Spring is right around the corner!
In ayurveda there are 3 seasons. They include, kapha, vata, and pitta. The seasons correspond to the doshas because they share the same qualities. These qualities can affect out health, our body, and our state of mind.
If we naturally carry one specific dosha in our constitution, we may feel an imbalance of these elements during the corresponding season.
Spring is Kapha season.
Kapha carries with it qualities that are wet, heavy, cold, and earthy. During this time of year we can feel an overwhelm of these same qualities in ourselves.
As the snow from winter melts, the accumulated ice begins to turn into heavy, muddy, wet earth.
Inside of our bodies, we begin to experience an internal melting of accumulation of the same elements.
Notice as the days get lighter, and a little warmer, we also begin to feel a little lighter and more energetic. We may feel a little more motivated and enthusiastic. We may want to get up and move. We may begin to lose a little weight.
Kapha season is the perfect time to do a detox. Think of spring cleaning. We do this to rid our home of the stagnant energy that accumulates in our house during the long cold winter. Well...it is just as important to give our bodies a spring cleaning too.
Some simple ways for you to do a spring detox...
-Move! Like physically make yourself get off the couch and move your body. This will get your circulation going, and will begin the move the excess kapha from your lymphatic system.
-Eat clear, warm, easy to digest foods. Foods that have a pungent or bitter taste are best for ridding the body of excess.
-Get outside. Let the sunshine hit your skin and warm your tissues. Fresh air does amazing things to our energy.
-Triphala. Now if you've been following me for awhile, you've heard me talk about triphala before. It is a combination of 3 herbs which cleanses the large intestine and helps aid in regular digestion. Think of how many people don't eliminate every day. What begins to happen in the large intestine is an accumulation of rotting food that builds up and turns into a toxic sludge...ewwww. That is not good. If this sounds like you, call me ASAP! You need me!
-Tongue scraping. This is exactly as it sounds. You use a metal scraper to clean your tongue. Food particles get trapped in our mouths and on our tongue. It's important to clean it.
-Nasya and Neti pot. Kapha season is all about renew, rebirth, and starting fresh. That is the essence of spring. This is when we naturally want to clean everything. Spring cleaning is a common and accepted idea in America. We think it is normal to clean our home. Why don't we think about cleaning ourselves too? This sounds more radical, but it really isn't. If you think about it, it actually makes a lot of sense. Cleaning our bodies in ayurveda means cleaning every part of our body. This includes our nostrils. Jala neti is just that. You use a neti pot with warm salt water to flush out your nostrils. As soon as your done, you apply a special herbal oil, called nasya, to your nostrils.
Cool right?
-Hydrate. Drink water. Nothing flushes out all of your internal systems like water.
-Try something new that you've never done before. When excess kapha builds in the bodily tissues, we become overweight. We may become more mucousy. We may experience more drainage, from the nose, eyes, ears. When excess kapha makes its way into the mind...we become stubborn, set in our ways, stagnant. This is why it is so important to FORCE ourselves to try something different. This will help us activate the mind to new experiences. Plus it's just fun.
- Clean your house, removing clutter. Again, this goes back to the idea of spring cleaning. It is interesting that people who suffer from a kapha imbalance, will be extra clingy. It is hard for them to throw stuff away. They want to hold on to everything. This only creates more kapha energy in your living space, which in turn will only build more kapha in you.
Get rid of it! Throw out stuff you don't need, don't use, and that is only creating clutter.
-Work on building your internal fire. In ayurveda, which was written in Sanskrit, this is referred to as Agni. I like to think of it as metabolism. We all have this internal fire. When there are too many kapha elements in our body, this fire gets overwhelmed and slows down. This happens when we feel sluggish, lethargic, lazy, our digestion slows down, and we begin to gain weight.
-Yoga Asanas. Yes, there are some poses that naturally help rid the body of excess kapha. Any poses that require you to twist or rotate will reduce kapha. A simple seated twist works. Downdog, but rather than placing your hands on the mat, bring your elbows to the mat so that you are resting on both your elbows and your feet.
I hope that these tips help you get excited for spring. If you are interested in learning more about ayurveda, the doshas, and the seasons and how they affect us and our health, please sign up for my newsletter. I will have some upcoming workshops where I will be going more in depth about how you can use the practices of ayurveda to help heal yourself.
Namaste friends,
Sabrina