I hoped to create an image that portrayed a woman - a Goddess in us all, standing surrounded, nourished and delighted by all the elements of Nature, while positively enjoying her potential to protect and revere Life.

 Dear Friends,

How does a dream become manifest? Usually, the path is filled with mysterious challenges and Grace. We wouldn’t call it a journey if we traveled to our destination in a “straight line…!”

It was just a little more than 4 years ago that we opened the doors of Rasa Ayurveda Traditional Healing Centre for Women to her first patients and retreatants. It’s often said that most small businesses close within the first 5 years. While we haven’t quite made it through this nascent, tender time, we have every confidence that Rasa Ayurveda will arrive at year’s end, steady and strong!

So far, Rasa Ayurveda has been a place of healing to women from more than 20 countries around the world, and to local Malayalee women, too. Traditional healing practices have been sustained, and women young and old–from East and West–have discovered and developed their relationship with the power of Ayurveda to bring every woman healing, happiness and a well-lived life. And Rasa Ayurveda has been a “home-base” for many local families, and for The Muthashi Project, our outreach program helping keep the knowledge of native plants and traditional kitchen medicines alive for coming generations.

In sorting out computer files recently, I came across a collection of graphics showing the evolution of our MayaShakti Ayurveda Pvt. Ltd company emblem.  (MayaShakti Ayurveda Pvt. Ltd. is the Indian company operating Rasa Ayurveda.) The images illustrate a process similar to the creation of Rasa Ayurveda: Start with a vision and some determination. Ask for involvement and participation. See what comes…! Refine. Reapproach. Be willing to wait. Go forward again with faith, and the vision will come into reality.

How does a dream become manifest? Usually, the path is filled with mysterious challenges and Grace. The journey is not a “straight line…!”

I loved this Win Ng image as a young girl. The simple naturalness of the female subject, her relatedness to the natural environment and Nature’s creatures, her innocence, and her divine wings–and the whole circle embracing all–never left my memory. This was the main inspiration for our MayaShakti Ayurveda emblem.

I also loved the image I’d used for years in my Ayurveda work with women in the West: a woman’s hands, holding the world,  offering the world to all, while also caring for our Mother in warm, loving hands.

I began to communicate my vision to graphic artists, first, Val Sivilli, who came recommended by a friend. Val drew for hours, and came up with this image…

I felt the drawing had potential, but didn’t fully embody the qualities I knew I needed to see.

Next, Dawn Stevens jumped in to move the drawing toward my vision. First, she took the image a big step back. Faceless Devi!

Dawn created this rendition:

And after more discussion, a softer Goddess Woman:

Clearly, the image was incubating, taking it’s own time. I wanted it to be finished, but could see that “she” was truly NOT ready to be born! Other demands forced the project to a halt repeatedly. While balancing so many aspects of establishing Rasa Ayurveda, there were many times the emblem had to wait for an infusion of money, or the time to pay attention.

At last, Sean Schexnayder – owner of Blu Design and the husband of a wonderful woman who’d been a student for an AyurvedaTrip.com training – offered to help. First, he worked on making the hands more natural. (Drawing the human form in perspective is no easy feat!)

And he listened to what I wanted to see, and did some drawings to move the project along…

With a little correction from my brother Sanju, I wrote out the Malayam words for the 5 Great Elements of Ayurveda – Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space – to include in the circle.

And at last, graphic artist Phyllis Glanville, gave of her time and energy to create the final emblem you see at the top of this post – a true fulfillment of the vision I had hoped to see realized. I’d never asked for a crown, actually. But there’s been no letting go of the crown, and I’ve come to love the leaves that turn our Devi into an Earth Goddess, and every woman who comes to Rasa Ayurveda, a natural queen. And if you look carefully at our emblem above, you can find each of the Five Great Elements – in the landscape of Nature in which we all are born, live –and one day– give our body back to.

We’re grateful to everyone who participated in the development of our company emblem!

This process so closely mirrors the creation of Rasa Ayurveda. It’s two steps forward–and sometimes, one step back. But wherever we find ourselves at any given moment, and whether it seems our journey has us moving forward or back, fast or slow– there is always healing happening, and so much creativity and generosity flowing. Always we are surrounded by the goodness of Nature’s Great Elements, and by the chance to heal. And to make life juicy, right now!

Wherever you are in manifesting your dreams, we wish you well. And we look forward to welcoming you soon, to Rasa Ayurveda…

Niika Quistgard, CAS (Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist)

Founder & Director, Rasa Ayurveda Traditional Healing Centre for Women

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

I really enjoyed talking with David Crow, who interviewed me on his educational site – MedicineCrow.com. David invited me to “tell all” about Rasa Ayurveda and the Muthashi Project.

To hear the interview, click here.

Don’t hesitate to download the pdf slide show found on the page, also, so you can enjoy the lush images of Kerala and Rasa Ayurveda, coordinated with the interview.

When you’re ready to listen, I hope you’ll brew a cup of tea, sit back and enjoy! Please allow plenty of time for the interview to fully download and begin playing as it is close to 90 minutes long.

Let me know what you think~

We look forward to welcoming you to Rasa Ayurveda Traditional Healing Centre for Women.

With warmest regards~

Niika Quistgard, CAS (Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist)

Women’s Health & Happiness Advocate

Founder & Director, Rasa Ayurveda Traditional Healing Centre for Women

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

Isn’t it amazing how much more powerfully and beautifully we create when we work together?

Women are great at inspiring and supporting each other, as “the beauty we love, becomes what we do.”

As this year’s Onam festival comes to a close, and the abundant array of Atta Pookalam  flower mandalas fill our vision, we are looking forward to a joyous season  bringing healing and happiness to women – East and West -  here at Rasa Ayurveda.

Over the years, women from all over the world have asked to come to Rasa Ayurveda to make a contribution of service. We are delighted to announce that we are ready to receive the participation of those women who are practicing and studying Ayurveda, who are  yoga therapists with an interest in Ayurveda, who are botanists, herbalists or researchers, as well as those who have other special knowledge or skills related to our work.

An Ayurveda Seva Residency at Rasa Ayurveda is designed to be an affordable work-study retreat–an opportunity to serve local and foreign patients, women and girls, and a chance to help preserve the traditional knowledge and practice of Ayurveda through The Muthashi Project — all while immersed in the ancient culture of Kerala and the living of Ayurveda.

If you desire to offer your time and skills towards our mission, we look forward to learning more about you and your desire to serve through your completion of the application below.

With respect and love,

Niika Quistgard

Founder & Director, Rasa Ayurveda Traditional Healing Centre for Women

Sambar served over steamed idli, with a side of fresh coconut chutney. Delicious!

When patients are asked what they’d like to learn in the next Monday night cooking class at Rasa Ayurveda, the answer is often, “Sambar!”

Sambar is the most popular soup in India. A mix of daal – small split peas – and a tasty melange of vegetables, sambar is served as a main dish or accompaniment for breakfast, lunch, dinner –  for snacks in between and as a dependable feature in most feasts…!  Hardy, spicy, nutritious and easy to digest, sambar will awaken your appetite, warm your belly, nourish your tissues, and maybe even soothe your soul.

Depending on locale and who’s cooking, the ingredients in sambar can vary a little. But one ingredient that you’re guaranteed to taste – and smell! – in sambar is kayam – also known as hing, or asafoetida. This is a tree resin with a very distinctive “Indian kitchen” smell. Before it’s cooked, kayam is quite pungent and should not be stored near other spices or dry beans or grains as the smell of raw kayam can permeate beyond what one may expect. Excellent for warming up the digestion, kayam gives lends that “sambar aroma to sambar. For some it’s an acquired taste. For most Indians, it’s a required taste!

Sambar calms the Vata and Kapha doshas,  and if you don’t add too much chili, it’s fine in moderation for Pitta, especially when the climate is cool.

Collecting ingredients is probably the most challenging step in making sambar. Once you have everything you need, it takes just about 30 minutes from garden to table. Here’s how we make sambar at Rasa Ayurveda…

~ Ingredients ~

For the Pressure Cooker
snake gourd
eggplant
okra
2 roma tomatoes
1 red onion
a big cucumber
curry leaf
100 grams sambar daal
2 tablespoons coriander powder

For the Varutha
3 teaspoons coconut oil
tumeric powder
red chilli powder
curry leaf
black mustard seeds

For the Finish
Fresh (green) coriander
tamarind pulp
salt – use a good, unprocessed salt, such as Induppu, Himalayan or sea salt
kayam (hing, asafoetida)

~ Preparation ~

Prepare Vegetables
Halve and remove seeds from cucumber and snake gourd. Peel well. Remove skin from onion. Cut stems from eggplant and tomatoes.
Place all vegetables together in a steel bowl. Fill with water and rinse several times. Drain. Shake water off the vegetables. Cut stems from okra once dry. Cut all vegetables into 1 1/2-2″ chunks and place all cut veggies in pressure cooker.

Wash, dry and rough-chop a half-bunch of green coriander/cilantro into 2-3″ lengths, removing any roots, but including the flavorful stems. Set aside.

Prepare Tamarind
Place a 1/2 gold-ball size ball of tamarind paste in a small bowl, and add a few ounces of water. If using paste of the whole tamarind pod, massage the delicate pulp away from the seeds and fibres, removing these with your fingers. Set aside the resulting liquid.

Pressure Cook
Add the sambar daal and 1-1/2 liters water into your pressure cooker with the vegetables. Add the coriander powder. Stir ingredients together, and afix the pot lid.

Place cooker on burner, and set heat to medium high. Once pressure is attained, turn down a little bit to remain on medium setting. If you use a first generation cooker, like we do at Rasa Ayurveda, allow the sambar to cook for 2-3 “fizzles.” After the last fizzle, remove cooker from heat and allow the pressure to come down naturally over time, as the ingredients continue to cook. If you are using a second generation pressure cooker, cook for about 20 minutes at medium-high heat, until daal has softened completely, yielding it’s form.

Roast the Spices
While the cooker is cooling and pressure is coming down (about 10 minutes),  place a “cheena chatti” (a small steel wok) on the burner, to make the varutha, or “magic”. Heat coconut oil until almost smoking, and add the whole black mustard seeds. The seeds will pop open like popcorn. When they do, add a dry red chili which has been torn into a few pieces. The drop 10 – 15 fresh curry leaves (yes, more curry leaves!) into the pan, followed by 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder. Stir for about 3 minutes, being careful not to burn!

Finishing
When the pressure cooker can be opened safely, add the “magic” into the cooker. Pour some of the soupy sambar back into the pan in which you roasted the pieces and swish it about, adding this back into the pressure cooker, scraping out any ingredients that remain in the cheena chatti.
Next, add the strong-smelling kayam. If using paste, add a small ball the size of a large green pea. If using pure powder, add 2 small pinches – about 1/8 teaspoon.)
Add salt to taste.
Add the green coriander, also called cilantro.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve
Serve sambar hot with idlis, dosha or a bowl of steaming-hot rice…
Delicious!

We look forward to welcoming you to Rasa Ayurveda Traditional Healing Centre for Women.

With warmest regards~

Niika Quistgard, CAS
Founder & Director, Rasa Ayurveda Traditional Healing Centre for Women
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

Niika with Document Writers on Registration Day

Dear Friends ~

Great news! With the help of so many from all over the world who encouraged, donated, made advance purchases of treatment time and offered heart-felt prayers, we are thrilled to announce the  purchase of River House for Rasa Ayurveda!

Besides just being, pretty much nothing comes easily in India. To get anything done, you’d better have plenty of patience, the willingness to try repeated approaches, various kinds of assistance, extra cash,  more extra cash, and mainly Divine Grace! These are the essential ingredients that make moments of accomplishment (finally!) possible in the land of Sacred Chaos.

All the necessary elements came together at last, after many kinds of challenges were met. And so, we’re happy to share with you this celebratory moment!

Official Documents, Stitched and Stamped

You can see that in the first photo, I’m feeling proud and happy. It had been quite a lot of effort to complete all the financial, logistical and legal requirements to arrive at this day, and here I was, standing next to our document writers, who were about to hand over the final paperwork.  Next, we’d carry this to the government real estate registration office where we’d meet the sellers, pay the registration tax and get everyone’s signatures on the done deal. The government office would then record the transfer of ownership and issue an official deed.

Sanju – my adopted brother and a director of our Indian company MayaShakti Ayurveda, Pvt. Ltd. – took the photo at my request. I wanted to document a moment of accomplishment, something to share with all of you…!

Ah, but alas, our work was far from over! We’d expected to complete registration by lunchtime, but – the sellers went to meet us in the wrong location. We waited for them for a long while. They finally found us, and we raced to the Registrar’s office. We arrived and waited for our turn to approach the Registrar. When we reached the front of the line, the Treasurer accepted the registration tax, in cash. The Registrar looked over all the papers, and all of us and said, “Foreigners can’t buy real estate.”

Well, that’s true, but it is our Indian company buying the building, not me personally, which is perfectly legal. I’m not even the sole shareholder! But I am the Managing Director and therefore the one to sign the documents.

Back office talk. Phone calls in loud questioning Malayalam. Uncertain glances. We’d paid the (enormous) registration fee, but it was returned to us in stacks and stacks of rupee notes. In the final analysis, the registrar wanted more corporate identifying information on the documents. The documents had to be redone. The office was closing for lunch. We’d have to return with the sellers, copies of other official papers and a whole new set of sales documents.

OK – Yes – I do yoga, I breathe, and I meditate, and have been through plenty in life. I’m not a stranger to anticipation and complication. But poor Sanju aniyan had all he could do to keep me in my skin that day! The look on the sub-registrar’s face made me wonder if he’d actually document the sale even if we produced all he asked for. And honestly? I was a little nervous to let our sellers wander off during the lunch hour, while we drove back to the clinic to collect more papers, dropped by our bank for more documentation and prevailed upon the document writer’s once again for a whole new set of papers. The sellers now had their money, after all, and had no further need of us. But we needed their presence again in the afternoon, and final signatures on the re-drafted documents!

It took the rest of the day to come to a happy landing point. We struggled through two sets of papers with the document writers to produce error-free documents, and made our way back in front of the Sub-Registrar. The sellers did reappear and did the needful. At 4:50pm, just minutes before closing, the government officials once again accepted our registration fee, and stamped all the papers with seals of approval. Reticent congratulatory smiles were offered in all directions and we left the office.

Outside, the seller and I removed our shoes. I faced the East, put my hands together in prayer, then placed a thousand rupee note in the seller’s hand. She said a prayer and handed me the house key.

We did it! We purchased the River House for Rasa Ayurveda!

Sanju listens to C. Thanu Pillai as he consults Vastu notes on River House

A few days later, we called C. Thanu Pillai a vastu specialist to come to the house and advise us. Before we move a stick of furniture inside, we want to ensure that the energy of the house is very clear and perfect for healing, educating and strengthening women – our purpose for Rasa Ayurveda. Vastu shastra is an ancient Vedic art of placement, and also involves studying the astrologically-influenced relationship between a building and its owner(s). Mr. Pillai spent several hours assessing the characteristics of the building site,  measuring various aspects of the house, counting the number of corners the building has, and consulting texts.

The bottom line? A little remodeling is in order to improve the location of the front door and a few other details for greater harmony. But in 10 points out of the 12 traditionally assessed, River House rates the highest for good fortune under our ownership and for the purpose it will serve – to provide a supportive place for women to heal, learn and become strong in themselves, ready to be powerful in life!

The Cleaning Brigade

River House is a beautiful building, but it had been neglected for some time, and sorely needed a good scrubbing! Here Vino, Prakash, Suma and Rema take a break from cleaning, delighted with Rasa Ayurveda’s new home.

But the story isn’t over… ! Each success seems to beget the next project! With the sale behind us, it’s time to raise funds for the renovation, complete the new yoga hall and bathroom on the roof, make the vastu adjustments, and build a sundeck at the river’s edge. And on January 1st, a gardener will begin plant medicinal plants and vegetables. A dream come true for so many of us!

We’re looking forward to making River House a truly beautiful, functional site for groups of women and individual patients. The whole Rasa Ayurveda family is enthusiastic about having a building to call home!

We sincerely thank all who have joined us in creating this foundation for the future of Rasa Ayurveda.

May you enjoy this season in your own home, wherever you are. We hope to welcome you to Rasa Ayurveda’s River House, very soon!

With warmest regards~

Niika Quistgard, CAS

Managing Director, Rasa Ayurveda Traditional Healing Centre for Women

MayaShakti Ayurveda Pvt. Ltd.

Trivandrum, Kerala

Tags: ayurveda for women, Rasa Ayurveda News, River House
]]> http://blog.rasaayurveda.com/2010/12/foundation-for-the-future/feed/ 1 http://blog.rasaayurveda.com/2010/12/foundation-for-the-future/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RasaAyurveda/~3/YE1u_oIygdc/ http://blog.rasaayurveda.com/2010/12/one-womans-experience/#comments Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:24:05 +0000 Niika Quistgard http://blog.rasaayurveda.com/?p=601 Marie Paule came to Rasa Ayurveda Traditional Healing Centre for Women to share special time with her daughters, and was surprised to discover the clinical and personal value of her stay.

Enjoy this brief YouTube clip, recorded at Rasa Ayurveda:

Marie Paule talks about her experience at Rasa Ayurveda

Tags: ayurveda for women, ayurveda in India, Ayurvedic treatment, Kerala, women's travel
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