Indian Vegetarian Cooking Workshop in Brazil with Jeenal Mehta

Namaste friends,

Being a vegetarian is not a hard task because there are people like Jeenal Mehta who are dedicated to bring a good change in the society by spreading the art of delicious Vegetarian cooking !

Jeenal teaching the particpants to peel the burnt

eggplants to make delicious Baingan Bhartha :-)

Jeenal Mehta is trying her very best to spread vegetarianism in India and foreign countries by teaching the people to cook delicious vegetarian dishes. After conducting vegetarian workshops in India and Thailand, this time she conducted an Indian Veg Cooking Workshop in Itajubá - Minas Gerais in Brazil.

Jeenal teaching Aloo Ghobi to the Brazilain ladies!

The Indian Gujarati dish Aloo Ghobi was one of the favourite dishes of the participants. It is a quick and simple recipe made from potatoes and cauliflower with crackled mustard seeds and other indian spicees! Yum..yum..yummy!!!

Participants preparing Hara Bhara Kebab

After the cooking session, an Indian
dinning area was arranged!  Lovely!

Jeenal and Daniel with the Brazilian participants,
ready to have the Indian food!

Daniel explaining the participants
the secrets of Indian dining!

The workshop was filled with fun...Jeenal not yet knowing fluent Portuguese would  communicate with the  Brazilian participants in her broken Portuguese bringing in humor and surprise for everybody. But thanks to Daniel that he was always there for translation when needed! 

The delicious Indian dishes taught were Channa Masala (Chick pea curry), Roti and Paratha (Indian bread), Aloo Ghobi (cauliflower with potato curry), Baingan Bharta (burnt brinjal with indian spices), Chaas (refreshing Indian drink made from yoghurt) and Hara Bhara Kebab (Kebab made from peas, potatoes, mint and other spices).

Namaskar,

WLYA Team :-)

"Jeenal Mehta is an inspiring Indian Yoga teacher who also conducts varieties of workshop to inspire vegetarianism amongst the people. She is the director of Wise Living Yoga Academy."

Wise Living Yoga Academy conducts Yoga Teacher Training Courses (240 hours) following the Methodology & Didactics of The Yoga Institute of Santacruz. The course is recognized by The International Board of Yoga - India and accredited by Yoga Alliance - USA (RYS-200 Level).

Please follow the links to know more about our YTT course 240 hours in 2012:

- Yoga Teacher Training Course in Minas Gerais, Brazil
- Yoga Teacher Training Course in Bali, Indonesia
- Yoga Teacher Training Course in Chiang Mai, Thailand

The True Spirit of Christmas

“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”

In the end of December of every year most of the western world and also many people in the east celebrate the birth of an exceptional man called Jesus the Christ.

This great man is what in the Vedic culture is known by an Avatar or an earthly incarnation of God. And a man who can be called a God is a man who exhibits exceptional qualities and virtues of the human species such as being humane, kind, considerate, understanding, sympathetic, tolerant, approachable, accessible, compassionate, selfless and who ultimately is able to sacrifice himself for the sake of others.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

God descends from his celestial plane and take human form to teach people by example of behaviour what is expect of  the other men (and of course the women) - in other words, what is expected of the human race as a species. The true followers of such God-Man are those who make all efforts to apply such behaviour and conduct in his daily life, and in such a way, practice his ways towards divinity themselves.

This is the true spirit of Christmas: to follow in essence the teachings of the Christ or to consciously copy his behaviour making his one’s own.

Those who make undue use of commerce, display luxury in manners of dressing & eating and indulge in intoxication of the body and mind are in no ways celebrating Christmas or the birth of Christ or his teachings.

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Christmas is time for penance - but not in the sense of self-punishment or mortification - but in the sense of modesty, simplicity and ascetic austerity which allows to introspection and meditation.

These are the essential attributes that will allow the awakening of the divinity sought within.

“Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.' I John 4:4”

Let us imbue the true spirit of Christmas in these days of celebration!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Daniel & Jeenal

Ahimsa - Non-violence

Yesterday while passing by the village of Naddi I caressed the tender calf who was probably a few days old. I felt a deep connection.

After a while, sitting in the green grass I saw two little..very little bright red bugs with black spots mating. I felt love for them. And in the twilight of the evening, while sitting on the rooftop facing the Himalayas, just below in the courtyard of the villagers house, I saw the mother goat tied with a rope while the little black lamb was free. As the baby lamb would go around a few meters away to explore, the mother goat would attentively and protectively observe the baby. The baby lamb would come hopping back to the mother with a sense of achievement, and the mother goat would lick her baby with love. I thought, this is how all the mothers are, full of loving tenderness..isn't it?

Ahimsa or Non-violence is the first Universal Ethic, one of the first Yama of the Patanjali Ashtanga Yoga, also know as the eight-fold path of Yoga.

The highest moral conduct for a human being is the practice of Non-violence. When we are able to connect closely to all the living beings, be it an animal..big or small, a tiny fish, or a worm, we will realize that they all are seeking for happiness and the wish to live without pain or suffering. Just as you do, just as we all do. We genuinely wish happiness for all the beings when we are able to feel their pain and feel compassionate love towards them. This is the highest path of humanity and the only way towards self- realisation and God. May all beings be happy !!!

Namaskar !!!

With love, Jeenal.