Tag Archives: goodness

Song of the Soul – Yogi Musings

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For years the practice of Yoga has captured the imagination of both my body, mind and spirit.

There is something special that happens when the breath harmonises in movement with the body. When the mind is freed through the practice of letting go of being right, doing something right, looking right or having to prove something to anyone else.

Finding yourself in the moment. In the here and now. Being humble.

One breath at a time. One movement at a time. One thought at a time… 

I call this P R E S E N C E .

There is a rich beauty about realising – (through showing up on the mat, in life, in your relationships, in your work) that even once you ‘know’ how to do something, a downward-faceing dog, achieve an outcome or a result in your work or know that making sure you are present with your family or partner is important… There is a beauty in realising that even though you may KNOW these things…. that knowing things doesn’t make a difference.

It is our PRESENCE. Our attention to the moment. To our yoga practice each day. To our bodies each day. To our work each day. To our loved ones each day. To ourselves each day. It is this that I call the real practice of YOGA, (union). 

Each time you step onto your mat, arrive at work or come home to be with your family, that is where the real YOGA, the real joy in being alive, the real magic, the real practice is in action. 

I love the subtle resistance that can arise sometimes when I step onto my yoga mat. The intelligence of my body humbling me to see and feel what would have otherwise remained un-touched and un-noticed. I love the intimacy with self that my Yoga practice brings. The inner dance of my cells as I move across my mat. As I am guided by my teacher to explore new oceans and lands within my body.

Being present and aware of the imperfections within my practice is what makes my Yoga practice feel complete. This is the beauty. This is the life juice. This is where the joy and adventure of being alive lives!

Resistance in life can be a stifling feeling. It can stop us – often at times when we need to break-through the most.

Resistance is a sign that what you truly love and desire is close. Very close. Infact, most likely just behind the corner of the barrier you are putting up.

Resistance is a gift. It is a blessings and when you can walk through those thoughts, those blockages in your body, those aches and pains in your being that wish for you to stay safe and not feel the very juicy goodness that your spirit wishes you to feel, then there is a sweet prize for you at the end. A prize that cannot be valued through money, fame or riches. It is the ultimate gift…

I N N E R – F R E E D O M .

You can experience this in your lifetime. We can all travel through the doorways of our resistance, whether it be around our health and body image, breaking through our physical pain, our emotional blockages and aches or a breakthrough in showing up to be present in our own lives, to receive that which is waiting for us, to be our true authentic selves, allowing all story, past beliefs and thoughts that do not serve us to drop away. 

Life really is a practice. A yoga practice is a mini microcosm of the bigger macrocosm of our journey. Our work is a microcosm of our practice. Our relationships are a microcosm of our practice.

The practice is within. It lies with us. We are the ones, that we have been waiting for in our lives. It is you. It is me. It is all of us, showing up, with humility, with openness to grow and learn. With self-compassion and love. Knowing that we are on a journey. And as cliche` as this sounds, life really is about the journey, NOT the destination…

At the end of our sweet lifetime on this earth. It is not how ‘perfect’ we were at our head-stand in yoga or how ‘perfect’ we were in our lives that we will reflect upon and value. It is how loving we were – firstly to ourselves, and then with others – it is this that we shall look back on and smile about. The journey – the practice – the memories of how we broke through our resistance in that area or that area… with this person or that person… with ourselves. Being the best person we can be in this life. THIS is what we shall be proud of. THIS is THE PRACTICE. 

This entire post was inspired by reading a gorgeous poem out of BKS Iyengers’ famous book, ‘Light on Yoga’.

Here is an exert that I wish to share… This poem is divine in every way imaginable. It encapsulates such beauty and the true essence of YOGA from my point of view. For those who don’t call themselves ‘Yogi’s’… Yoga means life. As in each moment we are uniting with the forces of nature, of the energies within our own being… You don’t need to show up at 6am to your local yoga studio to call yourself a Yogi. Living in harmony daily with self and others – being open to grow and courageous to meet yourself in each moment with self compassion and self love. This is my definition of a true Yogi. The Yoga is within.

…Song of the Soul…

I am neither ego nor reason, I am neither mind nor thought,
I cannot be hard nor cast into words, nor by smell nor sight ever caught:
In light and wind I am not found, nor yet in earth and sky –
Consciousness and joy incarnate, Bliss of the Blissful am I.

I have no name, I have no life, I breathe no vital air,
No elements have moulded me, no bodily sheath is my lair:
I have no speech, no hands and feet, nor means of evolution –
Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss in dissolution.

I cast aside hatred and passion, I conquered delusion and greed;
No touch of pride caressed me, so envy never did breed:
Beyond all faiths, past reach of wealth, past freedom, past desire,
Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is my attire.

Virtue and vice, or pleasure and pain are not my heritage,
Nor sacred texts, nor offerings, nor prayer, nor pilgrimage:
I am neither food, nor eating, nor yet the eater am I –
Consciousness and joy incarnate, Bliss of the Blissful am I.

I have no misgiving of death, no chasms of race divide me,
No parent ever called me child, no bond of birth ever tied me:
I am neither disciple nor master, I have no kin, no friend –
Consciousness and joy am I, and merging in Bliss is my end.

Neither knowable, knowledge, nor knower am I, formless is my form,
I dwell within the senses but they are not my home:
Ever serenely balanced, I am neither free nor bound –
Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is where I am found.

Here’s to a life of divine practice in harmony with your entire being. Thriving, growing, dancing, moving, being – true to yourself in each and every breath.

x Om Shanti

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

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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!

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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

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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

Saffron Warm Milk!

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Warm Ayurvedic Milk with Saffron, Cinnamon & Fennel!

A super-charged, Ojas boosting , yummy, rejuvenating, warming, reproductive tissue-nourishing Ayurvedic drink!

Milk: Dairy milk can be very nourishing for the deeper tissues in the body, particularly the reproductive system. When using milk, consider it as being ‘medicine’.  This means that we want to honour the milk and take it with awareness and moderation.

A few tips to make your milk easier to digest:

  1. Always boil your milk. Milk is heavy and cool in nature and through the process of heating milk and consuming it while warm, we make the milk warmer, lighter and easier to digest. The process of heating milk also purified the milk, making it more potent and digestion friendly!
  2. Always use organic, un-homogenised Jersey milk where possible. The milk from Jersey cows is called ‘A2’ milk and this milk has been shown to be easier to digest than the milk that comes from ‘fresian’ cows, a different breed. In India, the cows that provide milk are Jersey cows. It is important to use un-homogenised milk as the process of homogenisation spins the fat particles so fast that they get dispersed and separated. When the body takes in this milk that has been altered, it doesn’t know what to do with it, as the particles don’t match up the way they ought too. This creates an inability for the body to digest the milk and can cause a range of upsets and intolerances to dairy.
  3. Add spices to make the milk easier to digest, improve your digestion and allow for proper nourishment to occur. Spices such as Cardamon, Cinnamon, Ginger, Fennel and Saffron go wonderfully with milk and they taste and smell delicious!
  4. Drink as medicine and use in moderation. A warm milk before bed is wonderful simple remedy to calm and sooth the nervous system, nourish the tissues, rejuvenate the reproductive system and build up ‘Ojas’, which is like our ‘life-force’, essence, juice, glow, joy in life!

Art by: Devendra Sharma

Happy Spicing and boiling friends! :)

Feel free to write a message for any further questions on Milk!

(A comments section on the website shall be installed soon!) :)

x Love Lorien

Gratitude notes…

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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

One Year!

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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

 

Listen to your heart, it always knows!

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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.

x 

The first day of Spring!

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There is so much beauty within each season and cycle.

Spring in Ayurveda is about melting away the coolness and potential ‘heaviness’ of winter, (Kapha Dosha) in preparation for the intensity of Summer’s warmth!

During this time it can be very balancing to:

  • Eat slightly lighter foods such as warm Vegie Soups and Ayurvedic Kitchari (Rice & Dhal cooked together).
  • Give yourself a little extra rest.
  • Rub warm Sesame or Almond oil into the soles of your feet before bed.
  • Give yourself extra time and space to nourish and ground your body through activities such as Yoga and Chi-Gong/Tai Chi which assist in purifying the bodies energy centres ~ assisting in a smooth seasonal transition!

Spring is beautiful, warmth is in the air!

Happy Spring everyone!

Below is a photo of the first sunrise of Spring that I captured this morning as a momento!

x Love Lorien

 

Ginger Water for Digestion

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Ginger water opens the channels known as ‘Srotas’ in Ayurveda, burns up excess toxins known as ‘Ama’ and improves the power of your digestive fire, known as ‘Agni’ in Ayurveda! Yay!

Particularly great during the cooler months of the year when the channels of the body naturally start to contract with the cold environment. Ginger water will balance this and keep things flowing freely.

Ingredients:

  • 1 tsp of Certified Organic (for best results for you & the planet) Dry Ginger powder.
  • 2 cups of purified water

Method:

  1. Boil the Ginger powder and water in your pot.
  2. Allow to cool until a good warm drinking temperature
  3. Serve straight or with 1/2 a tsp of raw, unprocessed sugar known as Jaggery or Rapadura for a dash of wholesome sweetness with your Ginger!

*Freshly grated or sliced Ginger can also be used to warm the body and improve digestion. For the purpose of this remedy, using the powdered Ginger has a stronger effect on warming the tissues of the body and improving digestion.

To healthy, happy free flowing channels and balanced digestion! 

Yum!

x Lorien