No Images? Click here Dear Reader: HAPPY NEW YEAR Greetings from Mother India: This is one of my longer newsletters, so please bear with me for the fascinating reports, tips and opportunities conveyed below, OK? This winter season is the time for slowing down, resting more and taking advantage of long nights for increased inner communion and meditation. As solstice comes and goes, lightness begins to increase. As the new year begins, we feel increased forward spiritual momentum. Now is the time to eat for warmth, pungency, bitterness, and simplicity in food choices, as local crops are dormant. We, therefore, rely on earlier harvested and stored food items for efficient nutrient assimilation. Earlier winter bedtimes call for earlier suppertimes, leaving a few hours before sleeping on an empty stomach. Early morning exercise to light sweating is suggested to help shake off the drowsiness and lethargy of winter, and prepare to take full advantage of the daylight hours for livelihood and successful worldly activities. Experiment by turning off artificial lights after sundown and before sunrise, supporting being active during daytime and passive/receptive at night. Avoid exposure of the eyes to computer screens during night time. Environmental group Zero Waste Canada estimates that from mid-November to mid-January, the average Canadian generates about 25 percent more trash than during the rest of the year. Glitter is especially insidious due to fine particles washing eventually into our rivers and seas, affecting food stocks, sea vegetation, and ocean diversity. Plastic consumption could be reduced or minimized during the holy day season. Please consider what you are able to eliminate from the family of plastics this year. Xenoestrogens from plastics continue to negatively impact the fertility and reproductive health young girls, women and men, along with plant and animal life. These hormone-mimicking compounds increase reproductive harm to both males and females alike, along with the enormity of pharmaceutical residues currently in our wastewater channels. Ayurveda seeks to remove the causes of disease and advocates simple, natural living. Can we resolve together to do more to reduce these substances in our lives in 2019? EASY POHA RECIPE: A WONDERFUL POT-LUCK AND FAMILY DISH: This time of year of solstice celebrations from all traditions, calls for thrifty, easy recipes to contribute to the buffet while balancing the tri-dosha. Poha (rice flakes) is available at all Indian grocery stores in thin, medium or thick styles. I prefer the thin or medium flakes, but suit yourself. This dish can be quickly prepared in 20 minutes or less, even for larger family gatherings. Simply multiply your quantities and remember to hydrate the flakes with a very thin water stream while lifting the bottom flakes from the sieve to the top, ensuring all flakes are moist, but not wet. This allows a careful hydration control to maintain crispiness on serving. Always cook fresh and eat fresh whenever feasible. Poha suits everyday family-style and fancy, guest-style enjoyment. Click here for this very versatile, simple, thrifty, delicious recipe, suitable for all constitutional types. REPORT: TURIYA THERAP&Y RETREAT PROGRAM IN COSTA RICA: Nov. 12-15, 1978 This program began auspiciously on my 71st birthday, as part of an amazing Yoga & Ayurveda Retreat at a luxury west coast beach resort near Santa Teresa. After class during the early evening, we were all treated to chocolate cake and a Fire Dance offered by 2 locals—our chef and chef’s assistant. Truly memorable and heart-warming! Participants again expressed, as I’ve so very often heard over the years, that the Turiya Therapy work is simple, safe and most important, gives profound results of conscious awareness of self within Self. Easily we can track our own pathogenesis through supported stillness and breath awareness, and come to the spontaneous realization of the causes of our current effects (symptoms). Self-healing arises by itself. Program hosts Jill Talve (www.everveda.com) and Jessica Kruse (www.lavidaveda.ca) are both respected practitioners in their locations. Jill practices Ayurveda, providing consultations, classes, bodywork, herbal supplements and so much more, in Oyster Bay, Long Island, NY. Check out her site, OK? Jessica Kruse divides her time between Santa Teresa, Costa Rica and Edmonton, Alberta, providing consultations and healing treatments in both her ‘homes’. For Yoga & Ayurveda retreats and for her most excellent Yoga Teachers’ Trainings, check out her site above if you’re seeking the best in YTT programs. UPCOMING TURIYA THERAPY ANNOUNCEMENT This program is enjoying a resurgence in popularity, especially by massage therapists, physiotherapists, chiropractors, body workers, hands-on energy healers, Ayurveda students and practitioners alike. If you are seeking a stable livelihood to provide for your continuing Ayurveda education, or if you wish to enhance your professional hands-on practical skills, and you are inclined to energy healing arts, this program will be just perfect for you! This is how I made my living for over 30 years, with so many loyal clients in the US & Canada supporting my on-going education and professional development. The work is sustainable, requires little investment and pays ongoing dividends. These techniques travel very well, supporting powerful, safe offerings and much-appreciated treatments wherever you go! If you are inclined to learn this amazing art of applied marma therapy for supporting self-realization and evolution of emotional, mental and spiritual health, please join with us. Mental health is one our biggest needs today. This program will be phased out in this format in B.C., while undergoing provincial approval in 2019, so now is the time to take advantage of this golden opportunity. Meanwhile, it will only be offered through sponsorship. Please call if you’d like to be a sponsor for this or other professional development programs such as Pulse Assessment for Practitioners, Abhyanga for Massage Therapists, Ayurveda for Clinical Assessment Skills or Self-Care for Mental Health. To view, print or forward this flyer, please click here.
REPORT FROM OUR PANCHAKARMA RETREAT IN TAMIL NADU Nov. 20-Dec. 30, 2018. This year is my fourth consecutive year hosting this program, mostly for participants from the US & Canada. Again, people are having wonderful results from the structure, philosophy, and practices at Vaidyagrama, unique among those leading the way back to authentic Ayurveda in India. Here are comments from prior and current participants: "My six-week stay was transformative. I arrived feeling heavy in my body, spirit, and mind and now I feel so much clearer. It was just the reset I needed! I learned so much about how to create the conditions for health in my life when I return home. … Having Jaisri here as our guide was invaluable -- I don't think I would have felt comfortable making this trip if it wasn't for her, the support of the others in our group really enhanced the whole experience. Vaidyagrama is a very special place. I'm very impressed with its vision for health, the environment, and the community. I will be back!” L.M. Musician, Designer “I was fortunate to hear about Vaidyagrama and my host Jaisri, and I knew both offered what I needed: a safe, remote, authentic program for healing. Food is fresh and based on patients’ needs. Herbal medications and food are brought to each room at allotted times. The physicians are attentive, kind, and see each patient daily to examine and review the benefits and results of the treatments.” K.S. Medical Doctor “Since returning from my Vaidyagrama program of 6 weeks two years ago, I’ve not had any colds or flus, despite being surrounded by those who have infectious colds all around me, at various times, despite that, I slipped on my diet during the second year, but still maintained good immunity.” T.H. Retired. Anecdote: Shortly after my arrival this year, a light rain began in the late afternoon, sounding its shower over the parched region. Here’s a poem inspired from that tropical rainfall of less than an hour, bringing reminiscences of a similar experience of sheet lightning with no bolts at all, simply an entire sky flashing with intermittent light, in this same Tamil Nadu, on the very day of my first visit here in 2015. This is a land of many, many temple tops, where people of many faiths gather for prayers and blessings, especially at the after-work time of day. Hope you can catch a bit of the feeling of the moment. Ode to the Unified Field Soft, summer storm draws my gaze skyward While playful light, sheets of light Strobe volleys with brother thunder, Leaving leaf droplets lingering, quenching, Making no distinction of rooftops or root tops, Quietly cleansing the air with a cradling love, Cooling with freshness over domes and cheeks alike, While birds and earth creatures quietly watch and wait, Soon to sip the nectar on morrow’s pre-dawn awakening. One important event this year has been Dr. Lad’s Pulse Assessment class at a nearby Ayurveda campus. On Christmas Day, Dr. Lad came to lead kirtan at Vaidyagrama and afterward, we met together, bringing tears to my eyes and uplift to my heart. To the right are beautiful photos of our meeting..
ANNOUNCING 2019-2020 PANCHAKARMA RETREAT DATES IN TAMIL NADU, INDIA Again I’ve become inspired to host a group next winter for panchakarma. Please note the dates below and plan now for your spot. Not knowing what may lie ahead past age 72, I’m making no further commitment beyond this upcoming retreat program, which may well become the final one. My focus is planned to be on the C.A.R.E. Foundation’s activities. The deadline is again Sept. 1st, 2019 to ensure our accommodations. Last minute planning is simply no longer possible, as full occupancy means disappointments may happen, as indeed has happened this year for late applicants. Here are the 2019-2020 dates. Six weeks program – 42 days: Nov. 26, 2019 - Jan. 6, 2020 Four weeks program – 28 days: Dec. 10, 2019 – Jan. 6, 2020 To print, forward or post the flyer, please click here. For more information and to register early (suggested), please email: jaisri@ayurveda-seminars.com or call 604-290-8201.
C.A.R.E. FOUNDATION UPDATE AND VOLUNTEERISM OPPORTUNITIES FOR 2019 Implementation of our Research and Education goals is unfolding now, as our conference last May became so successful. Our first volunteer meeting of the year is planned for Feb. 10th at 1:30 pm at my home office in Surrey. Please call for the address and directions. Now going forward with the C.A.R.E. Foundation, volunteers with experience in Grant Writing, Clinical, and Local Plant Research are welcome. Also, those having experience with the legalities of federal non-profits and the Ministry of Education of B.C. are needed and welcome to join our efforts for meeting our research and education goals. Please call 604-290-8201or email to jaisri@ayurveda-seminars.com.
NADI PARIKSHA (PULSE ASSESSMENT) IN FRANCE This rare program on Pulse Assessment according to Vaidya Vasant D. Lad, M.A.Sc., is the first time I’ll be addressing European practitioners and students of Ayurveda. Great to be back in France after university schooling at the Sorbonne in the late 1960s! The program will be bilingual, delivered in French and English. This unique opportunity is sponsored by Madhavi Francoise Barrios, a wonderful Psychologist, Psychotherapist, and Ayurveda Practitioner. After practicing in mental health care for many years with her husband, she came to understand the critical importance of holistic care and came to Ayurveda. She practices in Geneva, Switzerland and has recently created a beautiful beachfront panchakarma centre in Kerala, north of Kannur. Check out her website: www.ayuryogaacademy.com. Required text for participants is, “Secrets of the Pulse” by Vaidya Vasant D. Lad, M.A.Sc., who has blessed me to offer this profound knowledge, learned at his right hand over many years. Without his blessing, this would not be possible. Gratitudes to him for showering his grace with both hands. Location: Lieu dit La Baconniere, St. Nizier le Desert, pres de Lyon en Rhone-Alpes, France 01320. Pour plus de renseignments et faire votre inscription, s.v.p. contacter: Madhavi: francoise.barrios@gmail.com ou jaisri@ayurveda-seminars.com. COMMENTS FROM PRIOR PROGRAM GRADUATES: Thanks for a completely hands-on and very comprehensive program. Jaisri makes it easy to understand a very complex subject, which helps to enhance the practical knowledge. Nadi Pariksha is so intimate and intense, but Jaisri made us feel so empowered from Day 1. It was an excellent schedule for full immersion with the course material, group dynamics, and an Ayurveda Gurukula experience. Jaisri offers this complex material with patience and wisdom and perfect timing. I enjoyed the benefit of her extensive experience, humour, and well-orchestrated delivery. Jaisri is very patient with students and makes sure concepts are understood. For more information and to register for this unique once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, please email
AYURVEDA SELF-CARE TIPS FOR THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE A young woman was historically taught by her mother, grandmother and aunties to rest on her flow cycle. Until the Tampon Generation, girls and women have traditionally been taught about the spiritual power available during this important time of opening of the auric field. Whether the Red Tent, Moon Lodge or a resting room dedicated to protection and support of menstruating women at home, families have historically made provisions to protect her during this sacred time of intense communion with the Divine Feminine, the power of creation itself. Nowadays in modern clinical practice, widespread disturbance of the female hormonal cycle is seen. Infertility is at an all-time high. One the critical traditional restorative practices for ensuring the woman’s immune health is to rest on her flow days, especially the first two days or whenever symptoms such as fatigue appear. If she continues to work, she will dissipate her power and find great difficulty in recuperating from the loss of ‘ojas’ or immune strength, including her emotional balance and cheerfulness. Cumulative fatigue can become difficult to cure. If the aura has insufficient time to rest, restore and rebuild, its main purpose of reproductive and immune protection, gradually the woman can weaken her power as the spiritual head of the family, historically deciding in the best interest of the community and its educational, agricultural and spiritual practices. To rest on your menstrual flow is to help support re-balancing of the male/female dynamic in society. Ayurveda is well aware of how to restore normal fertility with observing nature’s laws and cycles. So ladies and gentlemen, please do stay well and encourage your daughters, moms, aunties, and nieces to respect the sacredness of the flow days, encourage rest of body and mind, and make a healthy meal for the family or clean a room, as needed. Her later reproductive health will benefit. Think sustainability, OK?
WISDOM FROM PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA Remember, it is the naughty baby who gets the mother’s attention. The naughty baby wants the mother only and goes on crying until she comes. Cry until the Divine Mother comes! The Divine Mother is most anxious to have you back with Her, but first, you must prove to Her that you want Her alone. You must cry urgently and unceasingly; then She smiles and is with you instantly. Divine Spirit has no partiality; the Mother loves all. But you must appreciate Her love, and respond to Her love. I see the effect on people who have gained a little human love or a little money – how happy they are! But if they could see what strength, what happiness, and what love is in the Divine Mother, they would fly away from all else. Hope you have enjoyed this newsletter, and the amazing unfolding that Ayurveda is enjoying these days—so gratifying to me after 35 years of dedication so far. Please do spread the word about these upcoming events to your network and sign up for appropriate programs and support our growth in Canada for Canadians. Thanks for bearing with me all the way to the end here. Please do watch for announcements about other upcoming learning opportunities in 2019. Your feedback on how to fulfill your interests in Ayurveda helps to plan accordingly. May all beings be happy and healthy. Love from, Jaisri M. Lambert
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