Right now we are experiencing a lot of collective stress - naturally there is a pandemic and there is a lot of anxiety and stress and our immune systems are out of whack.
How can we be best utilising this time? We can spend our time calming down our immune system through a variety of techniques such as meditation, breathwork, herbs and deep sleeps.
1. Meditation
Meditation slows down our mind and brings us back to ourselves. Meditation is a state of being and it can be practised through 20 minute intervals morning and night. The more you practise those 20 minute intervals, the goal is to always be in a state of equilibrium, a state of balance and harmony with nature. Through balancing your mind and body, slowing it down and bringing it back in tune with nature's rhythm, we will be able to get in touch with our bodies needs. Our body always has differing needs- whether its more protein, more iron, more calcium, some days our body needs more of one thing that other days. Getting in tune with your body through meditation can allow for a deeper listening.
"In reviewing the research, the authors found that mindfulness meditation: Reduced markers of inflammation, high levels of which are often correlated with decreased immune functioning and disease"
2. Breathwork
Breathwork is a type of technique where you intentionally change your breathing pattern, you control your breath. On the contrary to meditation, where you are simply observing your breath and observing your present body sensations- breathwork is where you intentionally change your breathing to invoke higher states of consciousness. This can bring us to higher states of awareness and consciousness, calming our body down and allowing us to see clearly. In this higher state of consciousness, our immune system will increase and we will be able to fight off bacteria in a smoother way.
3. Herbs
Having the right herbs and natural remedies will help your immune system stay in balance. Medicinal mushrooms such as lions mane, turkeys tail, cordyceps and reishi all activate different parts of the body that need it- for example "stimulating it when there's something to fight and downregulating it when it's overactive."
4. Deep sleeps
Meditation, breathwork and herbs all balance the immune system in different ways- allowing for regulation in sleeping habits, eating habits and day to day living. "Deep sleep involves greater slowing of bodily processes, allowing the immune system to utilize more energy to fight infection. Fever is another important immune response. Higher body temperature can trigger new waves of immune defense, and it also makes the body more hostile to many pathogens."
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Let us know what else you would like to hear from us. Have a warm and creative winter. Xx
From India With Love
Over the years I have realised the importance of having my very own practise that connects me to my deepest self, that allows me to drop into my highest self, or my soul, and to be in silence and connect to what my heart really needs and wants.
It is so easy to get lost in what other people are doing and what other people think and stray away from what we really need and give ourselves that which we really need.
The analogy of the cup is really easy to understand. Pretend our channel, our body, our soul is a cup- and after a lot of time interacting with our external world, our cup starts to drain out. We start to rely on those around us to be filling our cup up, when really if we have our own practise we can fill it up ourselves.
Many people I know have a variety of different modalities of tools that they use to fill up their cups and enhance their own lives.
These are just a few that I do as well as people I personally know do.
1. Vipassana
A tool that I have used for the past four years of my life has been Vipassana. It is a technique that you learn over a period of 10 days in silence and they take away your phone. The main practise you learn within those ten days is learning to observe your breath and from your breath you start to observe your sensations on your body. You become heavily connected to your sensations and you start to eradicate and work through your trauma. The main thing I learned from Vipassana was to connect to my sensations and i realised how much all my pain was stored in my body, and by working with my body I could actually transcend all the trauma and feel a lot more lighter. After the ten days of working with your sensations in this environment, I was then able to integrate the experience into my day to day life. This has become a tool that I use all the time, when I am in situations, I am constantly observing my sensations, trying not to react to the sensations but realising everything is just a sensation. When i am feeling angry, instead of being angry, I connect to the sensation and just feel the heat. When I am feeling happy, I am not attached to the happiness, instead I just observe the ecstatic joy that is pulsating through me.
2. Breathe Work
I have tried this a variety of times but many people I know practise breathe work. This is connecting heavily with the breath and tapping into the areas of the body that we are not present to and from that tapping into the subconscious mind as the two of them are synonymous. This gives us access to heightened states of awareness.
3. Vedic meditation
This is another form of meditation however instead of focusing on your sensations, you are focusing on a mantra. This mantra is supposed to vibrate you to a higher state of consciousness, that connects you to a higher vibration, and by focusing on this vibration you connect to your transcendental state of being, and you learn to ground in this state of being. This type of meditation can be practised between 20 to 40 minutes per day and helps enhance your day to day state of consciousness.
4. Yoga/ Asanas'
This is one of the 8 limbs of yoga, Asana refers to postures, and by practising postures on a day to day basis or even a week to week basis - whenever you need this tool, this also creates deeper flow within your body and deeper flow within your life. When you move from asana to asana- for example a simple yoga flow, you are moving your body while breathing, usually whilst this is happening you are accessing your thoughts and instead of getting caught in your thoughts you are moving your body and flowing through the thoughts. This creates a deeper flow between the mind and body as you realise both are interconnected. Each pose according to the origins of yoga is connected to different parts of your mind and subconscious. Through tapping into the poses you are able to access parts of your mind and thoughts that are creating tension within the body. And through accessing the tension within the body you are able to access the tension within the mind, they become one.
5. Kirtan
Bhakti yoga refers to devotional singing and is one of the eight limbs of yoga. It is devotional singing to the divine and enables the voice to expressively sing to the divine.
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What we are now doing is that you will purchase your one time purchase of a Jar for yourself and your friends, and after that one time purchase, you will then be able to start buying top ups of 200 grams in our eco packaging without any labels or stickers. This will only cost $15 including shipping (Free shipping).
We are trying to minimise the amount of waste we produce as a business, and going into a fresh new year where sustainability is really the integral priority of the business, we have centred our productions around this.
We hope you like it! And if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us!
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From India With Love has almost been evolving for up to two years now. Due to so many people who are constantly re purchasing our chai - we noticed the small un eco friendly impact it has by constantly using and throwing out stickers and paper every time someone purchases and drinks our Chai.
What we have decided to do is create a system where you purchase a Jar of Chai, every time you want more chai, we will send you an eco friendly packet of chai for half the price, and all you have to do is top up the Jar!
This allows for less waste and a more eco friendly world.
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This weeks topic is all about change. Change is a mighty dance between fear and love, our heart and our mind. Have you ever had that feeling of wanting to do something that completely contradicts everything you are in this present moment? Whether it's changing courses, changing jobs, or completely dropping your job to follow your passion?
That feeling when you first have the vision, and inspiration, and become all excited. But then when it comes to execution, your body and mind freezes, and you're like, okay no, let's stick to the original plan, it's a lot safer.
We're talking about that moment. When your heart beckons for change and ambition, and then your mind starts to come in with all these fears. It's at this moment where it's important to jump. Jump into the change, into the new charm.
After a lot of experience of not listening to this charm and intuition, it has taken us lots of pain to figure out that the universe wants us to dance with change, to follow our heart and follow our deepest desires and passions.
Although we have been brought up to believe that we need to follow our minds and everything needs to make sense. I believe that we are all here for something much bigger than we realise, and by following our hearts we can step into the person we were put here to become.
That could physically manifest in so many forms. It could be your highest purpose to serve as a doctor, or a farmer, or a writer. We call this Dharma. Each of us has a different Dharma, in all sorts of forms. But it is important to discover your Dharma and live a happy and healthy life.
Some questions of the day are-
What is your Dharma?
What has made you feel the most you?
Which moment's in time do you reflect on to be your happiest and why?
Are you currently living your dream?
If no, what would that look like?
What steps are needed to actualise this?
Lots of love,
From India With Love. Xx
Photo features Ismail Kapcak, Moshe Topol, Shakti Savita and founder Jessica Lips in Byron Bay.
]]>We promote the synchronisation of the heart, body and the soul. Which integrates in all that we do. Through having a connection with all faculties this will spread through our relationships, our work and our entire lives.
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So I've decided to put together a post on all the things- big or small, that contribute to my day-to-day lifestyle, and which also accelerates my mental health.
Morning Routines
Despite all the chaos that enters life, my morning routine. usually stays roughly about the same. I tend to wake up with the sun at 5:30-6:30am, sit up, meditate of scan my body, watch the sun rise, slowly get myself out of bed, brush my teeth, wash my face, take myself to the ocean ,river or lake, go home, make myself a smoothie and a cup of coffee, sit outside for some time and journal, write down my emotions and write down my plan for the day.
After all of this is done, I tend to check my emails and my website, package any orders and ship them off, and respond to emails.
At around 11-12pm I make a yummy lunch, if I haven't already made a mini breakfast I'll concoct some sort of rice and curry, or pasta, or sandwich, or Dahl, something yummy and nutritious. I tend to also make some Chai with that, and feast.
Usually in the afternoon I take it easy, off to the beach, meeting friends, floating around, restaurants, cafe's, whatever flows, some adventure.
The real meaning of life- I believe, is connection with the people around you, or the people that you choose. I believe that all people do to earn money and to make a living is to truely be able to connect with the people you care about, and create genuine connections around you- friendships and family.
I believe everything really comes down to real, deep connections.
Lots of love. Xx
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What does it mean to be a conscious brand?
"Conscious branding is exactly what the words describe. It is about making a conscious effort as a brand to be conscious about our actions and reactions to the world we exist in, knowing that what we put out has consequences, some of them long-term."
- Green Living Magazine
- awareness of the intention of your brand.
- awareness of what we create is consumed by the audience- creating a conscious brand to help enliven the audience, not deteriorate the consumer.
- branding is not just the physical product- it is the content, blog posts, imagery, and the message that the brand puts out.
- the product's you consume, will impact your entire life, small scale to large scale.
- as a consumer, being conscious of the brands you are consuming.
My journey with consumerism - from unconscious to conscious
Based on personal experience, when I was growing up I would have no awareness with the things I was consuming, I would purchase whatever was in trend, rather than having any sense of conscious awareness of why and the purpose of it.
I had accumulated too many clothes, too many advertisements, too much information- and information that wasn't even beneficial to my health. It was telling me to purchase more and more, rather than actually help and assist with my life.
As of 2017, I made a conscious choice to get rid of every single item of clothing I had accumulated those 14 years (keeping baby clothes obviously), but I was interested to start again, with a clear intention and conscience.
I sold everything - that I had purchased from brands all over the globe.
And as of 2017-2018-2019 I started accumulating new clothes with a clear intention.
Most of my product's started coming from brands that my friends have created- based on higher consciousness. I didn't really understand what it meant to be a conscious brand, but after consuming brands that are based on ethical principles, only recently have a developed a greater understanding.
When you buy into a conscious brand- a brand that holds its values to helping the environment and the earth prosper, or working with nature- firstly the energy that goes into building the product is what you consume, plus all the articles that you read via instagram or online blog/website is what you start to consume on a daily basis. Most of the content that I have been consuming from these brands are based on enlivening your health "how to sleep better", "7 great quotes for tough days", "Be wild", "Are you tired or are you burnt out? Here's what a psychologist wants you to know."
These are the 10 best conscious brands I consume (Including my own)
- Love from Jess xx
]]>Using a stove
Step One - To make for one cup of Chai - (double these quantities per cup) - pour half a cup of water into the stove, wait for the water to boil.
Step Two- Add one teaspoon of our traditional chai mix and wait for the water to boil, in Indian tradition- they watch the water boil, then they lower the simmer, and watch the water boil less, then turn up the stove heat, and put it back to regular.
Step Three- Add just over one half of a cup of milk of choice, and wait for the chai mix and milk to mix and boil, once it boils, turn the heat down, and then turn it back up again, and then turn it off.
Step Four- Using a strainer, pour your chai into one cup-or two cups- depending on how many cups you have made chai for. Add your sweetener of choice, stir it.
Step Five - With friends or with yourself, sit outside, sit indoors, grab a pen, and a journey, or just chat, catch up with your friends- soak in love and nourishment.
xx
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In India, chai is an art.
Chai is an integral part of everyday life, and a special greeting offered to all guests visiting Indian homes.
Day and night, in the houses or the streets, the smell of spices fills up the air and follows your steps."
- https://medium.com
Chai is a tool that connects people with each other, it allows you to drop all barriers put between each other and spend time together, opening up and being honest about what's really going on.
Not only with people, it is something that can connect you to yourself, if you need a minute for yourself, you can step back from your busy day to day life, grab a journal, warm up some tea, and write down ten things you're grateful for, ten things that made you happy today, and things that is on your mind.
https://littleknownmakers.com
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Two girls working at Leroy Espresso Cafe in Melbourne. We met in the beginning of 2017, having moved to Melbourne and curious to learn what it was like to live in a whole new City.
I had just turned 19, having returned back from the Holy India. Bryony, a little creative, and me, quite the curious. We were destined to work together eventually.
Spending hours, working hard, drinking an infinite amount of coffee and Chai, smiling and serving customers. Meanwhile accidentally breaking glasses and dreaming about life and all the places we could go. I told her about my little dream of From India With Love. Bryony, a designer and brander, also had her dream to sketch logos and create designs for brands products and packaging.
After both leaving Leroys, me returning to India, Bryony moving into a van with her partner, we kept meeting in and out over the years. When finally, in 2019, I began From India With Love. Reaching out to her early 2019, she jumped on board, helped create From India With Love.
A business based on adventure and travel. "Love/Unity/Connection. Creating for such a beautiful human and seeing her vision come to life is what makes my world turn. Designing this for you was effortless as it was full of the love and light you spread. Can't wait to visit you in Sydney and try your tasty Chai."
I love you Bryony. May our dreams and visions come to fruition to its entirety.
Follow her through Instagram on Eyemadestudio or Bryoknee_
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At From India With Love we are proud to promote a sustainable future by donating funds towards improving mental health within Australia. Currently we have been investing 10% of proceeds to Lifeline, a generic fundraiser within Australia, that has supported the lives of many. It has provided Australia with a support system that helps people suffering with mental health issues, providing platforms in which people can reach out if they are suffering depression or anxiety, and have no one to talk to. LifeLine provides the platform in which people can call or message and speak directly with a trained professional, to help them navigate through their emotions, for free. Therefore all donations are essential.
Whilst we are helping support mental health, we are also striving towards a healthy and sustainable future. Having explored a variety of farms and meditation campuses, as well as communities which support health and well being. As the proud owner of From India With Love, I have been travelling throughout India, Bali and Australia, finding all the communities that offer some of the best health and well being around the world. Having explored meditation centres, ashrams, vegan cafes and different lifestyles. I have witnessed all the various ways one can live. In mainstream society we believe there is a specific way to live, whereas when you venture outside the box, there are a ton of alternative and sustainable ways.
All proceeds support me in exploring the various ways of living, and soon you will be able to read through blog posts about the health and well being gems around the world.
In the past two months, we have donated more than $400 to LifeLine.
Thank you, all purchases are appreciated.
]]>As an Australian born and bred, it is important to support the land and farmers who work very hard in Australia to grow spices, especially in an organic setup. When we ingest food or spices that are not produced in an organic way, we are ingesting lots of chemicals in our body, which in turn is not healthy, and not allowing our nervous system to function in it's best form. By choosing to use organic spices, we are assured that all the spices were grown naturally, and therefore assisting our body in it's natural rhythm and function. Australia is a very unique country, in that there's way more land than people. We are very lucky to live in Australia, a land not touched by too many people, with the ability to produce lots of healthy and organic spices and food to nourish our body.
We have chosen to continue to support organic farmers in Australia, to allow and ensure that our farmers can continue to farm the land and help Australia with healthy chemical free spices and herbs.
We acknowledge that we have the option to source from India, however we are trying to bring awareness to support our own country, and our own land.
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A pleasantly mild and sunny winter this year brings. As with all the good stories, it wouldn't make sense without returning to the beginning. The original Chai.
As with the good stories, this one started with adventure and searching the that something which is special.
Named and designed honouring what's believed as the most traditional Chai in the world. When everyone sleeps at night, the yogi always stays awake. Watching and blissed in the state of presence.
From this state of presence, this chai was formulated, based on what can bring the people together. Bringing us to a state of unity.
Rarest of the rare.
]]>Just over one cup of water (as the water evaporates), add 2 tea spoons of spiced chai, boil and bubble is together, add one cup of Bonsoy Almond Milk, boil and bubble it together, turn the heat down, turn it up again, add organic coconut sugar strain and enjoy!
This is the little secret that I learned in India- watching it boil and bubble to mix the spices together even stronger.
]]>Chai is slowly becoming more of a ritual rather than a drink you just skull down.
When I was in India in 2016, I spent so much time and energy having really deep, philosophical and loving conversations with the people around me- of all kind, wealthy and poor, while drinking chai at the side of the road in India. It soon became a drink that would soon be associated with conversations about the truth. Instead of superficiality, it helped me connect with people about how they really are feeling.
I've noticed it's so easy to go through the day without asking the people around me how they are. But for me, Chai became a tool in which I could really get to know the people around me.
And same with myself, sometimes, when I'm alone, I love sitting down with myself and drinking some Chai, and journalling in my diary, and finding out how I really am.
It's become a tool and a ritual, of understanding myself even better, as well as connecting more deeply with those around me.
It's not a drink that I just drink on the go, it's more of a ritual.
Xx
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Why Life Line?
Despite personal interactions with depression and suicide, mental health is a hidden pandemic. With people finding it easier to talk about their physical pains, and find it harder to talk about their mental pains. It is definitely a topic that is important to place more awareness on, especially at this point in time.
https://www.lifeline.org.au
How it works?
You make a purchase of any of our products, and you will receive an email with the amount that is being donated to LifeLine. Followed by a screenshot of the donation to LifeLine.
So while you are helping yourself, you are also helping those in need.
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Thank you for being apart of this platform. Honestly I was inspired to create it one and a half years ago because my heart is filled with so much adventure and travel- it's my passion to go around the world and talk to hundreds of different people, getting to know who they are how they are.
I honestly couldn't ditch my heart for university or study- even though that was what I was meant to do- my heart wanted connection and to create and to expand. My heart honestly had so many things it wanted to see and create.
So I decided to create this platform where I could do exactly that. Obviously I didn't have the intentions for only making money selling chai and other goods- it's more the lifestyle of living simply, being able to connect with so many people on a day to day basis. Being able to write about any topic that inspires me.
So thank you for being on this journey with me. And I'm excited for where else this journey will take me.
To more places, more people, more adventures, more connection.
Xx
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