© Adishakti LLC, 2013. The information contained herein is for educational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). It is not intended to be used to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. If you have a medical condition, you should consult your medical physician. For more information, visit www.vaidyamishra.com or call

1.888.9SHAKTI.

Amla  is  Dhatri  –  nourishing  like  mother’s  milk….   One day, during one of our many conversations, my father told me that turmeric the spice, Guduchi the Amrita plant, and Amla, the berry or fruit are the best ingredients of Ayurveda. I asked why? He replied:

• Turmeric, because it detoxifies the liver; • Guduchi, because it cleans and rejuvenates the cellular system; • And Amla, because it is innocent like mother's milk and has the

greatest Rasayana or rejuvenative effect on the body. Another name for Amla in the ayurvedic tradition is dhatri- one that

nourishes like mother's milk and is without side effects. My father explained that every ingredient in Ayurveda deserves to be studied in all its details, covering all aspects from its common use to its processing. When it came to the Amla, I learnt that he favored the generic wild harvested amalaki berry over any of its existing 'hybridized' forms. I have, since then, researched this personally and come to appreciate the wisdom of his ways.

There are dozens of reasons why amla is the one fruit that you can consume safely on a regular basis regardless of what body type you have or any other details. For more details you can watch my youtube video, but here is a short list of what it can do for you at a quick glance:

1. Amla is the number one ingredient for protein synthesis, it will nourish and maintain your muscle tissue and enhance absorption and digestion of protein, nurturing and balancing your brain health as well

2. It is a powerhouse of Vit C as it contains a particular molecule of Vit C that does not decompose and does not have an acidic but rather alkaline after-effect in your body

3. It is a-mala-ki: no mala or toxin ‒ in this sense it supports your digestive system, strengthening your pachak agni so your body makes less or zero ama or toxic build-up ‒ the number one cause for eventual disease. As a result of correction digestion and assimilation, it facilitates optimal elimination

4. It is called “vyastha” ‒ it bestows everlasting youth because it is balancing to all body types, and highly alkalizing

5. When digestion and elimination are balanced, toxin are not produced and do not stand a chance of accumulating in your skin ‒ Amla supports the health and glow of your overall skin

6. Due to its alkalizing pitta dosha balancing effect, it helps support the liver to detoxify the blood

7. Out of the 6 possible tastes that are known to balance the psycho-physiology of humans, amla contains all 5 except for salt (sweet sour bitter astringent pungent); it is thus fully

© Adishakti LLC, 2013. The information contained herein is for educational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). It is not intended to be used to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. If you have a medical condition, you should consult your medical physician. For more information, visit www.vaidyamishra.com or call

1.888.9SHAKTI.

balancing in and of itself not just for the physical body, but for the mind and emotions as well ‒ for all 3 psycho-physical body types: vata pitta and kapha

8. It is a hormonal modulator for both men and women, maintains optimal hormonal health and enhances fertility in both men and women

9. It is a “medhya” : considered particularly nourishing for the brain and its 3 functions of mental activity: “dhi dritti and smritti” ‒ gathering storing and recalling.

10. Last but not least, it is revered as a rasayana: while many herbs will have many wonderful life-supporting properties, not all will carry the property of rasayana or rejuvenation. The Amla berry is famed for being a rejuvenative: it nurtures and supports the health of your body from the inside out, and has an effect on your consciousness as well. It raises your “satwa” or positive pranic energy flow and distribution.

There are yet many more properties and benefits to it. I list more in my youtube video, click on the link in the newsletter. But you have to be careful! Due to its great healing and balancing properties and characteristics, its great popularity as an ayurvedic plant1, the amalaki berry has been widely harvested and hybridized, resulting in a common popular fruit that carries very little of its original healing properties. My father had taught me to look for and identify the wild harvested generic fruit that is much smaller in size, with a larger seed, and less yield, but with all the great properties of the fruit. In addition, he also

taught me very specific protocols for preparing the fruit so as to get the most out of it. The Process of SVA Wild Amla Preparation In the Shaka Vansiya lineage we have a very particular method of preparation that has made for the popularity of my Wild Amla herbal formulation for the last 10 years. So much so that competitors have now been trying to market

1 It is one of the oldest oriental medicines mentioned in Ayurveda as potential remedy for various ailments since the fruit is rich in quercetin, phyllaemblic compounds, gallic acid, tannins, flavonoids, pectin and vitamin C and also contains various polyphenolic compounds. A wide range of phytochemical components including terpenoids, alkaloids, flavonoids, and tannins have been shown to posses useful biological activities. Many pharmacological studies have demonstrated that the fruit shows antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antitumour, antigenotoxic, anti-inflammatory activities, supporting its traditional uses. See Amala, Protein Synthesis, and Human trials in Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences “Phytochemistry, traditional uses and cancer chemopreventive activity of Amla (Phyllanthusemblica): The Sustainer.” (2011) Ekta Singh, Sheel Sharma, Ashutosh Pareek, Jaya Dwivedi, Sachdev Yadav

© Adishakti LLC, 2013. The information contained herein is for educational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). It is not intended to be used to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. If you have a medical condition, you should consult your medical physician. For more information, visit www.vaidyamishra.com or call

1.888.9SHAKTI.

amla products of a lesser grade through my own words. They copy the knowledge without delivering the goods. They even use the adjective "wild" on their labels. You have to be very careful in selecting your amla product. We just received a new batch at www.chandika.com. It took much longer than anticipated and we’ve been out of stock on this product for the past several months. Our SVA team in India was gathering all the wild fruits they could find. Since it is the wild fruit, the yield is less and sporadic. When we finally gathered enough, our technical staff very carefully cleaned and then processed the fruit on low heat over long periods of time. Our current tablets are not as dark as our previous batch, as we have further refined our manufacturing processes to get closer to the ideal SVA manufacturing methods. In this batch, our tablets are not as dark as they were in previous batches, and this does not mean that they are less concentrated. We have made each tablet more efficacious by processing them less to bring out more potency and efficacy. It’s the method of extraction vs slow-cooking. If you are curious, these are some of the steps that we follow: we gather fresh grade A wild Amla berries that are pitted to remove the seed and filter out the fiber. Wild Amla is then pulped and dried at low heat. Another fresh batch of Amla is juiced to be added to the dried pulp. This mixture is then blended thoroughly. This process of drying pulp and juicing is repeated eleven times before the final preparation of the dried tablets. Preparation of Amla is time-consuming and labor intensive. The low heat drying is critical in this preparation because of the high content of Ascorbic acid in Amla. So much ascorbic acid that some researches claim 1 fresh Amla berry equals 16 bananas and 3 oranges2. The heat sensitivity of ascorbic acid dictates that the vitamin and other nutrients of Amla are best preserved with the juicing process. Research has shown that applying high heat to ascorbic acid results in a darker color, this can be an indication of bleaching3. Our wild Amla maintains the balanced level of ascorbic acid as shown through its lighter color achieved from the slow pulp-and-juice preparation. The current batch uses this process. Recent researches have also concluded that Amla enhances protein synthesis4. In my practice, the dictum of Ayurveda remains that if one's digestion, assimilation, and synthesis of protein is 2 Phytochemistry, traditional uses and cancer chemopreventive activity of Amla (Phyllanthus emblica): The Sustainer. Ekta Singh, Sheel Sharma, Ashutosh Pareek, Jaya Dwivedi, Sachdev Yadav and Swapnil Sharma. Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical science, Sept. 2011. 3 http://courses.washington.edu/edtep586/Colleen%20.ppt 4 Synergistic growth inhibitory effects of Phyllanthus emblica and Terminalia bellerica extracts with conventional cytotoxic agents: doxorubicin and cisplatin against human hepatocellular carcinoma and lung cancer cells. Pinmai K, Chunlaratthanabhorn S, Ngamkitidechakul C, Soonthornchareon N, Hahnvajanawong C. World J Gastroenterol. 2008 Mar 14;14(10):1491-7.

© Adishakti LLC, 2013. The information contained herein is for educational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). It is not intended to be used to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. If you have a medical condition, you should consult your medical physician. For more information, visit www.vaidyamishra.com or call

1.888.9SHAKTI.

in balance, then one achieves a balanced physiology. Many cancer patients have now come to rely on Amla for its chemo preventive properties with less danger of herb-drug interaction5. There is no end to lauding the benefits of this ancient berry. In general, for daily usage, taking 1 tablet after breakfast and 1 tablet after lunch is recommended. For specific health needs, the dosage can be increased to 3 tablets after breakfast and 3 tablets after lunch. Or it is always best to consult with your SVA expert.

5 Phytochemistry, traditional uses and cancer chemopreventive activity of Amla (Phyllanthus emblica): The Sustainer. Ekta Singh, Sheel Sharma, Ashutosh Pareek, Jaya Dwivedi, Sachdev Yadav and Swapnil Sharma. Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical science, Sept. 2011.