Friday, January 30, 2009

Treating Acne

A few of my yoga students have asked me what to do about their troubled skin. Before I learned about ayurveda I too thought that my pimples had nothing to do with my doing - what I ate or exposed my skin to. I blamed it on external factors like bacterial infection or God's punishment! It is true that if you are not taking good care of yourself bad luck easily happens and external invaders can force their way into your body because your immunity is weak. The external factors however, are not the root cause of your troubled skin.

Acne appears because of Ama or toxicity in your body due to poor diet, premenstrual hormone changes, emotional stress, exposure to chemicals (i.e. makeups and skincare) or too much sunlight. Ama is both physical and subtle. Inappropriate intake through your five senses causes physical toxicity. Inappropriate intake through your emotional mind causes subtle toxicity which affects your nervous system. To check the level of ama in your body observe your tongue first thing in the morning. The thicker coating on your tongue the more ama you have.

There are different types of acne. Vata (air & ether) causes small and dry pimples around the forehead and temples. Pitta (fire & water) causes red, inflamed, pus-filled acne around the nose and cheeks. Kapha (earth & water) causes deeper rooted white head around the chin and jaw. There can also be a combination of doshas. Pitta and Kapha together create cystic acne with deep rooted white head, pus-filled and inflamed pimples.

Firstly, work with your diet. Eat foods according to the imbalanced dosha. You can pick up an ayurveda book or contact an ayurvedic practitioner. Avoid dry foods if you have Vata acne. Avoid spicy, fermented, greasy foods if you have Pitta acne. Avoid rich, heavy foods if you have Kapha acne. Eat fresh, natural and organic foods as opposed to processed, canned and frozen foods. Eat mindfully (see my first blog - Cook Well; Eat Well) and eliminate regularly. Digestive disturbances such as gas, bloating, constipation and diarrhea are sure signs that ama is present in your body. Clean your tongue with a tongue scraper in the morning and before bed regularly.

Secondly, use natural and healing remedies. Unless you are treating your acne at the root cause it will continue to reappear or worsen. Using strong medication such as anti biotic or chemical treatments may reduce the appearance of acne temporarily but their negative side effects can be harmful and long lasting. Instead, opt for natural, organic herbal remedies that contain neem, turmeric and sandalwood. You can find them at natural food stores. Try my dosha specific Ubvartan powder (ayurvedaritual.com) as a healing and cleansing paste for your skin.

Lastly, know and honor your unique self. When ama appears on your skin your ego wants to hide, cover, or get rid of it so, nobody can see your flaw. This can lead to bacterial infection and scars as well as low self confident. Instead, leave your skin alone. Let the ama express itself. It is part of you too. The more you fight or hide the more it needs to manifest. The less you worry about it the less it is your obstacle. Focus on your whole being and not just your face. Ultimately, the most harm you can do to yourself is to depress your soul. Choose activities that sooth your spirit and detox your body and mind like yoga and meditation. Cleanse from the inside out and let your beautiful self shine!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Practicing Pause

I feel like I have been in a pause for the last three days. My body has made a strong request for me to pause. Last Saturday I awoke with a sore throat. I knew right away the events and actions I had taken that led me into the state I was. I told myself to stay cool, made a batch of turmeric tea and took off to teach two classes that morning. Afterward I came home with a chill. I went to bed straight away and covered myself with four thick blankets. I rested, sweated, fasted and drank a lot of turmeric tea. Again, the next day I told myself to stay cool, drank more tea and taught another class. I did the same thing the day after. However, after the Monday night class I lost my voice. I had no choice but to stop. The next day I scrambled to get most my classes for the rest of the week covered.

So, here I am sitting on a couch covered with the new bamboo chenille throw I gave to my partner as a x'mas gift. And pondering about the art of pausing. Another interesting event which has nothing to do with my sore throat was that a friend of mine sent me three emails in a row a few days back. Each subsequent note expressed greater emergency. Had I stopped teaching and rested the first day I felt ill would I still be suffering now or as much? Would my friend feel better if she had stopped and waited for my answer after sending her first email?

Often when I teach yoga, I invite participants to create space. Meaning to move slow and to gently expand and stretch physically, emotionally and mentally. This process is identical to pausing. Because when you pause you ease or completely remove yourself from an urgency mode. You actually slow down. This slowing down give you the creative space you need for right actions or no action. I have a feeling that half or more of what I have done in life were not necessary. Like the two extra emails my friend sent me, I have done the same many times. Living fast is opposite to living smart. You can either slow down now or you are forced to slow down later. One is savoring, the other is suffering. Pause and choose.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Follow Grace

It is the first day of 2009. Despite the late night New Year celebration I managed to wake up at the regular time and followed my usual morning routine. However, this morning I felt a definite sense of urgency to organize my life. It came with certain clarity and ease. Serendipitously, I bought a beautiful lunar date book yesterday. Written in it read "Cats are the sleepiest of all mammals. They spend sixteen hours of each day in dream-land." Well, last night went by like a dream and so was the whole 2008. Promptly, I awoke and wrote down my schedule for the month of January, checked my emails and managed my money accounts all before 10 am. Granted my little life does not need much management, still I am impressed.

I have not managed a preconceived idea of what to write so, the title for this blog is quite appropriate. I am just going to flow with the moment and follow what arise. First to mind, I am infinitely grateful for the teaching of yoga and ayurveda. I am now very much at ease in my body. After a long night dancing I woke up mentally clear and relatively pain-free. The Caraka Samhita, one of Ayurveda's classic texts refers to health as "The senses are fulfilled; hunger and thirst are assuaged; standing, sitting, lying down, walking, breathing, talking and laughing are effortless; food is digested easily by evening or morning." These words are so simple and true. When you follow grace your life too becomes simple and true.

Grace has many meanings but the one I choose for now is "the love and favor of God toward human beings." How do we follow God's love and recognize the favor we receive? The first and perhaps the only obstacle we have in realizing the love and favor of God is how we see love and favor. Yoga teaches oneness and being one with God is to see what God sees. All of yoga and ayurveda practices deem to support this union and heal our fragmented vision. The realization of oneness is the seeing of God.

It is helpful to determine whether you are a pessimist, optimist or rationalist. Because what you see is what you are conditioned to look at. If you are unhappy with life in general it is obvious you are a pessimist. If your life is a bad news and you always have bad news to share it is a good indication you are aversive to life. A pessimist has a hard time follow grace because their reality is reversed into self loathing. You are bogged down by the past pain. You can't seem to lift yourself up from the earth to experience the lightness and freedom of reality.

An optimist has the opposite challenge. I happily (being an optimist) admit that I fall in to this category. You perhaps have an easier time dealing with life and more willing to see truth. But alas life is not all bliss but a total ignorance can be. Yet, not seeing truth is a definite suffering. An optimist tends to reach toward self gratification. The reality of the moment gets lost in the anticipation of better things yet to come and are forever beyond your reach. These are dreamers and artists who fast forward through life and can't quite feel the earth underneath their feet.

Perhaps you are a rationalist and is thinking that surely you are seeing things exactly as they are. The truth is that truth is not so obvious. Yogis, sages and buddhas spent years inquiring into the truth. Looking at things and relating to them only as materials clench your vision. Material manifestation is known as maya in yoga. Maya simply put means illusion. To our senses maya is very real. But for the inquiring mind maya and all its manifestation is continuously changing. If you have a definite sense of how things are and how things should be you are twisting away from the subtlety of reality which is unchanged. This takes me back to the cat's dream-land. Interestingly cats are up 8 hours a day which is the amount of time we spend sleeping. I wonder if their dream-land is their reality not unlike our 16 hours a day we think is our reality?! Moving past your senses and seeing beyond the material world unravel the complication of life cycle and reveal the simplicity of truth.

Seeing truth and sensing beyond maya and your past condition require looking inward. Bringing balance and equanimity into your life through the practice of yoga and ayurveda help settle your mind and refine your questioning. Perhaps your 2009 can be the year of experimentation to follow grace. Embrace what you have as God's favor and love what is while questioning what is not. As I look down to my cup of tea, the tea bag's piece of advice read "The beauty of life is to experience yourself." I interpret that as Grace.

Happy New Year!