Vaijayanthi | Swarna Prashana

The essence of Spiritual Parenting – Second ‘Wisdom Nest’ Meet at Bangalore

Nowadays, there are so many parenting styles and terms that one comes across that it can turn out to be pretty confusing pretty soon. For new parents or for that matter even old ones, we are always assailed by the doubt and question if we are doing a good job of raising our children.

Am I being too harsh, am I being too lenient, should I chastise my child if he/she pushes others to get his turn on the slide or should I just brush it off as childish behavior which he will outgrow soon enough? Should I discipline in public or should I wait for a more private time? So many questions and so little time really to contemplate all of them and find our own best solutions.

All of us are looking for answers, the “tips & tricks”, the right way to parent our child right – from sources outside of us in the hope that we will hit the jackpot. Unfortunately, nothing can be farther from the truth. The answers all lie within us. And that is what Spiritual Parenting is all about.

A group of 16 parents from the SwarnaPrashana parenting community came together this past weekend to explore and discuss this very topic and find deeper answers to the questions they have been looking for. Led by Velu Jayaprakash, soul coach and founder of the community, while the 4 hours long session gave many insights and much more common guidance, it also neatly made us shine the torch back on ourselves to explore how “spiritual” and “holistic” we are as individuals before we even attempt to find out how to parent spiritually.

For truth be told, children cannot be “instructed” or “advised” or even “taught” to do things – they simply observe us parents and just mimic us. If we want them to stop demanding junk, we first need to push it out of our lives. If we want them to sit quietly and read, then we need to first show them by doing it ourselves. If we want them to meditate, we first need to do it. But hardly any of us do what we demand from our children – instead, it’s easy to fall into the trap of labeling them as hyperactive, restless and so on and so forth.

While these are the basics that we need to remember, it will also help to understand the different stages of a child’s life so that we may align our approach to their differing needs accordingly. In the first four years of a child’s life, the child is said to be living its mother’s karma and is under her influence the maximum. The next four years, the child is under the influence of the father’s karma and is watching him closely to imbibe his behaviors and characteristics. By the time the child reaches 8 to 10 years of age, the child’s own karma from past lives start coming alive and the child’s soul starts orchestrating different events and behavior in tune with the child’s own planned life path and purpose.

As a parent, if we want to make any kind of positive impact on our child and “guide” them as we seem to think we can, then the first 8 years is the only time we have (give or take a few years). As mothers, we play a crucial role in shaping their character in the first four years and as fathers, we knowingly or unknowingly hold the power to change them in the next four years. And the only way we can bring about any of these changes we may desire is to first bring it on ourselves during these critical years. We need to take a hard look at our own actions and reactions and alter them accordingly.

And that, parents, is also one of the most important things to understand in parenting. Every time your child behaves in a certain manner, you can be rest assured that he or she is doing so only because you yourself have been a cause of it. If your child is throwing a tantrum and demanding your attention, then perhaps you have not been spending enough quality time with him/her. If your child is really testing your patience, then perhaps they are simply being your teacher to help you to cultivate more patience.

For, as much as we think we need to parent and teach our children, the children are as much our teachers and guides in this life. The crux of spiritual parenting is to simply realize this essence – that parenting is an opportunity that the child has given us to make ourselves into better individuals, the rest of it all including our ideas of shaping and molding our children is just – our ideas!

These are but some of the wisdom that we shared in the Wisdom Nest meeting along with going into the basics of holistic living (If you have been part of the WhatsApp community, you will be knowing most of it by now. If not, do peruse through some of the other blogs to read about it in detail).

We also went through a wonderful soul meditation session at the end of the meet, thanks to Velu. It was a very sublime and deep experience for many of us. We all unanimously wished we could extend the meeting some more and spend more time with the other like-minded parents but alas we had to move out of the venue.

Do attend or take the initiative to organize the next Wisdom Nest meeting in an area near you, I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy coming together as a community physically.

About Wisdom Nest Series:

In an endeavor to share more of the ancient wisdom and knowledge, we will be organizing more such events at different places across Bangalore and other cities in India in the months to come. As more parents come together to take part in these meets, our aim to increase the collective knowledge we hold as a group and in turn publish these findings and discussions for the benefit of all. This was the second Wisdom Nest meet organized at South Bangalore. The first Wisdom Nest meeting happened in North Bangalore at Kalyannagar. Read more about the first meet here. If you would like to organize a similar meet in your area/city, open to both Swarnaprashana parents as well as others outside the community, please do contact Velu Jayaprakash.

Author: Vaijayanthi

Vaijayanthi is a freelance business writer and full-time gardener. She coaches people on adopting a chemical-free lifestyle through her initiative called the Kaustubam for Sustainable Living Practices. She also conducts various physical workshops and training sessions on sustainable living and Gardening for children in Bengaluru through the initiative The Happy Child. View all posts by Vaijayanthi

Embracing a chemical-free life with Natural Cleaners

Let’s do a small quiz before you start reading this blog, shall we? It’s very simple – just try to answer the following questions taking as much time as you need.

How many cleaning products do you use in your home? (including your personal care products)
Can you list at least 10 of them? Can you think of more?

Alright, hope you took a minute to pause and actually answer the questions above. A typical urban household today, as you would have realized if you had answered the questions, uses anywhere from 15 – 20 different cleaning and personal care products in their lifestyles. This could range from floor cleaners, dish wash, detergents, fabric softeners, naphthalene balls, bathroom cleaners, glass cleaners, shoe polish, wood polish…to face powders, body creams, moisturizers, nail polish, hair colors, deodorants…the list can literally go on and on. We have come to “depend” so much on these items that life can become unimaginable if you are forced to go without them for a few days.

But what we don’t realize is that many of these products contain synthetic chemical ingredients which are not as harmless as they claim (yes, even some of the so-called “organic or natural brands” you may know of). To understand this better, the next time you go shopping, make sure to spend a few more extra minutes to go through the ingredients list of EVERY product that you buy. I guarantee you will be surprised if not shocked – you may not even know why some of the ingredients are required!!

So these chemicals, apart from being non-essentials, can cause great harm as well including being hormone imbalancers, migraine triggers, carcinogens, skin allergens, endocrine disruptors (meaning fertility reducers/disease causers!) and so on and so forth.

Let’s back to one more quick quiz.

Imagine not having your favorite detergent to wash your clothes – can you still keep them clean and smelling fresh?
Suppose you run out of your bathroom cleaners and cant go out for a week – would you still spend as much time in the bathroom as you might otherwise?

Well, of course, you can 🙂 Just that you need to find out how our grandparents used to do it a few decades back – it’s as simple as that. And the best part of it? It was totally natural, chemical-free and eco-friendly – as good for us as it was for all the living beings around us. No side effects, no diseases and completely harmless. Sounds fantastic, right? Then why not try to adopt such a lifestyle yourself? Why not shift to chemical-free life and give yourself, your children, your family and all the other beings around a safe and natural environment to live in?

Let us take the first step today. Let’s look at the humble Soapnut that grows right in our backyard (not literally, unless you happen to live just outside a forest – which would be awesome actually!) and see how it can help us move to a natural and chemical-free lifestyle.

Soapnuts – your Natural Cleaner to the rescue

Soapnut, also called Reetha /Boondikottai /Kumkudukaya /Antuvalakay, can be one of your most useful and go-to natural ingredients in your household cleaning mission. Growing abundantly in the Himalayas (and Nepal) and South India, it is easy enough to source these days given the increase in interest around chemical-free living.

Soapnuts can really replace most, if not all, chemicals at your home, especially if used in combination with Bio Enzymes (we will see how to make that in another post). Let us now quickly see how you can use these magic super cleaners for your everyday household cleaning requirements along with few other questions you may have on this nut.

1. What exactly are Soapnuts?
They are the fruits of the Sapindus tree (Sap meaning Soap in Latin and Indus referring to their native India). There are multiple species/sub-species of this tree. In India itself, there are two different species/sub-species that produce two different looking fruits.

2. How are they useful in cleaning?
Soapnuts have a high amount of “surfactants” (the chemical compound good at removing dirt) in the form of naturally occurring saponins in their fruit pulp. If you are familiar with the structure of soaps, you will know that a soap compound has two ends – one tail end that repels water (and attracts dirt) and one head end that attracts water (making them water soluble). Soapnuts have these compounds naturally. So it is this property of them that makes them great for removing dirt. Plus, they are all natural to boot – meaning they decompose back into the soil quickly leaving minimal environmental impact unlike chemicals produced in laboratories such as detergents and shampoos.

3. How do Soapnuts look?

A freshly harvested Soapnut – Observe how they are clumped up

Two different types of Soapnuts found in India (after drying) – the one on right is the South Indian variety and the one on my left hand is the Himalayan variety

4. Is there a difference between the quality/effectiveness of these two varieties?
In my experience, absolutely not. The Himalayan ones look better and are bigger and are more appealing to our senses. The South Indian ones don’t look so neat but they pack quite a punch in their cleaning abilities. While the Himalayan ones are bit costly this side of the Vindhyas (considering they have to be transported so far from their origin), the South Indian ones are available at a bit lesser price here making them economically more feasible. Also, the South Indian ones are easier to soak and smash – the Himalayan ones take a bit longer to get soaked.

5. Why should I use Soapnuts and why not my detergents?
Not a good question, if you are still asking! Your detergents and most other cleaning products that you have at home are made of synthetic chemical compounds that have a high amount of toxins along with all the good things they promise you that gives them the cleaning power you need (and let’s not forget the wonderful oh-so-clean fragrance). These synthetic compounds, in addition to being harmful to you personally in terms of the ill-health and side effects they cause, are also damaging to the environment and the water bodies and the living beings present in the water bodies. Some of these toxins could be formaldehyde, diethanolamine, alkyl benzene sulfonates, ethylene oxide, Sodium hypochlorite, 1-4-dioxane, Benzoxazolyl, Phosphates and so on and so forth. Really, you don’t need to kill a lake full of fishes to get the dirt-free clothes or home you desire. When there is an all natural alternate way, which is also harmless to our fellow living things (not to mention to us as well), why not adopt that method? Soapnuts are the wonderful things God created to give you this option.

6. Okay, great! But how do I use Soapnuts???
That’s an easy one. There are so many different ways you can use Soapnuts depending on the amount of time and energy you have to spend on your cleaning mission. Here are a few ways to use Soapnuts:

Option 1: – Using Soapnuts as-is – The easiest and quickest way

Take about 10-12 whole Soapnuts (can be deseeded or with seeds; this measurement is for 6-8 kgs of clothes)
Put them in an old sock and tie the mouth of the socks tightly such that no Soapnuts can escape
Simple throw in this sock along with your wash load and run the machine on full soak cycle. Pls put it along with the clothes and not in the place provided for detergents. It’s not a problem if the sock stays till the drying cycle is complete.
Optionally, please add 100 ml of Bio Enzyme for disinfecting and softening the fabrics. Especially, when you have a lot of whites, Bio Enzyme is good to include.
After removing the clothes, remove the sock with the Soapnuts as well and keep it out to dry.
You can use it for one more time before opening up the sock and discarding the used Soapnuts. The Soapnut peels can be thrown into your compost bin while you can save the seeds for making seed bombs, seed jewelry or other activities or simply throw them into an empty plot. Alternatively, you can use the Soapnut peels to wash your vessels as well.
Please note that when using Soapnuts, you should not overload your machine. Also, when you have really dirty clothes, please pre-soak the Soapnut sock in hot/warm water for 15 minutes and then add the tea of Soapnut along with the Soapnut sock into the machine.

Option 2: – Soapnuts Liquid (works better than the whole pods at times so try both before you decide which one works for you)

Take about a 250-500 grams of Soapnuts. Soak it in 1 litre water for a few hours. You can also use Soapnut powder in the place of Soapnuts and follow the same procedure.
Heat up the water for 10-15 minutes till the water turns completely dark and the Soapnuts release all their surfactants. You may also simply pressure cook it for one whistle.
After the solution cools down, smash the Soapnuts in hand and ensure all the juices are extracted
Let it sit overnight
Next day morning, filter out all the solids. The resulting liquid is your All natural cleaning liquid which can be used as a floor cleaner, laundry liquid detergent, bathroom cleaner, tile cleaner, dish wash, etc, etc.
As we have boiled it, you will need to use it up within a week otherwise the solution may start smelling/fermenting. Or you can simply refrigerate it and use it as and when you need it. You may also prepare a large batch and freeze it. Alternatively, you can use Bio Enzyme and water to soak the Soapnuts instead of boiling them, keep it for a week, filter and use the liquid (it will have a really long shelf life as Bio Enzyme will act as a preservative so there would be no need to refrigerate).
For about 6 kgs of laundry, you will need 150-200 ml of Soapnut liquid. For one bucket of water to mop your house, you can use 50-100 ml of the liquid. Work with different quantities and see what works best for you.
The filtered out pulp can be used once or twice more to extract more Soapnut liquid. Once completely used up, they go to your compost bin.

Option 3: – Soapnut powder

Buy Soapnut powder. It’s not very easy to powder them yourself at home so pls don’t try.
Take about 2-3 spoons of Soapnut powder for about 6-8 kgs of laundry. Put the powder inside a thick cotton cloth/bag (NOT SOCKS) and tie the mouth tightly
Simple throw in this sock along with your wash load and run the machine on full soak cycle. Pls put it along with the clothes and not in the place provided for detergent. It’s not a problem if the sock stays till the drying cycle is complete.
Optionally, please add 100 ml of Bio Enzyme for disinfecting and softening the fabrics. Especially, when you have a lot of whites, Bio Enzyme is good to include.
After removing the clothes, remove the sock with the Soapnuts and discard the Soapnut powder into your compost bin.
Beware of the cloth bag coming apart and the powder spreading across all your clothes. It’s extremely difficult to clean up.
Also, the powder MAY dull your whites over time. If that happens, you can wash the Whites in hot water and Vinegar/Bio Enzyme.

Soapnuts also make a great hair wash along with Shikakai and other ingredients. You can explore many more recipes on the net to discover the various other uses of Soapnuts.

7. Okay, I am a convert! What else should I know about this wonder nut?
Cool, that’s awesome. I am happy! Here are a few things I can think of:

Always try to buy that year’s harvest for more effectiveness
Store them airtight and dry.
If you find the Soapnuts you have bought are still too fresh and sticky, please ensure you sundry them well for 2 – 3 days. Otherwise, they will tend to catch fungus/green mold and the whole thing will get ruined quickly.
If you are a power user of Soapnuts, you will end up with a lot of Soapnut seeds. You can put them in your compost bin – so save them for your children to make seed bombs or to play with. Or you can string them into a mala and use them to cleanse your aura (don’t ask me more details on that as am yet to find out more!)
You can reuse the grey water from your floor wash/laundry/dish wash after using Soapnuts as it is all natural and will not harm your plants.
Soapnuts also make great pest control. So instead of using synthetic soap in your pest control measures for your plants where you are required to emulsify neem oil, you can use Soapnuts and neem oil. Just a Soapnut water soak once a week will also help you keep out mosquitoes and other insects from your lawns and gardens.

Hope the above information helps you and you are able to make the switch to a chemical-free life as I have!

Author: Vaijayanthi

Fireless Cooking Session with Maran G and Laughter Therapy

Fireless Cooking Session with Maran G and Laughter Therapy – Workshop at Bangalore on 22 July 2017

The fifth-year anniversary celebration of the Swarnaprashna Parenting Community, which happened in June with over 40-50 parents and their family and children, was a one of a kind meeting of like-minded parents who share a common vision for health and spirituality alike. One of the super hit sessions at this celebration was the session of Dr. Maran G, who is a raw food activist and a firm proponent of Naturopathy. All of us were so bowled over by his enthusiasm and his super helpful attitude towards knowledge sharing, that it is but inevitable that we will all demand for a repeat (this time, more detailed!) session with Dr. Maran.

So, with the stars aligning, we were fortunate enough to enjoy two wonderful sessions with Dr. Maran in the last month – one in Chennai (organized by parent Priya) and one in Bangalore – which happened this past Saturday. I was part of the session at Bangalore and feel honored to share the knowledge gained at the session which Dr. Maran so gracefully shared with us all. But before we dive in straight to the learning, let me write a bit about Dr. Maran.

Dr. Maran getting ready to wow the audience

Maran G or Maranji as we liked to call him, is what you might call a food and health revolutionary. Hailing from Tamilnadu, Dr. Maran, who must be about 60 or so years old, has been tirelessly working the last 20 years (or perhaps even more) with a single motive to help families avoid expensive medical costs and realize that they can cure themselves of all diseases with a simple belief that Food is Medicine and Medicine is Food. A very humble soul and a great orator, Dr. Maran, who is a Naturopathy doctor, also runs a small all natural food restaurant at Sivakasi. One of the notable achievements of this restaurant is that they don’t use any of the five whites (Sugar, Salt, Maida, Milk and White Rice/Wheat) – and yet, over 250-300 people regularly visit this restaurant every single day in search of healthy and safe food. Dr. Maran regularly travels across South India to talk about healthy food habits and healthy lifestyle practices to lead a healthy and happy life. For all his wonderful knowledge and status, he might be one of the most humble men you might ever meet. The world certainly needs more of his kind.

As you might have guessed, any time we spend with such a person is bound to be filled with so much learning and so much realization of the simple truths about life. So it was the session that happened in Bangalore. Dr. Maran spent about 5-6 hours addressing all of us non-stop with not a single pause or break – that itself can be the proof of how the right food and lifestyle habits can help someone face all the demands of a day without breaking a single sweat! Dr. Maran, nonetheless to say, is a man who practices what he preaches and is an inspiration to all of us – if we can be half of what he is at that age, I am sure that will be a great achievement given the rush and mindlessness that we live in.

As I sit now and try to pen down what I learnt this weekend, my mind simply boggles at the task before me! Every single second of the session was so useful and so full of information, that it would be impossible for me to capture every single one of it here without being confusing or overwhelming. So I will try to share the essence of what I learnt (given that I have about 15 pages of hurriedly scribbled notes to decipher). I am going to write it down as we covered it during the session without putting my own wrapper or inference around it though I will try to bracket it into categories wherever possible so that it is easy for you to read and remember. If you are unclear about what a certain point might mean, do comment and I will see if I can recall and try to elaborate it out for you.

Before the day’s session began, as has become our usual practice, Velu did a guided meditation for all parents gathered around. Few peaceful moments where we were called into recognize our own consciousness and its power to go far and beyond our immediate comprehension. By the end of this meditation, all of were feeling so centered and calm – just the right mindset to receive the downpour of wisdom all of us got from Dr. Maran! One of Dr. Maran associates, Mr. Mukesh Jain, who is a laughter and yoga therapist, joined us soon after to kick start the day with a quick laughter session that will set the trend for the day – a fun and jovial mood to break the seriousness and magnitude of the topic at hand. And then, it was time for Dr. Maran (many thanks to Parent and healer Anand who helped translate).

Bhastrika Pranayama – one of the most easy ways to cleanse your lungs and detox

So, without further ado, here are some of the pearls of wisdom shared by Dr. Maran:

The Basics:

The basic premise is that we are what we eat. One must understand that Food is Medicine and Medicine is Food. So, if we want a healthy body, all we need to do is look at our food habits.
All causes of diseases and the many symptoms of the many diseases are just one – which is Morbid Toxin Accumulation in the body. So what are these toxins? It can be the polluted Air we breathe, the contaminated water we take OR it can be the bad food we consume – that is all.
With that understanding, it will be easy to know that if all diseases are a result of one root cause, however different the disease or its symptoms are, all of them can be dealt with the same treatment – i.e. Complete Detoxification and a return to healthy food habits and lifestyle giving the body time and energy to heal itself.
While Modern Medicine has been a great life saver (in the case of emergency surgeries, accidents and such), it has not been very kind to humans in its very quick recommendations for synthetic-chemical based medicines (more toxins to the already toxic loaded body!), operations and unnecessary amputations and eviscerations. So before one turns to this option, one must firmly look at one’s own lifestyle and food habits and identify the root cause of the disease instead of asking for quick-fixes from the Doctors of modern medicine.
So how can we avoid toxin accumulation due to food? How can Food be medicine? How can our food habits help us live a healthy life and help our body heal itself? The answer is very simple – It is just about consuming food straight from the greatest kitchen in the world, without any secondary processing. That’s right, the greatest kitchen in the world is that of Mother Nature’s and the best kind of food is the one that comes straight from her – raw and clean of any contamination (including pesticides, fertilizers, etc.)
One must understand and go back to our elementary school lessons that all of us have forgotten – Cooking takes away the essential nutrients in our food. Cooking is an unnecessary wastage of energy. Cooking is not required for a man to consume food. The early man might very well have been a fruitarian and if he could have in that harsh environment, we very well can be now.
But given that we have got used to eating cooked food in the past few generations, how can we go back to this basic healthy way of living? Where do we start? Simple – Just switch 30% of your food intake to raw and clean – that should be more than enough to see you through. This roughly translates to a minimum of ONE COMPLETE raw meal (consisting of fruits, vegetables and plain juices/milk extracted from millets/grams/grains) per day.
It doesn’t, however, stop at only food. We must also look at our overall lifestyle and make sure it is healthy. For instance, our good food habits must be complemented by good eating habits – i.e. for instance, giving complete attention to what we eat, biting each morsel minimum twenty or times till all the saliva is mixed with it (which is what helps digestion – as digestion starts right from mouth and not just in stomach as we believe).
Physical Exercise is also mandatory as is cultivating a good mind.
Finally, you can reverse most if not all diseases if you are totally willing to commit to a raw and clean food habit. Dr. Maran has cured many a people with his simple diet plans and lifestyle modification recommendations.

Our wholesome food getting ready – helped by kids!

What we must remember and most importantly practice:

Replace the five whites mandatorily. Sugar can be replaced by Jaggery or Plam Sugar. Salt can be replaced by Sea/Rock Salt or Himalayan Pink Salt. Maida and White Rice can be replaced with traditional millet or unpolished rice varieties. Milk can be replaced with Milk alternatives such as Coconut Milk or Sprout’s Milk.
In addition to nutrients, Cooking takes away the natural taste of the food as well which is why we need to add extra spices to dishes. If we get used to eating raw for a minimum one week, our taste buds will stop asking for “spicy stuff”. So start by consuming at least one raw meal a day. Every meal must begin with fruits or raw vegetables (30-60 minutes before the meal itself).
Consume plenty of water. Look at detox waters to help detoxify and restore body balance.
Water must also be consumed like solid food. Sip by sip mixed well with saliva.
Practice Bhastrika Pranayama to detox your lungs and handle pollution in the air we breathe in.
Assimilation and Elimination must happen smoothly for the body to function well. Pay attention to both these processes.
Chew completely to ensure food is mixed well with Saliva. Saliva is the one that helps in digestion and it is also an insulin balancer if you will.
Never control body urges including the urge to urinate and defecate. One must defecate at least twice a day. This will automatically get streamlined if one switches to natural/raw food at least once a day.
Eat only when hungry and never go by the clock. Eat slowly and without distractions such as TV or mobile. Try not to talk as well while eating. Pay complete attention to what you are eating.
Physical exercise and body activity is a must for healthy living. One must walk barefoot at least for half an hour a day outdoors. If not possible, at least walk in the shape of eight inside the house.
Get up before sunrise. Do “Angapradikshina” and super brain yoga to keep your digestive system and nervous system active and healthy.
Be childlike and cultivate a happy mindset.
Dressing is also important for a healthy body – avoid tight and clingy dresses made out of unnatural fibers such as polyester and such.
Help others and derive mental satisfaction. This, in turn, will help you reach a feeling of satiation and happiness.
Never have a physical relationship with your partner within 3 hours of eating. All the blood will be re-directed to the physical act and food will turn to toxins. The best time, thus recommended by our elders probably keeping this in mind, is in the early morning well away from the last meal of the deal.
Never eat after 7 pm.
Practice Oil Bathing regularly without fail. If your lifestyle doesn’t allow it, at least do oil pulling.
Have seasonal fruits. Consume desi (non-hybrid only) and organic fruits only as much as possible. For all other food, wash with salt and lemon to get rid of chemicals as much as possible before consuming.
Don’t consume too much water just after a meal. Give at least 30-60 minutes gap. You may consume Detox water if you feel thirsty during this time.
Finally, practice fasting as well to complement your healthy food habits.

A complete meal of the day – totally fireless cooking (all raw and natural)

Recipes:

So, all of us might have the same questions in our mind the minute we hear we must switch to at least 30% raw food in a day- how can we survive without any spices and simply eat just fruits and raw vegetables every single day? Well, it need not be that way. We can definitely create some wonderful recipes with spices such as dhania, jeera, and pepper and create some lip-smacking raw recipes. Do lookout for the English translated publications of Dr. Maran’s recipe books. For now, here are a few recipes Dr. Maran shared during the meet (he shared some more as well – but I haven’t been able to blog them all). We also had the great fun of eating all of these items (and more) prepared by Maranji’s assistant/cook Mr. Ramesh (who was helped by many parents as well including Divya, Nandhini and others).

Here are some of these items/recipes:

A healthy alternative to Cow’s Milk and Morning drinks:

A healthy Starter/Snack:

Sweet and Raw Ladies Finger Starter (or alternate with Snake Gourd)
Raw Ground nut / Till Laddu Snack
Sprout Salad

Main Course:

Mix Vegetable Kootu (or stew)
Gourd Salad
Lemon Aval (Flattened Poha) Rice
Sweet Aval (Flattened Poha) Rice (Flattened Poha)
Coconut Chutney
Ridge Gourd Chutney
Curd Aval

Desserts:

Aval Payasam
Stuffed Snake Gourd Sweet Treats/Cutlets

Never knew Snake Gourd can be so yummy eaten raw (Of course the Jaggery filling helped 😛 )

Other Accompaniments:

Beetroot Pickles
Ginger Pickles
Detox Waters

What I have shared is probably just 50% of what Maranji shared or even lesser. I hope you get a chance to attend his session yourself and get to learn as we all did this time.

Before I wrap up, I must also thank Mr. Mukesh Jain – who spent well over an hour making us all laugh – the only thing we didn’t do was ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing). We did everything else laughing – yoga, exercise, talking, moving, dancing, the formation of an energy circle….and what not. My god, Mr. Mukesh never let his smile or laugh dim even for a single second – such was his commitment to giving us all a memorable day of laughter. As they say, a day without laughter is a day wasted. Though it will by no means be a day wasted, Mr. Mukesh’s child-like enthusiasm in engaging all of us left us all grinning ear-to-ear well after the day was over.

As an ending note, let me express my gratitude to Dr. Maran, Mr. Ramesh, Mr. Mukesh Jain, Velu, Mani, many parents and volunteers who made this event happen (Devika, Divya, Nandhini, many more I am sure ). God bless them with a happy, healthy life!

Author: Vaijayanthi

Detox Waters

One of the traditional views of Naturopathy considers all diseases as nothing but a result of morbid toxin accumulation in the body. So by removing these toxins (detoxification), you can regain good health is the belief (provided one also follows the other things required for good health including cultivating a sound mind and physical exercise).

To help in this detoxification, you can prepare a few Detox Waters that can help you maintain good health every day. There are specific Detox Waters depending upon the disease you suffer from. Or, you can just alternate between each of these Detox Waters one day a week and cover all the days and stay detoxed! Don’t over do it though. Listen to your body and follow its wisdom.

Types of Detox Waters:

Jeera Water
Amla Water
Nannari Water
Rose Water
Methi Water
Lotus Water
Dhania Water

How to prepare and use the Detox Water:

If it’s Jeera/Methi/Dhania – take 1 spoon. If it is Amla, take one fruit (grate it). If it is Nannari or Rose petals, take a handful. If it is Lotus, take one full medium sized flower (along with stem, petals, etc.)
Soak the base component overnight in 250 ml of water, preferably in a copper vessel.
Boil the above mixture the next day morning till the water reduces to half.
Take off the flame and filter out the solids.
Dilute the leftover concentrated liquid to 1 or 1.5 liters.
Sip throughout the day (or as long as it lasts) ensuring it mixes well with your saliva before you swallow.

Benefits of Detox Water:

Jeera Water helps aid weight loss and also increases the body metabolism. Also, helps in addressing digestive issues
Amla Water helps address blood-related problems.
Nannari Water is good at healing urinary issues and balancing pitta in the body
Rose Water (typically red desi varieties are preferred) helps in reducing acidity and is great for skin problems, balancing pitta, body/mouth adour, and Blood Pressure
Methi Water is good for helping with diabetes, hair fall, and women’s problems such as white discharge
Lotus/Dhania Water is very very good for balancing blood pressure (both high and low blood pressure).

If you’d like, you can also add the juice of one lemon to the diluted detox water for more flavor.

Author: Vaijayanthi

Sweet and Raw Ladies Finger Starters

Have you ever thought of using Ladies Finger as a starter except in the form of Bhendi Fry? How about if we give you a recipe for a sweet and RAW Ladies Finger starter that you will not only eat happily but will even look for a second serving? Here, take a look at this super simple and super delicious recipe for Ladies Finder Starter.

Ingredients:

Quarter Kilo Ladies Finger
2-3 Lemons (adjust according to taste)
5-6 spoons of Jaggery powder (adjust according to taste)
Juice of 1 or 2 medium size Ginger pieces

Method:

Wash the Ladies Finger well and pat dry.
Slit them sideways partially (not fully; the Ladies Finger should not come apart and should stay intact). Ensure there are no worms.
Combine the juice of lemons, Ginger and Jaggery Powder and mix until the Jaggery is dissolved completely. You may add a bit of water to get a smooth syrupy consistency.
Now, soak the slit Ladies Finger in this syrup for up to 3 hours.
Your Sweet and Raw Ladies Finger Starter is now ready to be served.

Few Health Benefits:

Ladies Fingers are a great source of natural Iodine and can be a wonderful natural remedy to deal with Thyroid problems.
The combination of Lemon and Ginger juice helps make the raw Ladies Finger easier to consume as-is without cooking/frying. This helps ensure all the nutritional properties of Ladies Finger are kept intact.

It’s enough if one person has 2-3 of these starters every day to get all the health benefits.

You can also replace the Ladies Finger with Snake Gourd and make Sweet and Raw Snake Gourd starter. Come on now, give it a try!

Author: Vaijayanthi

Sprouts Milk (Vegan Milk)- Great alternative to Cow’s Milk

If you have been looking for a good alternative to Cow’s milk (either due to health reasons, cruelty reasons or any other reasons), you have many choices today – including Almond Milk, Soy Milk, Rice Milk, Hemp Milk, Coconut Milk and Sprouts Milk. While the first five may be commercially available off the shelf in super markets, they can also prove to be a bit economically unviable for everyday use. In such a case, do not worry!

Here’s a wonderful alternative to these Vegan Milk options which is also very very healthy – and what’s more – you can make five different variations of this milk as well! Yes, I am talking about Sprout’s Milk. Let’s quickly look at how to make this milk before we look at the benefits of this milk.

How to make Sprout’s Milk:

Take any one millet/gram of your choice from the ones listed above – Finger Millet or Pearl Millet or Foxtail Millet Or Horsegram or Whole Greengram.
Wash it once, remove any impurities/stones and then soak it for 5 – 6 hours (or overnight). You need not wait till the sprouts fully appear but if you want to do so, there’s no harm either. This recipe looks at how we can prepare Sprout’s milk fresh every day with just five minutes of work the previous night.
Once the millet/gram is soaked sufficiently (and just about starting to sprout if you let it longer than 6 hours), put it in a blender with some water and grind it nicely.
Filter out the liquid with a fine mesh. This is your thick Sprout’s Milk.
Add equal quantity of hot water to this extracted thick Sprout’s Milk.
Add Jaggery and Elaichi to give it sweetness and flavor and consume as an alternative to regular milk.

Why Sprouts Milk:

As you know, millets and grams pack quite a punch of nutrients and are considered super foods.
They are also cheaper compared to any other type of vegan milk including Almond Milk.
They also help you replace the so called commercial health drinks which in reality may not have much nutrition at all.

Do give this recipe a try and let us know how it worked for you. Perhaps, you can even combine one or two millets and extract mixed Sprout’s Milk.

Author: Vaijayanthi

Greens Kheer – A healthy morning drink

In the previous two posts, we saw three wonderful recipes for a healthy morning drink (Curry Leaves Kheer, Carrot OR Beetroot Kheer). We can also replace the curry leaves/carrot/beetroot with Greens such as Ponnagannai (Alternanthera/ Matsyakshi/ Honganne/ Ponnaganti koora) or Karisalankanni (Bhringaraj). Both these greens (healing herbs actually) are fantastic for eyesight and skin health.

By alternating between these five different recipes, one can ensure a healthy, balanced nutrition is provided to the family throughout the week. What’s more, these recipes also be a great alternative to cow’s milk being Vegan recipes.

Here are also a few tips that can help you adapt these recipes quickly into your lifestyle:

If you or your child prefers a hot drink in the morning, you can simply use medium hot/warm water to prepare the juice. Do not boil it, however.
You may also grind the Coconut separately and extract the Coconut milk and then add it to the other ingredients while grinding. That way, you can get the Coconut fiber separately – which you can use in your regular cooking for chutneys, sabjis, sambar, etc.
You can also try doing it with few other vegetables (or maybe even fruits). The fun lies in experimenting with a taste and consistency you will fall in love with (or rather your children will come to love!).
You may also try adding a bit of water to get a more liquid consistency. You may need to increase the Jaggery though.
You can also replace Jaggery/Country Sugar with Palm Sugar and get the additional benefits of Palm Sugar
The consistent use of Coriander and Ginger in all the recipes ensures good digestion power.

Additionally, these recipes should take you just about 3-5 minutes to prepare provided you have all ingredients handy. This is much lesser than the time taken to boil milk and prepare your health drink/coffee/tea. So that’s time saved in the kitchen which you can use elsewhere!

If you have a variation of this kheer which you think will work great, please do try and share your feedback with us. We would love to try it as well!

Author: Vaijayanthi

Carrot/Beetroot Kheer – A healthy morning drink

Carrot/Beetroot Kheer

Ingredients:

One Carrot OR Beetroot
2 -3 medium size pieces of Coconut (Or a bit less than half a crown)
5 – 6 spoons of powdered Jaggery/Country Sugar (Depending on how sweet you want it)
A bunch of Coriander Leaves
A piece or two of Ginger
4-5 Elachi

Carrot Kheer (Skip the curry leaves shown in the picture)

Method:

In a blender or mixie, grind all the ingredients listed together
For children, filter the liquid and separate the fiber out
For adults, you may consume the juice as-is with the fiber if possible else you may filter the fiber out as well. Feed the pulp to your plants/compost.
Your super healthy Curry leaves kheer is ready. Pour into a re-usable glass and enjoy the innumerable health benefits.

Few Health Benefits:

Carrot is extremely good for eyesight and skin.
Beetroot is good for Iron and Magnesium and helps increase Haemoglobin in Blood.
Both Carrot and Beetroot helps increase immune power and are a good source of vitamins and minerals.

Author: Vaijayanthi

Curry Leaves Kheer – A healthy morning drink

Curry Leaves Kheer

Ingredients:

Two handsful of Curry Leaves
2 -3 medium size pieces of Coconut (Or a bit less than half a crown)
5 – 6 spoons of powdered Jaggery/Country Sugar (Depending on how sweet you want it)
A bunch of Coriander Leaves
A piece or two of Ginger
4-5 Elachi

Curry Leaves Kheer (you may additionally add a carrot or beetroot piece as well)

Method:

In a blender or mixie, grind all the ingredients listed together
For children, filter the liquid and separate the fiber out
For adults, you may consume the juice as-is with the fiber if possible else you may filter the fiber out as well. Feed the pulp to your plants/compost.
Your super healthy Curry leaves kheer is ready. Pour into a re-usable glass and enjoy the innumerable health benefits.

Few Health Benefits:

Extremely good for your hair and scalp; Promotes hair growth and controls hair fall
Helps increase digestive power and heals stomach ulcers
Good for dealing with women health related problems
The Kheer is also a complete nutritionally balanced drink – Curry leaves provide Iron, Magnesium, and Calcium, Jaggery provides Carbohydrates and Iron, Coriander helps balance the heat generated by Iron (compensating excess pitta), and Coconut acts a natural source of rich Protein, and Ginger helps increase digestive power.

Author: Vaijayanthi

A meeting of Kindred Spirits – Part 2 of 3

5^th Year Anniversary Celebration of Swarnaprashna Parenting Group

The second day dawned bright and early. The first session of the day was Yoga – guided graciously by parent Bhooma. Though Bhooma did not have any indication that she will be called on to conduct the session (as the other person who was supposed to do it had to drop out due to unavoidable reasons), she enthusiastically stepped in and ensured the parents were not disappointed. I heard the Yoga session was very energetic and rejuvenating. Unfortunately, I missed it! The early morning chirping of the many birds on campus and the peacocks from the nearby fields compensated a wee bit for missing such a wonderful session though (or so I consoled myself!).

After a quick breakfast, all parents gathered at the pyramid room with much anticipation and glee for the day’s program. We were not disappointed. The formal program kicked off with a small recognition ceremony to honor the core parents who have contributed their time and energies over the last few years towards the growth of the Swarnaprashna parenting group. Without these do-gooders, our community will not be what it is today. Many thanks to these kind souls who continue to dedicate their efforts to the cause of holistic living and parenting.

Parent Nandhini and core member of Swarnaprashna Parenting Community getting honored (one of the many parents who have tirelessly worked over the last few years towards the cause of holistic living and parenting)

Parent Team honoring Velu Jayaprakash, the man behind Swarnaprashna who is making all this possible (through the guidance of his Guru as he likes to acknowledge)

After the recognition ceremony, Ranjan Mullaratt, a Kalaripayattu expert with 30 years experience in the art form, spent over an hour with us sharing his knowledge about the most ancient martial art of the world. Kalaripayattu (Kalari meaning an enclosed space and payattu meaning practice), which is said to have originated from South India, is believed to be taught first to Sage Parasurama by Lord Shiva. The art form was eventually spread world-wide by Bodhirama including to China. Today, it is practiced widely in Kerala, Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh in India. Placing a high importance on the guru-shishya parambara, Kalaripayattu is extremely beneficial for both physical and mental health. It follows the principles of Ayurveda and incorporates traditionally guarded secrets on vital nerve points to disarm the opponent in a fight.

Ranjan Mullaratt, a Kalaripayattu expert talking to us about the age-old martial art form

Next up was the super fun, super powerful, super thought-provoking session on Natural Foods by Dr. Maran G. A raw food activist and a firm proponent of Naturopathy, Maran G is what you might call a bomb of energy and traditional knowledge. Dr. Maran runs a tiny food joint in Sivakashi, Tamil Nadu named “Thaivazhi Iyarkai Unavagam” (translated roughly as Traditional & Natural Food Restaurant) – it serves over 300 people each day with completely wholesome, raw and uncooked food and helps them fight many diseases and illnesses with food as medicine.

Dr. Maran G – A raw food activist and proponent of Naturopathy with Parent Gayathri (who helped translate Maranji’s priceless talk to English for the benefit of all parents who did not understand Tamil)

Known for his selfless and passionate work on spreading the wisdom of consuming raw and natural food, Maran G is a wonderful human being who has dedicated his life for the betterment of the health of his fellow beings. An hour or so with him was just not enough – his enthusiasm, deep knowledge, jovial nature, literary skills, and caring attitude made us all wish he could spend the entire day with us talking! WE just couldn’t get enough of the many tips and recipes he shared with us all so generously. God bless Maran G and his kind – we were in turn for sure blesses to be part of his session that day. Though I am planning to cover the tips/recipes given by Maran G in another blog post, here’s what he really wanted us all to take away that day, if not anything else:

Pearls of Wisdom from Maran G’s talk:

Drink plenty of water
The more flour/starch you consume, the more pain you will suffer. Avoid plan starch food.
Follow the Natural way of life – have more fruits and vegetables (raw). Consume Amla/Guava/Dates/Fig in plenty.
Walking for 10 mins barefoot is equal to walking 1 hour in shoe. Try to walk barefoot as much as possible and stay connected to Mother Earth.
A lifestyle without physical work and filled with bad food habits is sure asking for trouble.
One must do the super brain yoga (thoppukaram as it’s called in Tamil, usually performed in front of Ganesha with both hands on the ears) at least 21 times a day to stay fit, young, and healthy.
At least one meal a day must be Fruits only. Once in a day at least, you must do fireless cooking!
For Thyroid, Diabetes and improving memory power, soak 2 Ladies Finger in water overnight and have that water in the morning.
Try to have a wholesome and raw breakfast. You can always add spice to it in the form of pepper, jeera, ajwain. Replace Coffee/Tea with Dry Ginger Tea.
Physical exercise a must for a healthy body. If you don’t have time to do exercise, you can at least walk in the form of a 8 shape right at home
Most importantly, pls ensure your children inculcuate the good habit of eating raw and healthy food – enrich their water bottles and tiffin boxes with the best food Mother Nature herself has prepared lovingly.
Do not watch any TV, mobile or other devices while eating.
Never eat after 7 in the night!

The above is just barely scratching the surface of what he shared. You must definitely attend one of his sessions if possible in the future.

Standing ovation to Dr. Maran – one hour with him is just NOT enough!

We all proceeded to lunch – thinking if we should start practicing all Maran G told us right away – unfortunately, bad habits formed over decades of lifestyle needs at least a few days of convincing one’s own mind and self before making the switch. Maran G, however, did not think so. He liberally shared his meager lunch of 2-3 fruits with everyone at the Lunch hall. Indeed, a very selfless Samaritan he is.

Usually, any session planned right after lunch will turn out to be boring (even if it is not really so – thanks to our full stomachs!). But we had a surprise coming for us. The team from Kreedaa Kaushalya, who came all the way from Mysore, enthralled us the next one hour with the traditional games of India. Right from Indian Chess, Pagaday, Aliguli Manay to Adu Huli Ata, it was a fun session where the children and adults even got to play a game or two.

Traditional Games that transported us to our childhoods

The team of RG Singh, Raghu Dharmendra, and Dileep Gowda have done extensive research on the traditional games, their use and their importance in our culture and have made their knowledge freely available to anyone who is willing to pay attention. In this day and age where children are glued to mobile screens for hours together, traditional games offer a hope and promise of getting them back to an engaging form of play which are also designed to make them more mentally agile and fit. Do check out the Kreedaa Kaushalya team at their shop opposite Mysore Zoo or catch them at their blog here: http://kreedaakaushalya.blogspot.in/. And don’t forget to introduce your children to the rich game culture of India.

Children getting lost in the wonder of Traditional Games, thanks to the session by Team Kreeda Kaushalya

The next session was on Karathandavam, another martial art form of India. It was very interesting to learn about this ancient art and appreciate the beauty of many practices that were part of our culture.

A quick demo of Karathandavam – another ancient martial art form

A quick water break later, all of us assembled again for another one of the most interesting sessions of the meet – Yoga point of view from Thirumoolar by Siddha Dr. Selva Shanmugam. A very deep subject, with profound wisdom and insights, Thirumanthiram and its teachings on Yoga and Medicine is not very easy to be discussed in just a few hours. But Dr. Selva Shanmugam did fantastic justice to it, while still keeping it absolutely relevant and informative, by sharing his decades of research and knowledge of Thirumoolar’s text. The following lines from his presentation stand out strikingly clear even today in my mind:

Andathil ullathae Pindam,

Pindathil ullathae Andam

Meaning what’s there in the Macrocosm (the Universe) is what’s there in the Microcosm (The Body) i.e. man is a universe in himself. These lines were said many thousands of years ago by Siddhas (ancient Tamil Sages) – and it is being discovered to be true by modern scientists even as we read these lines today. Whether one views these lines literally or with more spiritual intent, it is certainly not something one can just understand in a day and gain mastery (in fact, nothing in life is like that, but these kind of topics definitely need their own time, effort and dedication to really understand, let alone start practicing them).

Dr. Selva Shanmugam sharing his decades-long insights from Thirumanthiram

After that intense session, parent, healer and acupuncture therapist, Anandji did a light and simple session on Body, Mind and Soul – he gave us a very good understanding of the these three realms and even shared an easy way to meditate. Thanks Anandji – it was indeed a new way of looking at meditation (where one just lets the thoughts flow without getting too attached and instead focus on “who” is having these thoughts).

Healer Anandh talking about a simple meditation technique

Post that, it was time for little Ishita’s first birthday celebration!! A celebration where everyone wanted to get as close to the birthday cake as possible!! Joking aside, I am still in awe of the parents’ clear commitment and conviction towards holistic living (they sacrificed the usual first birthday celebrations and instead chose to attend the outing and celebrate the little one’s birthday with us). Anyhow, again on a lighter vein, thanks to dear Ishita and her parents, we got to taste one of the yummiest Millet based cakes made by parent Sharanya (again proving the power of parenting community coming together for the benefit of each other). God bless you, Ishita dear!

Little Ishita’s birthday celebration at Swarnaprashna’s fifth-year anniversary celebration 🙂

Someone called for a quick group photo before Maranji takes leave. Check out the cute little guy striking a pose in the front!

The day wound up with Dinner and another meditation practice session by Velu. This time, the meditation was focused on building a positive aura around ourselves, an energy ball of protection and good will. Suffice it to say, it was one of the most intense moments of my life! Beyond that, it is very difficult to write about what we all experienced – a mild sense of liberation, lingering joy and the thrill of having discovered our own mind power – definitely something to be experienced rather than heard from someone!

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