Warm, nourish, soften, mmm – Let’s talk ‘Ayurvedic Daily Routine’

Let’s cut straight to the chase, to the juicy business of our day to day living.

Your body is a temple. It is sacred.

For your body, mind and spirit to function optimally, it must be cared for, loved, nourished nurtured and respected with consistency and regularity. Your body is relying on you to look after it. It will even talk to you when it is out of balance, to get your attention and make you stop, slow down, rest, have a cry of release and realise where you are really at.

In essence, you are a miracle and your body is the magical vessel that you have to express, shine, dance, sing, play, connect and experience the world and inter-react with.

In honour of your divine body, of all bodies, your incredible organs and wondrous nervous system that communicates and allows all actions, thoughts, movement, digestion, creativity, love and magic to take place within you ~ Ayurveda has some tips for us!

The ‘Daily Routine’ is a key ingredient in creating harmony, balance and wellness internally and externally.

I love these simple practices that slow the mind down, soothe the soul, nourish the body, mind and spirit on the deepest levels and provide an opportunity to connect within on a daily basis.

If you can only start with adding 1 of these 5 practices into you day to begin with, that will make a big difference in itself!

Without further ado… Let’s get to it:

  1. Wake up, spit in the sink any gunk in your mouth, gently brush your teeth, scrape your tongue with a copper tongue scraper (copper conducts the toxins the best, or silver or gold). See here for Tongue Scraping Tutorial 
  2. Drink warm water with fresh ginger, lemon and honey (do not add honey if water is boiling, only when temp is warm). Or simply drink warm water to flush toxins, warm your digestive fire and hydrate your brain to start the day.
  3. Self massage with organic black sesame oil. Warm the oil and apply to your body before you shower in the morning. Focus on the joints, massage in a circular motion and move from your feet to your head. A great practice for improving circulation, boosting the immune system, cleansing the lymphatic system, soothing and grounding the nervous system, nourishing the bones and muscle tissue and loving your body first thing in the morning or before bed at night. Have a warm shower afterwards, the heat will open your pores and allow the oil to penetrate deeper into the tissues offering greater nourishment and goodness to your cells! Yum! So good in autumn and winter particularly! 
  4. Eat something warm for brekky! Warm, smooth, light and soupy… A rule in Ayurveda is to eat your biggest meal in the middle of the day when the sun is the highest- and to eat light and easy to digest foods for breakfast and dinner to assist your body and allow for optimum digestion.
  5. Massage your feet before bed with warm sesame oil to ground the nervous system and promote a very very deep and delicious sleep! …Also putting your legs up the wall, a yoga pose called the fountatin of youth or virparita karani that will nourish your adrenals and kidneys, restoring natural energy and allowing your body to balance and melt into a deep yummy sleep! 
Incase your wondering about the ‘tongue scraping’… Here’s a little ‘tongue scraping’ video tutorial.

Have fun incorporating these beauties into your awareness and self-care, self-love regime! Your body will love you for it!

x Love, Lorien

Thankyou Autumn & …a treat!

Well…. it is now the last day of Autumn.

What a beautiful season it has been!

Clear blue skies, sunny warm days, moody sunrises and expansive bursting sunsets… It has been, m a g i c a l !

Autumn is a season that assists with the transition between one extreme season to another. In Australia, the weather is pretty temperate all year round. Nonetheless, there is a big difference between the humid, balmy days of summer and the crisp, cool, fresh nights of winter.

Thank goodness for Autumn!

Without Autumn, we would be going from one very hot season to a very cold season (depending on where you are in the world), and this would come as a big shock to the body!

Mother nature is so intelligent and thoughtful… instead of giving us this extreme difference to adjust too, she gives us Autumn!

A season of transition.

As we transition through different seasons in the year, the body goes through subtle changes and shifts.

At the change of one season to another it’s a perfect time to give your digestive system a gentle cleanse.

A simple approach could be to simplify your meals for a week. Eat soup at night for 1 week instead of other heavier foods, to give your body a rest. Or if you are really keen, make a big batch of yummy Vegie soup and fast on that for 3-5 days depending on your body type to allow your organs to rest and rejuvenate in preparation for the coming season.

So, in thanking Autumn for her gentle beauty and gradual seasonal change from summer to winter… I have something special for you all!

A recipe that we made today at one of my Simple Nourishment Ayurvedic Wholefood cooking classes! :)

Ayurvedic, nut-free Besan Bindi Balls!

Go to the recipe here!

Happy transitioning. Happy nourishing. Happy self-loving and living!

You are a beautiful being! :)

x Love,

Lorien

Life changing daily practice – Tongue Scraping

Have you ever wondered what Tongue Scraping is all about?

Have you ever woken up with a coating on your tongue first thing in the morning?

Have you ever experienced bad breath and toxic build up in your body or noticed someone else’s?

…The ancient and simple Ayurvedic practice of Tongue Scraping is here to save the day! :)

This is such a wonderful simple daily routine.

I have been a tongue scraper for the past 10 years… and I don’t know where I’d be without it! :)

Enjoy this little piece of tongue scraping video inspiration I put together to inspire those of you who are still on the fence and clarify some points for those who are totally new to it.

For the wonderful folk who are already switched onto this wonderful simple practice, feel free to leave some of your own words of tongue scraping wisdom in the comments under the video, share your story, spread the tongue scraping love so that our fellow brothers and sisters can get in on this wonderful preventative, cleansing, satisfying practice! :)

 

x Love Lorien

Gratitude notes…

 

Gratitude for…

  • Clean, fresh air
  • My breathe
  • The earth I walk on
  • My body that moves me & allows me to dance!
  • The sunshine
  • The moonshine & stars
  • The beauty of sunrise & sunset
  • The Ocean
  • Beautiful Family & Friends
  • Nourishing Relationships (Self & special one in your life)
  • Work I love
  • Health, Energy and Vitality
  • My Parents & Grandparents
  • Clean water & Organic fresh wholesome food
  • The practice & wisdom of Yoga & Ayurveda
  • My teachers & my teachers, teachers!
  • All of the experiences in life that have led me to be where I am today.
  • Grateful for the gift of gratitude!

The practice of Gratitude daily, morning and evening before bed will inspire and uplift what is possible in life 100 fold!

Grateful for community.

Love,

x Lorien

Growth, this is why we are here…

 In times of beauty, times of greatness and in times of inner reflection, diving deep, searching for truth, purpose direction, exploring the inner realms of your being… It can be confronting, challenging and easy to begin to feel a little ‘lost’ and unsure of where the path is leading you…

No matter what you are going through, it is perfect! More perfect than you can possibly imagine right now!

…The universe works in mysterious ways!

Wherever you are at, celebrate it! :) Love it, embrace it… make peace with it. And then flow with grace and continue on your path.

Today the message of inspiration…

“You are whole, complete & perfect just as you are.”

Yes you, in your skin. You are divine. 

The mind may try to grasp thoughts, find meaning and identity in outward things. This can be fine, and fun and beautiful.

Realising that true satisfaction, peace, inner joy and calm arises out of allowing the minds thoughts to float through – rather then stick to the edges of your beautiful brain, and instead come back to your true beauty, your inner knowledge that you are enough, you are worthy, you are a being of light and you are loved and wanted in this world.

You have a purpose and mission so great that other’s who don’t even know you yet can’t wait to support you in your heart’s truest path and calling. This is your true authentic place to reside. Allowing the inner light that shines within you to be bright and to be your guide.

Have faith, trust, surrender, breathe… 

Life is a blessing and we are all here to grow, develop, dance and discover new virtues in connection with our body, other’s and the planet at large.

Some deep thought’s… Stay real, remember to hug as many humans as possible, drink warm water in the morning and smile. Smiling works miracles! :)

With Love,

x Lorien

 

One Year!

The month of January marks one year since this website was born!

It has been a colourful, adventurous, creative year where fresh opportunities, new connections, friendships, travels, growth, learning, study and sharing of the Wholesome Loving Goodness message has evolved, sprouted forth and expanded.

So grateful for such a fruit-full, nourishing, inspiring year!

Thankyou to the world-wide family out there who have encouraged and nurtured this growth.

We are very inspired for some fresh juicy goodness as we welcome our 2nd year of this organic wholesome loving space of inspiration.

Love love and love!!!

X Lorien

 

Summer Fresh Salad!

Fresh organic crispy cos lettuce (hydrating & rich in chlorophyll for the blood), Organic home sprouted Moong bean sprouts (protein source, enzymes), fresh organic Coriander (cooling/balances the fire element ‘pitta’ in the body, great for the skin), organic red capsicum (yummy!), Avocado (healthy oils, fats & deliciousness!) and love!

x Yummm!!!

Listen to your heart, it always knows!

We have all heard the wise words, “Listen to your heart” as an offering of advice at times when we are feeling lost or stuck. Whether it’s from our favourite self-help book, healer, parent, friend or even our own voice within.

There is a reason why this somewhat cliche` message rings true, and continues to do so… timelessly, never going out of fashion. The heart never goes out of fashion.

To truly honour the message being spoken by the heart.To truly listen. To truly honour what is within, guiding and protecting us in our actions and important choices, we need to develop a relationship with ourselves that sets the foundation for being able to LISTEN, to respond… to tap into the wealth of knowledge and wisdom that is waiting for us.

This is where life gets really exciting!

You may like to relate to your heart’s message as your intuition.

To me, a message from the heart is simple and clear. Ussually fairly direct and free from thoughts that arise in the mind.

The heart senses and perceives on very deep levels…. as we begin to honour and listen to its messages to us, our relationship with this knowingness deepens. As we honour this connection, the connection grows stronger.

The thread connecting us to our heart’s message goes from being one strand of cotton to a solid and durable rope that can support and be there during the roughest winds and seas.

It essentially comes back to what many self help books, parents, best friends and mentors may have said many a time…

The most important relationship to have is with yourself…

Before you can truly love another, you must love yourself.

If you are aligned and one with your own being. Your heart, your gut instinct and your minds creativity, then you are a whole complete being who can interact and engage with others and the world in a centred, whole and grounded way. This is power. This is love. Love for yourself and love for others.

Creating with Love

Love really is the secret ingredient to whatever it is we do in this world.

Whether you are baking a cake, making the bed, talking with another, with the people closest to you in life, with an animal or at work interacting ~ whatever and with whoever the interaction or creation is happening with ~ if you add love to the equation, magic happens!

I am overwhelmed with gratitude and appreciation for the love and beauty experienced during my recent travels to India and the amazing new and exciting directions that are opening up for spreading the message and vision of Wholesome Loving Goodness with the world.

While cooking on a recent Yoga Retreat in the beautiful Byron Bay region of Australia, I found some opportunities to ‘create love’ visually with the food I was preparing for the participants. The experience of cooking for a group of Yogi’s 7 days in a row was heart-opening and inspiring! It was a challenge and so rewarding through the feedback and love that was exchanged within the sharing of the meals as a community.

One bowl of porridge at a time, one wholesome vegetable soup at a time, one lovingly made hot drink at a time… we can start to spread warmth, and wholesome loving home-made goodness that each and everyone of us has the abilitiy to generate in our own kitchens, with who we are and what we love, transformation of our own body, mind’s and spirit’s can begin to take place and have ripple effects that spread into our relationships, family, work and communities. I’m inspired and excited for this journey to continue.

There is so much to share, there are 1,000’s of images from India ranging from food to friendly warm faces. There are stories and experiences that words cannot do justice to. India was a very Wholesome Love Filled adventure! So much gratitude for the journey and so much inspiration for the vision of Wholesome Loving Goodness and service in the world continuing to blossom and flourish in new and exciting ways as we enter into Spring of 2013!

It’s great to be back. I am grateful for all the support, enouragment, love and beauty that I have received since beginning this journey just over one year ago.

With wholesome, loving, goodness and joy!

x Namaste

Lorien