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Valentine’s Day Kirtan

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Songs of the Beloved, chocolate and chai in the Yurt Temple,
a mid winter gathering, filled with heart opening intention.
$5-$15 suggested donation
Profits will support our new community members from Syria,
a small way for us to lend a helping hand.

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2015 FALL CLEANSE AND DETOX

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Amrit Dhara Ayurveda
has golden ghee simmering for 

2015 FALL CLEANSE AND DETOX SEASON

images-4You can do your cleanse at home or you can come for a personal retreat for all or some of it in our intimate guest house.

Either way, cleansing is the best way to remove the excess heat of summer, re-moisturize internally and externally and reboot the immune system in preparation for winter.

We feel great joy to offer you the most satisfying wellness journey we can dream up, whether you can get away on retreat with us or not.

We offer cleansing instructions, kits and treatments and a guest house to support your wellness, based in the ancient time tested wisdom of ayurveda, enhanced by the natural beauty of Salt Spring Island and the magical embrace of Ram Spring where people have come to rest, heal, enliven and transform for 25 years.

The Amrit Dhara Ayurveda Deep Cleanse is 15 days long and undertaken in the comfort of your own home or in our guest house. The cleanse is supported by step by step instructions all laid out in a clear guide book. Its starts with your customized Cleanse Kit, put together from information gathered in your one hour personal intake consultation. You’ll be on a modified diet (no wheat, dairy, soy, alcohol, sugar, oil and maybe a few  other aggressors),  take seven 25.-khichadicustomized organic herbal formulas that target all the systems of the body, exfoliate with a soft natural bristle brush, take organic oil  internally and externally, eat 5 days of organic khichadi ( a yummy curry soup), use a neti pot and a tongue scraper, and maybe an enema kit and did I say that everything is organic?

~ And whether you use it or not, you have email and phone support throughout the entire cleanse.

You also want to consider treating yourself to a morning or afternoon session in the Spa, to take your cleanse even deeper.
8-.-Pancha-Karma-foot-1“The signature treatment” has its roots in this cleanse, and is designed for deepening the affects of all your hard work. Not to mention, its also fully customized and most luxurious and  treats you like the royalty that you are. Get the details here.

Time slots are limited during the group cleanse, so book early to ensure availability.

We offer a Group Cleanse for those who don’t like to go it alone. This seasons will start just after Thanksgiving, to give everyone a chance to enjoy the full harvest.
Fall group cleanse dates – October 14 through 28

Enjoy free daily emails filled with inspirational quotes from spiritual masters of the world, journaling prompts, cleanse tips and reminders.

If the interest is there, we will gladly start a fb forum for cleansers to inspire each other with recipes, insights, hardships, successes, jokes, whatever speaks to you to share with your mates on the road to wellness.

detoxify, reboot, rebuild
your wellness is
in your hands.

♥ click here for full details, prices and registration information

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Maha Shiva Ratri:

the great festival
of the convergence of

Shiva and Shakti

Feb 17, 2015

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Life seemingly appears as a multitude of opposites: knowledge and intuition, inspiration and form, creation and destruction, pleasure and pain. Shiva and Shakti appear as the embodiment of Divine Self, symbolizing the perfect male and female aspects of the Divine. This celebration unifies them, as the ultimate expression of Divine balance.

By diving into the mythology and yogic concepts of this highly revered pair, we begin to see how their individual qualities stand completely autonomous and yet conjoined. Being Truth expressed both as Shiva/inspiration and Shakti/form, they cannot be separated, for they serve as the definition of each other, as Divine contrast.

Likewise, the pairs of opposites we meet every day, serve the same purpose, for only through knowing the unlimited depth of contrast between them, can we open the door to the infinite possibilities as them, as coCreator ourself.

Shivaratri, for me, represents a surrender to the One Heart One Mind within, by embracing the delineation between them, by honouring their differences in the Light of the Whole, by knowing them as the apparent opposites within my self. One Heart is the Heart as Love and one Mind is the mind as Truth and I am both and there is only one of me.

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Late Winter in the Cleansing Kitchen

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My Kitchen Cupboard
THE door to balanced health

February brings us closer to the cleansing time of year, as the long winter gestation begins to shed its thick coat and reveal its newness.  All spring green vegetables are high in bitters, one taste that is often left out of the western diet. Bitters stimulate all digestive secretions and stomach acid, help regulate the absorption of vitamin B12, normalize blood sugar, promote the production and release of pancreatic enzymes and bile, strengthen the tone of tissues throughout the digestive tract, heal damaged mucous membranes, soothe gastric reflux, aid intestinal peristalsis, and reduce cravings for sweets.

If you are fortunate enough to still be eating beets from your garden they are now even more enriched with blood building minerals and lymphatic cleansing agents to boost your immunity through these last few wet months.

Externally, one might consider a short cleanse to bring in a little vitality and give the digestion a break from all the heavy winter storage foods, by water fasting from dinner one night until dinner the next night, or by taking a day of just khichadi, the traditional ayur cleansing dish of split mung dal, basmati rice and a balancing spice masala to boost digestive fire, cleanse the immune channels and support proper elimination.

amrit_dharaHeating foods such as garlic, ginger and curries can lighten kapha and reduce stagnancy. Organic cold pressed oils such as sesame or coconut, used in the daily diet, will help stabilize vata. And of course, consuming ample rich greens like dandelion, spinach, chard, parsley and  kale will increase pitta by igniting energy with the high enzyme action.

 

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Spring Greens

1 lemon

2 cloves fresh garlic crushed

2 tbls organic sesame oil

pinch of himalayan salt

dash of fresh ground black pepper

For one minute, high speed blend the zest of one half of the lemon, plus the juice from one half of the lemon with the other ingredients. Adjust seasonings to taste. Set aside.

Prepare 500gm of fresh spring greens (nettles, chard, dandelion, spinach) by slicing into thin strips. Steam 3-4 minutes, maintaining bright green colour. Once cooked, drain the spring greens over the sink into a colander, steam dry for a minute, then tip back into the pan.

Give the dressing another good shake up, then drizzle it over the greens. Using tongs, gently toss the spring greens in the dressing while they’re still hot to help them soak up all the dressing, then transfer to a bowl and serve straight away. Feeds 3-4 as a side dish.

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Navaratri, nine days of Mother Divine

Navaratri   Day 1-3   I bow to Kali Durga

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Day 1 – Relinquish
Sept 27.
6:30-8:30am with the rising sun

New beginnings. A fresh breath is in the air. Kali Durga puja occurred at Ram Spring Wellness today, for the very first time. The fire of transformation is stoked, burning up that which does not serve. This candle will burn at Ram Spring for the next nine nights culminating on the tenth night, Oct 3,  with a Maha Kirtan to Mother Divine at 7:30.

Kali Durga energy is devoted to clearing up the misconceptions, limiting beliefs and anything else that stands in the way of seeing life as it really is. Whatever it is we want to clear out, we must first show up.  So much gratitude for the lovely Beings who came out in the dark just prior to sunrise this morning .

I welcome everyone to continue a daily offering from today until Friday, as a surrendering of that which gets in the way of you LIVING your highest SELF on this new earth. Perhaps abstinence from a certain pleasurable food or activity, (traditionally meat, grains, nuts, seeds, sugar, dairy), setting extra time for a meditation or intentional walk (traditionally with Kali Durga as your contemplative inner companions) or just being in stillness, focusing on relinquishing that which no longer serves.

This morning we made offerings to the five elements and the five senses with an intention of purification of perceptions, concepts and beliefs we unnecessarily hold around all form as experienced through the senses, the doors of perception.

What sweet, sweet melodies were offered to Kali Durga Ma. Pranam to everyone for open curiosity, commitment to truth through a sincere love and respect for all of life, for showing up in your fullness. This is the power of kali durga manifest.

JAI KALI
JAI DURGA
JAI MATA

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Please join us for CULTIVATION, a Lakshmi puja and ritual cleansing on Saturday, Sept 27, 6:30-8:30am. rsvp to ramspringwellness@gmail.com. 250-537-6200