The Ayurvedic Table: Dietary Wisdom & Food Prep

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Dates: Thursdays Nov. 14, 21, 28 & Dec 5, 2013 6:30pm – 9:00pm Teacher: Matthew Remski Location: Still Light Centre In Ayurveda, food and the capacity to digest it mirror each other — which means that understanding what is right for you to eat is a very personal journey. Wouldn’t it be nice to build a supportive diet naturally, based upon who you are, rather than what’s in vogue? Ayurveda gives a powerful language for doing just that. We’ll look at the typical states of digestive fire, and what foods best nourish us in the tasks of cleansing, repairing, or building. We’ll look at tastes and timing, raw veganism and omnivorism and everything in between, and echo the fundamental Ayurvedic principle: “Food is the first of all medicines.”

This workshop is divided into 4 sessions:

1. Digestive Fire: what it is and how to strengthen it

o What is the groundwork for healthy metabolism? Ayurveda provides a wide range of constitutionally appropriate tools to enhance and nurture digestive fire in the three doshic sites of the stomach, small intestine, and the colon. In this workshop, we’ll lay out the basics of assessing your digestive strength, and beginning to identify how it might be improved.

2. Basic Food Protocols and Categories as per constitution

o In Ayurveda, every food has healing qualities, assessed by its capacity to heat or cool, both at meal time and in later digestive phases. Foods and herbs also have stimulating, alkalizing, or calming qualities that can help when the anabolic, metabolic, and catabolic functions of digestion are imbalanced. We’ll look at food categories according to constitutional and seasonal principles.

3. Therapeutics of Taste

o The theory of the six tastes is the crowning jewel in Ayurvedic dietary theory. Sweet, sour, salty tastes are toning; pungent, bitter, astringent tastes are reducing. And it gets better from there. Each taste is said to have the capacity to balance a particular doshic function, while also relating to the emotional body. An evening’s exploration of the magic of taste.

4. Staple Teas, Kitcheris, Chutneys (a cooking class)

o In this final workshop, we’ll take things into the kitchen and learn several staples of Ayurvedic cookery. Digestive teas, one-pot stews, chutneys, relishes, and raita — all to balance constitution and to address digestive issues. We’ll end with dinner!

About Matthew: A prominent Canadian Ayurvedic practitioner and yoga teacher, Matthew has extensive experience both as an educator and therapist. He runs one of Canada’s only training programmes in Ayurvedic practice and therapy and has consulted with over 1000 clients over the past six years. He holds a position on the faculty of the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto, and is a returning guest teacher in several Yoga Teacher Training programmes in the Toronto area and beyond He is a writer in the morning, therapist in the day, and teacher in the evening. He writes about yoga, ayurveda, and evolution. He writes poetry, novels, posts and fragments. He teaches courses in ayurveda and yoga philosophy based upon the ongoing research of writing, and the ongoing experience of practical therapy. His approach is student-centered, example-focused, and Socratic. He teaches asana as well, mostly in a therapeutic context. He lives in Toronto with his partner Alix Bemrose, and their baby boy, Jacob.

The Details:
• Thursday Evenings, Nov. 14, 21, 28, Dec. 5th 6:30pm – 9pm
• Cost (plus HST):
• $185 Early Bird Special for all 4 classes before Oct. 21.
• $220 Regular Price after Oct. 21
• $59 for individual classes
• Includes all food and materials