“Outside of raw milk, the best choice for consumers is low temperature pasteurized milk that is heated to a temperature of 145 degrees for 30 minutes. This pasteurization process kills any potentially harmful bacteria while leaving the majority of the micro life in the milk untouched. Unfortunately, this low temperature pasteurization is uncommon. If you are unable to find low temperature pasteurized milk the next best choice is hormone and antibiotic free HTST milk. This option is thankfully becoming more available, particularity in health food stores, due to public demand for healthier options. If you see organic milk with the letters UHT on it, or an expiration date months in the future, you’re much better off not purchasing it.  Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/035860_organic_milk_pasteurization_UHT.html#ixzz1us45g5tl”

So from Ayurvedic point of view, UHT non organic milk is the most amagenic, creating many incomplete products of digestion and devoid of prana.  His 145 degrees for 30 minutes is different from Dr. Ramakant Mishra’s, which is to bring it to a boil – let it climb the pot 3 times – to break up protein molecules into smaller pieces.  Whereas just under boiling he says makes them stick together and be more phlegm producing, harder to digest.  I find I handle pasteurized milk better with this boiling 3X method.

Raw milk can be brought to just under 117 degrees, which would burn our finger (scorching hot!) I believe that is the temp at which the natural enzymes in milk get destroyed according to raw milk folks.  According to Ayurvedic wisdom the more important issue is what is going on with our own inner enzymes.  We are designed with many, 42 major categories of enzymes for not just functions in the alimentary canal, but each tissue and other body functions have their own type, categories identified centuries ago by ayurvedic physicians.  It is not about ingesting a plant’s enzymes, but about having healthy “agni” to be able to digest it on our own.  This is a very different discussion, and much more sustainable than the eating of raw foods.  That said, there are other factors in how the food is prepared, or processed which do influence digestion and absorption of nutrients, such as above!

Best,

Ysha

Dr. Vasant Lad recommends postpartum mamas eat 2 tsp daily of tikta ghee.  These bitter herbs are not appropriate taken alone  - might even reduce milk supply that way in early postpartum, but prepared in ghee are not only padded, but work more effectively.  Best taken in 1/2 cup hot water or tea.  Tikta ghee addresses the nuclear level/dna and helps cleanse and reset the ether element among other things.  Dr. RamaKant Mishra speaks of the similarity between radiation and lightning strikes, distorting at the level of the ether element, which is nuclear energy and cell nucleus and DNA level.  There are of course other modifications to the abundant advice running around to protect mood, colic and other issues from being side effects, included in my 6 page article, Radiation Exposures – Protecting Mothers and Newborns with Ayurveda.

I’ve been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second grade classroom a few years back.

When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it in to school and talk about it, they’re welcome.

Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater.

She holds up a snapshot of an infant. ‘This is Luke, my baby brother, and I’m going to tell you about his birthday.’

‘First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom’s stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.’

She’s standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I’m trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement.

‘Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts going, ‘Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!’ Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. ‘She walked around the house for, like an hour, ‘Oh, oh, oh!’ (Now this kid is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.)

‘My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn’t have a sign on the car like the Domino’s man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this.’ (Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.)

‘And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!’ (This kid has her legs spread with her little hands miming water flowing away. It was too much!)

‘Then the middle wife starts saying ‘push, push,’ and ‘breathe, breathe.  They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they all said it was from Mom’s play-center, so there must be a lot of toys inside there. When he got out, the middle wife spanked him for crawling up in there in the first place.’

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat.

I’m sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, when it’s Show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another ‘Middle Wife’ comes along. 

Honestly, I felt like the energies in my being and in the environment around him had jumped track in the ethers with much more focus and depth.  It was quite a distinctive subtle experience!

Vedic Astrologer, Renay Oshop will be teaching a 3 hour class in two segments on Tuesday evenings, May – the 8th and 15th, at 6:30 – 7:45 PM mountain time for only $33.  You don’t have to become an astrologer to learn a few simple ways astrology can help you serve your perinatal clients better.  Add this to your client services!  Join us if you like - online registration is here.  Be sure to look at other classes coming up on the calendar, and get the school catalogue!

“A weed is a plant growing in the wrong place” .  Chickweed can takeover but really is a sweet low ground cover worth a place in spring/fall cool, moist gardens.  I just got inspired to add this “weed” chickweed to my list of lactation supportive herbs, (same link as above) and wish it grew in the desert southwest for my own diet.  Being a refrigerant, we will want to adjust it with warming spices for mothers in their sacred window, more or less per her prakruti/vikruti nature and the season, but being demulcent I think it will be great to use when available, as vegetable or herb.

What a gift frankincense gives us. Immagine the soul characteristics which develop growing in the Omani desert which is so hot scorching dry in day, so little water, alone; snakes like to live in and protect their frankincense tree actually. “He” has cultivated higher vibration stability in mind, body, and has to imbibe and integrate with spirit’s quiet witness, steady strength and patience to survive. His manner as you receive him is steady, gently penetrating presence, a little persistent but self contained like the resin he creates. He is kind and warming but not hot or coarse, in addition to offering many specific medicinal effects – with pain, colds and flu symptoms, depression, phlegm, inflammation, circulation, tumors, cell rejuvenation, joint issues, and much more (among many of the essential oils with these qualities).

Sometimes if our inner feminine is really damaged, he may seem too masculine an influence to use alone or at that time. I often use a drop under my tongue before meditation – wonderful!

Apparently there is controversy circulating about what is quality or adulterated or good medicine frankincense essential oil. It is easy to understand how “experts” in new companies or practitioners can use their novice level education to get in trouble, and use the net to circulate fallacy very quickly, hence this educational note/repost. Here is a very clear video education you may not know about.

Notable point made – Contrary to some essential oil marketing, the variety Frankincense Frereana is only grown in Somalia, and imported to Oman, heart and fame of Frankincense exportation. Frereana is used there to chew and whiten teeth, and researchers find little key medicinal constituents. The varieties Frankincense Seratta and Frankincense Sacra have many well researched medicinal effects. Frankincense are difficult to measure with standard gas chromatography due to their resinous flash points, requiring special equipment, and sometimes data is misinterpreted as a result.

I hope you can appreciate a dedication to quality sourcing of essential oils. They are potent, amazing and very safe supports for mothers, newborns, and their families properly used, and most of the essential oils sold on the planet are adulterated or not grown on the planet, creating much more to talk about with quality issues.

Our Essential Oils Basics 2 hour class is now available for $22 for your repeat listening 24/7 in the Sacred Window School shop, and is prerequisite to the Perinatal Essential Oils series of classes we do “nose on” usually in Albuquerque. We will attempt to offer these also via world wide web. I have worked with these magical and potent gifts from the plants for over 14 years. My attention was called to them even while I was trying to avoid them as a minor health modality. We have many reasons to offer aromatherapy as a service and part of our curriculum.

Warm Regards,

Ysha

Moms – this is posted for YOU especially right now! Daily self massage or when you can, the AyurDoula postpartum ayurvedic massage is recommended in the ancient medical textbooks to do for 42 days after birth to prevent so many problems. It is a good lifetime habit, but in your Sacred Window after birth you will especially feel the benefits.

Even if you just start with oiling your body all over, then Baby needs your attention, you will feel so much better.   After Baby has slept, and eaten, and you have had something to eat as well, Baby usually will be happy for a few minutes listening to your bath water run, and you talking or singing to him.

So even without someone to be with your baby while you do your massage and bath, you can do a few minutes or more.  If Baby needs attention then you can do baby massage then, and both get in the bath. Babies like the bath a little less hot than postpartum mamas do, but it is still lovely. Be sure to learn how to float your baby safely with one hand so the other is free to bathe her. Holding them close in the bathtub usually makes them fussy as they get held up out of the water and evaporation is disturbing to them.

The benefits of daily warm oil massage are so many!  To name a few – proven help for immune health, hormonal and mood balance, good circulation, understanding of safe touch, relaxation and deeper sleep, more clear and alert awake times, enhanced bonding, wonderful for fathers to become comfortable handling their baby, better lactation for mama….that’s just a beginning. Daily massage for mama as well as baby and other children, is so valuable!  At the Maharishi School, where many schoolchildren receive or give themselves daily abhyanga (warm oil ayurvedic massage), there is not the common outbreaks of head lice young school children often pass around – a great added benefit.

Our default choice of oil is – always use organic oils please, and no mineral oil. Oils and fats when they grow in nature concentrate environmental toxins which tend to be lipid like in structure also. Sesame is best for most (light, not roasted!) for it’s absorption capacity into the skin. Some pitta/rash prone folks and babies need to use sunflower, or a mix, maybe with some coconut. Coconut is harder to wash out of towels, sunflower and coconut are more cooling and may be preferred for summertime. Babies may also get rashes from nut oils, so we prefer not to use those. If you can afford it, jojoba or avocado are also heavenly.

Our movie star’s best supporting actress, Aparna, is also called The Mistress of Spice.  She is a fabulous Ayurvedic cook, and also an AyurDoula.  And she has agreed to teach a weekend in California on postpartum foods for our curriculum.  Dates and location under consideration now. Blessings to Aparna and Anjali for giving us this video to share with our clients.

How to choose?  There is more to it than this oil is good for that, and there is the opportunity to use your creative intelligence, and what oils you do have.

Preface

Using aromatherapy for birth is an age old process and regaining popularity.  Top quality essential oils, which are truly 100% grown on the planet all offer to some degree the general supports below to both two and four legged animals, even though different species have some special caveats.  Over 90% of “essential oils” sold on the planet are not grown here though, so let’s talk about that soon too.  I.e. they may be petrochemical entirely, or laced with synthetic molecules to bring the profile up to sniff test or even gas chromatography profile that may be hard to distinguish from natural.  So, damaging molecules come not just from the pesticides which any fat or oil concentrates while growing.

Here are some of the exciting virtues of organic low temperature and low pressure distilled essential oils -

1. antibacterial; many are antiviral also
2. enhancing oxygenation and life force or “prana”
3. most cross the blood brain barrier with their effects by diffusion through inhalation, topical application or ingestion, and all quickly penetrate topically being very small molecules (compared to food oils which are much heavier)
4. antioxidant, free radical reducing effects
5. many are cortisol reducing (stress hormone)
6. help maintaining proper acid/alkaline balance
7. lifting toxins out of tissues for elimination

But I digress.  You can hear more about the really important Essential Oils Basics on a recorded 2 hour class available now in the Sacred Window School shop ($22), or come to this class in Albuquerque, offered generally monthly.

Where to begin choosing birth oils

Some mothers like aromatherapy more than others for general labor support to relax or surrender into the process, and we let their nose know what to use.  Some prefer lavender, others more feminine florals like jasmine, rose, neroli or geranium.  Geranium has gifts for mother issues and all 4 are very skin friendly, neroli for anxiety, jasmine so feminizing and sattvic and also may help release the placenta, rose oh my and the price is an oh my too if it is the real stuff.

Some may want the aroma of the evergreens to bring nature’s life force into the room (and many other benefits), or one of the more hormonal oils like vetiver, clary sage for jump start or try a touch of chamomile for a respite when labor slows.   Sandalwood may help on any chakra level issue, or be not quite feminine or warm enough – see how she feels.   She may be dry, choose a thicker oil, or ungrounded – vetiver, clary sage, sandalwood or jatamamsi/spikenard may call. Well formulated blends offer more bioconstituents which means a broader spectrum effect.  I carry a blend with clary sage, peppermint et al for stalled labor on the rare times I get to attend births – I don’t have a midwife’s physical constitution, so don’t do that much.

Non-toxic antimicrobial support in hospital or home setting has extra benefit of smells and feels good.  Again blends are great here – or use what Mama’s nose chooses.  I use Ayurvedic principles to help choose too.  For example, in hot season we choose a less heating blend, or even lavender can be helpful here with it’s mild antimicrobial action.  In winter, or with kapha mama or someone with a bug in the family, and to protect my client from my own microclimate, I’ll often use a well researched blend which has clove, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus radiate and rosemary.  I use less expensive oils for diffusion, and the super potent/expensive ones on key physical or emotional points on the body directly.

For special needs during labor and delivery, aromatherapy is not nearly appreciated enough.  Used correctly is a key caveat to this discussion – essential oils are ideal for helping ease some of the problems occurring during labor.  If you are not sure about quality, dilute significantly.  If you know the inside story, and are not just trusting a bottle which says “100% pure therapeutic” etc (which could be synthetic plus hype according to the loose regulations on aromatherapy) you may dilute 1:1 or 1:2 with a carrier/massage/vegetable oil or use “neet” (straight).

But see what Mama feels about that concentration on her abdomen or near her nose before just putting it on, and know which oil may create some dryness, or be really intense.  We have booklets with nice color coded charts to make it easy.  If she is sweating with an undiluted oil on her, it is likely to sting.  Dilute with oil not moisture or cream to prevent this.

Most commonly –

1. Enhancing tissue oxygenation
2. Help relieve tension and promote relaxation – topical on muscle or inhalation
3. Relaxing oils can help relieve emotional fears and trauma
4. Help ease pain and strain – wonderful during and after labor
5. Aid in opening the breathing passages – be careful here, oils like Peppermint are too strong for Baby!  Many oils are respiratory specific – check your reference for their other qualities.  Ayurveda talks about the 20 qualities or gunas, and it is very common sense to apply this wisdom with things like, are they soothing, warming, denser and grounding or light, penetrating, cold or hot?
6. Communicating & Bonding with Unborn/Newborn
7. Refreshing oils like the citruses, evergreens eucalyptuses can enliven when dullness or some kind of congestion seems to slow or tire.
8. Antimicrobial and pain relieving oils are being used internally as well as topically by D. Gary Young for surgery!  That’s for another discussion though.  Some oils are safe for internal use, others not wise, and how they are used is key.
9. Spiritual and emotional protections – from both solar and lunar oils can be valuable in special cases too.

So I”m asked for my favorite 3 oils for birth.   Not an easy sort, unless mama and the oils collection is there together.

• Lavender gets the most votes for calming.  It has some benefits for pain also, called the “swiss army knife of essential oils”.
• A pain oil….if I’m choosing a single, I’ll choose an evergreen, fav is Balsam Fir, as it helps all the tissues – muscle, connective, bone, nerve, plus all the systems.  Evergreens are more solar, but labor is hard work and it may suit.
• If mama is fearful or anxious, we will go into a couple emotional supportive oils and the Valor blend by Young Living is first on that list.  It has spruce, blue chamomile, rosewood and frankincense in it.  Vetiver has multiple virtues and is inexpensive.  There are many wonderful oils with hormonal and emotional benefits, that’s another class I’ve spent easily 2 hours on.
• A hormonal oil, helpful if labor slows – clary sage if mama likes the aroma.

That’s …4… and I’m kind of biting my tongue, but a good start!

I’m of course happy to escort you into the world of my favorite oils, and your most cost effective way to do it.   What’s missing here?  More on how to USE them.

The next nose on aromatherapy class in Albuquerque will be 1.5 days, April 27-28.   Aromatherapy for Pregnancy, Birth, Postpartum and Infants and Children.  Prereq – Essential Oils Basics.

To be continued!

My dear Friend -

Usually, there are 1 or two key factors, and 1 or two things which do the trick: