Summer Tips

Summer + Ayurveda

 

Summer is Pitta season! Pitta combines the elements of fire + water and can be hot, light, sharp, active, expansive, and intense.  With all this bright sun energy, we want our food, breath and movement practices to find balance through soothing, calming and cooling qualities. 

Too much Pitta energy can show up as anger, irritability, impatience, heartburn, acne, skin rashes, sensitivity to heat, lethargy or difficulty falling asleep. The doshas cycle throughout the day, and the daytime Pitta hours from 10am-2pm are an optimal time for digestion of both food and ideas. Ayurveda suggests being in bed by 10 pm, because that “second wind” of energy that comes from 10pm-2am is meant for processing your day’s mental activity through dreaming.

Vata can also increase in summer due to more activities packed into longer days, so creating a daily routine to stay grounded is also a good idea in the summer months, especially if that routine includes some quiet time.

Feeling burnt-out?

Soften,
Surrender,
Play!

 

Avoid getting too fired up or burnt-out

  • Wake up and go to sleep around the same time most days and try to have a regular breaks for meals. Schedule in time for rest in the afternoon - guided relaxation, a nap, or your favorite restorative yoga pose

  • Be mindful of your anger, irritation and frustration. These 3 emotions flare up quickly and easily in hot times...see if you can catch them before they scorch

  • Try to spend time outside in the cool of the morning or evening - not mid-day

  • Limit your news and social media consumption: engaging with these two things are PROVEN to increase the HOT emotions

  • Spend time in nature by the cool shade of a tree or the calming waters of a river, lake or ocean.

Try slowing down and adding more stillness and rest. The goal is for yoga practice to be soothing, calming, and cooling.  

  • Less is more.

  • Avoid judgment, self-criticism, and comparison.

  • Pitta energy craves a challenge, so set your goal towards kindness or steady breath or accepting each moment.

  • Be playful with your practice (and your life).

How to cool the pitta fire

 

Yoga Poses to reduce Pitta’s intensity: 

    • Moon salutes

    • Slow down with child’s pose, hero’s pose, reclined hand to big toe, reclined bound angle, and emphasize savasana

    • Open the spine with cat+cow, chakravakasana, puppy dog

    • Surrender into seated forward folds, janu sirsasana

    • Twisting poses create balance for all 3 doshas

Focus on cooling and calming breath practices that break the momentum of a goal-focused drive

  • Steady, soothing breath of Sama Vritti - try inhaling to a count of 4, exhaling to a count of 4

  • Nadi Shodhana alternates between nostrils to slow things down and bring calm

  • Sitali breath is a cooling and drying breath where you suck in through the mouth as if using a straw, then exhale out both nostrils. If. you are able to roll your tongue, you can also suck the inhale through your rolled tongue.

You are what you eat

 

Incorporate sweet, bitter, astringent foods that are raw or lightly cooked

  • Salads with fresh leafy greens

    • Avoid too many raw veggies if you have a vata or kapha type digestion

    • Enjoy salad at lunch when the digestive fire is high and steam or saute veggies for dinner

  • Water-dense veggies like bell pepper or cucumber

  • Fruit - though Ayurveda recommends enjoying fruit on its own, not incorporated into meals or even paired with other fruits

  • Use cooling spices and herbs

    • Coriander, turmeric

    • fennel, mint, cilantro, saffron

  • Stay hydrated

    • Try bitter herbal teas like chicory or dandelion; or cooling ones like hibiscus or mint. 

    • Sip room temperature water throughout the day. Add sliced cucumbers, mint, or rose water.

  • Incorporate essential oils to balance Pitta energy

    • Geranium, jasmine, lavender, rose, ylang ylang, lemon balm, lemongrass, lime mandarin, peppermint, spearmint.

Ayurveda’s
3 Doshas

 

According to Ayurvedic philosophy the entire cosmos is an interplay of the energies of the five great elements—Space, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. Vata, pitta and kapha are combinations and permutations of these five elements that manifest as patterns present in all creation. 

Vata is the subtle energy associated with movement — composed of Space and Air. It governs breathing, blinking, muscle and tissue movement, pulsation of the heart, and all movements in the cytoplasm and cell membranes. In balance, vata promotes creativity and flexibility. Out of balance, vata produces fear and anxiety. 

Pitta expresses as the body’s metabolic system — made up of Fire and Water. It governs digestion, absorption, assimilation, nutrition, metabolism and body temperature. In balance, pitta promotes understanding and intelligence. Out of balance, pitta arouses anger, hatred and jealousy. 

Kapha is the energy that forms the body’s structure — bones, muscles, tendons — and provides the “glue” that holds the cells together, formed from Earth and Water. Kapha supplies the water for all bodily parts and systems. It lubricates joints, moisturizes the skin, and maintains immunity. In balance, kapha is expressed as love, calmness and forgiveness. Out of balance, it leads to attachment, greed and envy. 

This information is excerpted from Dr. Vasant Lad’s website, full of incredible information on Ayurveda. 

https://www.ayurveda.com/resources/general-information