Does your body need a boost in transitioning from winter into spring? Check out this enlivening Enlighten Yoga Tonic recipe from teacher Cora Wen.
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Since childhood, my family has used herbal elixirs and tonics to help heal the body and mind, and I remember my beloved Grandmother making strong ginger root tea for menstrual cramps or snow fungus and goji berries for winter health.
I made an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant drink that has helped me fight the flu, colds, and bronchial attacks in this cold Winter. It is made of some favorite spices including Turmeric, Ginger and Cayenne, and Ive named it after my friend Shari’s studio, Enlighten Yoga, as her well stocked home gave the inspiration!
This is a great tonic to help cleanse the winter blahs, and support you in the upcoming Spring Liver Season.
Here’s the recipe and some information on the healing properties of these herbs from Memorial Sloan Kettering and The University of Maryland Medical Center.
Enlighten Yoga Tonic
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground dry or 1” cube grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
Juice of 1 lemon
honey, blackberry syrup or sweetener
Mix the above spices in a glass
Add 3ozs hot water to dissolve
Smash or squeeze the lemons
Add honey or sweetener to taste
Add spring water to fill 8oz glass
Drink chilled or warm as a Detox beverage throughout this transitional season from Winter to Spring. This is a great liver detoxifier and for Spring season of Liver-Gall Bladder at the Vernal Equinox on March 20.
Ginger is highly valued in India, China, the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean as a spice and for medicinal qualities. It has broad spectrum antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidant and anti-parasitic attributes, and commonly used to treat nausea, loss of appetite and stomach upset.
Turmeric has powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, and is a natural liver detoxifier. It is what makes the bright yellow color of Indian curries and American yellow mustard.
Cayenne – anti irritant, anti fungal and cold, anti allergen, digestive aid, detox, anti bacterial. It is helpful to the digestive system, and for the heart and circulatory system. It acts as a catalyst and is a high source of Vitamin A and C, has the complete B complexes, and is rich in organic calcium and potassium.
Read more from Cora Wen here.
Cora Wen (ERYT-500) founder of Yoga Bloom LAB1000 yoga therapy training, is an international specialist in yoga therapy. She teaches throughout Asia, Canada and the United States. A yoga teacher’s teacher, her lineage is a virtual who’s who of American yoga masters including Judith Hanson Lasater, Patricia Walden and Erich Schiffmann.
She left careers in fashion and corporate banking to follow her love and passion for Yoga, and her expertise has arisen from over two decades of practice. A favorite of students of all levels due to the extraordinary energy and life experiences she brings to her classes.
Her style of the funky fusion of humor, anatomy and Chinese meridian magic, helps students explores asana like no one else, opening to the beauty in the imperfect and the acceptance of change in body, mind and spirit.
