WEIGHT MAINTENANCE WITH AYURVEDAby Susan Ni Rahilly for www.suzenyoga.com Maintaining a healthy weight is absolutely vital for enjoying life (and living as long as you can to enjoy it)! And vitality and joy for life is what the wonderful ancient system for living, Yoga, gives us. In Yoga, we are concerned with the health and vitality of the whole person, bodymind and the spirit. We're making the bodymind a more comfortable place for the spirit to dwell. Ayurveda, the “sister” system to Yoga, plays the practical part of completing the circle of wholeness.

We never do anything in isolation in Yoga – and everything we do is about discovering more, more about our bodies, more about our minds and spirits, more about ourselves. Ayurveda has the gift of life wisdom for us, in its practical nutritional and healing power. Ayurveda is the traditional Indian medicine that approaches health in the human body from a place of seeking balance. Ayurveda translates from the original Sanskrit as "the knowledge for long life" and one key element of maintaining good health is having a healthy weight. Ayurveda has been practiced for thousands of years, and is an intricate holistic approach to well-being andlong life.

Powerful MedicineOver 70% of Indians still seek Ayurveda treatment when ill while Americans have been following any number of popular diets for weight loss and balance, from low carb, the Zone or South Beach but rarely maintain any losses. The Ayurveda approach to weight management is to understand your body type and learn its rhythms. There are several Ayurveda approaches to restoring balance for those who find themselves overweight or obese.

BREATHE Air can be the finest tonic to the soul. The practice of meditation and yoga take a few minutes of your day to focus on the essential act of breathing. A long walk, a set of exercises can also bring our attention to bringing oxygen back into our systems. There's no need to join a gym or embark a grueling workout regime that can never be incorporated into one's daily life. Simply

take a on quiet moment in a favorite chair or a stroll around the block, with only the word "in" and "out" in your head as you breathe.

FOODSThe first step in restoring the body's balance according to Ayurveda practitioners is to increase what they call digestive fire, or your body's ability to process the foods we eat. Certain foods that can help are: ginger, papaya, mango, pineapple, and dark, bitter greens. The other recommendation is to avoid or minimize the foods that increase sluggishness like fried food or heavy sweets.The Ayurveda practice, which comes from the Eastern traditions, always focuses on moderation and therefore allows all foods, but encourages a balanced approach to the amount and type we eat. This attitude helps prevent the feast or famine approach of many American diets, which strictly lay out a menu that many dieters eventually cannot maintain.

SPICE IS RIGHT

In Ayurveda medicine, they use the term "ama" for the presence of heaviness that results from a clogged or inefficient digestive system. According to Ayurveda practitioners, certain spice can reduce "ama" in one's body, such as Turmeric, Barberry and a compound consisting of black pepper, ginger, and Indian long pepper.