Gateway to the Higher Self Let’s talk about your favorite food—maybe a burger; your favorite patty with fresh tomatoes and crisp lettuce, loaded with gooey overflowing cheese wrapped with soft fresh organic buns. Are you drooling already? Have you ever pondered over what happens when you look at advertisements with pictures of tempting food? How …
Pratyahara is often defined as “the conscious withdrawal of energy from the senses.” Yet what does that phrase really mean? Did you know that a massage or even vacationing by the sea can be form of pratyahara? Read on and find out how. Pratyahara is perhaps the least understood limb of the 8-part yoga system. Pratyahara …
This 469 mile stretch through Virginia and North Carolina along the spine of the Blue Ridge, a major part of the great Appalachians, is pure beauty for the eyes and succor for the mind, while it feeds your culture and adventure hungry soul with its split-rail fences, old farmsteads, mountain meadows, bike trails, railroads, museums, …
Discover Boone: The Blue Ridge Parkway, Jewel of the National Park System Read More »
Yoga is on fire in the West, and so it kirtan, or yogic chanting. Kirtan combines music and mantra — words and sounds that vibrate at the highest level of awareness. It is an effortless and joyful way to meditate.
After practicing Western medicine (Allopathy) for 25 years, I became disappointed with many aspects of the culture surrounding it – namely, the lack of emphasis on prevention, and the over-reliance on prescription drugs. At the time, I wasn’t aware of the system of optimal health from India that is all about prevention. It’s a system …
In this series, we explore people’s experiences on the path of spirituality. Whether it’s personal development, insights or learning about how to love more deeply, it’s all about you and your journey. Our first selection comes from Dr. Harrison Graves, an MD who has been volunteering at the center for the past several months, informing …
Ayurveda considers the buildup of toxins, physical and mental and environmental, to be the underlying cause of many diseases. Toxins enter our world by what we eat, drink, breathe in and process in any way. With so much hype about detoxes and cleanses, it’s hard to know where to turn. Today’s blog features special guest, …
In this blog we are heating things up with pungent, the hottest of Ayurveda’s six tastes. Think spicy. Pungent spices like chili peppers and wasabi titillate the taste buds while heating up the body—and the mind. The pungent taste is found in the following, Peppers (green and red, habaneros, jalapenos) Wasabi Pungent Spices (tumeric, cayenne, …
Taste is assigned a much deeper significance in Ayurveda than we are accustomed to in the West. Taste, or rasa, is considered critically important in determining the effect that various foods, spices and therapeutic herbs will have on our state of balance – body, mind, and spirit. Ayurveda recognizes six tastes. Each of the six …
In this week’s blog, we are going salty. Typical foods in the salty taste category include rock salt, sea salt, vegetables, soy sauce, tamari, black olives, hard cheeses, sea foods and many processed foods. Salt improves the taste of many foods and makes the other five tastes (rasas) more delicious. A great example is the yummy …
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