Ripples, rhythm & a kanji recipe

LAST NIGHT AS the sky started to lose its light there were smudges of blue and apricot-pink, as air filled with silence and sun slipped towards the horizon. The smell of earth began to rise and people closed their windows, the street putting itself to bed.

I saw the post box at the end of the road shining red in the setting sun. The leaf-tufted pollarded trees out front were reaching tall into the sky, with their new leaves rustling. A lone magpie hammered out his ch tak ch tak ch tak, then. Just the sound of stillness.

Time passed gently through this slow rhythm full of treasures. The sky’s fading rosy glows drifting into dark ink. Leaving the night sky watching over the hours before sunrise; ink-filled, cloudless, painting itself into a twinkling canopy, for night owls and hedgehogs. Badgers, foxes, moths and bats.

The changing of day to night and night to day. Beautiful. With it’s ever so slow nothing to hurry about rhythm, folding outwards like gentle ripples on a lake. And I thought to myself. This is sanity. And I remembered.

We are part of that.

Photo by M Maggs – pixaby

Ayurveda

Ayurveda is a nature-based approach to health. It recognises us as part of nature, and teaches that we need to live in balance with our biology and the natural environment that surrounds us. It recognises the connections between everything, including us and the eco-system we are part of. Life is viewed as a collaborative whole, dynamic system that orchestrates itself from an innate intelligence.

The creatures that make up the soil’s microbiome make their way into every fold of our body. They are in our eyes, our mouth, our nose, our brain, our gut and on our skin; helping to regulate this incredible human being that we are.

Within our gut they work with our own biology, enabling the healthy functioning of our mind and body. We exist thanks to this amazing living community of cells, bacteria, fungi & protazoa that balance each other for our physical and mental wellbeing; when we live in rhythm with nature.

If we stop living in harmony with our biology and the natural world that surrounds us, the rhythm goes, and we begin to create the conditions where dis-ease, and then further down the line disease, starts to take over. It is a gradual process that can take years to show up, and the underlying cause for much of today’s chronic illnesses and mental health problems.

Living in rhythm can be as simple as getting up just before the sun rises and winding down towards sleep when it sets.

Getting up just before the sun supports your biology to produce all the chemistry needed for the day that keep you healthy. Melatonin levels needed for sleep go down, cortisol, vitamin D and blood levels rise, digestive enzymes are created. In the evening, if you live by natural light, melatonin will increase, supporting a healthy sleep pattern. This rhythm is called the circadian rhythm here in the West.

There has been much research into our circadian rhythm that confirms the importance for both physical and mental health, of living in balance with this 24 hour solar cycle. In Ayurveda the circadian rhythm which explains our biological clock and it’s relationship to the 24-hour solar cycle, is explained through the ‘Dosha clock’. I will write more about this is future posts and talk about it in my ‘The Ayurveda Series’ podcast coming out later in the year.

Recipe

Kanji

Kanji is a soft, creamy, cosy, simple, hydrating rice porridge that Ayurveda recommends eating when you have been ill, or when your digestion needs a reset. It also makes a good breakfast or light supper. It is made with rice and some gentle spices. There are different recipes for kanji to suit different health needs. You can make it with 14 parts water to rice without any spices and strain, just consuming the liquid, for occasions when the person is very ill and unable to eat. In India kanji is often made with leftover rice from lunch, left in an earthenware pot with water and a lid to start fermenting. This recipe is good for digestion and gives a small breakfast sized portion.

INGREDIENTS (per person)

• 1/3 cup white basmati rice to 9 parts water

• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated turmeric (or 1/4 teaspoon powder)

• 1 tablespoon biolive yogurt

• Fresh lime juice to your taste likes

• Freshly chopped coriander leaf

• Rock salt to season to your taste likes

METHOD

You can cook kanji in a slow cooker by putting the first three ingredients into the pot and cooking on low overnight, then adding the other ingredients. Or you can put the first three ingredients into a pan and simmer until the water is absorbed and the kanji has a porridge consistency, then add the other ingredients.

Joy dots

Curling up on the sofa

A mug of something cosy

Taking time

Old wooden crate

Leaves rustling

Seedlings growing

Smell of fresh lime

Soft squidgy dates

The scent of roses

Honeysuckle and jasmine

Listening to the sea

Till Friday, warmest of wishes,

Lucy x

Intro photo by David Mark (on pixaby)