Ayurveda everyday, all the time ( or Ayur…what? I thought you practiced Chinese medicine?)

Folks want to know what’s with all this Ayurveda talk?  I thought you did acupressure, jin shin do, Chinese medicine? I find it easy to add in another ‘label’ or ‘model’ to get equally enthusiastic about.  Especially when it’s so functional!  It’s always been really important me to highlight the connections between seemingly unique and separate ancient models of health and healing.  How are things the same is way more fun for me than how are they different.

My own dive into the world of  Ayurveda has changed my life.  It’s given me more beautiful user-friendly tools in my personal survival toolbox.  More awareness of how I feel everyday, with my interactions with food, myself, others, movements that I make, exercise, stagnation, my emotions!  With this plunge I am realizing that these tools are forever because they grow with me and keep me linking to everything that I interact with, even when those interactions change.

This is what is ultimately sustainable about ayurveda.

It has the capacity to evolove and resonate with present culture, in this case:  March 2011 Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Earth.

This intro into the beauty of ayurveda is not all doshic labeling and imported herbs and foods from India.

Especially when Matthew Remski’s talking about Ayurveda.  One of things that was really unique and wonderful when I took the Everyday Nectar Course last year in distance format was the okay-ness with questioning what we were learning and how applicable it is to our daily lives.  This is really important to me when learning anything that has ancient wisdom to offer. I always want to remember: “hey! We live here, now, so how does this work in my life?”

So Matthew’s coming to Montreal on April 3 for one whole week of Ayurveda learning, talk, tea, food and consults!

And I thought it’d be nice to get Matthew’s own words (‘cause he’s so good with the words!) on the sustainability of Ayurveda, it’s longevity and the benefit Montreal yogis  could gain by adding in Ayurveda to their practices.

what is sustainable about Ayurveda?

MR: Ayurveda is a path of relationship. It teaches attunement to your natural balancing strategies, and helps to turn every common interaction (with food, weather, relationship, activity) into a tool in your personal medicine chest.

what is the longevity of taking everyday nectar?

MR:  Over the years I’ve tried to create a learning system that’s self-perpetuating. This makes use of books and other hardcopy resources, but more important are the intuition strategies that I try to communicate — tools that make Ayurvedic discovery natural and ongoing.

what’s the benefit for  Montreal yogis to add Ayurveda knowledge to their practice?

MR: For millennia, the yoga traditions have assumed that the practitioner was employing Ayurveda naturopathy to support her evolutionary arc. What’s lovely about Ayur-language is that it interfaces with general yoga knowledge on the levels of gross and subtle anatomy. It’s the nuts-and-bolts medicine of yoga, and its elegant to learn. Asana teachers especially feel their instructions and interactions bloom once they get a little bit of Ayurveda under their belts…

Whether are a yoga practitioner or you just want to get to know yourself better and better, this particular Ayurveda course is a priceless tool in your personal toolbox. For life.

Still not sure?  Come to a by donation lecture at my second home, [ahimsa yoga] on Sunday April 3 7pm and take part in an interactive dialogue with Matthew to find out how much Ayurveda you instinctually know.  Ask questions, gain insight and drink tea!

One of the kernels I remember from this first course was this idea that it’s easy for Ayurveda to be idealized, so don’t be misled!  I am not saying that Ayurveda is the absolute only way and best way.  It simply has beautiful gifts to offer.  And as we learn them we must consider always how Ayurveda must be practical and in conversation with modern culture.

One week of Everyday Nectar gives us the space to begin this conversation.

Contact me! Nadia, for details & to register.

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Qi Gong (or: What is an inanimate object, really?)

A couple of weeks ago I took time to have what turned out to be an amazing phone conversation with Paul Fraser,  qi gong teacher, practitioner, healer.  He doesn’t really know this (yet!) but it really helped me turn my week around.

It was one of those conversations that could so easily have been “let me go on and on about myself for that free promo of my course and work” and instead it was a deep and sweet reminder of the underlying connection between us all, and a couple of weeks ago I really need this reminder.

The idea was:  I wanted to see if I could authentically, ethically recommend this fellow as he is teaching a full medical qi gong training here in Montreal for the 2nd time starting in February.

In brief: Take this course! This fellow is an amazing teacher. I can now say that if you are interested in qi gong, check out his  free lecture on February 24.  And even see if the weekend trainings are for you.

So what is gi gong? And even more juicy:  Why might you want to practice it?

Gong: work, movement, act, cultivation,  done with devotion over a long period of time.

Qi:  energy, basically anything that promotes, protects, nurtures life.

In Paul’s words:  (because I wanted him to tell me why it should even be in a blog about sustainable healing!)

“It’s probably one of the most sustainable systems of medicine there is:  if it’s done properly there are no risks, no side effects, no waste and no equipment. The power source is Universal Energy (QI) and there is an unlimited supply. The practice of cultivating this Universal Energy brings the practitioner into a deep state of calm, with an expanded awareness of the inherent Life in all things.”

And here is the really juicy part:   “This helps to foster a type of reverence for the Natural World, it’s inhabitants and their relationship to one another.  Feeling the deep connection of all of us to one another, to our planet, and even beyond, tends to make us more cooperative and respectful.  More than just an idea or theory, it gives us the experience that we are all in this together.”

This experience that we are part of something, or even just part of the whole, is one that we all seek, no matter what culture, creed, or healing art you practice.

As Paul so aptly puts it:  “ Practices like these could well be our saving graces as human beings. Helping us to move past our primal fear towards the point of recognition that we are different manifestations for one divine organism.”  We might have enough experiences of this we may begin to wonder:  “what really is an inanimate object?”  The lines begin to blur.  yay!

A great practice for us urban dwellers where everything seems disconnected and concrete at times. or most of the time?

This is reassuring in itself, when I am reminded of the great qi gong/yoga divide in my city (and most likely everywhere?).  We are all practicing the same thing here folks!

A sense of oneness, wholeness, samadhi, whatever you want to call it, and however you want to practice it:  little glimpses of this are what we keep going back to these practices for, whether it is qi gong, meditation, yoga, asana, a run in the woods.

We gently and furiously swing from isolation to communion in our lives and the sense of connection we can tap into with a practice like qi gong keeps that pendulum going at a more even rate.

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Good Work Inspirations

Every now and then, but most likely every day! in lieu of or in addition to a regular posting here will be a link to folks who are doing good work in some way.


Mostly they will be folks in our own town, sometimes good work happens elsewhere and is tremendously inspiring! Sometimes it’s the people, sometimes it’s the work itself, sometimes it’s just one aspect that I haven’t seen before and really want to share.

Like today: I do not know these folks but I really appreciate their commitment to how they run their yoga classes. I am not sure how well it really works because I haven’t tried it out, yet, but I really like the small-class-tracking-concept! Meanwhile, until I make it to Japan, thanks for keepin’ it real Yoga Garden.

Every now and then, but most likely every day! in lieu of or in addition to a regular posting here will be a link to folks who are doing good work in some way.


Mostly they will be folks in our own town, sometimes good work happens elsewhere and is tremendously inspiring! Sometimes it’s the people, sometimes it’s the work itself, sometimes it’s just one aspect that I haven’t seen before and really want to share.

Like today: I do not know these folks but I really appreciate their commitment to how they run their yoga classes. I am not sure how well it really works because I haven’t tried it out, yet, but I really like the small-class-tracking-concept! Meanwhile, until I make it to Japan, thanks for keepin’ it real Yoga Garden.

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Community

AHIMSA: this word has popped up quite a few times for me in the past 24 hours and I think it is a good sign! Do no harm.


I had the honor last evening of attending the grand opening party of a new local Mile End organic yoga studio and community space: the home of Ahimsa Yoga Montreal.

And this is a good time to remind you that part of these writings are to share with you, my community, all the glorious and wonderful actual places and people in our community web that are doing beautiful work every moment.

Ahimsa Yoga is the first of these places that I want to share with you. Even though I just met Miranda and Andrew, the founders, there is a genuine felt sense when you step into the community space that they’ve created that it is your space too. And that it really is a safe place. Isn’t this what community is all about? A place and network of people that we feel safe within? Ahimsa is great name for this community building studio because literally when we “do no harm”, when we energetically impart this idea, people do feel it. We feel safer. Safe to be who we are, to learn, to grow, to explore, and to really live the life of yoga that is ever so trendy at the moment!

I look forward to more cooperative engagements with ahimsa yoga, so keep an eye out!

And another gem from my ahimsa-filled-weekend: do no harm, check it out!

AHIMSA: this word has popped up quite a few times for me in the past 24 hours and I think it is a good sign! Do no harm.


I had the honor last evening of attending the grand opening party of a new local Mile End organic yoga studio and community space: the home of Ahimsa Yoga Montreal.

And this is a good time to remind you that part of these writings are to share with you, my community, all the glorious and wonderful actual places and people in our community web that are doing beautiful work every moment.

Ahimsa Yoga is the first of these places that I want to share with you. Even though I just met Miranda and Andrew, the founders, there is a genuine felt sense when you step into the community space that they’ve created that it is your space too. And that it really is a safe place. Isn’t this what community is all about? A place and network of people that we feel safe within? Ahimsa is great name for this community building studio because literally when we “do no harm”, when we energetically impart this idea, people do feel it. We feel safer. Safe to be who we are, to learn, to grow, to explore, and to really live the life of yoga that is ever so trendy at the moment!

I look forward to more cooperative engagements with ahimsa yoga, so keep an eye out!

And another gem from my ahimsa-filled-weekend: do no harm, check it out!

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