A Turmeric Tonic For Digestion & More Of Jasmine Hemsley's Top Ayurvedic Health Secrets
So many wellness "trends" these days actually trace back to ayurveda—an ancient approach to medicine first introduced in India. Everything from oil pulling, fermented foods, and tongue scraping stems from this 5,000-year-old healing system that seeks to achieve balance in the body.
"There's a rhythm to life. Ayurveda understands that rhythm," Jasmine Hemsley, the chef and author of East by West: Simple Recipes for Ultimate Mind-Body Balance, explained on her episode of the mbg podcast this summer.
To celebrate the release of her book stateside, Hemsley is taking over mbg's Instagram stories today and sharing how she calls on ayurveda to stay vibrant and beat those sniffles that tend to come on during autumn.
Her tour of London covers all of her go-to spots for balancing out her vata-dominant dosha (and if you have no idea what that means, read this), including her favorite Indian restaurant, Rasa South, and meditation studio, Re:Mind.
Hemsley is a huge proponent of skipping over salads in favor of soups, stews, and broths with plenty of spice. This time of year, she loves to use cloves in her spiced apples in the morning, coriander seeds in porridge, and mustard seeds in just about anything else. She kicks off those warm meals by drinking a combination of ginger, turmeric, cayenne, and lemon to boost digestive fire, or agni, before eating.
Outside the kitchen, she'll also partake in ayurvedic rituals like abhyanga, a warm oil massage that helps clear her mind of chatter, and shirodhara, which involves gently pouring warm oil infused with herbs over the forehead. When combined, these mind-body practices leave Hemsley feeling grounded, balanced, and energetic.
Emma Loewe is the Sustainability and Health Director at mindbodygreen and the author of Return to Nature: The New Science of How Natural Landscapes Restore Us. She is also the co-author of The Spirit Almanac: A Modern Guide To Ancient Self Care, which she wrote alongside Lindsay Kellner.
Emma received her B.A. in Environmental Science & Policy with a specialty in environmental communications from Duke University. In addition to penning over 1,000 mbg articles on topics from the water crisis in California to the rise of urban beekeeping, her work has appeared on Grist, Bloomberg News, Bustle, and Forbes. She's spoken about the intersection of self-care and sustainability on podcasts and live events alongside environmental thought leaders like Marci Zaroff, Gay Browne, and Summer Rayne Oakes.