SPRING IS IN THE AIR -
It’s time to take out your blender out & bring on the green drinks! Spring is is the air-let the cleansing begin! I just did a major cleaning out of my refrigerator – yup all those containers with the “chemistry experiments” are now out of my fridge & it’s ready for a major infusion of green veggies for juicing!
I finally feel confident that Spring is here and it’s warm enough outside to do some juicing. I rarely do a full on juice fast because I’m vata dosha, the air element, and it is too cooling for my system. But I do include daily juices in my regime once it is warm enough outside. In Spring I love to do green juices, because the greens are especially cleansing for our liver and gall bladders, our Spring organs.
Associated with the Wood element in Chinese Medicine, Spring heralds an opportunity for change and expansion. Sometimes, however, the rising energy of Spring feels more like a craggy lurch. Change can be difficult, as we tend to bump into our habitual resistances on the path upwards. In Springtime, we often physically experience this as toxins running awry from our congested livers which get overloaded from rich, heavy Winter foods, stimulants, and our busy stressful lives. The rising energy of Spring can be a shock to our system and we often feel restless, angry, frustrated, edgy, stubborn, resistant, aggressive, and moody. Spring also often comes with headaches, eye issues, tight tendons, stiff necks, eczema and other skin problems. These are signs that our Spring organ network, liver and gall bladder organs, are overloaded with toxins and need some purification and loving attention.
It’s time to bring on the green and cleanse out the toxins, so we can enjoy the rebirth inside & out! I love this delicious green drink. I like including pineapple in my juices because it is a great natural source of melatonin, our “sleep hormone”. It helps me deepen my sleep so that I receive the healing and cleansing that occurs in the deep slow wave sleep in which the brain produces theta and delta waves. During slow wave sleep our body profoundly rests and our immune system is boosted. In this slow wave state of inactivity, the body can shift it’s energy to focus on regenerating bodily tissues, and restoring it’s energy sources.
In Spring I use alot of bitter greens in my juices to help cleanse the liver and gallbladder to help them stimulate bile production which helps break down foods and filters and detoxifes the blood. Some of my favorite bitter greens are dandelion and arugula.
PINEAPPLE DELIGHT
3 pieces of kale
5 dandelion greens
1/2 cucumber
1 celery stalk
8-10 chunks of pineapple
1/2 lemon
small bit daikon radish
handful of parsley
handful of cilantro
ginger
For a Spring yin practice, join me this Sat night for my SPRING REST & RENEWAL: RESTORATIVE SOUND HEALING workshop April 28, 6:15-8:15pm at Sacred Sounds Yoga in Manhattan for a deeply nourishing sound healing experience for the Spring meridians!
Sign up for a PRIVATE THAI MASSAGE SOUND HEALING SESSION for some special Spring liver love healing!
For a Spring yang practice, check out my SPRING CLEANSE FLOW video.
I know you’ll enjoy this a powerful detoxifying, core strengthening, twisting asana sequence that releases congestion in the liver and gall bladder meridians to powerfully cleanse the Spring organs and bring clarity and vitality to your being! Even if you can’t fully do the apex poses yet, do as much of the sequence as you can and you will deeply open your hips and cleanse your body & mind!
Happy Spring finally!!!
joyous heart!
Leigh