“In Springtime, Kapha Dosha that has been accumulated during winter starts to melt, as the snow and ice are beginning to melt”.
As a result, your appetite is naturally lower, as your digestive fire “agni” is not stong enough and metabolism gets weaker. Kapha is essentially formed by water and earth and as such is moist, heavy, slow, cool, sleek, smooth, soft and stable and viscose. This is why an aggravation on Kapha Dosha leads to heaviness, lethargy, laziness, poor appetite, stickiness in the waste products (feces, sweat, etc). Also, spring asthenia and fatigue comes with an aggravated Kapha” Charaka Samhita, ayurvedic text book.
In addition to our internal cycle of balancing the doshas, seasons may aggravate our Doshas. This is due to the macrocosmos – microcosmos theory. Spring is fresh, moist and earthy so it is linked to an excess of Kapha in the Nature and also internally. This is why Ayurveda has a specific protocol to rebalance ourselves during seasons and today we are looking at Springtime Ayurveda tips to restore balance.
Ayurveda recommends adjusting ones diet and lifestyle during seasons to maintain the internal balance physically, mentally and emotionally.
Ayurveda tips during Springtime
- Wake up early and avoid nap. If you feel heavy and tired after eating you’d rather go for a walk than staying at the couch. This gets Kapha moving and activates your “agni”, your digestive fire.
- Before shower do daily body massage with a dry, stiff-bristled brush to activate circulation, detoxify and help digestion.
- Outdoors sports is the best medicine. It helps you raise your vit. D levels while helping detoxify your body and moving the aggravated Kapha dosha.
- Dress up with bright colors! The best colors to wear in Spring are the ones which fill you up with energy, such as yellow, orange, bright pink, green, red…
- Decorate your hair and your house with flowers! They sparkle Prana (vital energy) and Sattva guna (harmony, pove, purity, wisdom, inner peace)
- Eat lighter!Remember during spring your appetite is naturally low
- Avoid cold and iced drinks, fried and oily and processed food.
- No dairy products: avoid cheese, cow’s milk, yogurt as they are all sticky and increase the stickiness in your body, which leads to accumulation of toxins.
- Fresh (try local) fruits and vegetables, full of vitamins and minerals.
- Favour foods with pungent, bitter, and astringent tastes, such as kale, celery, tamarind, artichoke, asparagus, beets…)
- Spice up your plates with turmeric, ginger, mustard seeds, pepper and cumin.
- Drink chamomile and dandelion tea, so that you help your liver and cleanse the body.
- Instead of snacks try drinking herbal and spiced teas with: cinnamon, black pepper, fennel, ginger, coriander seeds, cumin, cardamom, anise and cloves, all of them are ideal for kapha balancing tea.
- Lassi is a good option if you fancy a yogurt. Lassi is diluted in water and therefore you still load your gut with good bacteria while avoiding the stickiness of yogurt.
- Ask your Ayurveda consultant to give you an “Udvartana massage”. It is a massage done with herbal powders that mitigate the aggravated kapha and helps detoxitfy your body through the skin. Helps in losing weight, activating circulation, stimulates fat metabolism, mitigates cellulitis and revitalizes skin.
