Stay Happy, Healthy and Joyful with Ayurveda this Season

What is Ayurveda?

If you're not familiar with Ayurveda, it's the ancient Indian wisdom health tradition, sister science of yoga and meditation. Like many traditional medicine systems its focus is on creating, maintaining and restoring health from a very holistic perspective. It treats each person as a unique individual with their own particular make up.

According to Ayurveda, imbalances start to occur long before we experience the symptoms of ill health, and the emphasis is on keeping our bodies and minds in balance as we pass through the different seasons of the year and of life.

Kapha Season

In Ayurvedic terms we are now in the Kapha season, which in our UK climate is from late December until May.

Kapha's qualities are cool, heavy and slow - just like the winter season. It also has the qualities of unctuousness (oiliness) and stability.

In the body, Kapha is responsible for various functions, such as lubricating joints, maintaining strength, immunity and supporting the lungs and heart.

We all naturally vary in the amount of Kapha we have in our constitution, but during Kapha season, Kapha builds up in the body and can get out of balance, leading to physical symptoms such as congestion, colds (and hay fever as the season progresses), weight gain, lethargy and emotional symptoms such as becoming withdrawn or feeling low and depressed.

In this season we can all benefit from some Kapha balancing measures, and especially if experiencing any of the above symptoms. Just a few lifestyle tweaks can help to balance Kapha and keep us feeling happy, energetic and joyful.

In Ayurveda, the emphasis is always on balance and moderation. Changes are always introduced gradually so  if you'd like to balance Kapha, just pick one or two measures that most appeal to you and add them in gently.

What to Eat during Kapha Season

Food in this season should be:

• light (e.g. quinoa, millet)
• dry i.e. not too rich, fatty or oily
• warm - soups rather than salads
• it's a great idea to add some warming spices such as ginger, black pepper, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom and turmeric to boost the metabolism and warm the body
• fresh ginger and lemon tea makes a wonderful warming drink. Just grate a thumb of ginger and add hot water, juice in half a lemon and stir in a teaspoon of honey.
• this is the best time of year to do a gentle detox by having one day a week of just eating soups and fruit. This gives the digestion a rest and really helps to re-energise the body.
• sipping hot water throughout the day is also perfect for supporting digestion and eliminating toxins.

Lifestyle Tweaks for Kapha Season

• Kapha dominates between 6am - 10am so it's ideal to get up before 6am. Yes before 6 - staying in bed longer can be tempting when it's dark and cold but rising before Kapha rises helps to banish lethargy
• daily moderate exercise such as a 30 - 60 minute walk helps boost metabolism and keep energy up
• dry body brushing is another great way to boost energy and also helps exfoliate any dry skin. If you haven't tried this before, give it a go! Starting with the feet, brush upwards with long sweeping strokes. Use clockwise circular strokes on the belly, and then brush from the hands up the arms towards the heart. Finish by brushing downwards from the shoulders, over the chest, towards the heart. It's great to do this first thing in the morning before a shower, and then finish with a lovely uplifting aromatic body cream or oil.

Stimulate the Senses and Support the Emotions

• to support ourselves emotionally in Kapha season we need warm, uplifting colours such as reds, oranges and yellows. Try to include these in your home environment or wear them if you have them in your wardrobe.
• In nature, connecting with sunrise and sunset is very balancing for Kapha, as are fire and candles.
• Listen to energising music that makes you want to get up and dance round the living room
• Kapha also benefits from social connection. It's hard during the current lockdown, but try to connect with other people every day, even if by phone or zoom, to balance out the inward-looking qualities of Kapha.