As we shift into the Fall season, you might be noticing some imbalances in your system like irregularity in your digestion, dry skin, restless sleep, and/or heightened anxiety.
These are natural signals reminding us that the rhythms of nature are not separate from us; they are within us. Each season brings an increase in the elemental qualities influencing this time of year. In this case, air and ether (space) are most dominant and if left unchecked, we might start to travel further down our path of imbalances. Thankfully, Ayurveda has recommendations for how to work with these shifts. One of the gentlest, most supportive ways to honor these seasonal changes is through a seasonal cleanse.
So let’s talk about cleansing in Ayurveda.
Our idea of a cleanse is a little bit different from what you might typically think of. As I often say, Ayurveda is about slowing down and making small shifts over time–nothing is done drastically! This naturally extends into our approach to cleansing. Ayurvedic cleanses (or as I prefer to call them, resets) are not about being restrictive, counting your calories, or worrying about your macros, but rather about simplifying your intakes so that you can bolster your digestive strength. When we reset, we focus on gently reducing the inputs that are more challenging to our systems and increasing those that are more easily digestible. Then we move into rejuvenation to build ourselves back up so we can carry the clarity and ease that we’ve cultivated into the season ahead. Rather than feeling stripped, deprived, and empty, when we do an Ayurvedic reset, we feel nourished, connected, and grounded.
As the seasons shift, our digestive fire, or agni, can naturally become weakened or imbalanced as it works to adapt to changing conditions. Much like an actual fire, it needs to be gently cleared of what smothers it, carefully tended, and slowly rekindled to burn brightly again. One of the biggest ways we can support our agni during this time is by doing a gentle reset so that it can regain its strength and prepare for the season ahead.
But digestion in Ayurveda goes even deeper than the gut. Our agni doesn’t just refer to how we digest food. It also speaks to how we ‘digest’ everything we take in—through our eyes, ears, skin, even our experiences and environment. So during a seasonal reset, it’s not just about simplifying what we eat, but simplifying all forms of intake and bolstering our ability to transform what we take in, keep what we need, and release what we don’t.
Traditionally, we do a reset when the season shifts to help alleviate excess qualities that have built up in the previous season and help prepare our bodies for qualities that we will be experiencing in the upcoming season. In the fall, it’s important that we alleviate the excess heat that we have accumulated during the summer and help prepare our bodies for the qualities that Vata season brings with it: dry, mobile, rough, light, and subtle. If we take care to prepare, we will find this transition is much easier on our systems so that we can start to live more in tune with nature, rather than fighting against it. As I often tell my clients, you don’t need the same thing in November that you needed in June because the environment in which you live is not the same and neither are you. We must remember: we are not separate from nature; we are nature.
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