Paiva Ayurveda Yoga Spa

<from Dr. Mauro>
Bananas can actually help ripen other fruit. Bananas release plenty of ethylene (the gas that triggers enzymes to start ripening the fruit) Well, you can take some other fruit, like hard pears, pineapples or grapes and put them in a paper bag with a banana peel. The banana's excess ethylene will trigger the ripening genes in the other fruit in the bag.

You should use a paper bag -- not a plastic bag. Paper allows air to pass through. Enzymes require oxygen as a fuel.

Almost everyone calls chronic "bad" headaches "Migraines" however, true migraines are more rare, while almost all of the other types of headaches are more common, and can be very much chronic as well.


Vascular headaches can occur with nausea; this can happen in a migraine but a vascular headache can be independent of a migraine as well. They are not neurologic. (think "fever headaches).

Muscular are common and often cluster styled or "all over".

Cervical originate from disorders of the neck or, awkward head positioning.

There are also Traction and inflammatory headaches such as discomfort due to stroke or sinus issues.


Although it's simplistic to just say "stress less", the reality is, until one learns to quiet their mind and also develop coping skills, stress will rear it's ugly head... but there is something you can do in the meantime -- and that is yoga.

Yoga will train you to quiet your mind as well as develop stellar coping skills. In addition one less spoken about remedy for headaches is simply the strengthening of back muscles.

There needs to be both a flexibility in the spine as well as a strong set of back muscles to work properly, to ward off tightening due to mental stress and to increase blood flow.


All of our classes include, even for beginners, help ease students into decreasing headaches and the imbalances that can cause them.



Physically, any of the full body strengtheners such as low and hi plank, warrior, downward dog and then, plow and back bend postures all help the decrease of  most chronic headaches.




It's always fantastic to hear a student have the epiphany that they realized that they have not had a headache since beginning yoga, but it's never shocking :)

Here is an idea that will help bridge you from summer into fall, with an Ayurveda twist.
--Rice or Risotto cooked with diced onion, chopped and cooked asparagus, minced garlic, and cooked in vegetable stock coupled with cooked lettuce (yes you can cook it to a wilt or grill it!) with grilled veggies.
and
White bean soup: cooked and processed beans, with six cups vegetable broth, a teaspoon of tomato paste (or more if you enjoy the flavor), ginger (a few pinches), and the following diced:
carrot, squash, onion, and a bit of dill.
your drink...
a light tea and if you wish, coffee about a half hour after, with a dessert of grilled apples and cinnamon.

It is common for people to have digestive ailments although my guess is that about half of the people or more, have no idea that their ailments are digestive in root cause. Some people think that they are just "built big", have joint aches or that they have "seasonal allergies", as just a few of the many ailments that are strongly linked to the diet.
Western diets are such that we eat pretty much the same way all throughout the year, with summer giving us more fresh veggies and winter giving us more stews. That's almost where it ends, for most diets.

Ancient diet principals saw the diet as healing and medicinal, not just eating for the sake of eating, and adding to this, eating in an Ayurvedic way was all about eating seasonally, for your body composition.

We can't get into the many nuances of body composition or all of the ailments but to help you in a general way to begin to eat better to feel better, that is more wide breadth positive, heed these helpful tips and notice changes in your system within about five to seven days.

1. Reduce or eliminate Caffeine in the fall. It can "dry out" the body and zaps nutrients that are much needed. However, reducing should be fine if you start your day with it after a breakfast (not before) or after a dinner or lunch. Never before.

2. Don't mix foods too much unless in a stew and very cooked (ie, pre-digested). So, don't mix proteins with your grains, or fruit with anything (fruit is always about a half hour before or after other foods).

3. Aim to be in bed by 10 and up between 6 or 7; adjust to your schedule. Getting enough sleep helps digestion. If you don't have enough, you are not getting out of your own way.

4. Start cooking with more spices such as ginger, mustard, black pepper, nutmeg & cinnamon. These are natural to use in the autumn and help your digestive system. 

5. Don't (or at least limit) eat raw, eat cooked. This is to heal and bring digestion into a healthier place. Proponents of raw food will not agree; that's fine. This is a focus on Ayurveda. Cooked foods are broken down and easier to digest. You have to weigh the nutrition escape when you cook foods vs raw. If you eat a raw carrot but it is hard for your system to digest, you won't be getting proper nutrition and, you make it harder to digest anything else. If you eat a cooked carrot you get some nutrition and it helps give your system a rest so that it can heal so that sooner rather than later, you can digest anything, more easily. Ayurvedicaly speaking, you want to go with cooked and to heal.

6. Keep it warm; warm foods, warm drinks. Only.

7. Don't stand, be mindless, be emotional, etc., while eating. It should be a restful, focused timeframe when you eat.

Take yourself in small increments with the help of an autumn diet, from bleary eyed, anxious, insomnia ridden and bloated to feeling bright eyed, calm and vital with an Autumn Ayurvedic cleanse.

The recent death of a cousin prompted me to think more deeply about time. So often he and I would say "We should get together with our families,  we don't do that enough". Last night, I learned he had peacefully passed away, and my sense of time for others, for family, for my own life, seemed to change immediately. I spoke to his wife, and told her about our conversations and we agreed, time is too short.
Then this morning, after sleeping on it and meditating, I realized that the time with him was not gone per se, just different. Like anyone who loses a loved one, you just have a different relationship with them, far less satisfying of course but you never forget them. Their words and actions, their love, their smile, never vanishes from your memory and who you are because of them still remains. 
I then realized that instead of focusing on what I can't regain with him, to embrace what I did have and suddenly I realized I do have time to continue our mission of bringing family closer together, and that is the actual energy of his desires, still very alive. I can't change some facts of life, but I can in fact, change my sense of time urgency and perception.

Here is why & how

Scientifically, as you age the area of your brain that senses time goes downhill and time seems to happen faster. It's why summers seemed long as a kid and as we age "time flies". Anxiety can change the sense of time and urgency, so destressing is important for lowering impatience responses and enjoying your "time"


There are a lot of theories but when push comes to shove, it's our brains processing that creates the response/result for us. Here is a great blog on all the different theories.http://4mind4life.com/blog/2008/07/23/time-perception-how-the-brain-controls-time/


Our sense of time is a unique sense and not the same as our sense of smell, sight, taste, etc. Those senses are given to us and we process them. The sense of time must be constructed by us, so as we lose ability to construct properly, our "sense" diminishes, much like our ability to see, our sense of sight can diminish over time. Unlike our sight which can often be corrected with glasses or surgery in the case of cataracts, our sense of time is sort of dangling out there and the concept of healing it is unheard of.

I disagree. If the central system of sensing time is a combination of the consciousness and being present, and the "cerebral cortex, cerebellum and basal ganglia. One particular component, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, is responsible for the circadian (or daily) rhythm, while other cell clusters appear to be capable of shorter-range (ultradian) timekeeping." (Wiki) then we already know that yoga and meditation helps balance our circadian rhythm.

If we look at neuroscience, we see that different types of people have a different sense of time- it's not only their age.  People who enjoy and tend to organize more of an urgency of time while visionaries tend to be less deadline focused and have a different sense of time. These attitudes toward time also change the perception of actual time per person. Everything with time is really perception within the barometers of fact of the measured cycles be it a day, or the types of calendars we follow...

When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours.  That’s relativity.
(Albert Einstein)

The nitty gritty
When we take away stress, as we had less of (most of us) as a child, we see our stress receding as well as sense of urgency and are able to soak up in the now. Yoga and meditation are known for reducing stress, for balancing our bodies and mind, for rewiring our faulty neurosplasticity that may have gone haywire after stressful incidents, sadness with faulty coping, crisis and even illness.  We can rewire a bit on our own and regain a new outlook and coping mechanism.

When we do this, even for someone who does it often, to be able to take something factual and realize we have to work on it (like myself with the learning of the death of my cousin and my awareness of the time/urgency focus), we can address it. 
How many times have you had fun and wanted it to never end? How many boring meetings have you been in that seemed like they lasted too long? How many times have you almost burned a meal or lost track of time?  ALL of those moments had nothing to do with a calendar or clock, they all had to do with your perceptions. In fact, the reason we even have clocks is to keep us all without chaos of our individual senses of time. Our time measurement is guided by a clock in one world, in another world, it is guided by our brain. We constantly sync when we look at a watch, cell phone time, clock, where the sun is in the sky, based upon a schedule we keep... it's not about a a schedule, it's about syncing schedules.

So, we can cry, or mope if it is just about time passing, or we can be anxious; or we can relax in the reality knowing time is more about our perception than it is about a calendar hanging on a wall. Easing into a yoga or meditation practice, on your own, with a teacher or group; is going to only help you feel that time is not slipping away, but is able to be enjoyed and embraced without urgency.

While during a hurricane the focus is on wind and water damage that is more obvious, there are some things you really need to be aware of in terms of wellness. 

First of all, even mild flooding, a few inches high, can contain hundreds of toxic chemicals that are not only in the water itself but depositing in areas (including drinking water supplies) that you may not be aware of. This is one reason bottled water is important and also why it's never good to go wading through flood zones.  In addition, if you can't see where you are walking, it can be ridiculously dangerous. Let's add to the fact that flood waters can suddenly surge, so you could be swept down or into an even more dangerous situation.

Obvious other dangers are trying to drive in a flood, handling animals  that can be injured and risking them lashing out and biting you, being near animals that are out of their element and anxious, or even worse,  in their element like water, i.e., snakes, snapping turtles. 

My focus though is on stressing the importance of mold reactions and responses. Mold flourishes in humidity and after rain. Hurricanes often enter with humidity and bring rainfall. They hit during warm months so after the rain and storm, there is often no electricity thus no forced dry air like air conditioning and only humid hot days. Even with air conditioning, mold can grow easily in the filters of air conditioners without proper cleaning.

Mold grows not only in filters, on furniture and on items such as food and ceilings, but did you realize mold can grow in your lungs? This is dangerous stuff.
Everything from coughing to rashes can be a sign of mold poisoning; and can be chronic or deadly.

Outdoor molds thrive in gutters of homes, on and under leaves outside, in soil, in wood and just about anywhere that is moist and has some level of shade throughout the day even if only partially shaded for limited time. Mold is quite hardy with misfortune.
Indoor molds can be plentiful; living on and in cabinets, ceilings, rugs, floors, furniture and on everyday items. Often you can't see it. If you can see it, then it's obviously an out of control problem.

Mold isn't singular; if you see mold, you are looking at hundreds of spores, otherwise known as a colony. When you see mold on a piece of fruit or on bread? You are looking at a colony. 

Mold also comes in over fifty known problem causing varieties and it's not always visible, but always dangerous, barring mold as a medicine such as penicillin, which is a mold that stops some other molds and bacteria from growing.  Another common medicine is those that help lower cholesterol; many of which are derived from molds, as well as some medicines for immunity depressants (for people with organ replacement surgeries usually) also are derived from molds.

This is why some people can't take penicillin or 'their cholesterol medicines don't agree with them" because, they are sensitive or allergic to even small doses of mold.

*sidebar, I have my own issues with cholesterol meds because cholesterol is a response from the body that there is inflammation not that you are eating too many eggs.. oy vey, just get my Fattitude: Lose your F in Attitude book!*

To give you an idea of how common it is, assume almost every home, hospital and office has some level of mold; and that only mold that is out of control is the mold you are noticing.

People who are allergic to mold (mold is a living thing with proteins so you can be allergic) will have more obvious symptoms right away; a sneeze perhaps when looking through an old library book even though the mold isn't visible to the naked eye, is one example.
However, allergy or not, all humans and even animals are in danger when it comes to mold. 
Mold can cause everything from asthma to skin issues and be mild or cause death.

Legionairre's disease, which received media attention in the late 1970's was a mold-airborne when over 200 people fell ill at an event, and over 30 died from what we know now, was due to mold.
Legionairre's disease was not a one-time occurrence; through the past decades, thousands of people have been ill and even died from this deadly mold infestation, the most recent was in 2011 at the Playboy Mansion with the mold in the hot tub, leaving over 500 ill and with fever; luckily no deaths.

Some molds need only air to grow, some need moisture; so as you can see, an aftermath situation can cause havoc with lot of air and moisture. The problem with molds are that though they may not grow in certain environments, they can remain dormant but still alive, and start growing again at the drop of a hat. 

So what to do after a hurricane?
1. if you are sensitive to mold or allergic, COVER UP. Not just nose and mouth but eyes. 
2. If you think you are getting a summer cold or allergies, it is probably a mold issue, so get medical attention. Taking an anti-fungal is sometimes all you will need.
3. If you see it and it's moldy, when in doubt, throw it out.
4. Being outside after a hurricane in a clean up zones call for protective eye and face masks.
5. Realize that barns, being near recently or freshly mowed grass or other activities like raking leaves pretty much is a mold fest and you should protect yourself (even days or weeks after a hurricane)
6. If you are going to be in an after- hurricane area remember that ingesting anything like aged cheese, beer or canned tomatoes may heighten your mold reaction; thus make you more immunity-lacking, thus give you a higher stake at getting ill from the mold. 
7. Clean filters and blades and get air circulating; remember you may need a mask still but the more the air circulates the more you are fighting mold from growing or thriving.
8. Ascertain if you need professional help to get rid of mold; the cost of removing mold can be as little as $3,000 but over $100,000 with the averages being $35,000. Check with your insurance company. Better to pay now in money than later in health AND money.
9. Get masks now or prepare an area that is being cleaned often so there is less chance of mold growth. Have place that is mold free or low mold.
10. Realize that many people staying in basements or lower levels will already be exposed to mold before the hurricane hits full force; after the hurricane mold can grow in colonies very quickly.

Be safe, be healthy, be prepared.
We know the hurricane is coming; we know regardless of how "hit" we are with the hurricane it will induce mold growth; an announced war is never won. Fight mold and start now.

Here is an article about Hurricane Katrina and a snapshot of the mold issues there; that was one town. We are talking a coast and eastern seaboard with Irene.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,170602,00.html

Let's face it, much of the North East will be without electricity for at least a little while, or focusing on staying safe, as well as those who have been piling on plywood onto doors and windows could suffer some aches and pains.
Although we will touch on some good old fashioned hurricane preparedness, lets first remember that while you are sitting by candle glow or battery light, stressed to the hilt, it may be a good idea to focus on wellness. 

Start out with child pose. This is a restful pose where you sit on your knees and shins, with your backside on the heels of your feet if you can. Slowly stretch to the front of you until your forehead touches the floor. Relax there, allowing your backside and back through the shoulders to lengthen and reduce stressful feelings, while you breath softly but deeply. 

From this position walk your feet out behind you and support yourself on your legs and arms; you will look like an upside down V. This is downward dog. Breath through this shoulder opening posture that also strengthens your core, legs and arms. This posture also stimulates circulation and lymphatic circulation and invigorates you while destressing you.

Lastly, walk your feet in and slowly stand straight. Prayer your hands and focus on your breathing, and feel the life within while you embrace thankfulness of life. 

These positions may help you prevent injury or decrease stress during the crisis that is Hurricane Irene.

Now, onto some more tips.

You already know to have some nonperishable foods handy such as dried fruit and peanut butter, and you know to have water. This site has more tips that were fabulous.

Here are a few more...

IF you have phone signal you may not have electricity; so if you are in a family or group, only one person at a time should have their phone ON. Everyone else should conserve battery power. 

Don't forget your vitamins, medications if you take them, and extra toilet paper. 

Keep allergy meds near. After a hurricane or any "wet weather" mold spore counts skyrocket... many people are allergic to mold, so assume that having allergy medication will help you or, someone you love.

Stay away from windows

Prepare, don't react. If you must react, keep a clear head. Get rest, stay focused.

If you have children, realize they may show fear differently - anxious or irritable behavior; try to be understanding.

Don't forget to pack a deck of cards, crayons and paper, etc. Remember that you may want to unleash that creative spirit during down time post hurricane.