Daily Wellness Routines
Deep breathing: the slowest skill we forget
The Sufi master in my mother's old neighbourhood in Marrakech used to say that breath was the only currency that all humans...
Section
Author: Darshak Yadav
Darshak Yadav writes for Herbcare from a small flat in Ahmedabad. He grew up between his grandmother's kitchen in the old city and his father's slow evenings on the balcony, and became curious early about the household practices that never announced themselves as wellness. He reads widely across regional recipe traditions, Ayurvedic householder texts, and quiet cultural writing, and prefers writing that carries a specific place, a specific hand, a specific hour of the day. When he is not writing he is usually cooking, walking, or sitting with a cup of something warm.
105 entries in this section
Herbal Drinks
Ginger lemon honey water: a traveler’s quiet companion
On a cold morning in Tunis, when the wind off the Mediterranean was sharp and the sky was the colour of old...
Traditional Food Practices
Foraging wild greens: small fields, small knives
My grandmother carried a small knife in her apron pocket from spring until late autumn. It was not for the kitchen. It...
Comfort & Relaxation Rituals
Shavasana: lying down like it matters
My first yoga teacher in Kyoto was an Indian woman who had lived in Japan for twenty years. She ran her class...
Ayurveda Basics
The six tastes: a beginner’s introduction
The first time someone explained the six tastes to me, I was eleven years old and helping my grandmother put together a...
Ayurveda Basics
Mindful eating: the slow Ayurvedic plate
There is a small steel plate in my parents' kitchen, slightly dented at the rim, that has eaten more meals with me...
Seasonal Living
Monsoon eating: warm foods for wet days
It rained for the first time properly last night. Not the half-hearted showers of early June but the real one, the kind...
Daily Wellness Routines
Walking after meals: the village evening walk
In Calabria, the after-dinner walk is called the passeggiata. It begins shortly after the plates are cleared, often around eight in summer,...
Traditional Food Practices
Sprouted grains: a window of patience
The glass jar sat on the kitchen windowsill in Pune, on its side, with a piece of muslin held over the mouth...
Comfort & Relaxation Rituals
The Nordic sauna: heat, cold, repeat
The first sauna I ever sat in was on a lake in eastern Finland, built of dark wood that had silvered at...
Herbal Drinks
Rooibos: the red bush of the Cederberg
The Cederberg mountains rise sharply about two hundred kilometres north of Cape Town. In summer the heat is dry and the rock...
Ayurveda Basics
Resting after meals: the village afternoon pause
In a small village outside Madurai, I once spent a summer week in a friend's family home where the afternoon, between roughly...