AYURVEDA & MANAGING THE SEASONS HEALTHFULLY

By Bill Courson,
Ayurvedic Practitioner Program at
the Starseed Center for Yoga
www.starseedyoga.com/AyurvedaCourse.htm

With the change in season taking us from long, warm days spent
outdoors to short and cold ones huddled inside our homes, it is quite
ordinary for many individuals to feel a bit "off:" – disoriented, out
of sorts and low on energy. The hours we sleep, the food we eat, and
the activities we engage in can all be affected profoundly by our
environment and the climactic conditions that surround us.

Ayurveda, India's ancient system of healing (and the oldest medical
tradition in the world) has long recognized the impact of seasonal
change on the health of individuals, and for countless centuries has
helped individuals manage the change in seasons in a healthful
fashion.

The change in climate that we all experience tends to place a degree
of stress on the human body, and we all tend to respond to it in a
fashion consonant with our "metabolic type". Ayurveda postulates
three such "types," (known in Sanskrit as the `tridosha') roughly
analogous to the western concepts of endo-, ecto-, and meso-morphism.
Thus, types of individuals are characterized by their predominant
energy. This includes Kapha individuals (who tend to be compact,
heavy, easygoing, calm and self-indulgent); Pitta individuals
(exhibiting high energy, irritability, perfectionism and who are
generally "intense" in many respects) and Vata types (who are
constantly in a `mental whirl,' fretful, forgetful, prone to lack
bodily moisture, thin and easily fatigued or depressed).

Seasonal change can often unbalance (or as Ayurvedic practitioners
say, vitiate) one or more of the energies comprising the tridosha
(the singular is dosha) and Ayurveda suggests ways in which such
imbalances can be avoided or corrected. Note that one can see any of
the dosas fall into imbalance: one's own predominant dosa or another.
Thus, one can have a Vata constitution with a Vata imbalance, or be a
Vata with a Pitta or a Kapha imbalance, and so on.

Kapha governs all structure, fluid balance and lubrication in the
body. It controls weight and growth as well as the functioning of the
joints and lungs, and the formation of all seven types of tissue -
nutritive fluids, blood, fat, muscles, bones, bonemarrow and
reproductive tissues.

If you tend to be overweight, are often lethargic, experience sinus
problems, and wake unrefreshed from a night's sleep, then your Kapha
energy may be out of balance. Other signs of unbalanced Kapha include
oily skin and hair, emotional possessiveness and over-attachment,
discomfort in cold damp weather, laziness and complacency, bloating
and water retention. If you exhibit one or more of the foregoing
symptoms, you may need to balance your Kapha energy; if you exhibit
four or more, then you certainly do.

Unsettled Kapha can be pacified by vigorous regular exercise, a
little each day; keeping oneself in relatively warm temperatures and
avoiding strong winds or chill (in other words, if you go outside
wear sufficient clothing!), and by making sure your diet includes
fresh fruits, vegetables and legumes. Pungent, bitter, astringent
tastes and light, dry and warm foods are preferred over others, and
it is a good time to reduce heavy, oily, cold foods and to avoid
sweet, sour and salty tastes. The ancient maxim "Early to bed, early
to rise" will also serve Kapha folk well in dealing with winter.

The body's Pitta energy governs heat production and distribution,
metabolism and digestion. It also controls how we process our sensory
perceptions, and how we discriminate between right and wrong.

Do you need to balance Pitta? You may, if your hair is prematurely
gray or thinning, or if you wake up in the early hours and find it
difficult to fall asleep again. If you tend to be more than
ordinarily demanding. Impatient, critical or irritable, are often
frustrated, angry or intense, your skin is ruddy and prone to rashes
and eruptions, and you suffer from excess stomach acid, then you
likely do need to tone down your Pitta "fire." Here are a few ways of
doing that.

Don't allow winter to keep you completely indoors, and don't allow
yourself to become over-heated. You can take a bit of cold; it surely
will do you no harm, as you carry your own internal "heater" around
with you as a part of your metabolic make-up. Favor cool, heavy, dry
foods with sweet, bitter and astringent tastes.

Reduce pungent, sour, salty tastes and avoid warm, oily and light
foods. Allow yourself sufficient leisure time and avoid the
temptation to overwork. It's also important to keep to regular
mealtimes, and you may want to consume your largest meal of the day
at noon. As a regular treat, a nice massage with appropriately
scented oils would be a very good preventive health measure as well
as make you feel great.

Vata governs all movements and transportation within the body. It
controls blood flow, waste elimination, breathing and even the
movement of thoughts across the mind. Since the Pitta and Kapha
energies cannot move without it, Vata is considered the leader of the
three Ayurvedic energies in the body. It's very important to keep
Vata in good balance, but it is by far the most commonly unbalanced
dosha.

You may need to balance Vata if your skin is unusually dry, rough, or
thin; if you are underweight, with a mind constantly in a whirl –
restless, agitated and incessantly worried. If in addition you
experience constipation, have difficulty sleeping, suffer from
dryness, experience discomfort in your joints or are easily fatigued,
its time to implement a Vata reducing strategy.

Such a strategy includes a nice daily massage or self-massage with
warmed sesame oil, making sure to keep your environment comfortably
warmed, and avoiding cold, undercooked or raw foods. Go for warm,
oily, heavier (i.e., denser) foods that taste sweet, sour, and/or
salty, and avoid lighter or dried foods with pungent, bitter or
astringent tastes. Avoid stimulants of any kind (caffeine is among
the worst) and get lots of rest, observing an early bedtime.

With these sensible, time-tested precautions observed and just a
little good fortune, winter will come and go with one's health
unimpaired.