PRASAD SEASONAL AYURVEDA

PRASAD Seasonal Ayurveda Course provides year-round preventative care, education and support from Justine Cederberg. It is combined with PRASAD Seasonal Ayurveda Club to help stay on track with your peers. Like an Ayurvedic first-aid kit, there are many tools of the ayurvedic tradition that can easily be implemented in the North to pursue a long and healthy life.

Guna is a Sanskrit word which translates as “quality, peculiarity, attribute, or tendency.” In yoga and Ayurveda, gunas are an attribute that are present in every element, dosha, star, plant, food, mood and thought etc.

Prakruti is a Sanskrit word which means

“original creation.”

Vikruti is a Sanskrit word which means

“after creation.”

According to Ayurveda, six tastes are required in the diet to maintain a healthy balance and avoid disease. The six tastes are derived from the five fundamental elements i.e. earth, water, fire, space and air.

Essentially Ayurveda for the North is based on a seasonal diet within Europe (or USA/ Canada for those living in that region). Eating locally is always a first recommendation but including a variety from within Europe can bring balance, variety and passion to cooking. For example, the trading of spices and herbs have been important globally in order to provide a full spectrum of healing.

Ama is a term commonly used in Ayurvedic texts. The literal translation of ama is "undigested". According to the Ayurvedic texts, ama occurs when the nutrition we take in is not properly digested as a result of poor nutritional habits or weak agni (digestive fire).

Circadian rhythm is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep–wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. This internal clock influences sleep and various bodily processes. The topic became most notable in the Western world in 2017, as winning the Novel Prize in Physiology of Medicine.

Prana is a Sanskrit term meaning breath, “life force”, or “vital principle”. Prana is seen as a universal energy which flows in currents in and around the body.

Ojas is a Sanskrit term that translates to "vigor", and it is best understood as essential energy for the body and mind.

Tejas is a Sanskrit term that translates to “fire” or “illumination.” .

Not just cleansing but nourshing routines are the slight difference from the West to the East. For example, oils are used to cleanse and nourish at the same time. Oil washes the channels of the mouth, nose, eyes, skin, and ears. Oil helps to remove waste without depleting the body. The mind/body will be thankful for the small changes made.

What is the difference between a cold and a flu? How do we treat them differently?

A comprehensive list of daily ingredients which should always be stocked in the kitchen pantry, beauty or medicine cabinet, which can be one and the same, for as the old saying goes, “food is thy medicine”.

Water & Earth

Dosha kapha

Elements water (aap) + earth (prithvi)
Qualities heavy, cold, wet, oily, static
Season - spring

Nature - moon
Main Location stomach + lungs

VASANTA RITU (spring season)

April to mid-June (approximately) is considered vasanta ritu (spring season). This season is considered a time of birth, new beginnings, renewal, and growth.

The stable and steady qualities of kapha accumulate rather than disperse. The mind and body naturally accumulate energy and save energy. In a way this is an advantage due to more insulation, muscle, bone density, sustainable frame.

Nature instinctively supports cleansing of the body in spring. Digestive fire is high over the duration of winter, and it is recommended to eat plenty of sweet and heavy food to sustain throughout the season. Although, many folks are unable to properly digest these hearty foods, therefore ama (the sticky, toxic product of incomplete digestion) starts accumulating over the winter.

 BREAKFAST SPICED APPLES

 A light, cooked breakfast, can reset digestion and is the perfect accompaniment to a cleansing diet. In collaboration with Wellness Vibes Finland, this recipe is recommended during PRASAD Ayurveda Detox.

A stimulating and bright environment is the perfect atmosphere to enliven dewy spring and practice yoga for kapha season. Regardless of Ayurvedic constitution, most folks are influenced by kapha´s prevailing nature at this time of the year. Kapha is related to the spring months due to it's qualities of cold, wet, heavy, and stagnant. Our yoga practice should reflect the opposites of these qualities until kapha alleviates in the summer.

NOKKONEN, Nettle (urtica dioica)

PLANETARY ASSOCIATIONS: Virgo, Mars                                                        

FINNISH HERBOLOGY

The Folk Poetry Archive of the Finnish Literary Society contains stories from the elders about the birth of nettles. In the story nettle is associated with Ukko. Nettle was worn in a sachet and sprinkled around the house to keep away evil or thrown into the fire to avert danger.