Today was another day… woke up, stretched, made a smoothy- prepared my house for a therapy session later in the afternoon, when to my new job as an English teacher for 2 grades… taught the classes, chatted with nice people on collectivo- had interesting experience, took out my nose ring, tried to put back in my nose ring, came home, made eggss and veggies- gave therapy, went to roof top and practiced yoga for sun set, came in-  made phone call regarding cob/land plan to miss.daisy, started studying again… I fricken love this section on the digestive system, I am finding it so interesting, I just wish I had more energy and mental capacity to keep studying tonight… but well tomorrow.

Here are some of my notes from today’s class.

Vata type of constipation- little dry, round poop- can look similar to deer poop…
caused by anxiety, to much movement, travel and dry, light,cold food?
You mean, like balancing full time school, taking on therapies, worried about getting kicked out of country after 3 years and not being able to stay with only three months left, not being able to sleep due to parties, wanting to buy land and organizing family investment and meeting with lawyers and friends about this life changing opportunity and investment of money that is hard to make these days…not having time or energy or desire to cook and just eating cold fruit out of fridge and then choosing to make popcorn and eat nuts and seeds as snacks before bed…. could cause this? lol

Moist, warm and heat will help with this.
A good Vata constipation purgative or laxative for this are Cascara, Aloe Vera.

But perhaps, my stools were Pitta type of Constipation…they weren’t that round, maybe just dry… so this is possible as well since I am also over heating every day, pretty intense right now and “accidentally” snacked on heaps of spicy things recently.

Moist, cooling will help this.
Amalaki

Kapha type of constipation:
Large stools, mucousy and hard to pass.
Increase heat
Ginger, warm the GI from the inside. Ginger is also a diaphoretic /helps to relieve water
Exercise helps
Good Purgative is: Cascara, dry aloe, castor oil.

Happy to hear my one online teacher talk about how things change in the Western medical field, and doctors use to have this crazy amount of pressure to know and memorize everything, but now are using google and doing current research. How they just discovered that lungs now produce white blood cells- so now all medical books around the globe will need to be updated, and that Ayurveda, hasn’t changed over the years, certain things have been added to it but the core has stayed the same. But the clinical side and relation to western medicine might change, we need to learn and study- but also know how to research and use our books, know the patterns and constantly look things up, discuss with other practitioners and continue to learn.

Little digestive problems can effect our minds.
When we break down protein we use it for all parts of the body, including our mind.

Probiotics are being recommended to help with gut health- as well as taking in fermented foods daily. But having a diversity of healthy gut culture can be very helpful, especially with the standard american diet with our exposure to our medicine, contaminants, pollutants that we are exposed to on a daily basis. These are affecting our agni as well… even though, not in the ancient texts… it’s understood this.
Have diversity in our food as well- including different colours, different vegetables.

A couple suggestions of pro-biotic are: soil based pro-biotic, Prescript assist 29 strains of soil probiotics, PB8 (lactobacilluus’s, Bifidobacterium(, Saccharomyces while taking anti-biotics, 3-6 months post anti biotics, then switiching to other, nice probiotic. Adding in demulcents (Slippery elm, marshmallow, shatavari, licorice, comfrey) or other gut healing/supporting tonics like bone broth, cologne peptides, gelatin (grass fed,  organic). After illness, surgery, follow samsarjanakrama (eating things that are easy on the digestive system like kitchari). Taking in real Kombucha (not full of sugar, small amounts), fermented foods, or Takra. Working in a garden and having dogs also help expose people to healthy bacteria. Immunity Community!

Some bacteria living in our gut can cause us to have cravings for sugar and carbs, some to be more aggressive, some crave to become more sexually active… If we have imbalance of this… to much Candida, to much yeasts, then we will crave more sugar- more carbs! When we are out of balance- we tend to go more out of balance.

So my parents have been taking pro biotic and I just bought them some this week… and now today I come across this, makes me feel a lot better… also, makes me want to make Kombucha again! I think I am going to, even though it’s a lot easier to just buy probiotics… but maybe I could offer Kombucha after the massage? If its doshically correct. (Not to much Pitta or have an Ulcer.)

Nice recipe for constipation for the pregnant woman: Ghee infused with dipana spices (Ginger, Fennel, Cardamom, Cinnamon, etc)
Sautee until you smell the herbs, then add prunes (organic, non sulferated) in castor pan, add a little salt.. sautee them just a little. Add water just to cover the prunes and then reduce heat and cook slow just until the prunes are hydrated and or water is gone. You can keep them in a jar, or make them fresh each time.  Just 2-4 daily going up from there, if needed.
A nice idea for pregnant people- or for anyone who doesn’t want purgative or other herbs.
You can adjust recipe for Vata, Pitta, Kapha.

Ex:
Kapha, less water, more giner
Vata: More water, more ghee, can add asafoetida or hing, more ginger.
Pitta: Use coriander, fennel

Triphala, is a herb you don’t need to take breaks from. It’s tolerated well by most people. You find your dose that is good for you and can take every day. You start with finding your purgative dose (loose stool) and then back off a bit- and use it as a rasayana. Amalaki is great for many things and has natural occurring vitamin c, great for skin and hair and our ojas.
Triphala can help people with loose stool- who have to much heat, it can help regulate that.

You can take triphala in tea add it to hot water and stir it in until it’s dissolved and let it steep- this is the stronger way it will be effective. Increase the surface area, hot water helps agni…the haritaki may be more astringent in pill form than in tea or churna way, so not as effective.
Or make a cold fusion- then the medicinal properties will go into the water and you drink the water itself.  You can then add the water again and drink the water again (done twice) and you don’t need to drink the drags.
If people really hate the flavor, you can take it in capsules, but the dosage will change. You will need to take more pills, maybe twice as much – to have the same effect.

Triphala helps to balance Pitta, Vata and Kapha as it moves through you, helps to tonify and help for healthy bowel movements. They work beautiful together and have very nice effects on mind and energetics as well.

Sometimes you need to change your dose. You need to give it 3-5 days to find amount that works for you… to move strained stools out.

Recommendations is to buy naturally harvested, organic and seedless (as seeds may be irritating). Organic India follows this process for sure of removing seeds.
You can make your own Triphala and add more herb for specific people.
Bibitaki is grounding to Kapha
Haritaki is grounding to Vata
Amalaki is grounding to Pitta
or you can add demulcents with them that are more appropriate for each dosha.