Seasonal Health Tips
This is an index of all articles in the Seasonal Health Tips category on our website. If you cannot find what you are looking for please try our search facility.
People visit our site from all over the world. Therefore we need to post tips for people who live in permanent summer or winter, or who may be sweating when we are shivering.
There are six seasons (ritu) described in the ancient texts, and each text, perhaps coming from authors in different parts of the Indian subcontinent, describe the seasons differently.
According to Vedic medicine, the qualities of all objects and tendencies can be known and utilized to create balance in life -- both in human life and the life of the environment. The corollary of this precept is the Principle of Similars and Opposites (samanyavishesha siddhanta) which states that in order to create a balancing influence in one's physiology and mind, one needs to adopt influences that have the opposite effect of the imbalance.
Follow the guidelines in a relaxed way, because your diet and lifestyle also need to be determined by your constitutional type, your imbalances, your age, and your occupation.
Varsha ritu -- wet, rainy and humid weather
The humidity weakens the digestion in this season, aggravating vata, and creating ama. Practice moderation in all aspects of your life including diet and exercise.
- Avoid iced drinks
- Siestas are out, as they create more heaviness in the body
- Exercise in moderation
- Use more vata-pacifying foods in the diet
- Honey is good as a sweetener
- People who consume alcohol can take a small amount, not more than a glass, and not when it will interfere with meditation
- Hot baths and showers are important, preceded by oil massage
- Keep your living areas free of humidity
- If you do a lot of walking, if you can't stay dry, take a car or public transport
Sharad Ritu -- Fall -- cool and dry
 Fall (even more than spring) is the time of new beginnings in our social
and economic world, and with this comes intense activity. What a contrast to the
easy-going, lazy days of summer! Ayurvedic Tips for the season...
The heat of the summer has reached its peak
and the days become shorter, darker, and cooler (in the northern hemisphere, the
opposite is the case in the southern hemisphere). We can anticipate cool, crisp
days that will soon give rise to the peak of cold in winter.
This is a period of transition from pitta dosha to vata dosha. Pitta is the
physiological operator governing transformation and metabolism and accords its
heating, penetrating, sharp and intense qualities to mind and body. Vata governs
all movement in the physiology and mind, and if aggravated, creates drying,
irregular and moving influences that are the most common seeds of disease.
The influence of a season on our health is not only determined by the
weather. Fall (even more than spring) is the time of new beginnings in our
social and economic world, and with this comes intense activity. Children go
back to school, sports and music lessons; companies launch new initiatives; TV
networks launch new seasons; the cultural scene places its demands on us with
late nights at the theater or other meetings. What a contrast to the easy-going,
lazy days of summer!
All this activity has a vata aggravating influence on the mind and body.
Therefore, this is a season to pacify both pitta and vata. The principle to
remember is that vata, being quick, light and moving, is the mover, the leading
dosha, the rajdosha to whom one must pay homage even before pitta and kapha.
During this fall season it is important to stick to one's good daily routine:
go to bed early and try not to undertake at odd hours any activities that act as
a chronobiological pacemakers such as meals, exercise, and meditation. Most
importantly, avoid working late into the night.
Get plenty of sunlight during this season to avoid mood changes that can come
on during winter. This is a season for pitta and kapha types to reduce weight
and get in shape, because you can now exercise abundantly without getting
overheated. This is a good season to donate blood.
Begin to take more hot beverages during the course of the day: hot ginger
water (made by boiling a teaspoon of minced fresh ginger root in a quart of
water) can be sipped all day. In the evening, sip cumin tea, made by boiling a
teaspoon of cumin seeds in 1.5 cups of water for 5 minutes. At bedtime, try hot
milk with a few threads of saffron.
Most importantly, during this season, if you find yourself feeling
overextended and vata-aggravated, learn to say "No!"
Hemantu ritu -- Early winter
The cold season is beginning and the digestive fire, agni, is entering into the period where it needs to be most active, like your boiler automatically turning itself on for a cold winter morning. Agni can now digest heavier foods, which the body needs to stay warm. This is a season for vata pacification.
- Hot, boiled milk taken by itself as a mid-morning or afternoon snack or at bedtime is good.
- Now, at last, you can indulge in heavier foods, enjoying an occasional dish au gratin, or a slice pizza. Use more oils in the sauteeing, or dribble some ghee onto your rice or toast.
- Non-vegetarians can take heavier meat dishes during this season, ideally as a soup or stew.
- Wine, if you take alcohol, is all right in the evening. Don't let it interfere with your meditation and yoga practices.
- Dress well, bundle up outdoors, wear a hat and scarf i.e. remember what your mother told you.
- Although moderation in sex is described by the ancient texts as the ideal lifestyle for longevity and spiritual evolution, they also say that this is the only season in which sex can be enjoyed most comfortably, with regard to one's age and capacity.
Shishira Ritu -- Late Winter
This is the coldest part of the winter, and the time of the year when vata may be most aggravated in the body. The body gets dry from heating. The joints get brittle and crack.
Follow the advice for Hemanta ritu, early winter with even more vigilance. Here in New England and Quebec we have traditions for pacifying vata like pancakes with maple syrup and plenty of butter. Just don't overdo it: you may regret the extra fat you put on come springtime.
Vasantu Ritu -- Spring
Everything is coming alive! Buds, blossoms, trees pushing tiny leaves. The identifying factor for this season is the sun coming back. For some it may be wet (see Varsha Ritu), for some it may be dry. In any case, the accumulated kapha is aggravated by the coming heat and sunlight, leading to congestion, heaviness, lethargy.
- Favor a kapha-pacifying diet. Avoid sweet, sour, salty, and heavy foods.
- Again, no siestas, as they aggravate kapha, increasing heaviness in the body.
- Get outside and move, staying warm, however. This is a good time to enjoy the blossoming of nature.
- Use rough, bitter tasting grains like rye, barley, millet, quinoa, and buckwheat.
- If you eat meat, take animals that live in dry places such as fowl, rabbit, lamb or venison. Avoid other red meat
- In this season, oil massage is not as critical. Once a week, for example on your day off may be enough unless you have vata-aggravated imbalances.
Greeshma Ritu -- summer -- Hot and mostly dry
This is the hottest season, the peak of pitta aggravation. We just try to stay cool.
- Follow a pitta-pacifying diet, avoiding alcohol and hot, spicy foods.
- At last, you can indulge in a siesta after lunch! Try a cool place like the porch.
- Cool drinks are fine. Easy on the ice. Try a dilute lassi made with mango, rose water, or rose petal jam.
- Try soaking black tulsi seeds for 5 minutes in a little water and then adding them to any cool drink. Delicious as well as cooling. Get them at Indian food stores.
- Ghee, milk, rice, wheat products and dal (see Recipes) are all good for pitta.
- Exercise easily and in the cool of the day.
- Sleep with lots of cool air, avoiding air conditioners at night if at all possible.
- Adorn your house with flowers, and adorn yourself, if appropriate, with gems, especially pearls and a little pure sandalwood oil.
- Swimming in the daytime and walking in the moonlight in the cool of the evening are ideal for this season.
|
{Contact Us}