Yoga, training and health inspiration for you

Do you long for a more natural skin care? With the ancient wisdom of ayurveda as a pillar stone, Dr. Venu Sasikumar, skin specialist, here shares with you some of his best remedies and tips for a healthy skin. 

How to get a healthy skin according to ayurveda

• Go early to bed and rise up early
• Do not mix incompatible foods (read more below)
• Consume vegetables with high water content as they can be digested more easily
• Vegetables such as carrots, radishes, lettuce, asparagus, fennel tips and cucumber are all beneficial fo the skin
• Exercise
• Do breathing exercises
• Meditate
• Moisturize your skin
• Consume seeds and nuts
• Cut down on your sugar and salt intake
• Protect your skin from excessive sun exposure

These incompatible foods can cause skin disease

In ayurveda there is a belief that some foods can cause skin diseases and that there are some foods that don't go well together when it comes to your skin health.

• Milk And Fruit: Yes. Even if you love your bowl of yogurt mixed with fruits, avoid it. Fruits are digested quickly, and milk takes time to digest. So, during the processing time, the fruit curdles the milk and creates acidity.

• Milk And Meat: Avoid consuming milk products (including desserts) if you have fish and meat. Fish heats up your body while milk cools it down. Combining these contrasting foods obstructs the vital body channels.

• Cold Drinks After A Meal: Avoid having iced or cold drinks after meals. This is because cold suppresses the digestive juices and causes stomach issues. This is also applicable for frozen yogurt and ice cream after (or before) meals.

• Ghee And Honey: Both produce opposite reactions in your body. While ghee cools down your body, honey heats it up, and this can cause imbalance.

Here are some tips on ayurvedic facial treatment that you can do at home:

Orange peel for enhancing Complexion

The peel of orange contains vitamin C and antioxidants that keep the skin clear and bright. It helps with oil control and minimizes acne outbreaks. Dry orange peels (preferably in the sun) and then mix to a powder.

What you need

• 1 tablespoon orange peel powder
• 1 tablespoon yogurt
• 1 tablespoon honey

Method

• Mix the powder, honey and yogurt
• Apply it evenly on your face and neck
• Keep it on for 20 minutes
• Wash it off

Sandalwood, Turmeric and neem For Controlling Acne

Both sandalwood, turmeric, neem and honey have antibacterial properties according to ayurveda.

What you need

• 1 tablespoon sandalwood powder
• ½ tablespoon turmeric
• 1 tablespoon neem powder
• 2-3 tablespoons honey (adjust as per the consistency)

Method

• Mix all the ingredients to a paste in a glass bowl
• Apply all over your face and keep it on until it dries
• Wash off with cold water

Raw Potato and curd For Pigmentation

Potato contains starch and has mild bleaching properties that help in fading pigmentation, dark spots, and scars naturally. Moreover, it also contains helpful enzymes that prevent premature aging.

What you need

• 1 potato
• 1 tablespoon curd*
• Some honey

Method

• Make potato paste
• Mix with honey and apply it to the affected area
• Keep it for 30 minutes
• Wash it with cold water

*Curd is a dairy product obtained by coagulating milk in a process called curdling.

Videos about ayurveda

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More about Dr. Venu Sasikumar

Dr. Venu Sasikumar is a much appreciated skin specialists in India. He has made intensive studies and researches in the sphere of skin diseases and their treatment. He relies upon medicines extracted from pristine nature and precise treatment modalities to get skin diseases like eczema and psoriasis under control. Read more about Dr. Venu Sasikumar on his web site. You can also contact him via e-mail at [email protected].

Are you one of those who can't really handle the heat during summer? Who might feel overheated and irritated by this? You are not alone, and it's quite normal if you have a certain body constitution. The ancient seers of India had their own internal cooling system that comes from the traditional healing science known as ayurveda. Here I'll tell you some more about ayurveda and how you can balance your body to better handle the summer heat.  

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Let’s face it: summer in the city can be intense. The heat makes us irritable, impatient, and easily frustrated. There are many common ways to cool down such as blasting the aircon but that can be a great waste of energy, or weighing in at your nearest self-serve frozen yogurt shop but that can add up on the body and in the bank.

About Ayurveda
Ayurveda comes from two words: “Ayu” which means life and “veda” which means science so Ayurveda quite literally is the science of life. It is based on the premise that we each have a combination of elements that make us up, known as doshas. The three doshas are: Earth and water, or kapha, fire and water, or pitta, and air and space, or vata. From an ayurvedic perspective, we all have a certain combination of each of these elements. Too much of any of these elements takes us out of balance. It makes a certain amount of logic when you think about it: excess earth creates lethargy, depression, and additional mucous in the body. Too much air and space and we are easily distracted, flighty, and ungrounded. Too much fire, we are impatient, judgmental, and think that we are always right. Sound familiar? Luckily, there are many ways to keep these imbalances in check. Let’s take a look at some common pitta imbalances so you can check in yourself.

Fire manifests in the body as acid water, located in the stomach and in the digestive organs. Since pitta is responsible for metabolism, too much pitta can create acid indigestion, reflux, and diarrhea. It can also cause high blood pressure, acne and inflammation of joints. And just like a burning wire, excess pitta can shorten our fuse, leading to aggression in both our personal and professional relationships, as well as in the community at large. It’s no surprise that crime rate and violence increase during the summer, particularly as a result of heat waves.

Shift your yoga practice

Despite this, many yoga classes continue to offer a practice that is heat building, sweat-inducing and pitta-aggravating in the height of summer because that is what we are used to. As a culture, we tend to take the “no pain, no gain” approach onto our yoga mats. If savasana isn’t experienced in a pool of sweat it somehow means we didn’t do enough. Don’t get me wrong: I enjoy a good sweat like the rest of them but that does not mean I need to go to extremes when the temperature takes me there already. The experience of yoga is not calibrated by the amount of perspiration you emit but by the depth of connection you have to the moment. That is what we can take back with us to our friends, our spouses, our children, and our co-workers. If you leave class feeling more imbalanced than you were when you arrived, something’s not working. Here’s a few tips on how to shift your yoga practice to create more equanimity both on the mat and off. If you’re new to yoga, fear not! These are tips that are available to anyone at any time.

1) Avoid practicing surya namaskar, the sun salutation, in excess. Rather practice moon salutes (I think we should have an asterisk here or link to a moon salute sequence).

2) Add a restorative pose to your practice or to your day. Legs up the wall is cooling, calming for the nervous system, lowers the heart rate, and slows down the breath. All of these things help counter a pitta imbalance.

3) Practice sitali breath: curl the end of your tongue up to the roof of your mouth. If you can’t do that (you’re not flawed: some people anatomically are unable to!) then simply open your mouth as if you are giving a fake smile. Breath in through the tongue or the teeth. Pause at the top of the inhalation and then exhale our through the nostrils. Try this about 6 times and notice the effects. It helps cure heartburn, acid indigestion, and creates an internal cooling system. Although it might look funny, this comes in very handy while you’re waiting on the subway platform in intense heat. Give it a try!

4) Avoid spicy or acidic foods like peppers and tomatoes and eat cooling ones such as coconut, cucumber, and melon.

5) Last but not least: avoid alcoholic beverages if your pitta is up. It takes all of those imbalances into more imbalance! Although it might feel cooling at the time, it will only fan the fire in the end.

Stay cool and Namaste.

Video recommendations

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Links

• Learn more about ayurveda here!
  • About ayurveda (in Swedish)
• Create pitta balance this summer (in Swedish), by Eva Forsberg Schinkler