Most of us are probably pretty consistent with brushing our teeth each morning before facing the world. This is just the tip of the tongue when it comes to preparing your mouth for your first meal of the day. Ayurveda gives us 4 key steps to preparing our mouth for our first meal. Here's each step and some resources to practice at home. 1) Tongue Scraping - Using a U-shaped metal bar, the tongue is gently scraped from back to front to remove the film that builds up overnight. By removing this, it improves taste and avoids re-ingesting this film. Copper Scraper 2) Brushing Teeth - Brush your teeth with a toothpaste that has bitter and astringent ingredients, such as neem, pomegranate, clove and licorice. This helps discourage microbial excess and encourages healthy gums. Healthy Herbal Toothpaste 3) Oil Pulling - It takes just a small amount of oil to draw out lipid based toxins and support gum health. Using 1-2 tablespoons, swish the oil between your teeth, around your gums and entire oral cavity. Only need to do this for 5 mins then discard. Gandusha Oil 4) Warm water rinse - Using warm water, rinse out your mouth and discard in the sink. This will remove excess oil and prepares you for the first meal of the day. Learn more about preparing and making your first meal of the day in the January 2026 Cooking Class. Bonus options - Oral Care from SVA/Chandika

Yogacharya BKS Iyengar

Surya is the Sanskrit word for sun. Namaskar means a salutation. Yoga offers many ways to harness the sun’s energy within the body . In our January Yoga session we focused on the warmth of the sun. We found several ways to work with the Surya Namaskar; A series of asanas that stir the internal heat and digestive fire known as Agni. We also worked with a mudra. Mudra means a hand gesture or a lock. Surya Mudra is a gesture that symbolizes and harnesses the suns energy. Hence Surya Mudra acknowledges that every living thing on earth depends on the sun for their sustainable energy.

Have you found the recordings for this January's class in the classroom? Let's see pictures of your favorite breakfast!

Winter Storm Fern is creeping towards us here in the United States and she's sure bringing with her a mess of cold weather and messy precipitation. Here in Asheville, we're going to get freezing rain and we have a high risk of losing power for an extended period of time. With the chance that I'll be sitting at home for a few days and unable to cook, I've been planning out some healthier pre-made foods to keep the ultra-processed foods out of the pantry. Here's what I'm going to prepare and have on hand for weekend: - Roasting nuts and dried fruit with masala and ghee - Hummus - Fresh Fruits, such as apples and bananas - Hard boiled eggs - Paneer - Granola Will the storm affect you? How are you preparing your food for the days ahead?