wellness

Wake Me Up Juice

Sometimes we need a little *jolt* to get our Kapha moving this time of year (or to get going in the morning!) this is one of my fave recipes for an invigorating boost- which is why I like to call it “Wake Me Up” juice 😉

This ginger-heavy juice is amazing for Kapha!

Ingredients:

3 stalks of celery
1 handful of parsley
1 big chunk of fresh ginger
1 tbsp of fresh turmeric
1/2 grapefruit
1/2 lemon
1/2 apple (optional for taste)

Add all ingredients to a high powered blender. Blend on high for 1 minute. Pass through a strainer into your favorite glass and enjoy.

*This juice is best if consumed on an empty stomach and away from other meals. Make sure to add enough ginger to keep it spicy!

The Ultimate Kapha-Balancing Checklist for Late-Winter

It’s happening. We are FINALLY (slowly) beginning the transition out of winter and into late-winter/spring!

(All my Australia girls, y’all gotta do the opposite of what I’m about say in this email, you’re gonna wanna check out this podcast episode instead!)

Here’s the thing. People tend to think that winter and spring are really different seasons. But in reality, late-fall and early-winter are more alike than winter and late-winter!

Basically, late winter is sorta like a whole other season than winter!

In late winter we start to get a much more watery experience than vata-dominant winter.

All of that firm holding, coldness and dryness of winter starts to release. Which means that Kapha season can bring with it feelings of heaviness and sluggishness, we can see more congestion and mucous-y conditions, and colds and the flu are on the rise.

When out of balance, too much Kapha can make us feel a bit lazy and cause us to give in to our less-aligned desires, like over-eating and spending too much time Netflix-and-chilling.

We want to honor and celebrate the life-affirming aspects of the season (like fluidity) but mitigate the dosha, the imbalances that arrive during this season.

How do we do that? Don’t worry I gotchu 😉 Here’s my master list of Kapha-balancing lifestyle tips.

Outdoor walks. Being outside is a great idea. Walking, especially if you have a lot of Kapha in your system or are the kapha body/mind type helps to get things moving.
Spring cleaning. Start with one room in your house! Think about clearing out or redecorating! This is a great time to start a renovation, too.
Making plan for the spring. This is a great time to plan a wedding, plan your business year ahead. The spring is really way more the “new year” than January, so get your plan on.
Watch the tendency to pull out your spring lighter clothing! It’s important to still bundle up especially, in the beginning of spring. End of winter/early spring is when the damp quality builds up so we’re a little ripe for cold/mucous stuff.
Get moving! The late winter/early spring (and continuing into spring) is such a good time to really party and let your energy move with a little more rigorous exercise! Jump rope, go on walks, mellow jogs, have fun with it! Winter is when we tend to put on a little bit more substance and that’s totally fine! Animals do this! And then in the wild, the greens start to shoot forth and they start to lose some of those hibernating fats.

If you've been feeling like you're waking up from winter hibernation... this is your Ayurvedic roadmap back to clarity, lightness and vitality. 🌿

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Sacred Cycle Sweets

Cooling, grounding and hormone-nourishing, these Sacred Cycle Sweets weave together shatavari, fennel and cardamom to support women’s cycles while offering a naturally sweet treat for body and spirit.

Here's How to Make My Sacred Cycle Sweets:

Ingredients (makes ~10):

1 cup shredded coconut
½ cup cashews, soaked 2 hrs
6 Medjool dates
1 tsp shatavari powder
1 tsp cardamom
½ tsp fennel powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch pink salt
1 tbsp coconut oil

Instructions:

Blend cashews + coconut into a paste.
Add dates, shatavari, spices + vanilla. Process until dough forms.
Roll into balls, coat with extra coconut. Refrigerate.

Raspberry Oat Hormone Bars

Sweet, tart and chocolatey comfort! These bars blend magnesium-rich nuts, fiber-filled oats, and antioxidant raspberries to steady mood, ease PMS cravings, and nourish your hormones the Ayurvedic way.

Here's How to Make Them:

Ingredients (makes ~12 bars):

Base:

1 cup rolled oats (ground to flour)
½ cup walnuts or almonds (magnesium powerhouse)
1 cup Medjool dates, pitted
2 tbsp almond butter
Pinch sea salt

Raspberry Layer:

1½ cups fresh or frozen raspberries
2 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp maple syrup
½ tsp vanilla

Chocolate Topping:

½ cup dark chocolate chips (at least 70%)
1 tbsp coconut oil
Sprinkle of cinnamon

Instructions:

Process oats, nuts, dates, almond butter + salt until dough forms. Press into pan.
In a saucepan, simmer raspberries, chia, maple + vanilla for 10 minutes until jammy. Spread over base.
Melt chocolate + coconut oil, stir in cinnamon, and pour over raspberry layer.
Chill until firm, slice into bars.

How to Make the Perfect Summer Salad

Summertime is the time for salad—the possibilities are endless. 🌺🌱🍅 In the Virginia summers, greens grow in abundance, fruit starts popping off and there are edible flowers galore! It’s one of my favorite times of the year. ⁠

Of course Ayurveda suggests not over consuming raw food, but there are plenty of ways around this. Salads are appropriate in the hot summer months and if your digestive system is a little sluggish, you can always pair your greens with a cooked element or additional spices to support your specific needs. ⁠
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I love going to the farmer’s market in the summer and seeing what creations I can make with the various colors and shapes of the vegetables. Making food should feel like an art (of course it’s not always going to feel easy), but it is an act of creativity that can really serve you well. ⁠
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When it comes to making salads you can get really creative. Just simply think of what flavors and textures you love most and create a salad from that. For me, I love crunch, I love FAT and I love citrus. I usually end up making a big bowl of greens, some sort of seed sautéed in ghee, avocado, radishes and all of it topped with a lemon vinaigrette. I often will always add some sort of protein source. Grilled chicken, fried tempeh and hard boiled (farm fresh eggs) are all my favorite go-to forms of protein.

Here's How to Make my Perfect Summer Salad:

Salad Ingredients:

½ cup cooked quinoa
1 ½ cups summer greens (mix of your choice-diced)
1 tbsp lightly toasted pumpkin seeds
½ cup summer cherry tomatoes (halved)
1 handful of summer sprouts
Optional protein add ons: ¼ cup cooked chickpeas or grilled chicken

Dressing Ingredients:

1 tbsp vegan mayo
¼ cup fresh mint & parsley mix (diced)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Assemble all of your salad ingredients into a bowl (except the sprouts) organizing however you would like. Whisk dressing ingredients in a bowl using a fork (adding more or less apple cider vinegar depending on preference). Generously pour dressing over the salad. Garnish with fresh edible flowers and sprouts!

Enjoy! 🥬🌱🍅🌼

Ayurvedic Tips For Allergy Season

Two more of my fave supports for allergy season are quercetin (studies have shown that quercetin can prevent immune cells from releasing histamines which means runny nose, hives and swelling = bye bye 👋🏼) and Green Tea (‘cause it’s high in quercetin 😉). ⁠
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Ayurveda understands that allergies are the result of an outer allergen aggravating a specific dosha. ⁣⁠Seasonal allergies related to spring (and sometimes fall) are usually more kapha-related.⁣⁠
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In order to aid our kapha allergies, we have to heat things up, boost circulation, clear out the channels of the body and support our system’s natural cleansing pathways (think lymph flow, circulation, digestion and elimination!).⁣⁠

Here are some more of my favorite tips for allergy season:

Get a Neti Pot and use it daily! Add ¼ tsp salt to warm water and pour through both nostrils.
Follow your Neti Pot with Nasya Oil to lubricate your nostrils with herbal oil.
Scrape your tongue. Scraping your tongue helps to remove the ama that your body is cleansing through the night.
Dry Brush. Dry brushing boosts the lymphatic system–this helps the channels of the body circulate and eliminate toxins.
Drink your nettles. Nettles promote healthy circulation and activate the liver and kidneys.

And if you really want to get ahead of things, start doing some of these practices before allergy season hits to improve your overall immunity. 🌸⁠

P.S. Here’s how I make my nettles infusion: Brew a tea by combining 4 large tablespoons of dried nettles in a mason jar with boiling water - let steep for 1 hour and then strain! Enjoy! 🌿

How to Dry Brush the Ayurvedic Way

Why Dry Brush?

Dry Brushing (traditionally called garshana) helps move stagnation, stimulates Rasa Dhatu’s flow, boosts our natural detoxification system and gives the skin that GLOW we all want! 🌟⁠
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In Ayurveda, our lymph is part of the Rasa Dhatu, one of the 7 tissues of the body.⁠
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The lymph and blood plasma serve as the first line of immune defense when we encounter allergens and bacteria. Not only does the lymphatic system serve as immune defense, it also serves as psycho-emotional defense (AKA how easily we can let things roll off us, rather than deeply penetrate and wound us, on an emotional level). 🫀⁠
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Unlike your blood, which is pumped throughout your body by your heart, your lymph relies on your body’s valve system to move, functioning more like a manual pumping system. This is where practices like dry brushing and Abhyanga come in - they help literally “pump” the lymph! 💪🏽⁠
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Brush Towards the Heart

It's best to use a dry brush on dry skin before you take a bath or shower. Start at your feet and work your way upwards. Brush in a circular motion always in the direction of your heart. This will help increase blood flow throughout the body.

Follow Up with Moisture

Try to brush for at least 3 minutes working your way up to 5 minutes. After showering, make sure to lather yourself in some kind of amazing moisturizer or use your dry brush right before you Abhyanga, allowing the oil to be deeply absorbed into your revived skin.

Spring is an amazing time for dry brushing, boosting your body’s natural detoxification system and even giving you a freshened-up, more vigorous outlook on life. 😉

Beet & Chickpea Hummus

To further support you during this kapha season, I want to offer up one of my go-to recipes for one of my favorite grounding veggies: the beet! ⁠
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Beets are loaded with health benefits and when I eat them regularly I feel like I have some sort of super strength. ⁠
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Their rich color is a key indicator of their richness in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory effects on the body. ⁠
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In Ayurveda, beets can be eaten in abundance by all doshas as long as they are prepared appropriately. Vata & pitta individuals can tolerate cooked beets more so than kapha. If you are prone to have more kapha, try adding a little extra mustard seed and black pepper to your beets. ⁠
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Other benefits of beets include: ⁠
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🫜 Improves circulation ⁠
⁠🫜 Supports healthy skin⁠
⁠🫜 High in iron ⁠
⁠🫜 Good for liver detoxification ⁠
⁠🫜 Cleanses the blood ⁠
⁠🫜 Good for the brain ⁠
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I love making all sorts of dishes with beets. I’ve added beets to chocolate cakes, roasted them for salads, hummus and dressings, and have even added them to smoothies. The possibilities are endless when it comes to the beet! ⁠

Now let's get into the recipe:

Ingredients:

1-2 beets (already roasted or boiled)
1 can of chickpeas drained (or you can use 1 cup freshly cooked/drained chickpeas)
1 juiced lemon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 large cloves garlic
3 Tbsp tahini (if you’re looking for an even more kapha-friendly version, you can use sunflower seed butter)
¼ water
Olive oil for topping

Directions:

Add all the ingredients to a food processor (except for the olive oil). Blend until smooth (you may need to add more water to reach the desired consistency).
Top with a drizzle of olive oil, a little parsley or some sesame seeds!⁠

Save this recipe for the next time you need to spice up your dinner rotation or add some color to your plate. 😉🫜🌺🌿

Wake Me Up Juice

The Ultimate Kapha-Balancing Checklist for Late-Winter

Sacred Cycle Sweets

Raspberry Oat Hormone Bars

How to Make the Perfect Summer Salad

Ayurvedic Tips For Allergy Season

How to Dry Brush the Ayurvedic Way

Beet & Chickpea Hummus

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