Transformative Wellness E-Newsletter

December 2009

Contemplating, hibernating, resting, and decompressing are some of the actions that the winter season brings us. This is the time to consider how are actions and habits have brought us to this place we are in now.  Do we like it?  Are we happy with it? Do we need to refine, tweak or change certain actions to promote healthier habits and therefore create the characteristics we would like to embody. 

Energetically the three other seasons keep us too occupied to even have time to reflect.  So now in the winter we have the opportunity to check in.  Have we taken the path most supportive of the destiny we want? 

Winter in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is ruled and supported by the kidneys. It’s the time to face all of our questioning. Supporting the kidneys and the adrenals with good food and rest builds our store house for when we are older and when we need to heal from illness. 

News:

I wish you all a wonderful Holiday and New Year.  I look forward to seeing you in the next year and continuing our journey of health and happiness.

The office will be closing for the week of Dec. 21st till the 27th and again for the 1st 3 weeks of January. 

Yoga classes will also close for the holidays and resume at the end of January.  

New Office Location:
Etznab Natural Healing  (AS OF JULY 1/09)
1717 Grant Street off Commercial dr.
To book your appointment call:
(c) 604-202-0796 (o) 604-255-9945
www.transformativewellness.com
www.etznabnaturalhealing.net

Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture sessions available:

Improve your diet, understand nutrition, bring balance and the healthy glow back to your being, re-charge your body and life into a positive flow and re-ignite vibrant health and inspiration into your life.

Full Yoga Schedule

Tuesday:
6:30-7:50pm: Jivamukti Yoga @ Untiyoga (Second Floor, 1672 East 10th Ave.)

Thursday:
12:10pm: Power @ Vancouver Corporate Yoga (Unit #134-1055 W. Georgia St. - corner of Burrard and Georgia)
1:10 pm: Hatha @ Vancouver Corporate Yoga
7:30-8:50pm: Jivamukti Yoga @ East Side Yoga (1707 Grant St. off Commercial Dr. )

Recipe of the Month:

Delicately Spiced Cabbage with Apples and Raisons

Green and purple varieties of cabbage have so many benefits

Ingredients:
2tbsp olive oil
1large onion, diced
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1 tbsp fresh gingerroot, grated
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 apple, grated
1/2  cup sultan raison
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp maple syrup

Directions:
In a large pot, heat the oil on medium, then sauté the onion, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger.  When the onion becomes translucent, stir in the salt, cabbage and apple and cook for another 5 minutes.  Stir in the raisons, vinegar and the maple syrup, and cook for an additional 5 min.  Serve hot as a side dish and warm cabbage salad. Enjoy!

Benefits:
Green and purple varieties of cabbage have so many benefits that I can only mention a few.  Here are some of them; moistens the intestines; benefits the stomach; improves digestion; and used to beauty the skin in many cultures.  Is also used in treating constipation, the common cold, whooping cough (cabbage soup or tea), frostbite (body-temperature wash of cabbage tea), mental depression and irritability; helps rid the digestive system of worms (take cabbage with garlic for greater effectiveness).  Contains vitamin U, and ulcer remedy.  For either stomach or duodenal ulcers, drink one-half cupful or freshly made cabbage juice two or three times a day between meals.

Cabbage has many of it’s healing properties due to its abundant sulfur content (sulfur is warming, destroys parasites, purifies the blood). 

When eaten and simultaneously used as a poultice, cabbage treats skin eruptions, leg ulcers, varicose pain, arthritis, and wounds; eating cabbage regularly helps overcome chronic cold feet. 

Cabbage contains iodine and is a rich source of vitamin C (more C than and orange).  The outer leaves are concentrated in vitamin D and contain at least a third more calcium than the inner leaves. 

Ok, there is more.  See “Healing with Whole Foods” by Paul Pitchford. 

Warmly,
Natasha

Pose of the Month:

Photo by: Iljaherb.com

Dhanurasana (Bow Pose)

Method:

1) Lie full length on the floor on the stomach, face downwards.

2) Exhale and bend the knees.  Stretch the arms back and hold the left ankle with the left hand and the right ankle with the right hand. Take 2 breaths.

3) Now exhale completely and pull the legs up by raising the knees above the floor, and simultaneously life the chest off the floor.  The Navel is the seat of the pose.

4) Only the abdomen bears the weight on the floor.  The shoulders and knees are at the same plane and height.

5) When the legs are fully raised then join the toes together.  Stay in the pose for 20 breaths or 1 minute.  Then lower to the ground.

Benefits:

• Brings elasticity to the spine and the back muscles.

• Changes the way we respond to stress by opening the nervous system.

• According to BKS Iyengar, persons suffering from slipped discs have obtained relief by the regular practice of Dhanurasana and Salabhanana.

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