• Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    Blog love

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    On a more technical note, related to blogging: as a reader, I have been using Bloglovin for a while. You just create profile, add the blogs you follow, and then you’ll get notifications (depending on your settings: instant, daily, etc.) when there’s a new post being published on of those blogs. Pretty nifty.

    Edit: Gosh, I am so sorry for all the updates, I am just trying to claim this one on Bloglovin‘. Not really working out, and I don’t know why – I think something’s trying to tell me to go do something else for a while …

    Edit: Finally!

  • Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    Quick home-made Ayurvedic herbal tea

    The Ayurveda book that I like the most out of the bunch I picked up at the library is Judith H. Morrison’s The Book of Ayurveda. It gives a great overview over pretty much all aspects of life, has lots of info boxes and lists, which appeals to me.

    I found a simple recipe for some herbal tea that is supposed to be good for those of us with a dominant Pitta dosha or excessive Pitta (over the past week’s reading I have realized that I have both right now, almost freakishly textbook definition thereof!).

    So this is it: mix equal parts of fennel, cilantro and caraway seeds. Use one teaspoon per cup. Just boil some water and add. Done!

    fennel, cilantro and caraway seeds

    Due to the hot water the tea as such is obviously „hot“. But according to Ayurveda, the quality of the ingredients (the seeds) and therefore: the quality/effect of the tea is „cold“ or „cooling“. Ideal for me because I prefer drinking warm stuff but I really don’t need to pour any more gasoline on that Pitta fire right now!

    Pitta-friendly tea
  • Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    Going with the flow

    It may not look like it but there is actually a lot going on that I would like to write about. Mostly Ayurveda stuff, since I’ve really been hooked, not just on reading but trying out stuff. I’ve noticed some amazing changes that I want to write about. Now that I am off work for the next eight days, hopefully I will get at least some stuff out there.

    In a way, this post is connected to the Ayurvedic train of thought – and not just because according to Ayurveda, everything is connected. Being a person who loves planning stuff ahead, making lists and such, and often being frustrated when everything doesn’t go according to plan, (= a person with a dominant Pitta dosha, if I should express it in „Ayurvedic“), I decided I wanted to take a break from locking myself into a fictitious schedule, and just go with the flow instead. Do what I felt like, when I felt like it, instead of doing what I had planned out the night before simply because I HAD A PLAN. Yes, I was going to follow my intuition. I know that I am going to state the obvious here when I say: it worked amazingly.

    First I wrote a bunch of letters and e-mails to friends and family that I had been „planning“ to do for so long but never could find the right mood to sit down to. Then the sun came out and I realized the light in our apartment was perfect to take some pictures of the jewelery I have been making. I uploaded them right away, and wanted to share them but – and this is really very unlike me! – I quit before I was done, because the weather still was nice and my boyfriend suggested we go for a walk.

    We decided for Gunnebo castle, which we don’t do very much, although it is very pretty there. I forgot to bring my camera but I let it go, even though there was a ton of stuff I would have wanted to share on my blog. We ended up not walking around much either, since the ground was still covered with ice. It was still worth the trip: It turned out that the restaurant wasn’t on winter schedule anymore, and it just happened to be lunch time. I recommend lunch at Gunnebo castle to annyone who comes to Gothenburg, anyone who is into seasonal, locally grown food. Also, the atmosphere is very nice, old school Swedish „herrgård“.

    All in all, this experiment of just going with the flow, following my intuition was a success, I want to practice it more often.

    Ok, now for the part of the day where I did take pictures – the jewelery. I am not even going to pretend to be humble – I am really pleased with the results. Things that manifest as beautifully in the real world as we envision them are a great but rare pleasure. These are definitely in that category of things:

    You’ve got the lock, pretty baby But I’ve got the key … (Johnny Lang)
    Eyelets are not just for scrapbooking!
    ***
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    And the earrings:

    ***
    Yes, one of the strings doesn’t quite look like it’s supposed to – but I luv ya anyway!
    ***
    ***
    ***

    Whaddaya think? I am thinking of selling them (and the pieces I have visions of but not created yet, hehe), like on etsy or something. Any of you have any experience? Cuz I don’t, so, tips and feedback are really appreciated!

  • Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    Recipe – ginger elixir

    Not that there isn’t anything to write about – quite the contrary. I have been so busy that the days seem way too short without spending time by the computer (no offense!). And yes, I do plan on writing about all that stuff but for now I’ll just leave you with a recipe I tried out today so that I can get some more thing done out in the real world without abandoning the site after the first post

    Ginger elixir

    This ginger elixir …

    … is upposed to be great for the immune system and to get digestion going. Use about one tablespoon in a glas of water, drink before lunch and dinner.

    You need:

    1 big piece of ginger (about the size of a fist)

    4 lemons

    2 lime

    3 Tbs honey

    2 dl water

    10 black peppercorns

    Cut up ginger into pieces, process with a juice maker (makes about 1 dl juice), or grate ginger and squeeze juice manually.

    Squeeze lemons and lime. Combine juices, add honey, water and pepper.

    Keep refridgerated.

    (from: Yogamat by Anna Gidgård and Cecilia Davidsson)

  • Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    Ayurveda – Becoming your own expert

    A few weeks ago I suddenly felt that I wanted to know more about Ayurveda. I only had a vague idea that it was an ancient Eastern healing tradition. I wanted to find out what it was really about, hoping that it might be helpful in this quest for deliberate living. I borrowed some books from the library, and the very first one was an easy to read and inspiring overview. It was a Swedish book, „Skapa din hälsa med Ayurveda“ (meaning: Create your health with Ayurveda) by Maivor Stigengreen (it has been translated into German – „Ayurveda – Die eigene Gesundheit stärken“).

    Maybe you already know all about Ayurveda (chances are you do, after all, it’s nothing new). In case you don’t, just a few words:

    „Ayu“ means „life“ and „Veda“ means „knowledge“ – so, Ayurveda = Knowledge of Life.

    The Charaka Samhita (one of the oldest, most well-known texts on Ayurveda, dating back to ca. 1000 –  600 BC) defines this Knowledge/Science of Life as follows:

    „The science which describes advantageous and disadvantageous, as well as happy and unhappy states of life, along with what is good and bad for life, its measurement and life itself is called Ayurveda.“

    In Sanskrit:

    „Hita hitam sukham dukhamayustasya hita hitam
    manam ca tacca yatroktamayurvedar ca ucayate“

    Sounds like a useful science to me. What intrigued me about Ayurveda was that it is about becoming your own expert. Sure, you need to learn and you need guidance, especially in the beginning. But from what I’ve gathered so far Ayurveda acknowledges the individual, and is not about having a single set of guidelines for everyone. So it makes sense that no one can be more competent on concerning your life and your happiness than you yourself.

    Back to the issue of change: according to Maivor Stigengreen, Ayurveda describes all change as a process consisting of four steps:

    1. Leaving the old behind,
    2. Thus creating a gap,
    3. Allowing for change to happen within this gap,
    4. Bringing about the new.

    I have clearly been in a gap for a while now – but until I read this, and understood that there is nothing wrong with this state, I wasn’t very good at accepting this. For as long as I can think, I have been afraid that if I/ things don’t change right away, I/they never will. It had never occurred to me, that a transitional state is necessary for change to be happen. Then again, when I look back at my life so far, I have often been worried that things that I wanted to change might not – but they did. Despite of me and my worries.

    How about you? Does this sound familiar? Do you recognize this four-step process in your life? How do you feel about that gap?