For further reading, check out these links:
http://yogashaastra.blogspot.com/2008/05/beat-heat-with-sheetali-sheetkari.html
http://www.healthandyoga.com/HTML/news/sheetali.html
http://living.oneindia.in/yoga-spirituality/yoga/sheetali-surya-bhedan-pranayama.html

–Rishi

However, while I was attending a yoga training program in the ashram, I was made to practice oil pulling every morning.  All I have to say is wow!  Within two weeks I found my skin was the softest it had been since I was a child.  A bleeding problem I had with one spot in my gums also dissappeared, along with sensitivity in one of my molars.  After getting such great results I knew this was something I had to share with everyone I knew.

What you need:

- A bottle of cold pressed sesame or sunflower oil (preferable sesame)
- A tablespoon

How to do it:
As soon as you wake up, place around one tablespoon of oil into your mouth.  Keep your jaw closed and relaxed, and push the oil through your teeth with your tongue.  Bring the oil back inside your teeth using your cheeks.  Keep repeating this process.  After about 10 to 15 minutes, the oils thick consistency will change to become much thinner and watery.  At this point, spit the oil out of your mouth into a sink.  If the oil is watery and whitish in color, you did it correctly.  Quickly rinse out your mouth with water several times.  And your done!

Important Notes:

- Oil pulling should be done BEFORE brushing
- Oil pulling should be done on an empty stomach
- Try not to swallow any of the oil

Benefits:

- Removal of toxins from the digestive system
- Clearer skin
- Whiter teeth
- Healthier gums
- Better overall Health

If you decide to try kavala graha out, tell us!  We’d love to hear whether it worked for you or not and share the results with everyone else.

Also, I’ll be posting an instructional video for this post later this week.

–Rishi

I practice kavala graha everyday with Raw Coconut Oil. It does wonders for the hair and skin. Basically, you can do this with any raw and cold-pressed oil.

–Rohit

This is another example of big pharmaceutical and food industries lying and cheating to consumers, and victimizing the public. The traditional theory dealing with baldness was that it is caused by the male hormone, testosterone. Testosterone is converted to another hormone called dihydrotestosterone, which causes hair to grow darker and longer on the body, face, and sides of the head. Dihydrotestosterone also causes hair loss and baldness because it makes the hair on the top of the head lighter and thinner.

Out of all the corporations out there, Merck is probably the worst because they screw behind your back and not to your face. Scientists at Merck developed a drug called Proscar to shrink enlarged prostates by blocking the formation of dihydrotestosterone. Merck then turned around and started selling the same drug as Propecia, charging five times as much to help hair grow on bald men. Propecia is not very effective because it treats the symptoms of baldness, not the root cause.

New research shows that high blood levels of insulin may lead to male pattern baldness in which men and women lose hair from the top and front of their heads. A study from the Harvard School of Public Health shows that men who have the highest blood levels of insulin like growth factor-1 are the ones most likely to suffer male pattern baldness. Women who have high levels of insulin are the ones most likely to lose hair from the tops of their heads. It still is early in the research, but evidence is accumulating that male-pattern baldness may be caused by high levels of insulin that are produced by eating huge amounts of sugary and floured foods such as bakery products and pastas. We need more research to show if male pattern baldness can be prevented by avoiding flour and sugar. The exact mechanism by which insulin causes baldness is yet to be determined. But, my experience is that high levels of sugar destroy the body’s normal functioning processes. It makes sense to me that high sugar consumption would lead to baldness. Trust your instincts.

So, we end up with a situation where the food industry is selling us the problem (refined sugar) and the health industry is selling us a solution to the problem (Propecia). Both industries make money while the consumer ends up unhealthy and bald. Fortunately, you as a consumer can make the choice to cut out excessive consumption of sugar, starches, flour, and alcohol-all these ingredients are used too often in our food supply.

To read more go here and here.

Please check out our new blog, which is following the ‘local’ and ‘local food’ movements at localblu.com

-Ro