This season, you can live, eat and move vibrantly by following these Ayurveda Tips for the Spring!
In Ayurveda, the traditional Indian system of medicine, spring is considered a season of transformation and renewal, both physically and energetically. According to Ayurveda, each season has a unique energy, or dosha, that can affect our physical and mental well-being, and spring is associated with the Kapha dosha.
Photo credit: Tomoko Uji
Kapha dosha, कफ, (in Sanskrit translates to phlegm), is made up of the elements earth and water, and is characterized by qualities of heaviness, coolness, and stability. During the winter months, Kapha. accumulates in the body and can cause sluggishness, lethargy, and congestion. As spring arrives and temperatures start to warm up, Kapha begins to melt and liquefy, leading to a sense of rebirth and lightness.
In the spring, the qualities of Kapha shift from heavy and stagnant to light and fluid. This can be felt energetically as a sense of awakening and renewal, as the body and mind begin to emerge from the cocoon of winter. Spring is a time of growth and renewal in nature, and this can also be reflected in our own lives as we embrace new opportunities and experiences.
In San Francisco, the coastal climate can add a marine layer of moisture with a chill in the air that exacerbates typical Spring conditions as described above. Additions of warm oiling of the body (which you will learn about below) and drinking warm teas, as well as seasonal eating, all of the ideas below followed carefully can help you assuage the effects of increased Kapha in Spring.
Photo credit: Sebastien Gabriel
In this outline, you will discover these highlights of renewing and restoring the body with yoga and Ayurvedic wisdoms. Please find the outline of the content to follow:
Ayurveda Meditation for Spring
Welcome to this spring meditation based on the ancient Indian system of medicine, Ayurveda. Spring is a time of renewal and transformation, and this meditation will guide you in connecting with the energetic qualities of the season and supporting your physical and emotional well-being.
Begin by finding a comfortable seated position with your back straight and your hands resting on your knees. Take a few deep breaths, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth, allowing any tension or stress to release from your body.
As you continue to breathe deeply, bring your attention to your heart center, located in the middle of your chest. Visualize a beautiful green light glowing in this area, representing the energy of spring and growth.
As you inhale, imagine this green light expanding and growing, filling your entire body with the energy of renewal and transformation. As you exhale, release any negative thoughts or emotions that no longer serve you, allowing them to dissolve and be transformed by the healing energy of spring.
Take a few moments to focus on your breath and the green light in your heart center, allowing the energy of spring to permeate every cell in your body.
Now, imagine yourself standing in a beautiful spring garden, surrounded by blooming flowers, vibrant green leaves, and warm sunshine. Take a moment to appreciate the beauty and abundance of nature, and allow yourself to fully connect with the energy of the season.
As you continue to breathe deeply, visualize the green energy of spring moving up through your body, filling your mind with clarity and inspiration. Allow any creative ideas or new opportunities to come to the surface, and trust that you have the inner wisdom and strength to pursue them.
Now, imagine yourself walking through the garden, feeling the soft earth beneath your feet and the gentle breeze on your skin. As you walk, take a moment to connect with the element of earth, represented by the groundedness and stability of the season.
As you continue to walk, allow yourself to feel a sense of grounding and stability, trusting that the energy of spring will support you in any challenges or changes that arise.
Now, take a moment to connect with the element of water, represented by the fluidity and transformation of the season. Visualize a clear spring fed stream running through the garden, and allow yourself to feel a sense of flow and ease as you move through your day-to-day activities.
As you continue to breathe deeply, bring your attention back to your heart center, and take a moment to set an intention for the spring season. This could be a goal you want to achieve, a new habit you want to cultivate, or simply a sense of openness and receptivity to the opportunities that arise.
Take a few deep breaths, inhaling the energy of spring and exhaling any resistance or tension. When you feel ready, gently bring your awareness back to your body and the present moment, feeling renewed and energized by the power of spring. Thank yourself for taking the time to connect with the energy of the season, and carry this sense of renewal and transformation with you throughout your day.
Kapalabati Pranayama
Kapalabati, कपालभाति, in Sanskrit means skull (kapal) + shining or polishing (bati). In Ayurveda and yoga, this is a type of breath that leads to warming the body with active breathing.
How to do it:
- In an upright position, with good alignment, begin breathing into the belly. Activating expansion of the belly.
- On the exhale, actively press the abdominal muscles in and upward to release the breath. You can use your hands on the belly to feel the activation and how the body responds to this breath.
- Continue to breath in this way, allowing the body to warm and to be action-oriented with the breath.
- As you continue, you may find that you being to perspire, feel light-headed, or heightened awareness of your surroundings. This is all normal and desired effects of kapalabati pranayama.
- With practice, this breath can help ignite your agni, अग्नि, (digestive fire) and foster vitality in the body with improved organ toning and increased oxygen.
Yoga Journal offers a wonderful outline about the specificity of this pranayama AT THIS LINK.
Lifestyle Practices for Spring
In Ayurveda, spring is considered a season of renewal and rejuvenation. It is the time when the Kapha dosha, which governs stability and structure in the body, begins to dissolve, allowing for new growth and transformation. Here are some of the Ayurvedic practices that are recommended for the spring season:
- Detoxify the body: Spring is an ideal time to cleanse and detoxify the body, as the natural processes of the body are already geared towards renewal and purification. This can be done through dietary modifications, such as eating lighter and fresher foods, and through the use of herbs and spices that support digestion and detoxification.
- Practice joyful movement regularly regularly: Spring is a great time to engage in regular movement to help energize the body and shed any excess Kapha that may have accumulated during the winter months. Gentle and joyful movement like yoga, walking, or jogging can be particularly beneficial during this season.
- Emphasize warm, light foods: In Ayurveda, it is recommended to eat warm, light, and dry foods during the spring season to balance the Kapha dosha. This may include foods like grains, legumes, and vegetables that are cooked with warming spices like ginger and black pepper.
- Practice self-care: The spring season is an ideal time to focus on self-care practices, such as getting enough rest, spending time in nature, and engaging in relaxing activities like meditation or massage. These practices can help reduce stress and promote overall health and well-being.
- Get enough sleep: Spring can bring a sense of restlessness and excitement, so it is important to get enough sleep to maintain balance. Ayurveda recommends going to bed early and waking up with the sunrise to align with the natural rhythms of the season.
Overall, Ayurveda recommends focusing on practices that support detoxification, energization, and rejuvenation during the spring season. By incorporating these practices into our daily routine, we can help promote balance and harmony within the body and mind.
Dinacharya Practices to Nourish the Body with Routine
Ayurveda Practice of Dinacharya, दिनचर्या, meaning daily routine.
Primary Focus of Ayurveda Living: Diurnal Living is key to living with nature. With this in mind, orienting to the sun, rising before the sun helps with expansion of mind and heart along with the expansion of the light and space at dawn.
Abhyanga
Cleansing the body with warm/hot water upon rising and abhyanga, अभ्यङ्ग, massaging the body with warm oils before showering fosters good blood flow and agni, अग्नि, (digestive fire) first thing in the morning. This focus on vitality building can ripple into the subtle body and be an unnamed priority to up-level your health & wellness.
Grooming & Yoga
- Showering after oiling the body allows the oils to be warmed and enter the skin’s pores and nourishing cleansing on another level.
- Toothbrushing, flossing, tongue scraping, and oil-pulling fosters dynamic lubrication and self-awareness of the body’s secretions to allow you to better understand your body’s unique language.
- Yoga after grooming brings positive energy into your heart as you practice movement and meditation to raise your vibration.
Taking a break from the night’s fast is helpful after warming the body with hot water and movement. Allow this meal to be modest and simple to keep agni kindled.
Additions of Mindfulness
The day’s activities may be filled with mindfulness and depth in your awareness (which can foster productivity).
Lunch is considered the most important meal of the day in Ayurveda, as the sun’s warmth is high in the sky and fosters a deeper kindling of agni so digestion can be maximized for deep nourishment.
Resting after lunch is a common practice and this can be a simple one for you, depending upon your work environment. Some allocation of time is helpful to focus on digestion of foods.
Afternoon walking, yoga, or meditation can offer energizing calm to the body, mind, and spirit.
Dinner is considered to be a light affair. Consider rice and vegetables, or soups to be perfect at this time of year. Simple is best and additions of ingredients of the six tastes below can offer its own style of complication that is focused on kindling agni.
Tips for building agni
- Sipping water at meals allows for minimal enzyme disruption in digestion.
- Minimize alcohol consumption, as this can over-kindle agni and dry the body.
- Minimize tamasic foods, as this can lower agni and potentially create poor nourishment.
- Mindful of sweets and seek balance in your diet in accord with the Six Tastes outlined below:
- Additions of the Six Tastes throughout the seasons helps to kindle agni:
- Bitter (greens, turmeric, lemon peel)
- Sour (lemon, limes, yogurt)
- Sweet (dates, avocado, egg, basil, sugary foods)
- Astringent (pomegranate, chickpeas, green beans, okra, aloe)
- Salty (root vegetables, himalayan salt)
- Pungent (chiles, garlic, onions)
Spices & herbs to add to diet:
- cloves
- ginger
- turmeric
- coriander
- cumin
- cilantro
- thyme
- curry leaves
- bay leaves
- oregano
Digestion
Inflammation begns with lowered digestive fire. As Winter moves into Spring, the accumulation of kapha dosha means that mucus can build up in the digestive tract and weaken the tissues of this area. This accumulation can lead to poor blood and tissue building and this is why clearing the digestive tract can foster greater health now and in the months to come.
Spring offers a natural rhythm in which to bring a spring cleanse annually. Some years may present different types of cleansing. This is resonant with aging and your overall health and vitality. Let’s take a moment to look at the two priniciples of digestion:
- Jatharagni, जठराग्नि, aka Agni. The word ‘Agni’ means fire in Sanskrit. You may be surprised to hear that the name of the Vedic god of fire in India is ‘Agni”. In Ayurveda, it refers to the digestive or metabolic fire in our body.
- Ama, आम, “unripe,” “uncooked,” “raw,” “immature,” or “undigested.” Essentially, it is a form of un-metabolized waste that cannot be utilized by the body.
Yogic Gunas
Take care in becoming aware of the yogic gunas, गुण, (attributes, properties, characteristics), which can be applied to foods or personal attributes. Bringing awareness to these during the Spring can carry forward a movement toward a sattvic lifestyle that can foster balance over the season and year ahead. Explore the meaning of these three gunas below and reflect on foods or actions in your life that may need clearning this Spring:
Tamas, तमस्, darkness, inertia, inactivity. Tamas manifests from ignorance and deludes all beings from their spiritual truths. Other tamasic qualities are laziness, disgust, attachment, depression, helplessness, doubt, guilt, shame, boredom, addiction, hurt, sadness, apathy, confusion, grief, dependency, ignorance.
Rajas, रजस्: energy, action, change, and movement. The nature of rajas is of attraction, longing and attachment and rajas strongly bind us to the fruits of our work. Other rajasic qualities are anger, euphoria, anxiety, fear, irritation, worry, restlessness, stress, courage, rumination, determination, chaos.
Sattva, सत्त्व: harmony, balance, joy, and intelligence. Sattva is the guna that yogis achieve towards as it reduces rajas and tamas and thus makes liberation possible. Other sattvic qualities are delight, happiness, peace, wellness, freedom, love, compassion, equanimity, empathy, friendliness, focus, self-control, satisfaction, trust, fulfillment, calmness, bliss, cheerfulness, gratitude, fearlessness, selflessness.
Yin Yoga Mini Sequence
Additions of yin yoga is a brilliant counter to the very yang (masculine) breathing of kapalabiti. Offering both in the body at this time of the year fosters balance to the organs of elimination that are working and can become taxed by the end of the Spring:
Liver
The liver works to eliminate toxins in the body and clean the body’s blood. Leverage poses to massage the meridian of the liver in this image, here:
Photo credit: Ocean Flow Yoga
Gall Bladder stores and concentrates bile from the liver. The bile is then released into the first section of the small intestine (the duodenum), where it helps your body to break down and absorb fats from food. Leverage this active organ of elimination by stimulating the meridian with yin yoga poses.
Photo credit: Ocean Flow Yoga
Cultivating a yin yoga practice of adding a few postures to your day can foster building a sattvic lifestyle with bringing balance to the body and fostering release of toxins in the joints and tissues of the body.
Enjoy these yin yoga sequences in your own time.
- Dragon Variations
- Butterfly Forward Fold
- Swan Pose
- Supine Twists
- Bananasana
Rhythms of Nature & Dosha
As we just discussed the rhythms of nature allow balance in our world. The same impacts our our bodies because we are nature, as much as the trees, the sunlight, or the animals around us. Spring is resonant with Kapha dosha. But allowing the natural state of earth and water to set a tone in our body and experience, we move toward a sattvic lifestyle.
This can reflect a movement toward a tri-doshic experience. If you have heard of dominant dosha, known as vikruti, विकृति you may understand the state of vikruti as being an imbalance or your current state of being. This is very natural. However, attending to your vikruti and understanding your prakruti, प्रकृति, (state of doshic balance at birth), then you can begin to move toward a sattvic lifestyle to bring balance to your life.
Seasonal Doshas
- Late Winter – Spring: Kapha (earth & water)
- Summer: Pitta (fire & water)
- Autumn – Early Winter: Vata (air & ether)
Restorative Yoga Sequence for Attuning to Nature and Balancing the Body
Restoring the nervous system with complete surrender is a brilliant addition to Spring cleansing and transitioning forward into the next phase of the seasons. Offering support to the liver and gal bladder with good energy flow, we support these organs, and the body overall with nurturance. Enjoy these poses to bring awareness to the body with spring in mind:
- Cat /Cow – to foster Alignment
- Ushas Mudra
- Supported Fish Legs Right/Left
- Legs Up The Wall
- Savasana
Finally a quick reminder of the key points to take away from all of this content:
Additions of all of these practices will add ease and uplift your mind, body, and spirit naturally with your discerning actions:
- Twists, Yin & Restorative Yoga
- Abhyangha massage
- Meditation
- 8 – 10 hours of sleep to foster diurnal cleansing and orientation to the sun’s energy to help with cleansing