YOGUE: INSIYA RASIWALA-FINN

Yoga + Ayurveda. Rituals for Modern Wellness.

Making Sense of Kamloops

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Warning. Trigger…. Residential Schools.

If you’ve heard the news about the mass burial site uncovered last week at the Kamloops residential school in British Columbia, Canada; you have no doubt felt shock, sadness, turmoil and confusion. 

It has rocked me to my core. Not because I wasn’t aware of the harsh past of Canada’s founding – but because I’ve been trying to understand and process the weight of these recent findings.

You see, it doesn’t matter that we bring these atrocities to light, if we don’t shift our belief systems and how we live in our current world.

The world we have inherited is a violent world. We have internalized the western, rational, patriarchal view that life is a battle, that we must overcome not just hardships, but also whatever we don’t understand, what is different; and what we are scared of. 

We do not live in harmony with anything. 

We sanitize our life. We sanitize our religion. We fight our illnesses. We suppress what is not like us. And we keep doing it over and over again.

The residential schools in Canada much like in other colonies, were an arm of Christian “god fearing” people supposedly; but really they were an extension of power hungry colonists who knew that if they suppressed the powerful beliefs of the local culture; they could win. 

This has resulted in decades of dysfunctionality amidst the First Nations people in Canada – because when your past is erased – and you are told it is worth nothing – your soul is scarred – and it takes immense bravery, courage and determination to re-find your wholeness once again. 

I don’t claim in any way to understand the depth of this pain. I share only an insight that has been crystallizing for me – that may provide a way in.  

As someone who grew up in a minority group within a minority group – I was born into the Bohra community, a small sect of Shia Muslims in India – I understand what it feels like to have my culture and traditions misunderstood.  While at school in Bombay, I saw almost no one from a similar background – Muslims were a minority – and we didn’t celebrate our difference in an India that was growing less and less tolerant of our religion.

Plus, as someone in a small Shia sect, we did not celebrate the same holidays as even other Muslims; which made even celebrating festivals a complicated explanation to my teachers or friends.

I remember early on feeling that I lived one life that was visible and secular; at school, while playing sports and interacting with most people; yet, also had this secret “other” life where I dressed differently, went to the mosque with my parents and ate particular foods. I remember feeling embarrassed at the thought of being caught in traditional clothing by school friends – and I left my ancestral faith as soon as I left home – and yet it definitely left a void in me. Yes I was able to adapt easily to many situations and places in my life – yet I never felt like I fully belonged anywhere.

My point is, no matter what the government of Canada says – i.e. that there was no desire to erase the indigenous peoples’ of Canada’s culture or language by putting children into residential schools – when you take a child, out of their home – away from their people, away from their natural way of being, away from love and nourishment; you create confusion; separation and from that emerges great cycles of pain and suffering; that exacerbate as we continue down this path. 

I have walked the downtown east side streets of Vancouver- where years ago I helped to start a yoga program for women on the streets. Most of the homeless women in Vancouver, are indigenous. This is not a coincidence. It is a reaction to having ones totality stripped away. It is the byproduct of a search for meaning and wholeness.

When I chose to move to Canada, I was not aware of how deep and terrible its Colonial roots really were. Yet, being from India; I know how harsh the colonial shadow is. I grew up at a time when speaking English well was prized above everything else, where in the process I lost my native language… and with it so many old stories. And while my education prepared me for the world, it did not reveal how much I missed by not knowing and fully understanding my roots.

This is still something I am grappling with.  

What is our way forward?

  • We must question using not just our minds, but our hearts.
  • We must live less violently.
  • We must live less in fear.
  • We must allow ourselves to grieve.
  • We must support diversity and diverse voices so we can understand one another’s real stories. 
  • We must learn not to numb our pain through substances, but instead offer support, a shoulder, a hug and an ear.
  • We must not support inequity – especially with our dollars.
  • We must live more in harmony with our environment – and trust the wisdom of nature. 
  • Nature loves diversity. It encourages it. Let’s keep encouraging this in ourselves as well.

I believe in the ultimate kindness of humanity. We have to let go of the crusty, contracting outer layers of fear to get there. It is time. Our children are our way forward. 

June is national Indigenous month in Canada. I’m tagging a few accounts here that have some great resources to educate us and can help us to grow in love, connection and communication. 

https://www.instagram.com/morning.star.designs/. The Artwork shown above is by the artist Alanah Jewell as well.

https://www.instagram.com/yogaoutreach/

https://www.instagram.com/yogaoutreach/

NAMASTE,

Insiya

Cultivate Good Agni.

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What is Agni and why should we care about it?

In Ayurveda, we look at our digestion as a marker of our immunity. If we are digesting food and life experiences well, it means that we are reasonably healthy. Our inner digestive fire is known as our Agni, the Sanskrit word for fire; and it is our work in life to keep our Agni balanced, well fired and happy. We can see the signs of good Agni visibly in someone. They generally have a healthy glow and radiance and do not fall ill easily.

Why is maintaining good Agni important especially right now? 

Good, balanced Agni helps our body to experience its ultimate state of vitality. We don’t feel depleted, we don’t feel sluggish and we are able to eliminate waste matter efficiently out of our bodies, which helps to keep our immunity functioning at its optimal level, thus allowing us to keep flus and viruses more easily at bay.

How do we keep our Agni happy? Here are a few tips.

  • Choose simple, wholesome foods and eat them ideally lightly steamed or cooked. Cooked food is easier on our digestion than raw foods, especially in cold weather aka the flu season.
  • Eat diversely and what is in season. Eating what is local and in season is essential to maintaining more harmony with our larger environment, which is what we are trying to do to maintain healthy gut flora.
  • Eat unsprayed, organic foods as much as is possible – the toxins in soil and pesticides leaks directly into food grown in this way and right into our bodies. But I know you know this.
  • Eat moderately:  The Ayurvedic maxim is to eat 1/3 solid food, 1/3 liquid food and to leave 1/3 of your stomach empty so that your Agni has room to function well. i.e. It is not crowded.
  • Avoid cold water and especially ice water. This is akin to throwing cold water on a smoldering fire. It will put it out. Instead sip warm water and digestive teas to gain the opposite effect.
  • Do not snack all day.  This is hard, especially with so many of us at home and close to our pantries and refrigerators. But I want you to understand this point!!! Because it is so so important!!!

    When we eat constantly through a day, we add undigested food to digested food already in our stomach, which confuses our body and slows down our metabolic fire, just as if we were adding wet logs (new food) to a burning fire (previously digested food).  This creates sluggishness and slows down our digestion.

    Our bodies and our bellies love routine; and we learn how to secrete stomach acids according to when we are most used to eating a meal so we prime our body to digest food well.

    So the best thing you can do for your digestion right now, whether you are still at home, or venturing out, is to focus on creating a routine and stick to it.

    Ideally, eat a light breakfast that lasts you until lunch. Make lunch your most substantial meal. If you are starving at 4 p.m., have a  light snack – possibly a handful of nuts or maybe some fruit; and then eat something stewy or soupy at dinner so your body does not have to work too hard at night to digest your food.
  • Finally, pay attention to how you feel after eating. Notice if your food gives you a sense of energy and vitality vs. making you feel tired.

If you’d like to learn more, email me directly; and do check out my new just released course Urban Ayurveda, where I teach you how to heal yourself daily by living Ayurvedically.

Namaste,

Insiya

A Yoga Routine for when you feel crummy.

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It has not been an easy year for me here in Bali. Since our family stayed on after our flights home were cancelled last March, we have navigated tropical fevers, braved an incessant rainy season and also had some accidents. Last October, a week before my birthday I experienced a really bad motorbike accident, which left me impaired for almost two months, before I really felt like I was back and healthy in my body.

Then last week, I had surgery on my left foot to remove a callus on the ball of the foot – an injury that has been impeding me from running or walking with ease for almost six years now. It first originated when I stepped on some broken glass!!! 🙁

After doing a yoga practice with a girlfriend where I wobbled every time I stood on my left (injured) foot; I committed to myself that I would look after this injury asap.

For me that meant no more waiting, but instead, taking action.

Last week, I went to the hospital here where I had been referred to a plastic surgeon by a dermatologist who I saw last November about the injury. Right, I was finally following up!!!

The consult appointment also included surgery. It happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to process the implications – In Canada, one podiatrist told me to think about surgery as being such an end of the road decision that I promptly gave up the idea altogether. And considering how many nerves lay on the soles of our feet, I understood how important a decision this was.

Yet, after the 20 minute procedure in Bali when I saw how much hardened callused tissue the doctor had removed, I was shocked and relieved. He also promised me no pain while walking once the foot healed. Of course, now it also meant, waiting and resting my foot while it healed.

It has been very difficult to stay stationary this past week. I realize over and over how much I rely on being in my body to feel good. And how important movement and yoga are to my wellbeing, my overall mood and my level of happiness.

I’ve tuned into to a different yoga and movement practice than I am normally accustomed to; and realize how much even a very simple routine can help move stuck energy and emotion out of the body.

Since I cannot weight bear on my left foot at all right now, the only poses I have been able to practice are on my back, and simple cat cows. Here is a simple routine that has helped me breathe, connect and feel more like myself. I would recommend it to anyone suffering from mobility issues, hip instability, if you are recovering from an accident, or if you simply want some gentle, healing yoga.

Here is the routine. I hope you enjoy it.

To begin:

Child’s Pose or Wisdom Pose: 5 – 8 breaths.

Settle down in child’s pose for 5 – 8 breaths. Use a cushion between your hips and heels if your hips cannot touch your heels (I could not put any pressure on my left foot so I actually just had my hips up slightly above my heels). Knees can be wider than hips if you have no issues with your knees, otherwise, have the knees together. I did this as for me right now, gathering and containing my energy was what I needed in my practice.

Cat to Cow: 8- 10 breaths.

Next, come onto all fours and play with spinal mobility in your cat / cow poses. Allow yourself to exhale as you draw the navel in towards the spine and round the back, then release the belly down as the head lifts up on the inhale. Initiate the spinal roll from your pelvis. Notice that you stabilize using both feet and hands, don’t dump weight onto the knees. Play with this movement, practice lifting alternate arms and legs and also make the spinal rolls as big and fluid as you need to. Again, my left foot here limited my shifting weight from side to side so I stayed with a forward/ back roll which felt amazing.

Sphinx Pose: 5 breaths

From cat / cow roll forward onto the belly and lay down, forehead onto the mat. Draw the elbows to either side of the rib cage, press down through fingertips and slowly raise your torso off the mat. Elbows will line up approximately below the shoulders when you do this. If the spine feels more open, lengthen the arms to your own degree. Breathe here. Notice that you have to press down on the tops of the feet so you don’t hinge the spine and instead create a supple curve of opening through the entire front body.

Thread the Needle Pose: 5 – 8 breaths each side

Release back down onto the mat, roll onto the back and bend the knees. Cross right ankle on top of the left, thread the hands behind the left thigh. Use your right elbow to press the right thigh away from you, as you draw the left knee in towards you. Flex the feet so you protect your knee; and keep drawing the the left knee in closer. You should feel a (joyful 🙂 ) opening on the outer right hip as well as release in the lower back. Remember not to lift the pelvis up in this pose or you will miss the length in the lower back. Exhale through an open mouth and make any sound you need to let energy and emotion flow. Repeat on the other side.

Adrenal Draining: 8 – 10 breaths

This technique, specific to Blissology Yoga is done on one’s back. Here we counter the body’s tendency to breathe only in the front, by connecting to the back body and specifically try to calm our over amped adrenal glands.

Draw the knees into the chest and hug the arms around the backs of the legs. Clasp the hands so the shoulders can work as little as possible. Let the shins drape over the forearms and hug the knees into the chest. If possible, wrap the arms around the backs of the thighs and drape the shins over the forearms. Feel the bones of the back body in the back of the rib cage, the pelvis, shoulder blades and the skull.  With each let each long, slow and tension-releasing exhalation release the lower back down into the earth (like a hot knife through vegan butter).  (this analogy via @theblissologist)!!! Let your mind rest.  Feel the belly rising on inhalations, nourishing the organs and relax the tension stored there.

Breathe tension of out through and open mouth and feel the pleasure of finally finding the off switch.  Today is a beautiful day and you are exactly where you need to be. 🙂

Daily Habits for Happiness

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This morning, I awoke later than usual. The sun was not its brightest yet, as the clouds still washed the sky after the constant rainstorms of the last night.

I had gone to sleep later than I usually do; had not slept well through the night; and subsequently woken up groggy and bleary eyed. Why? I had surgery on my left foot, 2 days ago; and the pain was still quite intense. Why I had to have surgery is another story that I will share later in another blog.

Yet, the effects of the surgery on my day to day life are what concern me right now.

I realize, as I hobble slowly and carefully across the still wet floor – our Bali villa is quite open to the rainy season – that I am feeling a little unmoored and ill at ease today. As if something is not quite right.

Then it hits me. My morning routine has unravelled in the past two days. And it’s making me feel completely out of sorts.

It’s similar to the feeling you have if you’ve been traveling for a while, or have been in various time zones. That feeling of not being in rhythm with your life.

I am not someone who actually loves routine, but what I’ve realized over the years through my studies of Ayurveda, that routine helps me to thrive; which is why now there are a few non-negotiable things I do every single day in the same order. They’ve become part of who I am. Researchers call them “anchor habits.”

What is my morning routine?

I wake up by 6 or 6:30 a.m., stretch in bed; then walk over to the bathroom sink to splash cool water on my face and in my eyes. Then I scrape my tongue with my copper tongue scraper – a simple cleansing practice that helps to wake up my digestive system and signals to my body to empty the waste from yesterday. Usually after this, I go to the bathroom; or first drink a mug of warm water with fresh squeezed lemon (and then go to the bathroom). After the lemon water, I also do a quick neti rinse with warm, sea-salted water.

Today; it takes effort, but I endeavor to do all my morning practices. I drink my lemon water; I do my neti rinse and then I prop up my left foot way up high – the doctor said “elevate your foot” – on the kitchen counter and standing on one leg, I make myself some chai. I don’t really need to take the trouble to make myself chai with fresh spices; but in the act of pounding some cardamom and fennel and peeling ginger root, I notice myself slowly releasing something. It is almost as if, my mind and body relax as I settle into the rhythm of doing familiar things – things my body and mind have been used to for days, months and years. And I feel myself smiling. I am feeling a bit more like myself.

And it hits me. Habits are essential to the health of our nervous systems. Good habits that is. Habits that promote our health and our wellness.

They help us to create a scaffolding for our day. A buffer zone that offers resilience in how we react to things that come at us. Helpful habits help us to self regulate, so we can withstand life, especially unexpected events.

How do they work?

When we create a routine or what I call a ritual, we start to create points of recognition for ourselves in our day, which help to anchor us, physically, but also mentally and emotionally.

For example, when we eat breakfast at a particular time every day; our bodies start to ready ourselves for that meal by secreting digestive enzymes in preparation for our food. This helps our gut to digest our food more easily every subsequent day. When we commit to walking or running every morning, after a few days of struggling just a little bit to get ourselves moving, we start to do this on automaton. The habit becomes part of our daily ritual and we begin to look forward to this activity, it starts to move us, vs. us trying to do the thing. Effort lessons and the rewards grow exponentially as we feel better and more alive and happy through the physical exercise.

Most importantly, habits take away the guess work out of our lives.

And guess work takes away uncertainty. If its Tuesday night, at our home, this means we stay in for dinner and it’s a veggie meal. Or hey, it’s Saturday night, which means we go out to a favorite restaurant that our son loves; and on Sundays and Sundays only, he is allowed croissants from the French bakery down the street.

Sometimes we break these habits and let spontaneity in; but I notice how quickly too much spontaneity leaves me feeling unsettled. In Ayurveda, we call this a little too much of the Vata dosha; which we want to keep in balance as much as possible in ourselves and in life.

As a mama, I know how important it is for children to have habits and a regular routine. And how it helps them to thrive because it helps them to look forward to things in a habitual way which takes away the anxiety of constantly having to try on something new.

Over the years I have worked hard to create daily habits in our family life to keep all of us on track. Some of these in no short order include:

  • Eating at approximately the same / similar times each day.
  • Waking up early, close to dawn and getting outside in the morning light.
  • Drinking my lemon water every morning + doing my net rinse.
  • Giving thanks for our food
  • Getting outside in nature every day for a bike ride, a walk or a run.
  • Doing one creative thing daily, it could be reading a poem, making art or doodling.
  • Saying or writing our gratefuls each night. Research shows this is the fastest way to shift your mood and I can see how it impacts our family daily. It may have been a challenging day, but when we start to look at what happened during a day with a gratitude filter, it really begins to shift things! 🙂
  • Daily yoga or meditation – this week, for me my yoga is simply putting my legs up a wall and letting myself rest.
  • Eating something seasonal to nourish our body, mind and heart.
  • Sleeping before 10 p.m.

It doesn’t always happen, but we have these daily habits that feel like they are a part of us. It takes us a little closer to the simplicity that only comes from the hard work of editing down life. And appreciating it fully.

What are some of your daily habits? How do they help you? Would you like to know more about Ayurvedic Rituals to keep you more in flow with the natural rhythms of day/ night? If so, take a look at this post here. And for my favorite and familiar chai recipe, head over here.

Bali Blessing Ceremony: Why Rituals Matter.

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We have now been “living” in Bali since mid February. Almost nine months.

And while it’s offered us countless beautiful sunsets, memorable surfs, visits to the tropical jungles and waterfalls and time to kindle new friendships and renew old ones; it has also been a place where we have continuously shape-shifted to adapt our work to this current time – which has meant a constant and not always happy dialogue with technology as we move more and more of our yoga teaching online; financial worries in this time of a global pandemic; dealing with tropical flus, bugs; more heat and a few accidents, two of which were way too close for comfort.

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Drink this Ayurvedic Tea NOW

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Like so many of us, I’ve been watching this wild unfolding we are collectively experiencing in our world with a constant feeling of being on edge. Of stepping into the unknown and not knowing what is to come.

In fact, it has taken me the last few weeks to begin to arrive at a place of acceptance of our current reality and with that, I’ve come to realize that I need to show up NOW more than ever to share whatever tools I’ve gained from years of studying Yoga, Ayurveda and being committed to natural healing practices, so that I can offer help.

Which brings me to what I want to share with you today.

It’s a concept that is key to Ayurvedic living and I hope will help you to stay strong and vibrant especially right now.

It is something I call Ayur-Immunity.

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The Bali BLISS List: Our Fav Yogi Friendly Cafes in Canggu

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Brunch offerings at Crate, Canggu

Eoin my global yoga teaching, surf-mad husband and I have been returning to Bali for the last thirteen years; and you might say that Bali is not unfamiliar to us. Yet, we are still surprised by the changes, development and increasing hipster-ness that continues to grow exponentially where we hang out in Canggu.

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Marie Kondo Yoga

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Image by Olive Nachle

A.K.A.: How Marie Kondo got into my Yoga Teaching Process, the Wholeness of Life and Creative Inspiration

I don’t usually plan what I’m going to talk about at my yoga classes in a formal way.  I don’t think about a “theme” and create the practice around it. But as I teach, I realize that in my teaching on that day, there is usually a specific flow, certain poses and words that emerge. So I thought I would share my process.

One of my other big loves in life is language and writing; and one of the things that I learned from writing school is that you cannot look for inspiration only in certain places.

No, instead, the work is to find inspiration, or “material” in all of life, in the simple, mundane things as well as the dramatic stuff. To use all life as a source from which to write from.

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Food Matters + Mindful Eating

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You know those days when everything comes together in a cohesive, integrated way and you begin to trust that there are no coincidences in life, simply events that align, once we open up to the possibility of alignment?

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Spiced Apple Almond Muffins

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Once there was a busy mama and yoga teacher who realized that in her goal of always cooking healthy, delicious meals for her family that she had forgotten to bake any treats for a long long time, well since Christmas.  :-). And so she magically created a little more time one busy morning, when she ought to have been doing more practical things like organizing her teaching calendar and getting her son to school right on time (he made it, thanks to Dad), and she decided to fill the kitchen with the aroma of fresh baked apples with some spice.

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Gratitude:

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