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Healthy Food

Aryurvedic Cooking Class in Palo Alto

spices-indian

I may need a refresher course as I hope to engage in a cleansing ritual start of 2017 – for that review of basic Aryuvedic cooking is essential. I highly recommend
Jyoti and here’s some endorsements I thought was well deserving of her course… The course I took was 4-days but this is a more “express” course done in 3 days.

Sri Sri Ayurveda Cookery Course: “Art of Wholesome Cooking”:)
Sponsoring organization: Art of Living Foundation USA
Dates:Jan 27 2017 – Jan 29 2017
Timings: Friday 6:30pm – 9:30pm Saturday & Sunday: 10:00am – 4:00pm
Venue: Private Residence in Palo Alto
Teacher: Jyoti Jain
Contact:
Jyoti Jain @ 6505969583 OR
jyoti@jainfamily.com

As a comment for the course I took … it was a wonderful review of Aryuvedic concepts such as Doshas (your unique “constitutions”) and Gunas (qualities, innate tendencies – can i say …Dharma?) in the context of Samkhya philosophy … Having grown up with a lot of diversity in people, foods, cultures … I tend to think that we probably should put everything in cultural context – for example, in Aryuvedic cooking, mushrooms are considered a no-no but from other Asian food cultures, that hold mushrooms as almost medicinal, this concept is questioned. I tend to think that we can just take what works in the local indiginous land of that practitioner. Maybe back in India, eating mushrooms caused some unwanted outcome but in China, the opposite held true … and there are SO MANY varieties of mushrooms, some poisonous, some hallucinatory, some just yummy. In Japan, dehydrated Shiitake might be used as soup stock for vegans and vegetarians so …I would not rule them out. SO, the theory and the philosophy probably has to adapt to the land of the people … SO in USA, in California … here again, somethings are probably alright to change and adapt as long as the intention remains the same.

I appreciated my exposure into various spices and how they are used as spices are not something that we use heavily in Japanese culture. Japanese taste is all about the beauty of artful presentation, the simplicity, non-oil but savory UMAMI based taste, natural seasonings, delicate flavoring and as this famous Shojin cuisine chef master said … it’s about how we master pure “water” and how skillful we are in the art of cutting and slicing, i.e., the mastery over the knife use (after all it’s a sword/shogun culture with precision based forms and shapes) in how we cook. It’s not so much about heat and very little oil … so …I really enjoyed learning about a cooking method completely different. We did share one thing though – that was, how we appreciate plant-based foods and believe that food serves as our best … medicine.
img_7945img_8012 Cooking with Gratitude … OMG, so Japanese… so many common threads I recognize.img_7942Could these be? Yes, sticks of butter, organic butter from Whole Foods.img_7865Not Vegan as we made Ghee!Clarified Butter … definitely an ingredient NOT used in Japanese cuisine so …interesting especially the current vogues seems to vilify butter – perhaps it’s more about moderation and portion control:)
img_7866It might be interesting to explore use of EV olive oil or avocado oil to replace here in California just as an option:)img_7917Spices and Herbs are the key !img_7948 While these recommended books may help, best to learn from Jyoti herself – it’s all 5 senses at work when you learn from a good teacher. Once you have the foundation learned from a good teacher, you can then make substitutions and modifications to – experiment to fit your own unique needs. That’s the fun.

By Kay T. Ananda

Yoga brings Joy!
Joy to your body, heart, soul and allows your mind to settle all the debris to the bottom of the lake, ripples gently subsides so that like that shining water, your lake in your mind is still and crystal clear. Only then, you can find your truth... when your mind clears and all distractions are gone, leaving you - stillness and clarity. Peace.
Dog is doing yoga all the time and brings you laughs!
Anger is borne out of fear; how do we find that fearless path of inner peace?
Why Bark when you can Wag to express your JOY Joy joy !!!???
無心でしっぽをふる喜びを表すあの子犬のようなJOYを糧に無理ない、各自のコンデイションに寄り添いながらもチャレンジ精神をとりかえす…そんなヨーガを:)
全米ヨガアライアンス公認ヨガ講師養成コース修了、リストラティブヨガ指導者認定登録、アメリカRYT500登録インストラクター、800hrsヨガセラピーIAYT今現在一瞬ThisMoment&NOWをCELEBRATEするカリフォルニア*ライフ!

帰国子女としてニューヨーク、テヘラン、カリフォルニアと転々、いずれ東京に帰る意識で日本語高等部卒大卒後シリコンバレーにとどまる。ヨガはカリフォルニア州立、バークレー大学時代、ストレス解消に効くと教授に教わり試してみるが... 合わずジャズサイズ、ウェイトトレーニング、エアロビックスのクラスに移転の20代、30代、産後、過労で体調を崩し大病も治癒。死ぬかと思った~大病後、久しぶりに足を踏み入れたヨガスタジオのヨガが大学時代のスローでポーズごと器械体操ごとく、つまらなーいヨガとはまったく違い進化していた。流れる踊りの振り付け的なヨガに魅せられる。数々の流派があることを習い、数種類のスタイルを試す。ビクラム、ホット、アイヤンガー、ヴィンヤサ、アシュタンガ・パワー、などなど。数年前サンフランシスコにて、ヨガアライアンス認定インストラクター養成を経て、インストラクター証書習得。同じ年にキッズヨガインストラクター証書ゲット。リストラテイブヨガ、インストラクター認定、陰ヨガのインターン、アシスト後、陰とヴィンヤサ、レギュラーハタクラスを教える。又プライベート、セミプライベートレッスンをクライアントのニーズの合わせ、ヨガセラピストとしてセラピー集中ヨガ提供。その為に2年間のアドバンスコースに挑みc-IAYT証書習得!ヨガ療法士としてIAYT(国際ヨガセラピスト協会)認定のヨガセラピスト、C-IAYT(Certified-IAYT) 10年以上、ベイクラブ、ヨガスタジオ、シリコンバレー社などで子育て中週4-5回レギュラーレッスンの講師を務める。3月2020にあの頃は最後とは知らずの週2教えていたスタジオにてのインパーソンヨガクラスを後に…遠方介護ニーズとコロナ禍を機に当分はパブリッククラスリードからはリタイア。
自分自身が心と体の調和で得た平穏…日常の小ちゃな事に見出す喜びをヨガ愛好者のどなたとでもと共有できたらと願うばかり。ジョイを共有し、ジョイフルライフを。そう、もし犬に例えるのであれば、恐れや威嚇で吠えまくる犬ではなく、シッポふりふり笑顔で愛と喜びに満ちた心持をヨガを通しシャア。恥じる気持ち等恐れず誰でもできる自身ジョイフルヨガを肝に銘じりたい。LOVE LOVE LOVE:)Shanti Shanti Shanti:)