River House for Rasa Ayurveda

Chinga Masam is the first month in the traditional  calendar, as followed in Kerala. The first day of Chingam marks the beginning of the New Year according to the Malayalam calendar.  The first day of the Malayalam year is welcomed with numerous temple visits by Malayalee–and visiting foreigners–all over Kerala to offer gratitude for all the goodness in life, and to pray for the blessings of divine Grace in the coming year.

Jolene Struebbe–a Women's Retreat participant–visits the MahaVishnu temple near Rasa Ayurveda

Onam–the widely celebrated festival of Kerala–is observed during Chingam. Games and merriment of all kinds flourish during Onam. One of the most popular activities is creating and displaying pookalam, the beautiful flower mandalas which are a traditional art form specific to Kerala.

Malayalee Community creating a beautiful pookalam to celebrate Onam

The birthday of Sri Krishna is also celebrated during Chingam, this year on September 1st.

Onam gathering at Rasa Ayurveda, 2009

Again this year, our Rasa Ayurveda staff will gather for a special Onam celebration  on August 21st. Then Rasa Ayurveda will close for a few days for this important holiday, bringing everyone together to kick off the new year with a spirit of “onichu” – togetherness.

Top view of the yoga roof at the River House for Rasa Ayurveda

Since we let news spread of our special circumstances, many have booked treatment in advance for themselves and/or family and friends to support our commitment to serving women and preserving traditional South Indian medicine. Donations small and large have been coming in too! We are nearing our goal, but we still need close to $30,000, and soon.

Please consider taking advantage of one of the one-time-only special offers that will bring benefit to you and family or friends, while helping us complete purchase of the River House for Rasa Ayurveda. All funds that come in before August 27th will make the difference!

When Rasa Ayurveda reopens after Onam in ten days time, we hope it will be into a new season of stability and expanded sense of home in our beloved Trivandrum neighborhood. Wouldn’t that be something to be grateful for, and to celebrate!?!

Young girls on the edge of the Karamana River, behind River House

In the meantime, we wish you a Happy Malayalam New Year and hope to see you at Rasa Ayurveda, soon.

With warmest regards~

Niika Quistgard, CAS

Managing Director, Rasa Ayurveda Traditional Healing Centre for Women

MayaShakti Ayurveda Pvt. Ltd.

Trivandrum, Kerala

Niika Quistgard :: Aug.17.2010 :: Culture, Spirituality, Rasa Ayurveda News :: No Comments »

June isn’t summertime in Kerala. Summer went out with the first rains! June is the beginning of two months of monsoon. It’s a great time to come to Rasa Ayurveda. Just be prepared to share the grounds with a few puddle fish and beautiful wild birds…!

Monsoon Treatment

Monsoon is traditionally considered to be the very best time to take Ayurvedic treatment for most conditions, and for overall detoxification thru pancha karma therapies. Luscious and moist,  a sudden abundance of tender, green leafy medicines spring into being. All of Mother Nature’s resources seem to brim over in service to cleansing and rejuvenating the body, and the mind. For details about the qualities of monsoon, see this previous post, Monsoon in the Right Time.

Monsoon is natural time for turning one’s attention within, and for experiencing the world at its most peaceful. Meditation comes easily now. The air is quiet, and every storm washes the inner and outer worlds clean.

Enjoying Meditation Together

With just a little bit of guidance, one can fall effortlessly into a state of unity at this time… Don’t believe me? Give it a try!

Here’s a wonderful awareness practice I hope you enjoy:

Sit comfortably on the floor, or on a supportive chair. Feel where your body–hip bones, feet–touches the ground or chair. Get a feeling and even visual sense of your postural foundation.

As you inhale, allow your spine to lengthen upward gently, almost as if someone were pulling a small handful of hair up just a little, right at the crown of your head.

Notice that some of your attention remains grounded in your foundation as you exhale completely through your nose. Soften your face. Soften your neck. Soften your belly.

Inhale, allowing the spaces between the vertebrae, ribs and the tops of the shoulder to open.

Exhale, feeling the support of the ground beneath you. Allowing that support to just be there, holding you.

Inhale, releasing the eyes as your spine lengthens. Pull your chin in just a little bit.

With simultaneous awareness of both the downward-grounding and upward-reaching energies, feel your whole body as you exhale completely and inhale completely. Continue to soften any areas of holding you become aware of. Continue to enjoy the feeling of your spine, straight and elongating.

Turn your head from side to side a few times, slowly, and lubricating your movement with your breath.

Come back to center. Breathe and enjoy.

When it’s time, continue your full breathing, and open your eyes just 15% to see the floor in front of you. Allow your energy to remain in full engagement with your whole body, and with your internal beingness. No need for the energy behind the eyes to to jump out and run across the room.

After a few breaths, open your eyes a bit more, keeping your foundation intact.

Place your hands together in gratitude for the enjoyment of being. Slowly stand, walk and move into the rest of your day, smiling, and keeping your self-awareness with you as long as you like.

Even if you can’t come to Kerala for  monsoon, you can savor the rejuvenation that come with  peaceful mind and expanded body sense, wherever you are…

Whenever you can come, we look forward to welcoming you to Rasa Ayurveda~

Niika Quistgard, CAS

Niika Quistgard :: Jun.10.2010 :: Ayurveda & Siddha, Culture, Spirituality, Environment, External Medicines, Patient Outcomes, Rasa Ayurveda News :: No Comments »

Rasa Ayurveda closes each year in early April for the hot season, reopening when monsoon arrives June 1st.  All our residential patients had gone, but before staff joined their families for a summer break, we put together a special event of The Muthashi Project for a group of young orphan girls–ages 9-13–to come spend a day with us, exploring traditional Ayurveda and having some fun…!

The entire Rasa Ayurveda family of staff members spent a day preparing for our special guests, setting up hands-on learning stations throughout the clinic, rehearing answers to anticipated questions and preparing the medicinal plant “party favors” to give the girls.

It was very rewarding to see all staff interacting with the girls with such joy, and to see the enthusiasm they enjoyed as they shared Ayurveda with the girls.

The girls arrived to enjoy tasty niruneendi naranja vellum – a kind of sweet lemon water made with Indian Sarsaparilla root, for its cooling qualities. Then we broke the crowd of girls into small groups, and each group visited every station:

Girls explore the magic of the biogas plant, where vegetable scraps are transformed into cooking gas!

~ A full clinic tour of the patient rooms, treatment rooms, kitchen and yoga hall, including an intriguing stop to learn how our biogas plant  produces cooking fuel from daily vegetable scraps.

The girls focus on 'dravyaguna,' the study of medicinal plants

~ A survey of our medicinal plant collection, with impromptu Q & A on plant identification, medicinal values and some smelling and tasting too…!

Making 'thali' - a traditional, handmade fresh hair wash...

~ A ‘thali’ table, where the girls each made fresh hair washing shampoo from hibiscus leaves.

Picchipoo jasmine is beautiful, and medicinal...!

~ The ‘picchipoo’ hut, where the girls learned about the medicinal value of a certain type of fragrant jasmine, and how we use the bandage these blossoms over the eyes after netra basti. Each girl was offered a piccipoo mala to wear in her hair, too…!

Exploring Medicinal Ayurvedic and Siddha Vaidya Oils made at Rasa Ayurveda

~ A visit with Dr. Geetha to explore a variety of Ayurvedic and Siddha Vaidya medicinal oils and their therapeutic uses. The girls loved trying to recognize them by aroma only!

~ A romp into the paddy field to identify medicinal plants, and just – to be free!

Talking over the process of making medicinal oils in the traditional way.

~ And, a session in the medicine hut with Sanju, who demonstrated the process of making traditional medicinal oils.

The girls paid great attention, and asked a lot of good questions. Some even wrote down every detail in notebooks, hungry for Ayurveda! It was a full, lively and satisfying morning at Rasa Ayurveda.

After our learning sessions, everyone cam together to enjoy some fun – competitive games…! Musical chairs, ‘lemon & spoon’ and ’stick the bindi on the sundari’! Every effort was made to win trophies! All had many laughs and enjoyed the good company.

With broad smiles, the girls headed up to the main building for a delicious meal of fried rice served on banana leaves – a Kerala favorite!

Taking a medicinal plant seedling home to the orphanage.

When it was nearly time to go, everyone gathered ’round. I called out the names of the trophy-winners and handed each prize to a gleeful victor. Last – but surely not least – the girls lined up and came forward one by one, as Dr. Geetha placed one variety of medicinal plant seedling in the hands of each girl, telling the name of the plant, and the medicinal use it will hold when it matures.

Everyone Enjoyed a Wonderful Day of Traditional Ayurveda

We look forward to more educational Muthashi Project events to protect and encourage the relationship between young Mayalayee women and girls and their native plant medicines.

We hear the girls have planted their seedlings at the orphanage already…!

We look forward to welcoming you to Rasa Ayurveda.

With warm regards,

Niika Quistgard, CAS

Managing Director, Rasa Ayurveda Traditional Healing Centre

RasaAyurveda.com

Niika Quistgard :: Apr.03.2010 :: Ayurveda & Siddha, Culture, Spirituality, Environment, Rasa Ayurveda News, The Muthashi Project :: No Comments »

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Niika Quistgard :: Oct.17.2009 :: Rasa Ayurveda News :: No Comments »

Dear Friends,

When women come to Rasa Ayurveda for group programs, one essential activity is to interact with local Malayalee in a meaningful way thru The Muthashi Project. This week, women attending the Women’s Ayurveda Retreat at Rasa Ayurveda participated in our fourth  Muthashi Project event. Although I’m far away in the U.S. helping my son recover from his injuries, Sanju, Dr. Geetha, Sandia Bachman, Rema and all the staff and students did a fantastic job showing up to offer another great program, inspiring young Malayalee women to carry on valuable ancient traditional knowledge.

The Muthashi Project, founded in 2008, seeks to sustain the traditional relationships between Malayalee women and the native botanicals they’ve successfully relied on for medicine for thousands of year.  ‘Muthashi’ means ‘great-grandmother’ in Malayalam, the language of Kerala. ‘Muthashi’ represents the potential every woman has to live and heal thru her personal connection with Nature, the knowledge and experience of the generations of women that came before her, and the depth of her own wisdom.

The Muthashi Project sponsors Women’s Outreach Programs to inspire younger Malayalee women to continue the age-old practice of recognizing and using native plants as medicine. We usually offer these programs in communities lying just outside the city, where there is undeveloped land and backyard space for plants to grow, but where traditional knowledge and life-ways are evaporating quickly.

Continue Reading »

Niika Quistgard :: Jul.15.2009 :: Ayurveda & Siddha, Culture, Spirituality, Environment, Medicinal Plants, Rasa Ayurveda News, The Muthashi Project :: 3 Comments »

Namaskaaram to you~

With sadness and concern, the staff at Rasa Ayurveda received the news that my son–Gabe, 19 years old–was terribly injured in an accident in the U.S. in which he lost both of his legs.

Since then, our Rasa Ayurveda family has been a wonderful support and source of abundant prayers for Gabe’s survival and recovery. We’re all hoping Gabe will be able to return to Kerala for a visit and further healing sometime soon. To learn more about Gabe’s progress, visit the blog:

http://gabesalive.wordpress.com

Prayers for Gabe

Sanju and Dr. Geetha have teamed up to formulate a new bathi incense–dedicated to Gabe–and hand-rolled by the staff. The first batch will arrive in the U.S. any day now. And of course, everyone at Rasa Ayurveda has dedicated themselves even more vigorously to their work, so that while I stay by Gabe’s side for a little while longer, the clinic is open and ready to receive patients and students for another fantastic year of traditional healing in Kerala.

We welcome you to visit Rasa Ayurveda soon~

Niika Quistgard, Director

Niika Quistgard :: Jun.18.2009 :: Culture, Spirituality, Rasa Ayurveda News :: 2 Comments »