Ayurveda Newsletter March/April 2024

🍃 The March/April newsletter concentrates on the importance of a clean and healthy colon, so important for good health.

🍃 All products featured in this newsletter have a 10% discount of the retail price for the next 4 weeks. You can order online.

🍃​​​​​​​ Spice Mix for digestion

🍃 ​​​​​​​Upcoming Yoga workshop sessions - for health and well-being​​​​​​​

Optimising Gut Health

If you want to have a long and healthy life, make sure you have a clean and healthy colon. Only with proper elimination can we be healthy, fit, and vital.
Eighty percent of your immune system resides in your gut, consisting of trillions of microbes, collectively called the Microbiome. Your gut microbiome regulates immune homeostasis.

We shower and bathe every day but most of us fail to make sure our Colon is clean until we develop symptoms or disease. The colon is the sewer system of our body and requires constant cleaning, being perhaps, the body’s most important organ of elimination.

In addition, the large intestine is an important organ of assimilation and digestion. Its membrane absorbs the energy and nutrients thatbuild up the bones, and the deeper tissues of the marrow, nerve, and reproductive tissues.

In Ayurveda the large intestine relates to the Vata dosha, which governs vitality and Prana as a whole. In any disease condition we look at the functioning of the large intestine and initiate treatment to normalise. It is important to be aware of your pattern of elimination and state of appetite when assessing your own health.

If you have frequent brain fog, headaches, bloating, allergies, bad breath, cellulite, low energy, skin rashes, or chronic ill health with no diagnosed cause, it is almost certain that you will have an unclean and toxic colon.

According to Ayurveda a healthy colon is indicated by a lack of tongue coating at the back of the tongue. One should have an easy to pass bowel movement first thing in the morning and the stool should float. If they are sticky and sink it indicates the presence of Ama (toxins)

Why a clean colon is so important for a long and healthy life? We are all exposed to thousands of toxins daily in our food, water, air we breathe and medications we consume. Undertaking an autopsy of an average New Zealander would reveal over 3 kilos of crusted waste material stuck to the colon wall. These encrusted faeces seep toxic poisons and wastes, which are then reabsorbed into the blood stream. When the bowel wall becomes impacted and hardened with this dry toxic matter, not only does bowel function become disrupted, but the bowel wall itself can become damaged, leading to prolapse and ballooning (diverticulitis) These impurities create malabsorption plus a slow transit time, resulting in the waste putrefying, providing a breeding ground for parasites and pathogens. This needs to be addressed to have good health.

Many spices are good for digestion and for strengthening absorption in the colon. They include ginger, black pepper, asafoetida, ajwan, coriander, nutmeg, and cumin. 

What Can Be Done?

This depends on the severity of the problem, and if in any doubt. a health practitioner should be consulted. There is various detoxification or Panchakarnma therapies that can be employed dependant on the current state of health and age of the person.

A Complete Microbiome Mapping test that highlights microbes that cause disease by disrupting microbial balance is available. It screens for bacteria, viruses, worms, fungi/yeast, and parasites. I have found it useful where there appears to be no answers to ongoing conditions.

There are some products that offer a gentle daily detoxification and can be taken safely for up to 3 months. You can find out more about the products by clicking onto

🍃 Aloe Vera juice – processes both cleansing, cooling, and lubricating actions. Available in liquid and capsule form.

🍃 Chlorella Tabs – promotes cleansing of the blood and deodorises the bowel. I use this product daily.

🍃 Triphala – Is a great colon cleanser as well as a tonic for the colon. It also acts as a metabolic regulator. Has a slight laxative action. Triphala can be administered in tablet and powder forms.

🍃 Bowel care – Corrects irregular evacuation cleansing and lubricating the colon improving peristalsis and normalising digestion and elimination. Used in IBS and when there is chronic constipation.

🍃 Probiotics – Taking probiotics is now much more of an exact science where they are formulated for specific conditions such as IBS, after antibiotic use, yeast infection, dysbiosis, to increase or decrease immunity etc. It does pay to get advice on the right one for you. Please ask!

Receive 10% Off Online - Use Code 'Bowel10'

I have tried to make this a value add on representing both Ayurvedic and naturopathic products (this is a work in progress)

Many products that are available are not listed as it is well recognised in Ayurveda that every person is unique. Also, the practitioner products need to be prescribed (note these are usually better quality) We endeavour to treat the person, not just the disease, and forthis reason please ask if looking for a particular remedy.

This month all the featured products (as above) will have 10% discount off the listed price when ordered on-line. This offer will be valid using the code Bowel10 - click here

Recipe - Spice Mix for digestion

1/2 cup fennel seeds
1⁄4 cup roasted coriander seeds 1⁄4 cup sesame seeds
1 tblsp cumin seeds
1 tblsp ajwan seeds
2 pinches salt
1 tblsp hot water

Dissolve the salt in 1 tblsp hot water. Heat a cast iron frying pan on medium heat. Put in the fennel seeds and roast, stirring constantly until brown, about 2 mins. Sprinkle on the salt water and stir and toast until dry and fragrant. Pour into a dish.

Roast the remanding seed separately for a min or so, until fragrant and slightly brown. Add to the fennel, mix well. Eat a tsp after lunch and dinner for good digestion and sweet breath.

Yoga Offerings For Colder Months

May 25th – Yoga for posture and body awareness - concerned that you are losing flexibility and range of motion over the years? For many people, as we get on the other side of 50, joints begin to get stiffer, and you just don’t move as freely as he used to. Sound familiar? In this class we will observe how we are now living in our bodies, our posture, and how we can improve and correct. It is essential that we are more mindful of our inner landscape and choose a balanced yoga practise that supports our needs.

June 29th - Vata pacifying practise- Vata represents the air/ether element that is part of all of us. I think we can all relate to feeling at times a little spacey , worrying more than is necessary , feeling anxious and fearful. This practise addresses some of these feelings. It will be a stretch and restorative practise with focus on breathe, calming the mind and grounding the body.

July 27th – The importance of the lymphatic system - In this workshop will be focusing more on the heavy damp element of earth and water- Kapha (and winter). We will be addressing the important lymphatic system and how to enhance our immunity for the winter months. The practise will include a few gentle supported backbends and inversions. The focus will be on the throat, neck and the abdominal cavity and the fluid component of the body.

August 31st -  Rest is a radical act of self-care. Rest is the safe harbour of peace we can offer ourselves when we are feeling weary. The offer will be to move from gentle yoga stretch movements into a supportive and nourishing breathe and restorative practise. We will cover healthy breathing patterns and how to tune into the subtle signals of the body.

All classes will be held at Flourish Studio, Takapuna. The cost is $45 and the sessions run for 90 mins from 3pm to 4.30 pm on Saturdays. The studio is small and cosy – hence numbers are limited and there is a need to book. 

Email me to hold your place - perry@ayurvedahealth.co.nz

Namaste Perry