Beat the heat with Sitali & Sitkari Pranayam (breath work)

While staying in Delhi I know, I am no exception to get effected with the scorching summer heath. You guys must be using all the possible means to beat the heat right from coconut water to watermelons, buttermilk, curd and lassi etc. As long as something is really not ice chilled can be consumed without much adverse effect on the digestive system but one can always have other resorts like yoga and Pranayam which can magically cool the breath and bring down the body temperature almost immediately. There are mainly two breathing practices which are mechanisms to produce cooling effects in our body like any other electronic device does to a room. The sages of Himalayas used these yogic practices to prevent their body from extreme heat and cold in the most natural manner. In these yogic practices our own body is used as a machine and with certain breath-work one can produce the cooling breath within ourselves. The simplest for a comman man are - SITALI and SITAKARI PRANAYAM. One would like to know the meaning of Sitali word - it indicates something which gives cooling effect. Even Sivananda Yoga include sitali and sitkari pranayams in their discourses.

Lets learn how to practice sitali & sitkari step by step. 

SITALI PRANAYAM -  Sitali cools the body immediately and improve the moisture level within                                                the system. 

 How to practice

1- Sit cross legged with your spine straight

2- Close your eyes and breath normally for a few minutes

3- Now make an O with your lips

5- Curl your tongue and place it in the opening of your mouth with an O shape.

6- Now start breathing from your mouth and pull the air through the tongue which will then get deep filled in your lungs.

7-  Exhale through your nostrils. 

Continue doing for 2-3 minutes and come back to your normal berating. With practice this can be done up-to 8-10 minutes in one  stretch without any problems. 

SITKARI PRANAYAM - What if I can't curl my tongue ?  Okei.. Try Sitkari then :)

How to practice

1- Sit cross legged with your spine straight.

2- Close your eyes and breath normally for a few minutes.

3- Gently press your upper and lower jaw and separate your lips a bit apart so that air can pass through your teeth smoothly.

4- Slowly inhale through the gaps of your teeth. This creates a slight hissing sound.  

5- Close your lips and slowly exhale from your nostrils. 

Normally you can do it for 15-20 times without any problems. 

CAUTIONS - Because both these breath works are very effective in cooling down our body's temperature, they must be performed only during the summer season and are not advised to be practiced in the winters when temperature is already on a lower side. This may aggravate the respiratory & lung problems. Both Sitali & Sitkari pranayam if practiced with required precautions can give tremendous health benefits. Baba Ramdev also has uploaded detailed videos on  practicing Sitali & Sitkari on the youtube. These links may serve as a ready reference.

SITALI pranayam youtube video
SITKARI pranayam youtube video

These are easy yogic techniques to learn and even simpler when you practice it. Go guys...... try it out to be cool at no cost at all. Just a few breath and you will be - Thanda Thanda Cool Cool...

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The real significance of growing Jaware / Khetri in Navratra / navami pooja / can jaware or Khetri be eaten?

What made me write this post are the discarded Jhuwara / jawara / Khetri pots after the ninth day - NAVAMI Pooja of Navratri. Hindu sow wheat or barley seeds on the first day of Navratri pooja and offer the saplings to the mother goddess on the last day as part of the rituals. One can easily find these pots along with the remaining saplings inside the huge MCD dustbins or piled up under any Peepal tree.

Courtesy - Google

What people don't understand is the real meaning behind this ritual which has been followed by the Hindus for years. Being a Hindu I must say that our Sanatan Dharma is probably one of the most well thought religions which stand so firm in their ability to explain its rituals and values in the most scientific and logical manner. When we talk of this ritual of sawing Jhuware / jaware / Khetri ( Also Harela in Uttaranchal region) it clearly indicates the value of sprouting the grains and growing wheat grass to reap out the health benefits out of it. It's importance is so deep and well appreciated by our ancestors that it is offered at the feet of the goddess as a symbol of respect, purity and devotion and then kept on our heads as a mark of blessings from the Goddess's feat. We saw it keeping so much of purity and hygiene aspects in mind in terms of selecting the soil and  manure and also choosing the quality of seeds. We then keep an eye on its growth and water it consciously in order to help it grow reasonably well. If the saplings doesn't grow well or long enough it is not considered as a good sign. At least a few sprouts must pop out to be offered to the goddess and then be taken as a prasad. Do we ever thought why it has given so much of importance in our rituals and is linked to positivity and prosperity in our life.

The biggest agony of today's age is that we choose to follow rituals just as action points without trying to understand their true meaning. By all such rituals our ancestors tried to pass on the gift of the knowledge which they wanted us to imbibe in our day to today life. Growing Jhuwara should not be the action for just one day as part of a ritual but must be grown throughout the year and consumed as part of our diet. Imagine the tremendous health benefits of consuming it on a daily basis in the form of a salad dressing or in a powdered form or may be extracting it's juice etc. 

Courtesy - Google

Ages back there was no such concept of commercializing the knowledge but with passing of time and also realizing the health benefits of wheat grass many organic and Ayurvedic companies have started offering variety of products ranging from powered wheat grass to flavored Juices. These tiny greens are rich in vitamin A-C-I-K-B complex and also proteins. There are seventeen amino acids which present in these saplings. These miracle greens are  70% chlorophyll, which can tackle most of the blood / hemoglobin related problems in the human body. It is amazingly filled with oxygen and therefore a natural detoxification agent. They can even remove heavy metals from the body and tackle many blood disorders. As now they are marketed vigorously by the health companies across the world people buy them at any price because a Baba Ramdev is suggesting it or an Amway is advocating it. 

High time guys .... it takes almost no efforts to grow fresh wheat grass at your home or balcony or even at the windowsill. You may use any type of container even a used container from your kitchen to grow it. You may consume it's fresh leafs or juice it in your grinder by adding a little water into it. People staying in the most polluted cities can take tremendous health benefits by consuming this juice as an excellent detoxification agent and an easy remedy to flush out the toxins from their body. A prevention from free redials and a rejuvenating heath drink for your overall health system. What are you waiting for..Goooo man.. Grow the greens.... 

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whole wheat (atta) Cookies without butter & eggs (atta biscuits with oil)

Dear All,

Life is just so delicious with freshly baked cookies.. isn't it. In my endeavors of  baking most health friendly cookies for my family so far, I have finally succeeded with making whole wheat flour cookies (Atta biscuits) with out using butter, shortening or eggs. Adding more to the nutrition part they are packed with Chokar (wheat bran) to increase the fiber content. These biscuits are really crunchy and mouth melting and hence can be eaten well with evening tea or in the breakfast.  

Well.... I won't mind sharing my recipe with you as long as you promise to give it a try and come back with your valuable comments and experiences.  :)

Okei... so all you need is.... 

1/2 cup of whole wheat flour (my measuring cup is 75 gm)
1/2 cup of wheat bran
3 Table spoon of sugar (powdered in your mixer)
4-5 cardamom (Elayachi) (Seeds crushed and powdered)
1 tea spoon baking powder
little less than 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil (any oil would work. I used rice bran oil) need to be kept in freezer to become chilled.
1/2 cup of Milk - need to be kept in freezer to become chilled.
A few drops of vanilla / Pineapple essence mixed into the milk

Mix everything together - wheat flour + wheat bran + sugar + baking powder + cardamom powder and mix them really well. Add the vanilla / Pineapple essence to the milk. Now gently add the oil in the flour and mix it really well till the point you feel the flour has absorbed the oil completely and small lumps / laddo type shapes can be formed. Now start adding milk little by little to make a gentle dough (not too loose but firm) I used around 2 tea spoon milk for this quantity of mixture to make a final dough. Since we are not using butter, the mixture will not be very combining and it may not be very easy to form a solid dough so all you need to do is  -  just take all the mixture put together and press it to give it a cylindrical shape. 

Now carefully wrap it in a cling film ( or any thick poly sheet will work) and keep it in freezer for 15-20 minutes). As you put the dough in the freezer, preheat the oven for 180 C. After 15-20 minutes the dough is chilled and firm. Take it out from the sheet / cling film and cut 1/2 " slices of the dough. Place them carefully on a greased tray and bake for 15- 18 minutes till the biscuits are golden brown in color. (you need to check in every 3 minuted after 10 minutes of initial continuous baking as temperature works different in different ovens. Carefully take them out and place on another tray for cooling. 

You can have multiple round of baking as per your need. In this quantity you will have 10-12 medium sized cookies. 

Enjoy the crunch and give your family a new taste of freshly baked healthy cookies. 

Will be up with lot more on my balcony gardening preparations for winters and kitchen endeavors. Keep visiting and enjoying with me.. till then stay happy and blessed.. 

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Shri Shakti Dham - Siddheshwar - Simtola, Almora (Uttarakhand)

A Siddha Place in the outskirts of Almora city. Spiritual seekers must visit the place to get the holy ash from the Dhooni.. and the blessings of Shri Pujya GuruJi who is the divine guidance behind establishing the temple as well as the spiritual power associated with this place.. He is a living Yogi and a manifestation of such great divine powers which are described in the ancient scriptures as Siddhis and said to be achieved only by intense Sadhana... I bow to the lotus feet of Shri Guru Ji..

ॐ  श्री सिध्देश्वराय  शिवाय नमः । जय श्री पूज्य गुरूजी 

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Blooming Mum's (Guldawari) In my Delhi Balcony

MUMs......Grown from cuttings and shoots of a plant from the last season and nurtured with my home made compost... My living rooms balcony looks as if I am somewhere in the hills these days.. 

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He WON over cancer....

I have always been a great believer of natural cure of ailments and of course early prevention by using natural resources available around us. Nature is fully capable of curing any disease provided we live a life content with Mother Nature. I recently came to know about a cancer patient in Udhamsingh Nager (Uttaranchal, India) who was referred to a renowned hospital in Delhi after being diagnosed at an advance stage of cancer. This poor farmer always lived a life close to nature but had some malhabits of consuming alcohol and tobacco in an uncontrolled manner. He was advised to go through a chemotherapy along with other medicines which he couldn't afford thus refused to go through and returned to his small village.

With no money for the treatment he was left with just one option which is - Exercising his own will power to quit his malhabits and fight with the disease. All what he switched to -  is a healthy routine, habits and some natural remedies considered to boost the immune system. He simply started getting up early in  the morning and going to his fields for long walks, taking deep breaths in the fresh morning air. As deep as possible. Coming back after kilometers of walk and having a glass of fresh wheat juice extracted from home grown wheat saplings. This followed by a set of physical exercises which he learned in his childhood along with friends but stopped doing gradually. Drank a lot of water and also switched to a pure vegetarian diet.

Somehow back of his mind he was still not sure where he is heading to with all this but performed all above with  patience and kept faith in the supreme. 7-8 months down the line he somehow managed to gather the courage to visit a local government hospital for a checkup as his heath looked good, stable and  showed sign of improvement in overall energy level. Limit of everyone's surprise he was diagnosed with no sign of cancer.This bacme a case of miracle and the local hospital referred him to Delhi to be rechecked by the same hospital where he was advised for chemotherapy. He went through all the tests once again and finally diagnosed with no sign of cancer at all. A research is being done on this case by top hospitals in Delhi to get a scientific explanation of this miraculous survival.

Mother Nature is the biggest doctor and some one who lives a life content with the rules of nature will always be cured and remain protected. The basic Funda is - we all living beings are made of  the same energy which is generated and controlled by the Mother Nature. The same supreme energy is reflected as humans in one form and Nature in another. In other words humans and nature are all same. The more you be in sink the more you will get benefited. Nature never goes against human it is the human being who does it most of the time and even  force her to do so. The more naturally you live and remain close to nature the more healthy (mentally, physically and spiritually) you will.

The last two - three lines of the article says -  Cancer dares with deep breathing... the more you breath and the deep you breath will force cancer to leave your body. The best time to perform this is the early morning hours as the early morning air is called "Prana Vayu" means " The purest air which gives you energy to live". The more you inhale this air the more chances for a healthy life.This is a must for all humans especially people living a city life which is more polluted and contaminated. 

Wheat juice is a boon for everyone. This boosts your immune system and detoxify the body from all what has been consumed by eating, breathing , drinking including the effect of free redials. It is the best heath drink one can have. A small glass in a week is good enough though it would be best if you intake daily.

Have a lot of basil grown in your balcony, veranda, terrace as it purifies the air. Have 5 to 10 pots of basil in the open area available in your house / flat and perform your morning exercises / yoga  around this area. The atmosphere is blessed with the goodness of basil. You can sense a lightness in the environment around you. 

Only a soul close to nature leads towards a spiritual life. Most of us never reach to the level of spiritual engagement as our body and mind are so polluted not to feel the need of spiritual feed. Hence we tend to live a life all against nature. As a result we get a lot of diseases (mental/ physical) / unhealthy symptoms / thought patterns. We then  try to cure them with even more artificial and non natural sources which require to waste a lot of money which otherwise could have been utilized for better purposes. This pressure results in thinking and talking about our illness / problems as many time we get a chance. The nature's "Law of Reflection" works and these thoughts create more illness and negativity in all aspects and eventually this become a cycle for us in which most of us find ourselves stuck. 

I simply suggest

Have faith in the supreme. Live a life content with the rules of Nature. Speak and think positive.

May you all have a blessed life....

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FLAX seeds benefits - How to consume flax seeds?, How much flax to consume in a day, is it safe to consume raw Flax?, how to use Flax seed oil? Benefits of Flax, Flax seeds and cancer…..

HAVE FLAX TO REMOVE FLAWS

 

Hi Folks. Its been a while that I visited my blog. What made me occupied and away from writing was hubby's illness. He had a surprisingly increased level of triglyceride and uric acid which resulted in tremendous amount of pain in all his joints. :( :( :( 

He is better with prolonged medication along with some dietary restrictions as advised by our Ayurvedic Doctor- Vaidya Triguna. (Read more on Vaidya Triguna.)

Apart from medication, one thing that seems helping a lot is consumption of FLAX seeds (अलसी के बीज ) a rich source of Fiber and OMEGA 3 which is known as good cholesterol in a layman's language. I discovered  this magic food supplement in a mood of desperation to fight with the bad cholesterol which he was suffering from. These tiny seeds are full of fiber and OMEGA 3 and miraculously capable to address multiple health problems. The rich content of OMEGA 3 keeps our heart veins healthy and melts the bad cholesterol accumulated in our heart arteries, keeps our joints fully lubricated and thus reducing joint pain caused by damaged cartilage. Minimizes the risk of osteoporosis in a later age also. It's a high fiber content and is able to beat even acute constipation and so filling that you don't feel like eating anything for long after consuming it. This results in reduced weight. Its rich OMEGA 3 content is highly effective to treat depression also. Its oil is very beneficial to remove pigmentation and gives you a healthy skin and shiny hair growth and so on. It is a proven fact that FLAX has double the OMEGA 3 one can get in any fish oil or any other fish food including Salmon. Then why not going a veg way..

It was a struggle for me to find these seeds in the nearby market and finally I got them in a superstore. A Sindhi store who made a fool of me by selling INR 400 a kg. I bought only 200 gm as I was not sure about it's taste. Later when I explored a different market, height of my surprise they are just Rs. 160 for a kilo. I recently bought the oil which is INR 400 for a lt. Reason sharing all this to save you from such instances  ;-) 

As far as the benefits are concerned they are endless and also a lot of information available over the internet about it but..... FLAX  need to be consumed in a right manner to avail all its benefits i.e. right time to consume, right amount, raw or treated, oil or whole, accompanied with what etc. You know.. there was a medical practitioner named  Dr. Johanna Budwig in Germany who successfully cured  many patients from cancer (including those who were on the advance stage )  and her treatment revolved only around FLAX,  in its different forms. Oil, soup, saus, powder etc.. She was a vegetarian and always promoted a veg diet as a prevention of cancer. She used to put her patients on a regime of FLAX diet + FLAX oil massage + wheat grass juice +Yoga and breathing techniques. This as a whole was able to recover many patients from cancer. She always promoted FLAX as a one stop solution for a healthy life. Despite of her remarkable contribution she was never be able to be into the limelight. Pharma industry giants never let it happen as this was a potential threat to the multimillion business of cancer treatment across the world.

Raw Alsi / Flax Seeds  
{Courtesy Google}

Ok back to the point, here I am trying to compile all the information /  knowledge in bullets which I have collected after hour's of research and a couple of books on FLAX seeds health benefits  as a ready to use guide for all you folks.

• Flax can be consumed at any age.
• Flax can be consumed row and treated both. Row seeds can be consumed directly in a form of Chatni (saus) but only in a small quantity. (2-3 teaspoon a day). Raw flax seed contains the chemical hydrogen cyanide (HCN) or cyanogenic glucosides which can be toxic if consumed in large quantities Once can  prepare sprouts of Flax and also prepare.
  
• Another simple way to consume Flax is to roast them on slow to medium heat as treating it in high temperature has a bad effect on its Omega 3 content. Grind them coarse in a mixer grinder / coffee grinder and store it in a airtight jar. Don't prepare more than 200 gm at once as this can’t be stored for long. It will smell as roasted sesame seeds and one can consume around 1 teaspoon each morning and evening with cold to normal water or with curd.
• This powder can be consumed up to 60 gm in a day however the quantity should be increased gradually starting from one tea spoon. You can use the powder as a topping for your salad also.
• Its oil can also be consumes twice a day , around 8 to 10 Drops in 1/2 cup of cold or lukewarm water. 
• Oil can directly be applied on pigmentation at bedtime. It will removes the pigmentation from your skin if applied and consumed patiently for a long time.
• As per Ayurveda Flax is hot in nature and as such should not be consumed in high quantity during summers, especially in places where summer season comes with high temperature. However 1 teaspoon a day with cold to normal water is acceptable and doesn't seem to have any adverse effects on health in any weather conditions.
• There is no specific guideline on how to consume it i.e empty stomach or with meals etc. One can have it in the morning empty stomach with water followed by breakfast and in evening on the same pattern.
• Flax is safe for kids however the quantity can be determined as per their age.
• Flax demands a lot of water intake due to its high fiber content. Drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water daily after consuming Flax.
• Flax is filling when added in the flour to prepare bread / roti etc. It helps in reducing weight and increases right BMR.  How to prepare Flax Roti  (will upload soon)
• Flax is a great supplement for people who want to build a great body. A good alternative to the protein power supplements. 
• One point solution for constipation. It just goes off. 
• And at the top of it Flax is a great anti cancer proposition. Unfortunately if someone is fighting with cancer - Flax is a remedy to beat it to a great extent. 

You know when I shared all this with my Mom what I came to know is -  in her childhood days they used to consume chatni and laddo of Alsi all through winters. Crux of the story is that Flax was always there as part of our life. Probably we as today's generation are more fascinated with only things which come in glossy packaging and attractive branding and that's why Alsi is back in a commercialized from of "PACKAGED  FLAX SUPPLEMENT".These are at least four times high the price it actually cost you.  We happily pay and buy these supplements and consume as our gim instructor /  doctor ask us to do. And you know what?  the price a farmer actually gets from these Pharma companies is too less than the price they market it as a packaged food supplement. Sad isn’t it..  

It’s anyways easily available in most of the grocesory stores as raw seeds. Let’s go back to our basics... simple, cost effective and easy to do.. Flax is one stop solution to a good healthy life. Go get it .. at just INR 140 for a Kg. ;)

Wish you all a happy and healthy life

 cya:  Kaivi

PS: All queries are most welcome.

(Contents of this blog / published on any of it’s pages is copyrighted and the sole property of the author of this blog and copying, disclosure, modification, distribution and / or publication of the content published on this blog without the prior written consent of the author is strictly prohibited.)