Three Tips to Help You Rest & Digest

My most recent newsletter was about supporting digestion according to the theory of Chinese Medicine. Today I would love to elaborate on this concept by bringing in some wisdom from the perspective of Ayurveda, the science behind yoga and a system of wellbeing from India. 

Supporting digestion and assimilation, not just of food but of thoughts, emotions and experiences, is a central concept in Ayurveda just as it is in Chinese Medicine.

My recent training in Ayurveda had some really simple tools to help support the digestion of food, which I find are also applicable if you are “chewing on” a difficult problem at work or are “in a pickle” in some aspect of your life. Have you noticed how many metaphors are related to food? We know intuitively that everything we encounter we must also potentially digest.

Tip Number One: Take a Walk

I love this tip, which is basically simply taking a brisk ten-minute (or more!) walk after your meals, especially if you are having a larger meal or a more-complicated meal, or maybe are eating foods you aren’t as accustomed to. This also works well if you’ve “bit off more than you can chew” in life and just need a break in your routine to “get the juices flowing.”

There is plenty of (“Western”) science too that demonstrates that taking a quick walk, even just a couple of laps around the block, will help your body process whatever you’ve been taking in. 

Tip Number Two: Ginger Tea

This is another easy one, assuming that you’re ok with ginger. Ginger has confirmed effects in Western Medicine to help with nausea, bloating, inflammation, and it can help food sweep effectively through the digestive tract, supporting the function of the intestines called the “Migrating Motor Complex (MMC).”

You can certainly make your own ginger tea using fresh ginger, which I occasionally do, but far easier is a ginger tea bag. Just look for one without stevia or other fillers. My go-to for cheap but fair trade and organic bulk tea bags (plastic-free tea bags and minimal packaging) is the FGO brand (From Great Origins).

Bonus Ginger Tip: make a ginger pickle to chew slowly after meals. To make a ginger pickle, peel some fresh ginger root then use your grater to peel off some long thin strips. Stick the strips in a glass container then squeeze fresh lime juice over them to cover the ginger strips. Viola! The ginger pickle is done. Chew one strip slowly after a meal and keep sealed in the fridge for 3-5 days. Fresh ginger root is way hotter (energetically) than ginger tea, so stick with ginger tea instead if the pickle feels too spicy for you.

Tip Number Three: Belly Rubs 

Snehana is the Ayurvedic practice of the application of oil to the body to lubricate the tissues of the body and to promote softness, suppleness, and warmth. The Sanskrit root word “sneha” means both “to love” and “to oil.” Taking the time to warm and nourish the body with the application of oil is an act of love.  

To start, you need either ghee (clarified butter) or unrefined (not toasted) sesame oil. The same ghee and sesame oil you cook with are also great for using topically. You could of course use lotion instead, but I invite you to try ghee or sesame oil as anything safe enough to eat is also safer to apply topically to the skin, the most external portion of your immune system. The oil is also great for supporting the lipid (fat) barrier of your skin and for supporting the skin's microbiome.

After you eat, stick a bit of oil into your belly button then rub it into your belly button and keep rubbing in a circular motion from right to left (your descending colon is on the left so you want to rub towards that) in soothing circles. Aim to cover the area about four-fingers width around your navel and simply rub until the oil is absorbed (2-10 minutes, or just a few mindful circles of your belly) then wipe the excess oil off. I’ve been practicing this after meals with ghee and I find it incredibly soothing and sweet. 

I would love to hear from you. How do you support digestion? And what helps you metabolize your food and the circumstances in your life? Drop me a note and let me know. I’m always happy to hear from you. 

Are you looking to “carve out” some space to rest and digest? My next two at-home restorative yoga offering is (as always) pay-from-the-heart. You decide what to offer, and you get to practice in the support of a loving group, in the comfort of your own home. 

THIS SUNDAY 9/20 at 10am ESTis the next session. Register here (if you have never registered for this offering before) to receive the zoom link and a calendar invite.

I will facilitate a special Sunday morning offering to welcome the autumn equinox, a stillpoint of equal day and night. 

My restorative yoga sessions are designed to be accessible and flexible. And you definitely don’t need equipment to participate at home. We use bed pillows and blankets to rest comfortably on your bed or the floAs the summer heat flares, and the last wet overwhelm of the late summer season swells, this is an important time of year to support your digestion. Humidity can overwhelm a taxed GI system easily, especially if you’ve been drawn to fruit, salads, sandwiches, iced drinks, dairy, foods that are all classified as “cold” (both literally and energetically) and “damp” (wet and sticky). If you’ve been feeling fatigued or bloated or simply sluggish after eating, or if you’ve had looser stools, those are all signals from your body to focus on warm, wholesome, easily-digestible foods. You can apply this understanding year round, but it’s an especially helpful tip in these humid times. 

When Chinese Medicine says “warm/warming,” it means both the actual temperature and also the energetics. Energetically warming foods include cinnamon, cloves, ginger, garlic, onions, leeks, pumpkin, animal protein, and cooked grains, to name a few. These spices and foods are easier to break down and assimilate. 

An overwhelmed GI system also responds well to one-pot meals like soups or stews where all the flavors are melded together and thus the body doesn’t have to sort out a bunch of separate ingredients. Think chicken soup or rice when you’re not feeling your best. 

If you’ve been feeling muddled or overwhelmed, another way to support digestive health is by streamlining the amount of media and information you need to digest. We aren’t only “digesting” food, we also have to metabolize and process whatever we take in in everyday life, including social media and media in general. 

I recently lightened up my digestive load by unsubscribing from so many newsletters. I realized I was ready to let go of many of them. For the few I felt a small pang about, I created a new folder in my email inbox called “Resources,” and then filed one email from each of the handful of newsletter lists I thought I might later want to jump back onto. That way I won’t need to track/remember what I let go of. If and when I’m ready I can come back and resubscribe to those lists if desired.

I would love to hear from you. Hit reply and tell me: 

What are some solutions you can think of that would help you lighten your digestive load? What are you perhaps unnecessarily processing that you could limit or cut out? What’s one little adjustment to your diet that might help you soothe your gut? 

My next newsletter will feature some Ayurvedic (Indian classical medicine) tips to help support your GI system this fall.

In the meantime, join me online AND/OR in-person for my next restorative yoga offerings. Soothing the nervous system can also help support digestion and metabolism, while also allowing your mind and body to find deeper rest and reset.

My next two at-home restorative yoga offerings are pay-from-the-heart. You decide what to offer, and you get to practice in the support of a loving group, in the comfort of your own home. 

THIS THURSDAY 9/10 at 7pm EST is the next session. Register here (if you have never registered for this offering before) to receive the zoom link and a calendar invite.

And the session after that will be SUNDAY 9/20 at 10am EST. A special Sunday morning offering to welcome the autumn equinox, a stillpoint of equal day and night. 

If you have a preference for an in-person practice, my next restorative yoga workshop at Studio 34 Yoga “Restorative Yoga for Grief and Loss” will be posted here in the coming weeks. The date will be Friday October 23rd at 7pm. Register for the Studio 34 workshop through their website. (Keep checking back for the event to give live on their website. It should be posted soon.) Early bird pricing through 10/13. 

My restorative yoga sessions are designed to be accessible and flexible. And you definitely don’t need equipment to participate at home. We use bed pillows and blankets to rest comfortably on your bed or the floor. I would love to see some of you online. We have a sweet group of regulars. 

May you find the sweet satisfaction of “just enough” this autumn.

Monica