Kitchening your way to health.
By learning the healing secrets of cooking herbs, our kitchen becomes the first line of defense for our families' health.
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The humble kitchen has many tricks to offer you to protect your family's health.
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I have been teaching Ayurveda at various schools and conferences since 2014. Past events have included "Ayurveda Algorithm", "Fire up your digestion with Ayurveda", "Ayurvedic Geriatrics" etc.
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Client Sharings.
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Lactose Intolerance; Jack, 39, San Jose
I had the problem of not being able to digest milk. Conventional doctors had suggested taking it out of my diet. When I went to Vaidya Shaaranya, she clearly explained how milk is heavy and how it can be mixed with therapeutic kitchen spices and cooked to remove the heaviness and make it easy for digestion. She suggested a spiced-milk recipe that makes the milk more digestible and, surprisingly, it worked. Something that has been troubling me for last eleven years is now resolved!
Conquering Anxiety and Inability to Focus; Jim, 38, San Jose
In the last four years, I was noticing a lot of anxiety, getting angry, uneasiness, heaviness of head, cracking in my bones, and an inability to focus. I was not able to find the reason for that. I was eating salad and lot of raw foods thinking that raw is good for my body. She said - "But that is increasing your VATA". Oh, so I was doing the opposite of what was good for me! I am following what she said and it is working for me. Now I am calmer and able to focus. She solved all of that by just making proper diet and lifestyle changes.
Defeating Constipation; Shyam, 35, Sunnyvale
Ghee is such an important part of our health. I would always discard it as a fat-increasing substance. But she explained what an important role it played in lubricating the stomach and making bowel movement easier. Earlier I would have to drink a few glasses of water and wait and sometimes it would not work, but now, taking ghee with milk has removed my constipation as well.
Overcoming Chronic Hyperacidity; Tarun, 34, Fremont
I had been suffering from hyperacidity for many months. I was experimenting with different things to counter this problem; BC 25, Mediterranean diet, salads, cereal with cold milk for breakfast. BC 25 helped but the Mediterranean diet did not. I followed Vaidya Shaaranya’s recommendation of switching to Sunflower oil, eating more bitter and astringent vegetables, eating ghee upto 3 tbsp. daily, eating cooked food, and avoiding fermented food. It was not difficult to follow these recommendations. I followed them for about 6 weeks. I now have less frequent flare-ups of acidity (down from daily to 1-2 times a week). I even like the changes that I made to my diet. It's great to know what effects various foods have on acidity, and I enjoy eating the foods that work better for me. I don't need to take acidity medicine that frequently. As a result of this experience with Ayurveda, I feel more informed and aligned with my dietary needs.
Relieving Knee Pain; Amy, 43, Cupertino
I had suffered from knee pain since 4 yrs, was restricted to perform some of my regular activities. After consulting Dr. Shaaranya in 3 meetings, I was able to find a huge difference in my performance. It was no medication, but merely change in my diet in the daily routine, since she diagnosed me with increase in vata dosha. To rectify the imbalance, I just followed her given regimen about my daily food intake for about 6 months and a regular follow up.Thanks a bunch Dr. for your patiently listening to me and helping me to follow your suggestions. You have made me stronger to believe even more in Ayurveda.
About Me.
What really lights my fire about Ayurveda is that food is the first line of defense and this science helps us gain a therapeutic understanding of food. The humble kitchen becomes a powerful force in bringing health back to our families. Ayurveda empowers us to become self-reliant by understanding our own constitution, and developing an awareness of imbalance, along with the knowledge of restoring balance. It is a completely revolutionary approach that empowers us with a democratized language for health.
Bio
Geetanjali is an independent Ayurveda Consultant. She has served as the Dean of Ayurveda Studies at Vedika Global. Geetanjali began her career as a molecular biologist at Georgetown and Stanford University's research labs and, in 2015, became the first Ayurveda instructor in Stanford University's Health Improvement Program, where she regularly teaches "The Ayurveda Algorithm." She is a speaker/workshop instructor/panelist at various national conferences like the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA), International Herb Symposium, Samuel Merritt University, California Institute of Integral Studies and Silicon Valley's Health Technology Forum. As Chief Ayurveda Consultant, she pioneered Vedika's donation-based clinic at the India Community Center in Milpitas, California and served over 300 clients. Her clinical approach was entirely based on diet and lifestyle that took the perspective of "food as medicine."
Geetanjali has a Masters in Biochemistry from Georgetown University and an MBA for Maharishi University of Management Sciences, Iowa. She is a graduate of Vedika Global's five years Ayurveda Clinical Specialist Program.
Vaidya "Shaaranya" Geetanjali Chakraborty
Ayurveda Practitioner
The Swakitch Story.
In the late 19th century, a man decided to undertake a strange pilgrimage, not to temples, but to villages, where he would give a curious gift to the women of the village. The gift was of nine seeds of plants that would aid the women in protecting the health of their families. This man would explain to them how to use these plants, and his claim was ambitious: “Respect and nurture these plants in your homes, and you will never be overpowered by sickness in your home.”
As a pilgrim, he did not charge any money for these seeds or for his teaching. Instead, he relied on the generosity of the villagers, and they responded by taking care of him wherever he went. In his own humble way, without any fundraising or grants, he had undertaken to transform the health of his land.
Beyond the seeds and the teachings left in the hands of the village women, this man laid the foundation for a new model of health. One that is not held captive in ivory towers of learning, but made accessible to those of humble means.
This story is immensely inspiring to me, and the word Swakitch is made up of 'Swa' + 'Kitchen.' Swa is the Sanskrit root for a bunch of important ideas, from self-reliance (swadheen), swadisht (delicious) and swasthya (good health). Swakitch is dedicated to promoting self-reliance through the Ayurvedic kitchen where you can manage your health and lifestyle through a delicious diet made with healing spices. Swakitch is a modern pilgrimage inspired by my lineage teachers, with the tools of our time.
“If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with them... the people who give you their food give you their heart.” -Cesar Chavez
* Names and locations of clients changed to protect identity