Dr. Deb's Blog
Mojo Recovery Formula: Kitchari + Ginger Tea + Supplements + Pavanmuktasana + Rest + Crazy Fun Dance Break
APRIL 25TH, 2012
Last week my 14 year-old son ran super high temperatures for 5 days. Despite all the conventional and non-conventional therapies I administered, his fever kept spiking in the middle of the night nearing 104 at times. Needless to say, I was concerned – and I didn’t get a good night’s sleep all week.
Gratefully, he recovered on Saturday – but I didn’t! I realized I needed to create a special regime to help myself bounce back so I could have all the energy I normally have to teach my Monday morning class. So on Sunday I took extra care and prepared myself a fresh batch of Kitchari (a very healing Ayurvedic dish), drank lots of ginger tea to help enhance my sluggish digestion (the only thing I could get my son to eat was ice cream….so that’s pretty much all I ate while he was sick…yikes!), took my supplements, did the gentle yoga asana practice called Pavanmuktasana, napped and put together a fabulously fun playlist for my Monday morning class.
By the time I woke up Monday morning my mojo was back! I was raring to go!! And we had the most crazy fun dance!!
Whether or not you’ve been caretaking a sick child or simply working so hard that you’ve neglected yourself, I thought you might enjoy learning my “mojo recovery formula”
Click here for my kitchari recipe.
Click here for my Ginger Tea recipe.
Click here for the supplements I use.
Click here for the Crazy Fun Dance Break Playlist
You’ll have to wait for instructions on Pavanmuktasana. I’m going to film the whole thing and send it to you soon so you can do it at home every day like I do.
Enjoy!!!
Deb
Powerful teachers in Bali
DECEMBER 14TH, 2011I’m learning more than I could have hoped for here in the jungles of Bali! We have been blessed with powerful guest teachers. We spent one day with a Sanskrit teacher, one day with an Ayurvedic physician and one day with a Jyotish (Vedic Astrology) master to enhance our studies.
On the Full Moon Eclipse we spent the day offering prayers of healing for ourselves, for our friends and for all beings.
There are SO MANY things to share with you…so I will begin by sharing one of my favorite things. As you know, I love to walk – so I am delighted to have a fabulous 3 mile walk through the jungle, gardens, rice paddies and aloe vera fields. I’m also delighted to have a 4-legged companion who accompanies me every day as I walk. His name is Boulou:
We start out on this road and then pass by the organic gardens that provide most of the food we are eating here at Bali Eco Village.
Then we walk beside rice paddies:
Then we climb up a hill to get a good view of the 2 volcanoes:
We pass cows ….
And often pass people as they balance wood, jugs of water, bundles of rice and baskets of food on their head:
Our last stop is at the Aloe Vera field to pick some shampoo/conditioner/skin tonic 
And we are welcomed back by the beautiful statues that adorn Bali Eco Village:
Sending you love,
Devika
Everyday is Thanksgiving….
NOVEMBER 23RD, 2011In Bali every day is Thanksgiving. All throughout the day, men and women dressed in ceremonial sarongs place offerings of flowers, food, incense and water at the entrances of their homes and and places of business as a symbol of their thanks and blessings.
I am so thankful for…
- The my lovely seat mate on the flight from LA to Tapei who accepted my dare to do yoga in the back of the plane…and for the 2 monks who shyly and then laughingly joined us.
- My safe journey halfway around the world.
- Jana Stanfield meeting me at the airport in Denpasar and guiding me to the beach at Sanur to decompress
- Amazing yoga at the Yoga Barn in Ubud
- The journey that is about to begin today- Thanksgiving Day – as I go to Bali Eco Village for 5 weeks of training.
- My husband Lee for stepping in so fully to allow me this amazing journey
- My son Micah for courageously letting his mom go so far away – for so long.
Love to all of you as you count your blessings,
Deb
What would you do if you were brave?
NOVEMBER 17TH, 2011If I were brave I would go to Bali for SEVEN weeks to study Ayurveda and Yoga and to experience living in an eco village in the jungle far away from city noises. I would go on this trip even if it meant missing the holidays with my family and even if it meant missing dance classes with my beloved Daring Diva Dance community.
Yep. You guessed it. I’m going to Bali!!
Before I tell you about the trip I want to pause and offer huge gratitude to my mom and dad for raising me to follow my heart. My mom was the kind of mom who was always there when I came home from school, snacks prepared and ready to listen to details about my day. My dad was the kind of dad who willingly helped out with the crazy school projects and took me shopping for prom dresses. He’s also the one who built the sacred screen in my home. They are both compassionate, bright, open-minded, adventurous, talented, deeply spiritual people who have encouraged me to follow my heart – even though from the very beginning it was clear that I was not conventional. In fact, my whole family lovingly calls me “the witch doctor.”
So with a mom and dad like that, I have been following my heart for a long time. What that meant for me is that from the time I was 21 until I became pregnant with my son about 15 years ago I traveled out of the country for extended periods of time at least once every 2 years to study, teach or do medical mission work.
For the past 14 years I have enjoyed sticking closer to home – speaking, teaching and being a mom. Now that my son is turning 14 and my husband is able to be home I am feeling the call to expand my horizons. So I am traveling to Bali to study with Yoga With Uma and will be staying at Bali Eco Village
My intentions for this trip are:
* to experience deep healing and rest
* to shed false outer layers of personality I have accrued as a part of living in a super busy world
* to learn Ayurvedic and yogic practices to help women move through midlife with grace, energy, vitality, zest and power
* to provide my son the opportunity to step more into his power without me hovering
My understanding is that I will only have occasional internet service. I do hope to be able to send you some photos and stories while I’m there. But in case you don’t hear from me for awhile, please know that I plan to share all the juicy details when I return…especially the part about moving through midlife with grace, energy, vitality, zest and power!
Meanwhile, many blessings to you as you complete 2011 and step into 2012.
Love, Deb
p.s. want more inspiration for being brave? Listen to my friend Jana Stanfield here.
My simple (and yummy) secret for sneaking in more veggies.
OCTOBER 19TH, 2011My simple secret for sneaking in more veggies…
I have never been a good cook. Mostly because I don’t have the patience to follow a recipe and measure things exactly. But sometimes I actually create a recipe worth sharing.
What makes one of my creations worthy of being shared? Here are my criteria:
- It is healthy
- It is so good that even a teenage boy will ask for second helpings
- It is easy to prepare
- It doesn’t require much clean-up
Here’s one of my favorite creations: 5 Veggie Spaghetti Sauce. I love serving this to guests and asking them to guess what is in it. So far NOBODY has ever been able to detect all 5 veggies. And many times people (usually boys) refuse to believe there is cauliflower in this sauce because they ‘hate’ cauliflower!
Here’s what you need:
A very large pot – at least the size of a dutch oven or bigger
A skillet for browning the meat
2 zucchini
2 yellow squash
2 large carrots
1 large onion
1/2 head cauliflower
1 clove garlic, chopped
Olive oil
1 pound organic ground beef or ground turkey (optional)
3 26-oz jars of organic pasta sauce
Pasta or Spaghetti Squash
Here’s what you do:
- Brown and drain the ground beef or turkey, then set it aside
- Using the S blade in a food processor, chop up all the veggies into teeny tiny bits so they are unrecognizable to people who don’t like veggies….that’s the sneaky part!
- Saute the garlic and onion in 2 tablespoons of olive oil for 3 minutes in the bottom of the large pot
- Add carrots, squash, zucchini and cauliflower. Saute 5 more minutes
- Add the browned meat. Here’s what it will look like before you add the pasta sauce. See how tiny all the veggies are?
5. Sitr in 3 jars of pasta sauce
Here’s one of my favorites:
I love to serve this 5 Veggie Spaghetti Sauce over Spaghetti Squash or Gluten-Free Pasta. This is one of my favorite gluten-free pastas – Sweet Potato & Buckwheat Noodles:
Please let me know if you are successful at sneaking these veggies into someone’s diet who doesn’t like veggies! That always makes me smile :)
