Yoga Therapy International News

Winter Solstice 2020 Yuletide Reflections from the Yoga Tradition

Winter solstice sunrise

When I read Paul Ferrini’s Winter Solstice newsletter, the quote below caught my attention. It made me think about working with opposites to find balance — a prevalent concept in both Yoga Philosophy and Āyurveda.

The 20 guna-s or opposites of prakṛti, the material world, must be balanced through our diets, lifestyles, and relationships, culminating in a sattvic state of Ananta, Infinite Harmony (Yoga Sūtra-s II,47).

Enjoy these reflections and let me know how they speak to you during this unique time of great disruption balanced with the promise of great transformation.

Maggie’s Ayurvedic Chai Latte Recipe

My gift to you this Winter Solstice Day is my famous and ever-evolving Ayurvedic Chai Latte recipe. Find all of the ingredients, my cooking process, and even the nutritional data below. 

My husband Walter and I both love Indian chai, and we both have sought out the best cup of chai from travels in India as well as closer to home in Vancouver. 

In the end, we both like this recipe best, but I encourage you to play with the ingredients and cooking process to create it to your taste. That is the Joy of cooking!

Ingredients
These ingredients will balance your Vāta, Pitta and Kapha doṣa-s. To make it less Vāta (less anxiety promoting), do replace Assam tea with rooibos. 

Makes 16 cups = 2 kettles of hot water to fill a big soup pot

  • whole cardamom pods – 3 T
  • whole black pepper – 2 T
  • cinnamon – 3" stick x 4 sticks
  • cloves – ½ T
  • fennel – 1 T
  • 16 cups water (through the reduction process, you will lose 3+ cups of liquid)
  • fresh ginger – 3“ (crushed in blender after you boil all other spices in hot water for 1 hour)
  • 4+ cups of milk of your choice – Look at the colour of the chai and make it that creamy colour 
  • maple syrup – 1+ T (optional and to taste)
  • tea – rooibos tea or Assam black tea - ¼ cup (or less with a longer steep)

A Practice for the Science of Happiness

In this new multi-media blog post series, Maggie Reagh explores the "Science of Happiness" from both Eastern and Western perspectives through lectures, practices, interviews and short essays.

Our second video guides us through a yogic movement practice coordinated with breath and mindfulness that concludes with pranayama and a contemplative meditation on what makes us authentically happy.

Enjoy this practice during the holiday season, celebrating our universal desire for Peace, Love and Joy in the world, that yogic state called Ānanda!

The Science of Happiness & Well-Being: Science meets Yoga Philosophy

Maggie Reagh, founder of Yoga Therapy International (YTI), is excited to be launching a new multi-media blog post series about the Science of Happiness & Well-Being from both Eastern and Western perspectives. In this series, you'll learn some easy ways to cultivate a more joyful and balanced life through lecture presentations, Yoga practices, interviews, and blog posts.

Our first video explores what the Science of Happiness claims are the most effective ways of cultivating Happiness (Well-Being) through embracing everyday pleasures, ethical lifestyles, and spiritual experiences. Our next videos focus on Embodied Yoga Philosophy & Embodied Cognition, learning how to promote Happiness and Well-Being via the Body, not such the Mind.

We review the vast scope of what we call Happiness and Well-Being, from promoting the everyday life pleasures of food, physical activities, entertainment, and sleep; to cultivating virtuous behaviour, meaningful work, and self-determination; to developing depthful relationships with others; and, ultimately, to connecting to an Inner Stillness via bio-psycho-social-spiritual pathways.

Please write Maggie [link to maggie@yogatherapyinternational.com] with any feedback or if you would like to be interviewed by Maggie to discuss your expertise in the Science of Wellbeing (Happiness) or related fields including Embodied Cognition, Experiential Learning, and Embodied Yoga Philosophy.

You’re invited to our Open House on December 12th – A Zoom Event!

We welcome you to join us on the morning of Saturday, December 12th, from 8:30am to 9:30am PST. This is a unique opportunity to learn about our Certified Yoga Therapist Training (CYT 1000), and to meet the founder of Yoga Therapy International, Maggie Reagh.

You’ll also have the opportunity to meet and ask questions of core faculty members of the CYT training program: Neil Pearson, Tracy Dignum, and Danielle Schroeder.

A Mantra for All Souls' Day, Halloween, and Samhain

Sun, 11/01/2020 - 12:19 -- Maggie
November 1st, All Souls' Day is when the veil between the manifest and the unmanifest realms is so thin that they appear to be One reflecting the Other.  Mantra for All Souls' Day and HalloweenOn Halloween, Holy Evening, October 31st, we invite our ancestors to visit us and offer us spiritual protection from negativity caused by our own actions, those of others, or from our environment. On November 1st, those Souls are with us, seeking their way Home to the Unmanifest Realm. This chant is a protection mantra that creates a positive vibration all around us and destroys the demons usually of our own mind's making.  Enjoy the Light of Wisdom that Shines through from the Unmanifest Mysterious Realm during this Holy time! May we all find our way Home! Om Aim Hreem Chamundaye Viche Svaha Om Aim Hreem Chamundaye Viche Svaha Om Aim Hreem Chamundaye Viche Svaha  Listen to Maggie chant this mantra on Facebook and also one Instagram.
This Chamunda Mantra links us with the 3 main goddesses of Hinduism: Saraswathi, Laxmi, and Parvati (Kali). Durga, Kali, or Chamunda are all fierce forms of Parvati. Chamunda is the Goddess of war and epidemics like COVID-19. This is a powerful mantra to be chanted during times of challenge and negativity. Om (Universal sound)  Aim (Maha Saraswati)  Hrim (Maha Laxmi)   Klim (Maha Kali) Chamunda (A form of Kali/Durga/Parvati who is the destroyer of demons Chanda and Munda) Viche (Shield) Svaha (May the power of this mantra be activated through the fires of Agni by honouring Agni’s wife Svaha) Sources Chamunda (Wikipedia) Om Aim Hreem Kleem Chamundaye Viche Mantra Benefits (Speaking Tree) Chamunda Mantra - Meaning & Benefits (Times of India)  

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