Some kitchens are beautiful, and less used. It is like having a BMW, and not driving it. Some kitchens are cluttered and overworked. Not inviting to enter, much less linger. However a kitchen with a thriving and beating heart, is the centre of a home, a family and an individual. Many values are laid down here, many traditions held up, it is the one room in the house that can build the foundation of a person’s whole life.

It is place of creativity – where continually nourishing and tasty meals are procured. It is a family den, where family members can laugh and chat. It is place for friends to share titbits of their life over cups of tea. A place where life journeys are celebrated with cake and champagne. It can be a place of love, warmth, celebrations, nourishment, and even a pharmacy!

In Ayurveda it is a place of elevated status. You can slip into the natural rhythm of the day and season by visiting the kitchen to mark the passage of time. Starting with the hot water drink first thing the in the morning, to energize the GI track. The morning breakfast to nourish the body during the kapha part of the day after the fasting night. The lunch at noon during the pitta part of the day, when the digestive fire is at it’s highest. Ready to convert the food into blood nutrients most efficiently. At evening sundown, as vata starts to dominate, a lighter and gentler meal prepares the body to wind down into a restful night. If you want to dance in rhythm to nature, look no further than the kitchen to start.

Three key doorways to health- Agni, Ama and Ojas are also groomed in the kitchen. If the Agni (the digestive process) is too high, or too low upsetting the very entry point of the GI track, go to the kitchen and start taming the fire. A sliver of ginger will pick it up, while bitters will cool it down. An untamed digestive fire means nothing else will end well. If Ama (undigested gunk in the body) is accumulating in the GI track and other parts of body, start a gentle flushing out regime. That means the fire is cranked up, and herbs are penetrating the cells and pulling the gunk out. How can the body nourish you and take care of the clutter within?

No Life Without Ojas: Charaka sutra sthana, Chapter 30, verse 9

वर्तयन्ति प्रीणिताः सर्वदेहिनः [ |

यदृते सर्वभूतानां जीवितं नावतिष्ठते||९||

Vartyanti pidhitaah sarvadehinah,yadhyte sarvbhutaanaam jivitam na-avtishthete

Ojas keeps all living beings nourished and refreshed. There can be no life without Ojas.

And what about the beautiful and empowering Ojas (essence that protects and strengthens the body)? All those beautiful meals with hearty grains, and earthy vegetables and enriching oils are raw blood nutrients that you hold in your hands. Just like the fragrant golden ghee, the very nectar of life, whose essence has been gently extracted from milk. Similarly these ingredients cooked with love, will enter the stomach of your loved ones, and become the Ojas essence in a month, circulating within their veins. Protecting them physically and mentally from the hardships, and the vagaries of life. (Ojas is a quantifiable liquid in the body, responsible for overall health, energy and liveliness. It is both a mental and physical factor, the essence of all the body tissues.)

Yes, if the kitchen is living and beating to a soulful tune; your family, and your children’s children will inherit the raw ingredients of life, you so lovingly procured, into their very DNA for a while to come.