, so the dough has time to proof. You let nature of time do the work.

So here are the easy steps to by pass flops. This is the skinny on what does work for quick bread making wins… and without making skinny bread! 🍞

Learn to Make Inspired French Bread Pizza  Crust

Once called “poor man’s bread,” this is actually an American invention that students love. In the public high school cafeteria I ate in, French bread pizza made a debut on certain days kinda like Taco Tuesdays.

With the same 4 ingredients you make pizza crust dough (mentioned above). After proofed, move the dough over to your baking sheet, and shape your dough in an oval or more football shape than a pizza circle.

Use a little bench flour to prevent sticky dough on your hands and the baking sheet.

When you’re about ready to bake and your oven is pre-heated to 350°F/180°C, you can flatten the dough center if you’ll be adding  toppings that are wet like tomatoes.

Or make your traditional French bread pizza with cheese and sauce only, and leave the center alone so it can rise in the middle (or the reason why you proofed the dough in the first place).

The trick to airy bread loafs, is to gently handle your dough (kinda like in baking cakes where at times you want to fold in your batter or ingredients like meringue whites, so you don’t flatten and knock out the air you just worked on).BUT, you’re the artisan, so you decide!

And then bake (or be-ake! in Great British Bake Off terms).

Healthy Autumn Bread for Balancing Vata and Kapha

Keeping bread healthy, breads that have light airy pockets like French bread interiors or pita bread will not be as heavy and can melt in the mouth.

Here’s the quick bread breakdown low-down on body science:

When bread first enters our mouths, the breakdown starts as an enzyme called amylase in your mouth that initiates the process. Bread is one of the unique foods that doesn’t have to get to your gut first to start digesting (breakdown).

And it’s also one food, if not chewed well in the mouth, that can sit in your stomach like lead (or at least feel that way).

If you have a Vata sensitive stomach or bloating that’s common, or more a Kapha body who’s trying to lose weight, then not eating as much dense bread like sandwich rolls and fast food buns definitely helps your healthy cause.

Whole grain and sprouted breads are wholesome alternatives that could be a game changer for your heartier and healthier bread life.

3 Sweet A-B-C Healthy Recipes (From Autumn Bread Recipes)

And when you have a sweet tooth, these are some autumn healthy wise tips and healthy recipes that can easily turn into healthy autumn bread recipes.

What I most appreciate about easy autumn bread recipes are the intense hearty flavors. Hearty is anti-inflammatory spices and ingredients. It’s healthy comforting food alongside your meals.

You can sweeten pair with a divine pear and cinnamon duo or add a chai tea flavor twist. And you can turn autumn bread recipes into a bread cake, scone, or muffin recipe with just a few simple tweaks. 

Sweet autumn bread recipes like these braided bread ones often have cinnamon or chai spices.

And these 3 sweet autumn baking recipes below are the healthy (my fave kind!)… with these ABC’s: apple, banana, or citrus orange. And loaded with other fall healthy spice and vinegar ingredients. And have no shortage of flavor burst wow! 🤩

Fall Apple Bundt Bread Cake with ACV (or pears) are loaded with polyphenols and apple cider vinegar is shown to lower blood sugar levels that’s good for losing weight and reducing risk of diabetes.

Healthy Fall Apple Bundt Cake Recipe

Chocolate Banana Cake Bread – banana and cocoa is loaded with polyphenols. Both will help to put a smile on your face so you don’t have to reach for processed foods and refined sugar sweets that lead to weight gain.

Chocolate Banana Cake Bread Recipe

Orange Scone – orange zest as a sweetner is loaded with Vitamin C and flavanoids. High in fiber and water content, that will help you feel full so you don’t eat other “bad” sweets with refined sugars.

Orange Scone Recipe

And before I leave you this week, I’m sharing some work inspiration from having professionally planned thousands of party menus with Lebanese food stirring up memories because of the pomegranates, that are an in-season autumn fruit. The red rubies are a dazzling pop of color that leave a juicy finish.

What do ya think?

 

5 Best Vata Season Tips to Love This Autumn

 

pandan whoopie pies
Print

Almond Whoopie Pies

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

  • 2 Egg whites
  • 1/4 cup fine almond flour
  • Pandan
  • Pistachios (optional)
  • monkfruit sugar or white sugar
  • Greek yogurt (for filling)

Instructions

  • Whip up meringues with egg whites and add monkfruit sugar or sugar, almond flour, and Pandan.
  • Bake on 300°F for 12 minutes. Do not overbake. Tip: flip tops over to bottom if edges begin to brown and use top shelf of oven.
  • Let cool. Make top and bottom sandwiches with Greek yogurt and decorate with pistachios (optional).
transitioning into vata season with pandan yogurt cakey whoopie pies.
These healthy frog green Pandan Whoopie Pies are decadent sandwiched with Greek yogurt, white chocolate, almond flour and pistachios and in celebration of Cake Week of The Great British Baking Show. I’ve added a healthy (but tasty) vertical cake to my list of baking projects! 🍥 Proof that pandan has grown into the modern, Western baking world. 😊

And below, I have some tips on how you can evolve and make the most of your Vata season with autumn mind-body balance tips.

We know we’ve hit a naturally changing season when daylight savings time hits and we fall back in time (and then give back an hour in spring forward).

But before these time clock changes, our healthy bodies naturally start to transition into the upcoming season. And our daily preferences change much sooner. Mostly because the stores and media around us have started their promotions on the first weekend before the new season starts.

And when we are ready, we get ourselves ready for a new season…

We change up our home candles, spices, and teas. And we opt for warm drinks over cold drinks. We also like burnt, spicier shades of browns, reds, and oranges compared to the bright whites and colors of summer.

We subtly shift from light caramel lattes to pumpkin spices. And we feel it in the sea air in the last days of summer.

And for Vata bodies (maybe that’s your dominant dosha), the mind-body can feel most balanced during the Vata season. And for any of us we want to lean into this season. And there are easy changes to help our Vata balance.

Vata Season – Surroundings Change

We lean into Vata season with a change in home décor that can cost nothing like bringing in pine cones or adding a splash of color  inspired by the changing of the trees and leaves outside.

I like to pull out different cornucopia color coffee table books or magazines (…remember those?) that have the colors I’m looking for.

So it doesn’t have to cost much of anything except bringing out your creativity and the resources around you. That can help you get closer to your inner child when in those days that’s how everyday was when you wanted to do more.

And maybe that includes rearranging books and decor on bookshelves, and creating new table centerpieces. Some people like to change up their bedroom or wall colors too.

And maybe you have a second getaway place you call home like a cabin retreat, that can be very nourishing as you move away from the summer beachy vibes.

You can look at your new surroundings and inspiration, and feel warm and cozy inside, like you get from a crackling lit fireplace, but it’s still too warm outside for that!

5 Vata Season Body Shifts

1. Warm

In Vata season, we start preferring the warm drinks, but not the hot ones. We prefer warm drinks to start the day, and that gives our soul a small boost to enter the day with optimism.

In the shower, we may feel very relaxed with the therapeutic water pitter patter comfort of warmer water drops, but your skin could still be screaming for cooler jet streams because it’s still hot outside (and you’re part Pitta!).

2.Dry

Vata bodies also shift into their natural dry, wind-like features. Maybe your lips, lizard dry feet, or another part of your body feels the transitioning effects. Even though you may have felt the dry effects during the heated summer that’s another cause.

And Vata season, all around us we see proof as nature is withering into the season.

3. Tastes and smells

And we have certain flavors that we go to that give us seasonal joy. A good reminder for us is when we already know our preferences in food, tea, drinks, and spices. Because we can reach for those with  little extra decision effort and maybe they’re on hand already.

But for a Vata who prefers variety and the preferences change daily, cinnamon and ginger does not. And those are good to lean into during Vata season.

Also, orange scented candles as in orange fruits, but could be orange color too. There are so many options in candles these days that I have to specify. 😊 Because pure orange citrus calms the nerves and that helps with Vatas who are feeling naturally anxious in their body when triggered, unlike Pittas and Kaphas who don’t understand.

4. Colors

The changing fall leaves help to inspire fall colors. Out in California where I have family and friends, to me it never feels like fall because the lack of deciduous trees with shedding leaves.

And I always feel “off” like something inside is missing even if I’m only there for a short visit and seeing the lovely evergreen palm trees and coastal vibes.

And my body calls for the changing landscapes of parks and cooler temperature vineyards.

5. Activities

Fall is a great transitional period to start a physical routine again like hiking, pickleball, or YOGA. That’s my favorite.

I’m back in classes and I’m gonna share with you my lessons old and new in the coming few weeks! It’s an anniversary for me as I started going to Hatha yoga classes regularly in the Vata season after I had my Ayurvedic epiphany. 🧘🏻‍♀️

And even if you’ve just left the happy-go-lucky and vacation summer days, and headed back to busy fall, find time to get your alone time in yoga or meditation wherever suits you best.

That will help you ease into the season, and ground and round out the rest of the year. And gear up for holiday time and a new year that’s  getting closer.

And finally…

Get An Vata Season Empowered Reset

The change in season gives us a reason to reset.

We don’t really need a reason because every day is a new start, but a new season like Vata season is a good reminder.

So we can a start new project, have new goals, and a way to remember the same season last year.

Our body cells don’t forget. I learned this experientially in a yoga class when years ago I took a break and my muscles remembered.

And you can consciously activate your brain cells by going down memory lane.

What were you doing this same time last year? I’m sure there are areas that were 180 degrees in another direction when you check.

Maybe you moved or something in your work or relationship changed. You’ve made great strides, so you should pat yourself on the back for all your soft and recognized accomplishments.

You empower yourself with healthy thoughts.

Photos, journal entries, and other personal external things can conjure up happy memories and thoughts that bring nostalgia and joy as you go through the transition of the season.

Make some new routines. Maybe some end-of-year goals. Now is a good time so you can make impact on this year’s progress. Just a thought. 💭

Mind-Body Balance + Active Bridge Pose Metaphor

mind-body-balance

I just finished an Ayurvedic series and am starting a mind-body balance series TODAY.

This NEW series on Mind-Body Balance is I believe so important for our happiness. Because our mind-body’s off-ness or imbalance that we can restore, is the cause of why we’re feeling:

…misaligned with the natural season

…distant from our peaceful-joyful selves

…or, lack of clarity that’s different than uncertainty that’s part of this life.

And the good news is we’re able and empowered to restore what’s naturally meant to be ours… and mind-body balance is one of those life benefits.

One sign that we’re on a good track is when we feel mostly clarity…

Clarity defined as grounded in knowing who we are despite daily situations that change and shake us up.

Life situations play out and can put any of us in a funk. That’s a good reason to not take life situations so seriously… and instead, slip back to leaning into our naturally designed groove of being happy and living healthy.

Because if you’re not happy, those undertone feelings show up  in and on your body… and preventing this is what mind-body balance is about on a practical level.

The below tips are to help you walk through imbalances and for the next time…

But, before jumping in, I just wanted to mention the next part will be about Mind tips as related to the mind-body equation. And then the last part will be on the Body in the mind-body that you may not have been informed of or thought about in those ways. So you can discover more about you and empowering better outcomes.

…Because you do have a choice in all three: your mind-body, mind, and body life.

If you believe that your happiness exists within you and not your situations, you can have your best season yet.

So clearing the mind is such an important tool to gain clarity on helpful beliefs, feeling better, and making better daily decisions.

Suggestion Reminder Steps to Feel Better

One good step and reminder is to take multiple deep breaths. Taking conscious breaths clears the air instantly…

You get a pause break from active thoughts, and you pump in life-giving new oxygen into your body, while pumping out old air. You get the chance to exhale bad energy and anxious thoughts not grounded in full reality.

You can realize in the moment that your thoughts are only part of the equation in any life situation.

And, maybe you take a few moments for a few deep breaths now to help you with your mind-body health.

Did you do that? 

And, the second suggestion is to take a few minutes in silence by yourself every day where all you hear is the white noise in the background. You can do this in a quiet room with a door or at a quiet park. Listen to your mind-body…

Connect with your mind-body where you’re in tune with your heart’s whispers.

The mind-body is interconnected in a deeper way than the physical mind and body (e.g. organs like the brain and skin).

And connect the idea that symptoms on your body show up as outcomes from your carried thought-feelings.

That was revelatory for me years ago because that helped me to grasp how to change thoughts at any moment.

It’s a mental exercise that isn’t visible so it’s not as easy as say, picking up a ball where you don’t have to be as  fully mind present.

And it’s one where we can have a block if we never embraced changing thoughts.

We can start by acknowledging that it’s healthy to agree to disagree with ourselves sometimes and exit out the negative thoughts. And we’re healthy wise to do so often!

But our ego tries to sabotage these efforts. And it takes mental power to fight our ego as it fights for us to be right with ourselves.

And most of us don’t have reinforcement backups, as we weren’t taught by our caretakers or teachers to debate ourselves. …Ah, but those old ways are old school.

…And I believe is the cause of us not living our best lives sooner. Until we can get to this more humble place of admitting our minds could be wrong, our outcomes are lesser than they could be.

Of course… this is by no fault of anyone as we were born into this mind and body… but now that we know better, we can do better.

We have to outsmart our programmed machinery.

And for me, that led to awareness, getting past my ego thoughts, and to the root of PTSD thoughts that I previously was oblivious to and then was one day aware (much like someone blindsided). 

And you can too can uncover the wounds that need scar healing if you dial back your ego trying to mask imperfection… and if you tune into your deeper mind-body that’ll help reveal blind spots so you can get out of the lesser life and into your peaceful, whole, and abundant life. That’s why quiet time is super helpful.

And in busier moment times, emotional outbursts or displaced anger, irritation, anxiety, and withdrawal sub-feelings and undertones usually mean there are blind spots that need healing.

Blindly in our busy lives, any of us can carry around these past feelings and hurts, that are still presently heavy burdens that disturb our natural mind-body balance.

And if left unattended, they show up as accumulated body stressors that can lead to scientifically-known early aging and chronic diseases.

But you can claim back unnecessary unhappy years and seasons with a little effort on your part…

With humility, openness, and a desire to grow, you will save yourself and open yourself up to better opportunities.

Getting Mind-Body Balanced

1.Being and keeping aware is not overused. It’s imperative to bringing light out of darkness feelings… as is, connecting dots in your past to your present. And consistently flipping the negative thoughts to positives.

…Or said another way, gaining peace of mind, where you have less outbursts and negative reactions. And one day, no outbursts. That’s definitely possible! I’m living evidence 💕

And then, you enjoy more of your day. And you get more out of this life. You meet your higher potential that’s greater than what you originally thought was possible.

You don’t fear uncertainty as you’ve made peace with that, and you worry less (or not at all). You take moments in each day and use them as brand new chances to build off the days before.

And you use your past experiences in a beneficial way. And those new perspectives bring you better outcomes.

And when you believe deeply in your mind-body that all is possible, you speed up your growth and bypass ego’s tricks.

2. Uncover and replace mind-body blockage like that found in PTSD. This means confronting your feelings and questioning why those happen when you feel them. Make them visible.

And if you’re in a temporary funk, call that out. So you can figure it out. Exchange for a loving and life-giving belief.

And one great way to do that is to have a yoga pose that serves as a mind-body reminder.

And habit stack after walking around or whatever your favorite moving activity is. Or do it as a stretch before you get out of bed in the morning.

In the Blue Zones, the living 100 year olds in those concentrated zones do mostly natural activities that use their bodies and not machines for exercise.

And they also celebrate with yoga that’s a natural move in getting up and sitting down. In our younger, modern, and Western societies, we can do that too.

We optimize when we activate our mind-body and are aware that we’re naturally getting up and sitting down, using our body. And that awareness helps to calm us just like active breathwork.

Mind-Body Active Bridge Pose

A natural active bridge is an active body pose in motion. And you can combine with that your deep breaths.

Bridge pose is one you can make active and fun.

Here’s how:

You can use a yoga block to heighten your bridge. You can stack two blocks on the shorter height sides… or use the taller skyscraper building block side as your back support.

You want to place the edge of the block where the top of your tailbone meets your back (and the rest of the block or blocks are toward your buttocks and not your upper back).

Challenge yourself… reach to your outer edge limits!

It’s at that block meeting intersection where your legs take off, bend at the knees, and are grounded by your feet. And the fun comes in when you remove the block.

You can use this as a mind-body balance reminder: where you no longer need a crutch support like a block. And in awareness, you’re removing the yoga block and mental block that could be anything holding you back.

And when you release down, you let go of whatever that is… maybe it’s the how something turns out, control over someone else, past hurts, PTSD, etc.  And that can start the process to heal.

And you maybe hold the block (or a dumbbell weight) close to your  pelvic area and move your hips up and down.

Use the block as a peaceful symbol that you’re now aware of how what you let go of is easy now to see in front of you, and you know what to do.

…And the block whether it’s under your bridge or in your hands is in your control and helping to build strength in your life. In active moving bridge, you’ll also feel it in your buttocks and upper hind legs (hamstrings), so you have a full mind-body balance pose. 🧘🏻‍♀️

Ayurvedic Series:

Part 1 – Pitta/inflammation

Part 2 – Vata anxiety vs. nervous

Part 3 – Kapha awareness

For a mind-body balance recipe, you can make this star beet granola pan. Beets and cinnamon are good for Vata. Oatmeal is a good meal before practicing yoga. And this is a good snack to help tie you over 🌟

beet granola
Print

Star Beet Granola Pan

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

  • plastic wrap

Ingredients

  • 2-1/2 cups oatmeal
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 cup light olive oil
  • 1/2 cup raw honey
  • chocolate, melted
  • beet powder
  • crushed red pepper flakes

Instructions

  • Combine dry ingredients and then mix in wet ingredients.
  • Bake granola for about 25-40 minutes at 325°F or until toasted.
  • To make chocolate topping. Prepare chocolate on display pan you will be using. Take a piece of plastic wrap and put on top. Add melted chocolate and pour onto plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chocolate is hard. After granola is baked and cooled, you can pour into the pan and then add the hardened chocolate ontop removing the plastic.
  • To make beet heart: take a star stencil or make a star cutout with cardboard. Add beet powder to create star shape. For fallen star effect, use tweezers to pull out the yellow pepper flakes (found in crushed red pepper flakes) to make a fallen line.

Are You Out of Balance? Kapha Awareness (Part 3)

Kapha awareness can help you with choosing longevity boosting foods and activities.

Pita bread has a lower glycemic index (helps anti-inflammatory) than many breads if you’re  not willing to give up your bread… bread can still be a good thing! Easy pita bread recipe below. 🍴

If you’ve been spending time doing CARDIO for health and maybe Kapha awareness, listen up! These 100 year olds don’t rely on treadmills, but natural daily terrain and these life-giving activities that are shared in the “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones” documentary movie.

In hot months, we are far away from Kapha season, but good to always have Kapha awareness that can hit us anytime of year.

Natural Kapha season is in the coldest months of the year (winter thru early spring) and we normally bundle up and eat more to keep us warm. It’s part of our natural evolution that falls after Vata autumn season… (you can learn about imbalances with Vata anxiety vs nervous feelings in last week’s Part 2 in this Ayurvedic series).

In Kapha awareness season that’s what this week’s article is about, we also naturally gravitate toward warm comfort foods as we know the cool light foods are Pitta Season that can cause Pitta mind body inflammation.

And if we’re having a Kapha body heavy season outside of natural Kapha season, that can put us out of balance and add more stress on our body keeping score. We know we’re Kapha imbalanced if we’re overeating or run toward processed or fatty foods more than usual.

In the Western world and especially America where I live, junk food is affordable, convenient food. Our societal environments aren’t supporting our longevity.

The opposite and healthiest populations with the largest number of Centenarians are in Loma Linda USA and the other Blue Zones (founded by Dan Buettner and described in his Netflix documentary, Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones).

But most areas in the U.S. or the world don’t live those naturally active lifestyles with built-in healthy eating strategies.

In most areas in metropolitan America and where I live, buying and preparing healthy foods takes more time and effort than the convenient, processed food options that are in your face on the road.

These are a couple key takeaways as to why you should care:

For one, eating those less healthy options, add up to weight gain and accumulating a less healthy body that’s keeping score; and are linked to and can lead to chronic inflammations down the road as statistics show.

But another point is that it’s not always just a body issue… it’s a mind and body challenge because the mind is what influences us (the choice makers) most as to what to put in the body. There’s a mind-body connection and on the more surface level it starts with our thoughts. That’s what I learned in Ayurveda.

💡And the aftermaths are in the mind-body connection (internal language). The thoughts, feelings, emotions, daily actions and reactions (in insecurities and fears) show up as symptoms on the body. The strange and uncomfortable body ailments we find on bodies are snowballed by our past thoughts and trauma we’ve endured.

A simple example is why a pimple shows up when you have stress. They start from our thoughts that show up on the face or body the next day or even sooner. And this  same explanation is why someone with PTSD thoughts (aware or not) holds onto extra pounds.

…This connect-the-dots could be a revelation for some and one big reason why I’m so passionate about restoring imbalances for healthy reasons and daily happiness. 💕

And it’s not any of our faults, as more than 90% of our day is run on the subconscious mind level. We have  the job to connect-the-dots in self-awareness and knowledge.

Sometimes this can be coming from a hormone imbalance where we don’t know when to stop eating. And a rule like eating to 80% of feeling full won’t help in those cases.

…But as decision makers for our actions and desires, we can set our own controls in place that don’t require excessive hardwork (like calorie counting or hours of exercise).

And those ways are not smart either because that’s not how our natural minds and bodies most efficiently work.

…If we tell ourselves, we can’t eat something, then our minds have a field day with us and we just want the eye-candy food even more (the “no ___” translates into energy toward the devil food cake or easy-greasy foods).

…And our bodies don’t want depletion of calories, it wants dense-nutrition.

And I can attest to this as I tried to live on pasta and low-fat cookies in my 20s… how did that work? 👎 …and what happened on the scale? 📈 …and like many of us who tried diets, it ended up  like a yo-yo effect 🪀

Plus, restricted to changes in no longer being able to eat certain types or quantities of foods for the same quality of life we had is an uphill climb. That means we have to learn new habits if we don’t want to sacrifice our body’s health or how we look.

Finding better habits that work for us is the ticket to success in maintaining a consistent weight you’re happy with. And some may think, DUH, I’ve been trying that but it hasn’t been easy.

Finding a new perspective from your past is one of the ways out. For example, some want to live longer to see their grandkids grow up, and others value feeling or looking better and eating healthy is one of the strategies.

For me, I want to respect my body as the only one I got. And while weight gain isn’t my Vata issue, putting a hard stop on snacking all day and closing the kitchen is.

I can use this analogy… when I started drinking coffee in the morning, I found that my 2 cups habit led to an eventual bottomless mug.

And I’m a home baker who doesn’t naturally measure. But I naturally keep track of time, so I used that easy tracking.

…One day, instead of counting cups I decided to use a coffee clock as a more effective tool. 🕛

And anywhere you are in the world, you’re on a world clock. And that clock has a time. So I use 12 noon as my morning quitting time. And allow myself a light latte dessert drink after lunch.

And in that example, I’ve created a habit stack onto my lunch time. And a habit stick that works year-round.

Maybe you have the same dilemma with coffee o’clock around the clock, or its food o’clock all day and all night. I know that too as I would snack from the time I woke up… I mean, I had to put food in my belly so the coffee had a non-acidic soft place to land.

…And then I continued snacking in the late morning until late at night, and sometimes skipping dinner but still snacking. Mind you, my snacks are healthy nuts, popcorn, and nutritional foods 90% of the time. But snacking is snacking.

Eating something and whenever you want is putting your body to work.

And I did this every day 365 times a year, like most of us have been trained to do since we were young.

Until I did this one thing… I quit eating after lunch on 1-2 days a week. And again I used time as a tracker. And I learned that this was healthy.

And not what I was previously told needed to happen which was to snack every 4-5 hours I was awake. And not doing that, gave my body a well-deserved break from digesting

And after I did that for more than 6 months (8 months to date), my body got adjusted to this new way that’s metabolically good for the body and all its running parts.

I ending up eating less food. And I started seeing some tone to my torso. Hmm… not bad. But for me the best part is the simplifying my life part not having to think about eating good foods all the time.

…I started out my career in hotel catering and worked professionally with foods for a decade, so that’s always been HUGE for me. I’m passionate about foods.

But not having to prepare home meals all the time or find a snack substitution is liberating. Food is joy in my book, and taking a break for a day makes me appreciate the foods even more.

And, I use that non-eating time to be productive… and unlike a snack break commercial interrupt, get more things done besides stuffing my face. 😊

And as intermittent fasting is trending, research is demystifying that it’s healthy. Your body loves a good healthy trend. When our bodies carry too much weight it’s a heavy burden that can upset organ functions along our GI tract, heart, and pancreas creating insulin as a helper.

I shared my starting intermittent fasting journey earlier in 2023 that’s part of my weekly routine. No more uncomfortable what is that? stomach feeling. And we know the gut is responsible for over 90% of our happy hormones.

I allow my body to detox longer than through a night of sleep. And you can too if you’re a natural Vata, Pitta, or Kapha body.

And if you’re finding yourself holding onto extra pounds you’d like to shed off and have tried all the diets that brought you back to Square-One (or similar to my weight cycling diet experience, weighing higher months later), then IF is something you want to embrace as your last-stop try.

I’ve put together my free ultimate IF guide, that has all the info. to get started all-in-one-place that you can check out for FREE.

And in free-ing Kapha awareness and celebrating our healthy Kaphas that make us lovely human beings, we can be aware of our Kapha mind imbalances that rob our peaceful moods.

We can get out of balance with our lazy moods that we can’t shake off easily. This can start from anything including overeating, being bored, discouraged, or wanting a more exciting, creative life.

…Or another sign is we act clingy or needy (and we have Kapha awareness on this since close ones have told us nicely to backoff).

…Or we start to accumulate things (opposite of minimalist) and they show up in our lives and we notice when we consciously pay attention in Kapha awareness.

And all these daily actions (or inactions) let us know that we have an opportunity to change our Kapha mind imbalances that affect our daily perspectives and outlook.

And Kapha awareness is the first step to get you out (and Ayurvedic awareness for any of the mind-body imbalances), so you can daily make healthy choices that help to restore your balances.

…Cleanup and prevention positively impacts your upcoming seasons and life, so you want to nip-imbalances-in-the-bud. 🌹

Here is a super simple recipe that you can bake in your apartment oven and/or during warm months where you want to keep the oven low.

pita bread.
Print

Easy Pita Bread

Pita is a great accompaniment for meals. The same ingredients used in general bread making is used in pita bread making. The technique slightly varies that gives the desired hollow pita pocket.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

  • flour of choice (e.g. wheat and plain flour)
  • water
  • instant yeast
  • salt

Instructions

  • Mix ingredients and form a bread dough. Knead for a few minutes by hand is fine. Set in a covered bowl to proof rise. Then punch down dough.
  • Roll out dough to about 1/8 inch thick or as thin as you can without holes. This is different that most bread methods because you're uniformly flattening the dough.
  • Cut out your pitas. For mini-pitas, you can use a drinking glass to cut out. And then pickup and move pita with small cake decorating spatula to baking sheet. Alternatively, you can roll out dough on the baking sheet "as is" and pull up the dough scraps that won't be used (and you'll be left with the cut outs).
  • Bake on 350°F oven (good for apartment ovens) and keeping heat energy low. Then bake until puffed up and golden browned, depending on size.