Sweet = unhealthy?

Sweetness has an important place in an Ayurvedic diet as it is one of the six basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, spicy, bitter and tart. According to Ayurveda, food containing all six tastes (Rasas) is considered highly nutritious, satiating and gratifying.

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Keeping your cool when the weather is hot

From the Ayurvedic perspective, summer is the time when the fire element increases in nature, and therefore also in our physiology. With increased Pitta Dosha, the digestive power (Agni) tends to decrease. An imbalance in Pitta Dosha can cause a range of ailments such as various types of inflammation, heartburn, skin rashes, as well as fatigue and irritability.

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An easy-going Christmas season with Ayurveda

The year is coming to a close and we are in the Advent season, during which every Sunday, one more candle is lit on the Advent wreath. It’s a time characterized by decreasing daylight, until the solstice on 21 December, when the days slowly begin to lengthen again. The lack of light outside is conducive
to going within.

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Maintaining good health during the cold season with Ayurveda

The time when one season makes way for the next is also a transition period for the body, because our physiology adapts and reorients itself to the changing weather conditions. Therefore, our inner balance is more delicate and we are more susceptible to infections, especially when it’s cold, rainy and windy.

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Vedic architecture – living in harmony

Although the ancient knowledge of Vedic architecture is closely related to that of Ayurveda, it is still relatively unknown in the West. The ancient traditions of the Veda are divided into 40 areas of life, and one of these includes architecture and urban planning.

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Rakta Mokshana – therapeutically reducing Pitta Dosha

Rakta Mokshana, as it is called in Ayurvedic texts, can be translated as liberation of the blood, and refers to applications in which blood is extracted to relieve the body, either through bloodletting or by means of leeches. It is one of the five applications traditionally included in Panchakarma, along with Nasya (nasal treatment), Vamana (therapeutic vomiting), Virechana (purging) and Basti (medicinal enema).If you’ve had a Panchakarma cure, you are already familiar with some of these.

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Detox, Dieting and the Doshas 

In the wellness sector, a huge profit-generating branch has grown around dieting and detoxification, with new trends promising rapid weight loss appearing every year. In Germany alone, around 20 million people were interested in dieting and diet products last year; 60% of Germans have already tried at least one method for losing weight. Nevertheless, the percentage of overweight people is around 60% and rising.

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The three Gunas and our consciousness

In Ayurveda, life is seen as an interplay of body, mind and soul. You are already familiar with the physical constitution, which is the result of the individual distribution of the three Doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha.
On the level of the mind, we see a similar structure: three Gunas – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas – give rise to our mental constitution.

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Amrit Kalash – ‘Nectar of the Devas’

The most famous Ayurvedic Rasayana is probably Amrit Kalash. Most likely, you have already seen or tried it, be it in a Panchakarma course of treatment, through a recommendation, or when you were getting acquainted with Ayurveda and popular medicinal plants.
Amrit Kalash typically comes in the form of a boiled-down paste, with an unusual consistency and a sweetish taste. Most people like taking it.

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Self-Abhyanga –
The easy oil treatment you can do at home

From the records of ancient cultures, we know that the positive effects of oil treatments have been known and appreciated since thousands of years. Physicians of Ayurveda have traditionally utilized the beneficial effects of treatments with medicinal herbal oils to prevent and cure a variety of health disorders and diseases.

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Intermittent fasting

Voluntary fasting is probably as old as the human race, observed for a variety of reasons – e.g. to improve or restore health or as a religious, spiritual practice for connecting more closely with the divine. In the animal world, we also frequently see natural fasting in animals that are sick or hibernating.

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Our liver – the underrated power organ

“I’m feeling listless all the time,” – “I sleep well but I’m still tired,” – “I have some kind of pressure in my right upper abdomen.” This is how patients with a stressed liver may describe their condition.
Usually, the symptoms are so unspecific that the underlying problem is only detected at a very late stage, e.g. when people do a blood test or ultrasound at their physician’s office.

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