Calming Milk Golden Milk
Become a good witch and make yourself a healing concoction.
What is it? What is the recipe? Why should I drink it?
This story begins with me, having lots of anxiety which is known as a vata imbalance in Ayurveda. Vata is air and ether element in Ayurveda and the majority of our culture currently suffers from severe vata imbalances.
According to Ayurveda, Vata imbalance could look like many things, including forgetfulness, anxiety, feeling too busy, drinking too much coffee (more than one cup a day), not investing time to relax, over scheduling, over booking, lack of focus, addiction, unable to be calm or slow down, consuming too much information, creative blocks, etc.
If any of those reasons sound like experiences you have, calming milk will help to nurture you. Nourishing yourself is why you would consider drinking it, plus the healing properties of the spices! It also helps you get to sleep earlier and easier.
When I first met with an Ayurvedic Practitioner they told me to do savasana (final relaxation at the end of yoga) three times a day and to start drinking calming milk. I strongly suggest everyone go see an Ayurvedic Practitioner at some point when you feel called to go.
At the time I was a vegetarian and didn’t drink regular milk. My mentor provided me with raw cow milk and I gratefully took it. He added several different herbs to it as well as ghee and honey. IT TASTED SO GOOD! I stopped being vegetarian.
Before I give you the whole recipe I want to mention this recipe is great for when you first switch to eating an earlier, lighter dinner and you are hungry at bedtime (8-10pm). The whole system of Ayurveda and Dinacharya doesn’t really work well if you stay up late as a normal occurrence.
Back to the deliciousness that is what I like to call Calming Milk. Something cool I’ve been seeing is Golden Milk showing up in coffee shops! I totally love this and I’m so glad it is catching on.
INGREDIENTS:
First, pick your milk. According to Ayurveda the best choice would be RAW COW MILK. Then next best choice would be whole organic milk. If you don’t drink cow milk then goat, coconut, hemp, almond milk will work just fine. (It is really whatever milk you want to use.)
Next get some honey. If you are vegan and don’t do honey you may not need to sweeten it and you could with maple syrup or something of your liking.
Oil/Ghee. Ghee is so healing for our body as well as getting the healing spices into our system. They call it a carrier oil. Ghee as an “Anupan” increases the bioavailability of the herbs and spices. It has nourishing fatty acids and as a preservative has the capacity to store the medicinal properties of the herbs for an extended period of time without affecting the potency. I could go on and on, it lubricates the joints, etc.
However if you are vegan then coconut oil will work just fine.
Spice list (in powdered form):
ginger - immunity, lower blood sugar levels
cinnamon - heating, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory
cardamom - aids digestion of sweets, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer
turmeric (where the name golden milk comes from) - anti-inflammatory continue reading more
ashwaganda - aids sleep and balances vata and hormones, continue reading benefits
nutmeg - helps you fall asleep,
clove - immunity, antioxidants, help prevent cancer, bone health
saffron - good for the soul, its from a flower which means it can improve you mood, it is an antioxidant, etc
RECIPE:
Pour the milk into a small sauce pot, enough to fill your mug when you are complete (roughly 11/2 cups). Turn the heat on low because you DO NOT want to burn it. Stand patiently and chant, pray, sing over the milk. This is a grounding practice/ritual and will increase the health benefits by you charging it with positive energy.
As the milk is warming add in the ghee (1 tablespoon/one spoonful or less). Once the ghee has melted add your spices. I do less than 1/4 teaspoon and I generally don’t measure it out I intuitively add spices except saffron. One thing you can do is make a mixture of the spices and then simply add a teaspoon of the mixture.
I like to put the honey in the bottom of my mug with the saffron. Use more or less honey than how much ghee you used depending on how sweet you want it (see warning below). Next pour the warm ghee milk with spices into the cup once it is warm enough for your liking. I make my calming milk hot enough that I need to sit down with it for a few moments before it is drinkable. Once poured, stir together the milk and honey.
Ayurveda is intuitive. Go with your gut on how much and which spices to use. You can totally make this even if you only have a few of the spices I listed. I usually use them all and sometimes I want more clove since I usually use less of it, for instance during the fall. As the seasons change, the amounts and spices I use shifts slightly.
⚠️WARNING:
You DO NOT want to use the same amount of honey and ghee or else you will get a strange flavor because they are creating something potentially toxic. Honey and ghee are the two food substances used widely in our diet. In Ayurveda, it is quoted that heated honey and honey mixed with equal amount of ghee produce deleterious effects. The equal amount mixture produces HMF which may cause negative effects.
Think like a good witch making yourself a healing concoction. 😉
While you are sitting with your warm calming milk take a picture and share this blog to spread the goodness. You can also post a picture of you witches brew in our community Facebook Group.
Lastly, if you want to join my coaching group you can sign up here for a free call to see if it I the right fit for you!