Guest Posts
Ten Yoga Quotes to Live by: The Wisdom of Yoga
At Kind You, we have written extensively about yoga, basic poses, pranayama, meditation, and related topics, but we also wanted to share with you our favorite yoga quotes. You will also have read about the chanting of Om and its divine secrets. Here is what The Art of Living says about yoga: “Derived from the Sanskrit word yuj, Yoga means union of the individual consciousness or soul with the Universal Consciousness or Spirit. Yoga is a 5000-year-old Indian body of knowledge. Though many think of yoga only as a physical exercise where people twist, turn, stretch, and breathe in the most complex ways,…
Natural Probiotics: Why You Need Them
Probiotics as a term has been bandied about for decades now, but they have never been more important to one’s diet as they are now. Sedentary lifestyles, addiction to gadgets, dependence on processed/ready to eat foods for energy, added sugar and HFCS in everything, the lure of junk food and instant gratification: all of these have led to urban lifestyle related chronic conditions like insulin resistance, chronic inflammation in the body, obesity, T2DM, chronic fatigue syndrome, etc. And the key thing that drives these away — a gut with healthy flora/microbiota that has the potential to digest anything you put…
Vedic Meditation: All You Need to Know
Doctors are now recommending meditation as a treatment for everything from stress to heart health, and Vedic meditation is one of the techniques that everyone is talking about. What exactly is Vedic meditation? Is it just one of those fancy prefixes to add another layer of the exotic to what is essentially a simple practice of letting your thoughts run freely? You know that we have already covered different types of meditation here on the blog. And we also have written about deep breathing exercises and their extensive range of benefits. Do they work in harmony with each other? Is…
New Beginnings: Quotes to Inspire You
New beginnings: we all need them, don’t we? Stagnation, whether in your work life, or your relationships, the feeling of being stuck in a situation that isn’t welcome, not being able to move on — these are experiences that life throws at all of us. Every single journey towards a better sense of self brings with it valuable lessons, and as we grow, we learn somehow to be more at peace with ourselves. Most of the times, these battles are hard-won. Especially so when we have broken free of shackles of things that were weighing us down. And while most…
Nadi Shuddhi: Alternate Nostril Breathing
Alternate nostril breathing — also known as Nadi Shodhan pranayama or Nadi Shuddhi Pranayama — is an energy cleansing technique. But let me clear this up: the word ‘Nadi’ doesn’t translate to nostril literally. Nadi in Sanskrit essentially means energy channel and shuddhi/shodhan means cleansing and purification. Alternate Nostril Breathing is a breathing technique that helps to clear any blocks in the body’s energy channels. Another term you might have heard is ‘Anulom Vilom pranayama’, which essentially means the same. Owing to a lifestyle of excess, stress, and years-long abuse through diet or erratic sleep patterns, our body’s energy channels…
How to Reduce Cortisol and Stress Naturally
Everyone talks about the need to lessen stress and reduce cortisol in the bloodstream, but who actually knows what cortisol actually is? Wikipedia defines cortisol as: “Cortisol is a steroid hormone, in the glucocorticoid class of hormones, and is produced in humans by the zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex within the adrenal gland. It is released in response to stress and low blood-glucose concentration.” To de-biologify that, our adrenals produce cortisol in response to stressful situations and low blood sugar. And elevated levels of cortisol in the blood stream can lead to chronic inflammation and chronic illnesses. Which is…
Dandelion Tea Benefits: Too Good to be True?
Dandelion Tea and dandelion tea benefits are fast becoming the rage in the field of health and nutrition. Once considered a weed, dandelion is on its way to being the next chamomile. Or perhaps it always was and we are hearing of it now. From Livestrong: “You know those pretty yellow puff-tops that pop up on a meadow? The humble dandelion is much more than a weed that invades your backyard every spring. It has been used as a medicinal herb for centuries across many different cultures, as early as 900 AD. Its roots and leaves are dried and used…
How to Maximize Your Methylation
Have you ever heard of methylation? It’s time you did. After all, it’s the key to healthy aging, and we are all aging, no matter our age. Dr. Mark Hyman explains that methylation is “a key biochemical process that is essential for the proper function of almost all of your body’s systems. It occurs billions of times every second; it helps repair your DNA on a daily basis…and…To keep methylation running smoothly you need optimal levels of B vitamins. Without enough B vitamins methylation breaks down, and the results can be catastrophic. In some cases we see birth defects like spina…
SIBO Symptoms and Common Treatments
According to the SIBOinfo.com website, SIBO is: Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth, defined most concisely as “a chronic bacterial infection of the small intestine.The infection is of bacteria that normally live in the gastrointestinal tract but have abnormally overgrown in a location not meant for so many bacteria.” The site, managed by Dr. Allison Siebecker, is intended to share research and information with fellow doctors and anyone else interested in SIBO, and to help empower people in their health. In summary of the site’s explanation of SIBO, bacteria interfere with normal, healthy digestion by consuming part of our food (their favorite nutrients are B12…
The Weirdly Effective “Wet Sock Treatment”
Sometimes it’s the weirdest-sounding treatments that actually end up working the best. Take the “wet sock treatment” for instance. Known as one of naturopathy’s most effective cures for the common cold (it’s also been said to be effective for ear infections, migraines, insomnia, and chronic cold hands and feet), the wet sock treatment asks you to do the opposite of what you might think – to get your feet cold, not warm, and wet, not dry. But why? Well, it’s explained as essentially a factor of homeostasis. Since your body wants that state of equilibrium, putting wet, cold socks on…
The Restorative Benefits of the Red Reishi Mushroom
Are Red Reishi Mushrooms the Key to Immortality? Although they may be a fungus, they’re definitely the good kind! Reishi mushrooms have been used in Chinese medicine for over 2,000 years.Typically seen in modern times growing on decaying hardwood tree stumps throughout East Asia and North America, reishi mushrooms can be found in six different colors (purple, green, white, black, yellow, and red) and prefer tropical and subtropical climates. The red ones, however, are the only kind that interest us here. Red reishis are considered the “key to immortality” by some, and in China as “the divine fungus“, or the “mushroom of…
The Spiritual, Plant-Based, Musical Path of Julie Piatt
Come on in and meet Julie Piatt, also known by her spiritual name of Sri Mati, who through an intensive plant-based diet alongside a deep meditation and yoga voyage managed to rid herself of a large neck cyst — after doctors previously diagnosed it to be incurable. From this event, Julie went on to build further on her connections to plant-based food, cooking, and spirit, writing books including The Plantpower Way: Whole Food recipes and Guidance for the Whole Family (which she co-wrote with her ultra-endurance athlete husband, Rich Roll), This Cheese is Nuts, and Jai Seed. Plantpower Italia, a follow up to The Plantpower…
