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Full Beaver Moon

Most-likely, not many of us will be setting our beaver traps this evening, as the name of the November moon suggests, but there are other ways we might acknowledge tonight’s bold light.  The moon is of one of the closest celestial objects to the Earth, and I believe it pays to bring awareness to this being.  Its mass literally affects the water on our planet, it attracts our oceans, moving incredible weight of water.  If the moon can affect something as powerful as the ocean, we’d be arrogant to say it does not affect our tiny bodies.

Full Beaver Moon - Some rights reserved by Fujoshi
Full Beaver Moon – Some rights reserved by Fujoshi

Each month feel the effect of the full moon, waking up with a mild madness, always glad when I remember it’s a full moon, that there’s a reason for my feeling ‘off.’  I’m sure many of you know what I mean – and some of you might feel it more strongly than others.  Sometimes all I need is that awareness to ground myself, but certain practices can help direct that energy, or prana – into more positive or even useful direction.  These practices can be especially helpful if you’re feeling particularly affected.  Below I’ll discuss a few Ayurvedic perspectives on the full moon (there are many!), and offer some ways to cultivate awareness of this day.

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Sweet Potato Biscuits

– V, – P, +K

Best Season to try this Recipe: Autumn, Winter

Sweet Potato Biscuits by HorsePunchKid

This recipe is one of my favorites that I’ve adapted from Amadea Morningstar’s book, Ayurvedic Cooking for Westerners.  It’s a biscuit recipe that is light on the butter but still so so good, and uses barley flour, making it wheat-gluten free (barley has it’s own form of gluten, but most people sensitive to wheat gluten can digest it well, you will need to try it for yourself!) There is no sugar added, but the sweet potato is so satisfyingly sweet itself, I’d eat these in replace of cookies any day.

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Expectation and Intention

I knew it had been a long time since I had posted. But look at this – it was exactly one year ago. And I don’t know if it’s exactly three-hundred and sixty five (six! Leap Year) days ago, but I am counting a year by cleanses, by my own little cycles I’ve set up for my self. And my last post was about the Spring cleanse I was going to do for myself. Here we are again, and I have just finished this year’s.

Jamaica in February
Treasure Beach, Jamaica, in February.

I had been feeling very irritable this morning.  Angry, frustrated.  I am not normally like that.  This Spring has been a bit tumultuous – can it be gently and slowly tumultuous? – with shifts in my job situation, reminding me again that this path I am on is not always going to be solid and reliable.  I chose this path, with awareness, though that doesn’t make it easy.  Easy to forgive yourself.  This is what my final affirmation was, after the meditation that brought me back down into my self, swastha, actually accomplishing what I ad hoped it would.

“I am strong and gentle, and I am forgiving of myself.”

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At Home Panchakarma

*I’ll start with a side note – one of my favorite things about going to work at 8:30 a.m. is that I get in the car at the perfect time to catch Garrison Keillor reading poetry on the Writer’s Almanac.  It reminds me that stories are still important to human beings, they nourish me anyway.  And reminds me that I want to be a writer of stories.*

It’s sort of freaky that this picture precedes my writing about Panchakarma, but hey, I love wacky.

What is panchakarma?

‘Pancha’ means 5 and ‘karma’ means action, so literally panchakarma is the 5 actions.  It is a technique utilized in Ayurveda for healing that rids the body of excess dosha, as well as some excess ama.  The five actions are virechana, vamana, basti, nasya and rakta moksha (purgation, vomiting, enema, releasing substance through the nostrils and blood letting.)  As you can see all of these actions are pretty uncomfortable, and all involve a release out of the body, shodhana therapy.  Not all of the actions are necessary for each patient, the treatments depend on which dosha is involved.

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