Do you like Barley Tea?
November 27, 2019
On my last shopping at TenRen’s Tea store I bought a box of the bagged Barley Tea- I never heard about and wanted to try it. I mixed it with my favorite pouchong green tea and it comes up with very nice taste. I started to look online to find out more about it and decided to share some information.
First it is tastes good- for me it’s like the brown rice tea in a sushi place which I already like.
Second- it has some antioxidants and antibacterial effects, plus it improves blood fluidity which increases the blood circulation. I found it very beneficial especially for people who like to practice yoga.
Than Barley Tea might lower cholesterol, and it has a lot of good nutrients.
Nutrients in Barley 1.00 cup (200.00 grams)
(Nutrient%Daily Value)
fiber-54.4%
selenium-52%
tryptophan-37.5%
copper-31.5%
manganese-31%
phosphorus-23%
Calories (270)-15%
Now I haveBarley Tea every day and like it hot or cold!
Try it and see if Barley Tea is something you might like to add to your daily ration. Enjoy!
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references:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cholesterol-lowering-supplements/CL00013
http://www.livestrong.com/article/238461-the-health-benefits-of-roasted-barley-tea/
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Yogi Tea
November 25, 2019
A while ago we had a Kyndalini Yoga Workshop with Rose and after session she kindly shared the delicious home made Yogi tea. It’s great detox treatment especially after yoga practice. I made it couple times at home and love it.
So many people asked me already how to make it – here is the recipe I would like to share to everyone. TryIt and Love It!!!
YOGI TEA RECIPE – for good health
Make at least 4 cups of Yogi Tea at a time. (One is never enough!) For each cup, use:
10 oz water
3 whole cloves (for nervous system, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory)
4 green cardamom pods (for colon, helps break up kidney stones and gall stones)
4 whole black peppercorns (purifies blood)
l/2 stick cinnamon (for the bones and sugar regulation)
1 slice ginger root (1/2 inch chunk – peel if not organic ginger) (for general health)
‘/4 tsp black tea (optional)
Boil spices and water together for at least 15-20 minutes. Add black tea if desired and steep for 2 minutes. Add milk(cow, soy, almond or hemp) or sweetener if desired.
To make more than 1 qt, you can use less spices.
You might add more or less spices to suit your taste.
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All ingredients you might find in local organic store or Whole Foods.
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Cloves- https://amzn.to/2De00GJ
Green Cardamom Pods – https://amzn.to/2rsBLSk
whole black peppercorns- https://amzn.to/33g0YwQ
cinnamon stick- https://amzn.to/2OjME20
Do you have sleep problems?
April 9, 2012
If you tend to awake during night, try yoga deep breathing exercise:
Listen to the sound of your breathing and relaxing sounds. Feel the rhythm of your chest movements and concentrate on counting your exhales. Try to count from 0 to 10 than back from 10 to 0. If you find yourself thinking about something else than breathing- cut your thoughts and come back to 0.
Breathing exercises clear your body of toxins while relieving stress, depression and other mental or physical problems.
You might practice this breathing technique during the day as well – to relax your mind and recharge the energy.
Learn Yoga: Supported Headstand
March 30, 2012
Today’s Pose is Supported Headstand (Salamba Sirsasana)
This one is very hard for me and I need to start working more on it. It’s easier for me to do it against the wall, but the balancing could be achieving without any support.
Supported Headstand Benefits:
- Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
- Stimulates the pituitary and pineal glands
- Strengthens the arms, legs, and spine
- Strengthens the lungs
- Tones the abdominal organs
- Improves digestion
- Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
- Therapeutic for asthma, infertility, insomnia, and sinusitis
Step by Step Recomendations from Yoga Journal:
1. Use a folded blanket or sticky mat to pad your head and forearms. Kneel on the floor. Lace your fingers together and set the forearms on the floor, elbows at shoulder width. Roll the upper arms slightly outward, but press the inner wrists firmly into the floor. Set the crown of your head on the floor. If you are just beginning to practice this pose, press the bases of your palms together and snuggle the back of your head against the clasped hands. More experienced students can open their hands and place the back of the head into the open palms.
2. Inhale and lift your knees off the floor. Carefully walk your feet closer to your elbows, heels elevated. Actively lift through the top thighs, forming an inverted “V.” Firm the shoulder blades against your back and lift them toward the tailbone so the front torso stays as long as possible. This should help prevent the weight of the shoulders collapsing onto your neck and head.
3. Exhale and lift your feet away from the floor. Take both feet up at the same time, even if it means bending your knees and hopping lightly off the floor. As the legs (or thighs, if your knees are bent) rise to perpendicular to the floor, firm the tailbone against the back of the pelvis. Turn the upper thighs in slightly, and actively press the heels toward the ceiling (straightening the knees if you bent them to come up). The center of the arches should align over the center of the pelvis, which in turn should align over the crown of the head.
4. Firm the outer arms inward, and soften the fingers. Continue to press the shoulder blades against the back, widen them, and draw them toward the tailbone. Keep the weight evenly balanced on the two forearms. It’s also essential that your tailbone continues to lift upward toward the heels. Once the backs of the legs are fully lengthened through the heels, maintain that length and press up through the balls of the big toes so the inner legs are slightly longer than the outer.
5. As a beginning practitioner stay for 10 seconds. Gradually add 5 to 10 seconds onto your stay every day or so until you can comfortably hold the pose for 3 minutes. Then continue for 3 minutes each day for a week or two, until you feel relatively comfortable in the pose. Again gradually add 5 to 10 seconds onto your stay every day or so until you can comfortably hold the pose for 5 minutes. Come down with an exhalation, without losing the lift of the shoulder blades, with both feet touching the floor at the same time.
Learn Yoga: Bridge Pose
March 20, 2012
Today’s pose is a Bridge Pose-Setu Bandha Sarvangasana.
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Benefits
- Stretches the chest, neck, and spine
- Calms the brain and helps alleviate stress and mild depression
- Stimulates abdominal organs, lungs, and thyroid
- Rejuvenates tired legs
- Improves digestion
- Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
- Relieves menstrual discomfort when done supported
- Reduces anxiety, fatigue, backache, headache, and insomnia
- Therapeutic for asthma, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and sinusitis
Step by Step Recomendations from Yoga Journal:
1. Lie on the floor, and if necessary, place a thickly folded blanket under your shoulders to protect your neck. Bend your knees and set your feet on the floor, heels as close to the sitting bones as possible.
2. Exhale and, pressing your inner feet and arms actively into the floor, push your tailbone upward toward the pubis, firming (but not hardening) the buttocks, and lift the buttocks off the floor. Keep your thighs and inner feet parallel. Clasp the hands below your pelvis and extend through the arms to help you stay on the tops of your shoulders.
3. Lift your buttocks until the thighs are about parallel to the floor. Keep your knees directly over the heels, but push them forward, away from the hips, and lengthen the tailbone toward the backs of the knees. Lift the pubis toward the navel.
4. Lift your chin slightly away from the sternum and, firming the shoulder blades against your back, press the top of the sternum toward the chin. Firm the outer arms, broaden the shoulder blades, and try to lift the space between them at the base of the neck (where it’s resting on the blanket) up into the torso.
5. Stay in the pose anywhere from 30 seconds to 1 minute. Release with an exhalation, rolling the spine slowly down onto the floor.
Tip:
A partner can help you learn about the correct action of the top thighs in a backbend. Perform the pose, then have the partner straddle your legs and clasp your top thighs. He/she can brace your outer thighs with his/her inner legs. Next the partner should strongly turn the thighs inward and encourage the inner thighs down toward the floor (as you resist the tailbone toward the pubis). Recreate this action in all backbends.
Learn Yoga: Yoga Warrior Sequence – Warrior III
March 9, 2012
Continue with the Yoga Warrior Sequence.
Today’s pose is a Warrior III- Virabhadrasana III.
Warrior III Benefits:
- Strengthens the ankles and legs
- Strengthens the shoulders and muscles of the back
- Tones the abdomen
- Improves balance and posture
Step by Step Recomendations from Yoga Journal:
1. Stand in Tadasana, exhale and fold foward to Uttasana. From Uttanasana, exhale and step your left foot back into a high lunge position. Your right knee should be more or less at a right angle. Lay the midline of your torso (from the pubis to the sternum) down on the midline of the right thigh (from the knee to the hip crease) and bring your hands to your right knee, right hand to the outer knee, left hand to the inner. Squeeze the knee with your hands, lift your torso slightly, and with an exhalation, turn it slightly to the right.
2. Now from the lunge position, stretch your arms forward, parallel to the floor and parallel to each other, palms facing each other. Exhale and press the head of the right thighbone back and press the heel actively into the floor. Synchronize the straightening of the front leg and the lifting of the back leg. As you lift the back leg, resist by pressing the tailbone into the pelvis.
3. Normally students come up into Virabhadrasana III by lunging the torso forward. This tends to shift the body weight onto the ball of the front foot and unbalance the position. Don’t allow the torso to swing forward as you move into position; instead, as you straighten the front knee, think of pressing the head of the thighbone back. This centers the femur in the hip joint, grounds the heel into the floor, and stabilizes the position.
4. The arms, torso, and raised leg should be positioned relatively parallel to the floor. For many students the pelvis tends to tilt. Release the hip [of the raised leg] toward the floor until the two hip points are even and parallel to the floor. Energize the back leg and extend it strongly toward the wall behind you; reach just as actively in the opposite direction with the arms. Bring the head up slightly and look forward, but be sure not to compress the back of your neck.
5. Stay in this position for 30 seconds to a minute. Release back to the lunge on an exhalation. Bring your hands to the floor on either side of the right foot, and on an exhalation, step your left foot forward to meet your right. Stay in this forward bend for a few breaths, then repeat for the same length of time on the other side.
Learn Yoga: Yoga Warrior Sequence – Warrior II
March 6, 2012
Continue the Yoga Warrior Sequence.
Today’s pose is a Warrior II- Virabhadrasana II.
Warrior II Pose Benefits:
- Strengthens and stretches the legs and ankles
- Stretches the groins, chest and lungs, shoulders
- Stimulates abdominal organs
- Increases stamina
- Relieves backaches, especially through second trimester of pregnancy
- Therapeutic for carpal tunnel syndrome, flat feet, infertility, osteoporosis, and sciatica.
Step by Step Recomendations from Yoga Journal:
1. Stand in Tadasana. With an exhalation, step or lightly jump your feet 3 1/2 to 4 feet apart. Raise your arms parallel to the floor and reach them actively out to the sides, shoulder blades wide, palms down.
2. Turn your right foot in slightly to the right and your left foot out to the left 90 degrees. Align the left heel with the right heel. Firm your thighs and turn your left thigh outward so that the center of the left knee cap is in line with the center of the left ankle.
3. Exhale and bend your left knee over the left ankle, so that the shin is perpendicular to the floor. If possible, bring the left thigh parallel to the floor. Anchor this movement of the left knee by strengthening the right leg and pressing the outer right heel firmly to the floor.
4. Stretch the arms away from the space between the shoulder blades, parallel to the floor. Don’t lean the torso over the left thigh: Keep the sides of the torso equally long and the shoulders directly over the pelvis. Press the tailbone slightly toward the pubis. Turn the head to the left and look out over the fingers.
5. Stay for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Inhale to come up. Reverse the feet and repeat for the same length of time to the left.
Next post will be about Yoga Warrior III.
Learn Yoga: Warrior Poses Sequence- Warrior I
March 5, 2012
This week I want to talk about the Yoga Warrior Sequence. Today’s pose is a Warrior I- Virabhadrasana I.
Warrior I Benefits:
- Stretches the chest and lungs, shoulders and neck, belly, groins (psoas)
- Strengthens the shoulders and arms, and the muscles of the back
- Strengthens and stretches the thighs, calves, and ankles
Begin the sequence with mountain pose. Taking several breaths is a good way to bring the body to a neutral position and begin to tune in to your alignment. On the inhales, open your shoulders so your palms turn up, which helps bring your shoulder blades onto your back.
1. Turn your left foot in 45 to 60 degrees to the right and your right foot out 90 degrees to the right. Align the right heel with the left heel. Exhale and rotate your torso to the right, squaring the front of your pelvis as much as possible with the front edge of your mat. As the left hip point turns forward, press the head of the left femur back to ground the heel. Lengthen your coccyx toward the floor, and arch your upper torso back slightly.
2. With your left heel firmly anchored to the floor, exhale and bend your right knee over the right ankle so the shin is perpendicular to the floor. More flexible students should align their right thigh parallel to the floor.
3. Reach strongly through your arms, lifting the ribcage away from the pelvis. As you ground down through the back foot, feel a lift that runs up the back leg, across the belly and chest, and up into the arms. If possible, bring the palms together. Spread the palms against each other and reach a little higher through the pinky-sides of the hands. Keep your head in a neutral position, gazing forward, or tilt it back and look up at your thumbs.
(IR:The classic position is with the palms touching over head,
but you may choose to keep the palms separated at shoulder’s
distance apart or even bend at the elbows and open your arms like a cactus.)
4. Stay for 30 seconds to a minute. To come up, inhale, press the back heel firmly into the floor and reach up through the arms, straightening the right knee. Turn the feet forward and release the arms with an exhalation, or keep them extended upward for more challenge. Take a few breaths, then turn the feet to the left and repeat for the same length. When you’re finished return to Tadasana.
Next post will be about Yoga Warrior II.
Learn Yoga: Plank Yoga Pose
March 2, 2012
Plank Yoga Pose Benefits
- Strengthens the arms, wrists, and spine
- Tones the abdomen
Beginner’s Tip:
To help strengthen the arms in this pose, loop and secure a strap around your upper arms, just above the elbows. Push the inner arms out against this strap. Release the outer arms from the shoulders to the floor, and lift the inner arms from the bases of the index fingers to the shoulders.
Step by Step Recomendations from Yoga Journal:
1. Start in Downward-Facing Dog. Then inhale and draw your torso forward until the arms are perpendicular to the floor and the shoulders directly over the wrists, torso parallel to the floor.
2. Press your outer arms inward and firm the bases of your index fingers into the floor. Firm your shoulder blades against your back, then spread them away from the spine. Also spread your collarbones away from the sternum.
3. Press your front thighs up toward the ceiling, but resist your tailbone toward the floor as you lengthen it toward the heels. Lift the base of the skull away from the back of the neck and look straight down at the floor, keeping the throat and eyes soft.
4. Plank Pose is one of the positions in the traditional Sun Salutation sequence. You can also perform this pose by itself and stay anywhere from 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Learn Yoga: Seated Forward Bend
March 1, 2012
Seated Forward Bend
Seated Forward Bend (Paschimottanasana ) Benefits:
-Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
-Stretches the spine, shoulders, hamstrings
-Stimulates the liver, kidneys, ovaries, and uterus
-Improves digestion
-Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause and menstrual discomfort
-Soothes headache and anxiety and reduces fatigue
-Therapeutic for high blood pressure, infertility, insomnia, and sinusitis
-Traditional texts say that Paschimottanasana increases appetite, reduces obesity, and cures diseases
Beginner’s Tip:
Never force yourself into a forward bend, especially when sitting on the floor. Coming forward, as soon as you feel the space between your pubis and navel shortening, stop, lift up slightly, and lengthen again. Often, because of tightness in the backs of the legs, a beginner’s forward bend doesn’t go very far forward and might look more like sitting up straight.
Step by Step Recomendations from Yoga Journal:
1. Stand in Tadasana, hands on hips. Exhale and bend forward from the hip joints, not from the waist. As you descend draw the front torso out of the groins and open the space between the pubis and top sternum. As in all the forward bends, the emphasis is on lengthening the front torso as you move more fully into the position.
2. If possible, with your knees straight, bring your palms or finger tips to the floor slightly in front of or beside your feet, or bring your palms to the backs of your ankles. If this isn’t possible, cross your forearms and hold your elbows. Press the heels firmly into the floor and lift the sitting bones toward the ceiling. Turn the top thighs slightly inward.
3. With each inhalation in the pose, lift and lengthen the front torso just slightly; with each exhalation release a little more fully into the forward bend. In this way the torso oscillates almost imperceptibly with the breath. Let your head hang from the root of the neck, which is deep in the upper back, between the shoulder blades.
4. Uttanasana can be used as a resting position between the standing poses. Stay in the pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute. It can also be practiced as a pose in itself.
5. Don’t roll the spine to come up. Instead bring your hands back onto your hips and reaffirm the length of the front torso. Then press your tailbone down and into the pelvis and come up on an inhalation with a long front torso.
Hope all this information will be helpfull.
-Irina
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