AMID THE HOLIDAY SEASON'S
celebratory dazzle and shine, it's all too common to feel not so
dazzling yourself. Blame the vitality drain on indulging in excess and
disrupting your routine, suggests Ayurveda, India's ancient healing art.
It's the time of year for overeating, busyness, mental and emotional
strain, and high ambition—all of which deplete vitality, says Ayurvedic
expert Niika Quistgard, founder of ayurmama.com. Cultivating your inner
spark—your true beauty—requires just the opposite: self-nurture, stress
management, and keeping your energy levels replenished.
According to Ayurveda, our inner glow is fueled by ojas (pronounced oh-jus),
a term that refers to the body's internal energy reserves. “Plentiful
ojas results in a juicy suppleness, a lusciousness,” says Larissa Hall
Carlson, dean of the Kripalu School of Ayurveda in Stockbridge,
Massachusetts. Ojas energy is described as the end product of good
physical and emotional digestion, when you have fully assimilated
nutrients and processed your life experiences. It's also said to be the
essence of kapha, the stabilizing water–earth element. Like oil
in a lamp, ojas sustains our fierier physical and mental energy, our
drive and passion. When replenished regularly, ojas manifests outwardly
in glowing skin, bright eyes, and silky hair. Inwardly, it helps your
reproductive, nervous, and immune systems thrive and promotes peaceful
emotions such as gratitude and contentment. Most importantly, ojas
supports stable moods and helps us handle stress with grace and ease.
Protecting
that vibrant life force and filling up our inner reserve is Ayurveda's
key to cultivating beauty. Because ojas is associated with kapha (the
water dosha, or element), it can be depleted by an excess of Ayurveda's other two doshas, vata (air) and pitta
(fire), says Hall Carlson. Ojas evaporates when we have excess vata—the
result of stress, overstimulation, worry, rushing, and lack of sleep—or
it's burned up by overages of pitta, caused by overwork, anger, or
competition. So counterbalancing an overload of vata and pitta is
crucial, says Hall Carlson. That means building quiet, calming practices
and moments into every day to allow our bodies and minds to settle down
and process our experiences.
Modern
science supports the idea that beauty starts with lifestyle. For
instance, research has shown that stress, poor diet, and lack of sleep
have tangible effects on skin tone and elasticity, and the health of our
hair and nails. Stress and sleep loss increase the production of the
hormone cortisol, triggering inflammation that breaks down collagen, a
protein that keeps skin firm and smooth. Cortisol is also linked to
acne. Dermatologists prescribe stress management to help treat skin
conditions like rosacea or psoriasis because when pro-inflammatory
stress hormones are reduced, it aids in recovery and limits recurrence
of skin problems.
The
best part of having ample ojas, says Quistgard, is that it encourages
peace and contentment, the real source of attractiveness. “Authentic
beauty is revealed less through how you look than through your energetic
presence—the full effect of your mental and physical energy being in
balance,” says Quistgard. “When someone has abundant energy bubbling
over—when they have patience, attention, and energy to share—that's
beauty,” she says. And that's irresistible.
cultivate your ojas
Ayurveda offers these simple yet powerful tips for letting your inner radiance shine through.
1 Create a morning ritual.
A
typical habit that drains ojas is to begin your day in a worried state,
immediately checking email or to-do lists. Rather than hit the ground
running, establish a morning ritual that allows you to connect to “the
part of you that feels happy to be alive in this human body, says
Quistgard. Create your own a.m. practice—it could be drinking a cup of
tea in your favorite comfy chair. Or light a candle and set an intention
for your day. Or try spending a few minutes meditating, journaling,
moving through Sun Salutations, or simply petting your dog. “The mind
doesn't always have to come first,” says Quistgard. When you start your
day with a moment of contentment, you can revisit that sensation later
in the day to protect your ojas when stress levels rise.
2 Nourish dry skin with oils.
In
Ayurveda, fall and winter are governed by the drying vata dosha, and
that can lead to flakey or cracked skin. Oiling dry skin is a good
countermeasure, and it replenishes ojas, says Melanie Sachs, author of Ayurvedic Beauty Care: Ageless Techniques to Invoke Natural Beauty.
“Oil is the perfect skin food, deeply moisturizing and gently cleansing
and protective,” she says. Massaging the skin with oil also helps
lymphatic fluids clear the body of cell waste, bacteria, excess fluid,
and viruses, says Ayurvedic doctor Pratima Raichur, founder of the
Pratima Ayurvedic Skincare Spa Clinic in New York City. And it's a way
of showing yourself kindness, relaxing the body and mind. “Snehana, a
common Ayurvedic practice, means ‘to anoint the body with oil,' and its
secondary meaning is ‘love,’” says Sachs.
Choose
jojoba or argan oil for the face because they're light and similar to
the skin's natural sebum, making them less likely to clog pores, says
Sachs. For a full-body self-massage, she suggests warm sesame or
sunflower oil. And add essential oils to balance your dosha, suggests
Raichur. (Don't know yours? Check out yogajournal.com/dosha.) Scents
good for vata doshas are sweet or sour: citrus, geranium, or rose oil.
Pittas respond best to cooling, sweet scents like sandalwood, rose, and
jasmine. Kaphas need stimulating scents like bergamot, rosemary,
lavender, and mint.
3 Be mindful of what—and how—you eat.
Conscious
eating practices and healthy digestion aid ojas, says Quistgard, and
Western research suggests that healthy digestion helps alleviate skin
problems like eczema, psoriasis, and dermatitis. So avoid eating on the
fly (you know, holiday-party grazing and those mid-errand juices), and
instead take time to contemplate and enjoy your food, says Amy Para,
owner of Starseed Yoga & Wellness in Verona, New Jersey. Says Para,
“Put your food on a beautiful plate and sit. Take a moment of gratitude
for the food you're eating. Ask yourself, ‘Am I really hungry for this?’
If so, appreciate the food—how it looks, smells, and tastes.” While
you're at it, pay attention to the foods that don't sit well. If you're
suffering from bloating, indigestion, or other signs of digestive
distress, keeping a food log can help you avoid the culprits and support
plentiful ojas, suggests Quistgard.
4 Eat good-for-you fats and sweets.
Ojas
is supported by sweet flavors and fats, but selecting the right fats
and natural sugars instead of processed ones is key, says Ayurvedic
expert John Douillard. Healthy fats, including omega-3 fatty acids and
mono- and polyunsaturated fats, can revive and moisturize dry, dull hair
and skin. And women with higher intake of healthy fats had firmer,
smoother skin, reports the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Douillard recommends unprocessed fats like ghee (clarified butter),
good-quality olive oil, omega-3–rich fish oil, nuts, and chia or
flaxseeds, instead of trans fats such as those in margarines. Processed
sugar promotes inflammation, which can lead to poor skin-cell repair, so
opt for coconut, figs, raw honey, or dates. Try Chef Bajaj's
ojas-enhancing rice pudding, below, for healthy holiday comfort food, Vitamins, Dietary & Supplements.
5 Find a little silence.
Relaxation
and quiet time replenish ojas, so making time to give your senses a
rest can help maintain your vital beauty, says Hall Carlson. “The
practice of silence builds your ability for self-reflection, to start to
notice the thoughts and emotions and desires that come up without
reacting to them,” she says.
To
create a moment of silence anywhere, Douillard suggests closing your
eyes for a one-minute breathing practice. Start with 30 seconds of
Bellows Breath (or Bhastrika): Relax your shoulders and take a few deep,
full breaths from your abdomen, then start a cycle of quick, forceful
exhalations and inhalations through your nose, one second per breath.
Power your breath from your diaphragm, keeping your head, neck,
shoulders, and chest still while your belly moves in and out. (If you
feel lightheaded, take a break.) After 30 seconds, sit still, eyes
closed, and breathe normally for another 30 seconds, soaking up the
silence. “This exercise ramps up the amount of energizing oxygen in the
body while calming the mind,” says Douillard.
6 Practice one peaceful pose.
If
you don't have time for a long practice, even one pose—ideally a
heart-opener—can ease stress and boost ojas. “The seat of ojas is in the
heart center,” explains Para. Try a restorative backbend, such as
Reclining Bound Angle Pose, to open and soften your heart. “Focus on the
breath and the space of the heart, and you'll find that everything
calms down,” she says.
Open your heart with Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining Bound Angle Pose):
What you'll need: several folded blankets, plus a firm pillow or bolster
- Sit at the edge of a stack of folded blankets, a pillow, or bolster. Slowly lower yourself to a reclined position with support under your entire back. Support your head with an extra folded blanket.
- Bring the soles of your feet together and let your knees flop open. Support them with additional folded blankets or pillows.
- Lay arms on the floor, with palms up.
- Hold for 1 to 5 minutes, breathing deeply. To come out, bring knees back together and place your feet flat on the floor.
Instead
of criticizing yourself for not living up to your own expectations (too
common this time of year), take time to appreciate a unique aspect of
yourself. Maybe it's how you find humor in tough situations or how you
remembered to call your grandma last week or how you held the door for
someone whose hands were full. Give thanks for who you are and what you
have—and for others, too. “Practicing gratitude makes us happier,” says
Pratima Raichur. And it feeds ojas, giving you a lasting sense of
contentment.
~~~~~~~~
Valerie Latona is a freelance writer and the former editor in chief of magazine.
Indian Rice Pudding
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
½ cup white basmati rice
- ganic milk (or almond or light coconut milk)
- cardamom seeds, bruised
1 cinnamon stick
2–4 tbsp raw honey Handful of pistachios (optional)
In
a colander, rinse rice with water. Place in a heavy-bottomed saucepan
with milk, cardamom, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, lower heat to
simmer, cover, and cook, stirring frequently, 45 minutes. Add nuts if
desired. Cook until mixture is slightly thick but easy to stir. Remove
cinnamon and cardamom pods, and stir in honey. Let cool.
NUTRITIONAL INFO 272 calories per serving, 8 g fat (5 g sat fat), 41 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 9 g protein, 106 mg sodium.
