Summer

Katie’s Ayurveda-Inspired Gatorade

Ingredients:

5 limes
1 tbsp Manuka honey (this one is bangin’)
½ tsp black or Himalayan pink salt
¼ tsp fennel powder
1/4 tsp licorice powder
3 cups water
Ice Cubes (this is an Ayurveda NO-NO, so if you wanna’ be a purist, leave this one out, but I'm gonna’ be honest - in the dead of muggy Virginia summer, this girl breaks the no-ice rules)
Mint leaves
2 Tbs. hibiscus flowers (dried)

Instructions:

Steep the hibiscus flowers in boiling water for 20 minutes in 2 cups of water. Strain and let cool.
Squeeze the lime juice into a bowl.
In a Mason jar or carafe, add the lime juice, hibiscus tea, honey, salt, licorice, fennel, ice cubes (if you’re naughty) and additional water.
Mix or shake.
Add more honey or spices as per your taste.
Garnish with the mint.

Hot Girl Summer! ☀ Cool & Fun Tips to Stay Balanced this Season

Isn’t summer just the best? Sandy toes👣 and sun-kissed glows☀️. Farmers’ markets and scents of jasmine, rose and honeysuckle wafting through the air. I don’t know about you, but I CRAVE summer – it means road trips, BBQs, outdoor concerts, barefoot walks and quality time with friends and friends.

Full stop.

What I don’t crave is summer’s annoying skin rashes, hot flashes and indigestion, or feeling hangry, impatient and leave-me-alone frustrated. Sound familiar? Yeah, total hogwash!

As fiery pitta 🔥 builds and the earth gets uncomfy, humid and hot, so do we! And, I don’t mean in a cute, “lightly flushed + glowing” way… No, I’m talking full-on hot, angry face. 🥵 So how do we keep pitta at bay and actually enjoy summertime?

Easy! Ayurveda tells us how to cool our jets so we’re not walking around red-faced and moody all season – generally, stay hydrated, eat a summer diet and prioritize SELF-CARE. ((Good news! Ayurveda permits napping during the summer months! So allow yourself to take a conscious rest or siesta when the afternoon slump hits.))

Hey, speaking of self-care, summer is the perfect time to unleash your sensual goddess and get your sexy on, girl – nudge, nudge, wink, wink. More on that later…

To help you beat the heat, stay mellow and enjoy summer’s sun-drenched days, I’m sharing some essential pitta lifestyle tips (SPOILER: yummy DIY recipes + HOT hints on how to rediscover your sensual self.) Get ready to roll with the heat by priming your body and soul for the season! Onward…

Katie’s 10 Favorite Pitta-Pacifying Foods

~foods that cool your body + calm your mood~

A pitta-pacifying diet includes heaps of hydrating, fresh seasonal produce that have cooling energies. During summer, it’s best to favor sweet, bitter and astringent tastes and reduce salty and pungent tastes. Here’s what you can always find in my kitchen during the summer months.

✨ Aloe Vera

✨ blueberries

✨ cucumber

✨ coconut (coconut water with slices of lime - yum!)

✨ leafy greens: radicchio, watercress, arugula, spinach

✨ turmeric

✨ stone fruits: peaches, pears, apricots

✨ melons: cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon

✨ mint, cilantro, basil, coriander

✨ beets

Sexy, Sassy Summer

~celebrate your divine sexual energy~

Balmy nights, bare legs, sun-kissed skin – summer is an oh’ so SEXY season, isn’t it? Connecting to your physical and energetic sexual centers is key to boosting your vitality and should be an area that is nurtured and attended to regularly. This summer (heck, anytime!!), I want you to tap into the HOT sensual goddess that you are and rediscover your feminine magic.

Try a few of these tips to reconnect with your sexual prowess… or have fun with a partner.

💋 Light up your libido with a sensual photoshoot. No, really. Grab your sexy boy shorts, summery lingerie or go a la’ nude. Keep the photos to yourself to gawk at or share with another!

💋 Cultivate self-love. Stand in front of a mirror and note all of the intricate details you love about your body. Say them OUT LOUD, lady! You are special and deserve to hear it.

💋 Let loose your inner Beyoncé! Move your hips through dance to ignite your sexual energy. Your hips, located at your second chakra, are linked to your sexuality and pleasure.

💋 Go skinny dipping and relish the erotic feel and freedom of water on your bare skin.

💋 Write yourself love affirmations: I am desire. I am sexy. I am magnetic. Yes. You. Are!

💋 Try this meditation for building and healing sexual energy.

💋 Share a chilly treat with your bae – chocolate-dipped strawberries, ice cubes, whipped cream, need I say more?

💋 Incorporate intimate acts of deep connection with your partner, such as massage, talking, walking hand-in-hand, long hugs, kind words or simply gazing at one another. Pleasure is a journey, not a destination!

💋 Get busy! Wild and spontaneous or soft and sensual – sex is a magical and beautiful part of life. During summer, the body’s ojas are not up to optimal levels and sexual frequency may be reduced (but hey, you do you).

✨For more deep real-talk on sex, spirit and shakti-infused self-care,✨
subscribe to Katie’s Spirit Sessions podcast.

Skin That’s Good Enough to Eat

~homemade scrub for dewy, glowing skin~

Keep your skin cool, smooth and lickable with a DIY body scrub. Whip up this super-simple scrub using coconut oil (one of Ayurveda’s best pitta-pacifying ingredients), brown sugar and your favorite pitta-balancing essential oil. Ready to get your sexy back?

🥥Sugar Scrub for Sooth, Supple Skin

¼ to 1 cup coconut oil
2 cups brown sugar or any organic sugar
10-15 drops of essential oil
Mix oil & sugar until creamy
Add essential oil while stirring
Add remaining sugar until you reach desired consistency

Katie’s favorite cooling oils to calm fiery pitta: Jasmine, rose, chamomile, geranium

honeysuckle and sandalwood. Choose one or mix and match!

Cooling Blends for Sultry Days

~kick back with a refreshing cuppa~

A scorching summer day = cooling off poolside with a citrusy, refreshing drink in hand, am I right? Before reaching for a margarita, cue da herbs! Our plant companions (like, mint) can help us beat the heat while supporting our constitutional balance. And, it’s yummy! Mix up this delicious, totally guilt-free Ayurvedic-inspired limeade and get outdoors to kick back.

🥒Cooling Cucumber Mint Limeade

1 cucumber
3 limes
1-2 sprigs of mint
Honey or agave to taste (optional)
Peel & cube cucumbers, removing seeds if needed
Put cucumbers, juice of limes, mint, sweetener of your choice & 4 cups water into blender
Blend until smooth & sip away
Drink at room temp to allow the herbs to naturally bring down your agni

✨For more tasty recipes, visit Katie’s blog! ✨

Frayed Nerves? Try Sitali Breath!

~pacify the building heat in your body~

Sitali Pranayama, “the cooling breath,” is my absolute go-to yogic breathing exercise during summer. It helps lower our body’s temp, calm our nerves, take the edge off hunger pangs, and reduces fatigue, fevers and high blood pressure. It’s a super easy practice and will leave you feeling renewed, refreshed and energized. Here’s the deets!

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

- Sit in a comfortable position with your head, neck and spine in alignment
- Close your eyes, breathe consciously for several minutes
- Form the lips into an “o,” curl your tongue lengthwise and project it out of the mouth
- Inhale deeply through your tongue as if drinking through a straw
- Focus your attention on the cool breath across your tongue as you fill up your diaphragm
- Bring your tongue into your mouth and exhale slowly through your nose
- Start with 2-5 minutes of Sitali breath and increase to 10 minutes over time

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Not a tongue curler? 🙋No worries - lots of people aren’t! You can get the same results with Sitkari.

- Sit in a comfortable position with your head, neck and spine in alignment
- Close your eyes, breathe consciously for several minutes

- Press your lower and upper teeth together, and separate your lips so your teeth are exposed
- As you inhale slowly through your teeth, focus on the sound of the breath and the sensation
of the air on your teeth
- Close your mouth and exhale slowly through your nose

- Repeat Sitkari breath for 2-5 minutes and increase to 10 minutes over time

🙏 Finish with several minutes of meditation to notice the sensations throughout your body. 🙏

I hope that my recommendations assist you on your journey this season. I wish you the most balanced summer in your being.

Love yourself. Enjoy yourself.

The BEST Summer Herb

Amalaki (aka Indian Gooseberry, aka Amla) is COOLING. It’s great for pitta tendency people like me who get overly heated (think menstrual related acne, or loose stool), especially this time of year.

It's one of the fruits in ayurveda's digestive formula Triphala. It's english name is Indian Gooseberry.

But it's also a potent external medicine for hair and skin!! ⠀

You can take amalaki internally. It is a super-well-known rejuvenate as it gently cleanses the colon, beautifies hair and skin and is an all-around tonic for the organs. In India its known as a super-food, youth-enhancer!

It’s also SUPER helpful for blemishes. Scroll down for my summer Amalaki face mask.

➳ You can also use the powders in your smoothies or yogurt. It has a delightful sour taste.

➳ Mix it with coconut oil and use as a hair mask. It makes your hair really shinny and strong. This is so good for pitta hair that’s often very fine and breaks easily. It’s hard to grow out your hair sometimes as a pitta.

➳ Mix it with almond oil to make an anti-aging treatment and soften fine lines. (Amalaki is high in Vit C, which helps build collagen).

➳ Mix Amalaki juice or powder with aloe vera juice for a refreshing facewash.

➳ Banyan Botanicals sources THE BEST amalaki, it’s potent, organic and fair trade. Banyan is supporting farmers in Asia, not just doing business and then peacing out. Use the discount code KATIES15 for 15% of your order.

Try this facemask, it will change your skin routine forever!!!!

Amalaki facemask with honey (& optional parsley)

This is a great mask for blemishes but it may dry out your skin if left for too long, or used during dry months, or during dry skin cycles. Use this in humid environments, in the high summer season or if you have oily skin.⠀

➳ Start by chopping up finely a sprig of washed parsley⠀

➳ Crush it up in a mortar and pestle until the juice is coming out (the bottom of the clean jar on a chopping board can suffice if you don’t have one)⠀

➳ Add 2 teaspoons of Amalaki (Amla) powder and hot water to make a wet paste with the crushed parsley⠀

➳ Add a teaspoon of Manuka honey to the still warm mixture and blend them all together into a paste⠀

➳ The crushed parsley won’t spread consistently but this doesn’t matter as the hot water will have dispersed its compounds into the paste⠀

➳ You want your face mask to be the consistency of yogurt – easy to spread but not too watery/runny.⠀

➳ Apply the paste while it's still warm⠀

➳ Wash your face of any dirt or makeup⠀

➳ Apply the paste to damp, clean skin⠀

➳ Lie down in your room with mask on for 20-30mins⠀

➳ Wash off with warm water and apply your favorite moisturizer!⠀

Ep. 03 Summer Date Shake! OMG Love!

Here in Virginia, we're in the middle of a heat wave. So in today's mini-episode, Katie shares her favorite date shake recipe to help you stay cool and feel amazing!

In this episode, you'll hear:

~ Katie's current obsession with dates!

~ The importance of milk in Ayurveda

~ The benefits of cardamom

~ Summer Date Shake Recipe (see below)

~ All you need is a blender, milk, dates, and SPICES!

Summer Date Shake Recipe

~ 2 cups milk of your choice

~ 1 or 2 dates with pits removed

~ Cardamom to taste

~ Optimal: crushed rose petals for topping

Put everything in a blender and mix for about 30 seconds. Pour into your favorite glass and sprinkle with crushed rose petals. You can drink the date shake straight away, put it in the fridge to enjoy with your tea or coffee later or heat it up and sip before bed.

Enjoy!

Or Subscribe on iTunes

Learn more:

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From my heart to your screen,

Katie

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