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 »

Can you believe it?

It’s Rasa Ayurveda’s 1st birthday!

Here are our favorite local kids enjoying masala doshas at our inauguration celebration one year ago. They look good here….happy and fine. But you should see them now!  In the last year, they’ve grown up a lot. They’re taller, more confident and dare we say it?–smarter, too!

Like Anjana, Kirtana and Bharti, Rasa Ayurveda Traditional Healing Centre has grown tremendously in the last 12 months.

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Niika Quistgard :: Jan.15.2009 :: Rasa Ayurveda News :: No Comments »

Here in Kerala, South India, the agni-boosting qualities of this thin, spicy soup are relied upon at large wedding and other celebratory meals. (Toward the end of the meal, as you lean over your banana leaf plate feeling full of the rich wedding feast, knowing you can’t fit in another bite, someone will come around and ladle rasam into your open palm to facilitate your digestion. Slurping it down, you soon feel ready for a taste of dessert!)

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Niika Quistgard :: Dec.09.2008 :: Taste is Healing :: No Comments »

Thru AyurvedaTrip.com, we have the good fortune to enjoy regular educational exploration. Almost two weeks now into our Ayurvedic Aromatherapy Immersion trip with David Crow, today was another jam-packed and amazing day.

We woke in Kumily for breakfast and a quick tour of the botanicals growing around the family guest house we’d spent the night in. Fresh, ripe cocoa (chocolate!!) fruit tickled the tongue like a thousand ripe melons. Sweet and spicy ginger. A cinnamon tree offering moist, dark bark to chew after our meal. A round green ball plucked from a dark-leafed tree, the husk peeled away to reveal a lacy red dress (mace) hugging a shiny brown nut (nutmeg). The aroma was clarifying and calming…

Are plants not miracles?

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Niika Quistgard :: Nov.06.2008 :: Environment, Practitioner Education, Rasa Ayurveda News, Taste is Healing :: No Comments »

This beautiful woman from Wisconsin told us she hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since her children were born – 25 years ago! After a five-day series of shirovasti therapy, she slept perfectly throughout the night. She slept like the babies who’d triggered her shift to insomnia so long ago. I talked to her recently –months after her treatment– and she was still enjoying great sleep every night…without drugs!

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Niika Quistgard :: Aug.28.2008 :: Patient Outcomes, Traditional Therapies :: No Comments »

It’s been pouring rain steady since yesterday afternoon here in Kerala, as, in this season of monsoon, it should every few days or so. Now it’s 9 am, and in my house we have been “current illa”– without electricity–since about 5 am.

The rain–whether drizzling or pelting–forms a blanket of soft vibration over the landscape, softening the sounds of regular life, turning down the dial on the intensity of normal activity. This sensory insulation makes monsoon the season traditionally considered best for internal focus, a naturally supported time to turn inside for meditation and spiritual study, as well as for taking Ayurvedic treatments.

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Niika Quistgard :: Jun.29.2008 :: Culture, Spirituality, Environment, Internal Medicines :: No Comments »