Well she’s officially here. It’s the first day of fall.
For those of you who live in the southeast US, I know it’s still been getting up there during the day, but you can feel it. Cool nights and mornings are here. The fall breeze is ever present. The humidity has vanished. I know lots of people are celebrating this shift, being exhausted from the heat of summer, but I want to hold a little candle of love for people like me who grieve the end of summer each year as well. There are some years that I feel ready to move with the seasons and others where I feel myself grasping to the end of a season with everything in me.
This year’s transition into fall is one of the latter.
You see, with my Ayurvedic constitution (prakriti) and imbalances (vikruti), I thrive in the summer. My skin clears. My digestion improves. My anxiety lessens. I tend to feel great—especially if I can spend some time in a river or lake. I seldom get too hot but often feel too cold any other time of the year.
Then fall comes and my my eczema starts to show back up. I start struggling with constipation and bloating again. I begin feeling anxious more frequently. So, why does this happen and what can I do?
In short, it’s the shift in seasons. We are moving from pitta season into vata season. Pitta, made from Fire and Water, is hot, oily, sharp, and light. These are qualities that tend to be balancing to my imbalances (primarily my cold imbalance). Now, as we make this transition in seasons, pitta is reducing and vata is increasing. Vata, made from ether and air, is cold, dry, rough, and mobile. If we think of the issues I mentioned earlier, we can see some connections here. My eczema is dry and rough. My constipation and bloating are cold and dry. Anxiety for me is very mobile.
Beyond my personal experience, I can tell you about 99.9% of my clients in the last 2-3 weeks have been coming in experiencing issues related to vata increasing: constipation, rashes, anxiety, grief, fear, dry skin/hair, increased joint pain and muscle tension, increased ADHD symptoms, insomnia, exhaustion/fatigue, and an irregular appetite. Do any of these sound familiar to you? Are you experiencing them yourself? If so, it could be that vata is becoming imbalanced in your system as well.
So, what do we do with that information? Well first, this points to the importance of knowing ourselves and really understanding our constitutions so that we know what we need to be aware of. We must know what our imbalances are (or are likely to be), so that we can find balance and be prepared in advance to pacify our imbalances before they present with issues.
If you’re experiencing any of the vata issues described above, it could be out of balance. Here are some ways to find balance by working with opposites:
Reduce cold quality by increasing warm/hot quality
- Favor cooked, warm foods over cold or raw foods
- Reduce iced/cold beverages
- Dress warmly while you’re body adjusts to the change in weather. Overdo it a bit so your body stays quite warm until it’s adjusted
Reduce dry quality by favoring oily quality
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- Favor healthy fats/oils like olive oil, ghee, avocados, salmon, etc. to ensure appropriate oiliness on the inside of your body
- Incorporate sour taste (like lime juice in water) to increase salivation
- Cook with healthy salts (like pink himalayan salt) to ensure that you’re holding onto your water
- Reduce dry foods like crackers, popcorn, chips, etc
- Practice abhyanga (self massage with oil) regularly to ensure appropriate oiliness on the outside of your body. You might also consider nasya oil (nasal oil) and ear oiling
Reduce rough quality by favoring smooth quality
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- Reduce rough foods like raw veggies, salad (think anything you would call ‘roughage’)
- Be kind and gentle to yourself
Reduce mobile quality by favoring stable quality
- Commit to a regular sleep/wake schedule by waking up and and going to bed around the same times daily
- Maintain a regular eating routine by having meal times around the same time daily
- Reduce screen time: no screens for at least 30 minutes before bed or for at least the first 30 minutes after waking up. Think about the mobility of your mind that happens when you pick up your phone!
- Spend time in nature daily, even if it is just going into your yard for a few minutes. Put your feet on the ground if it’s not too cold.
- Reduce multitasking and try to focus on one task at a time. Try to be mindful during your tasks.
- Adjust your yoga practice to focus on stability. Perhaps this means slowing down or utilizing a langhana pranayama (breathing practice) that reduces mobility.
The most important thing to remember is to make small shifts over time. This is how we create sustainable change in our lives. Generally speaking, big dramatic changes don’t stick and become overwhelming, leading to more imbalance.
We must remember that we are actually part of nature and that as the seasons gradually shift, we too much make small shifts to stay in balance.
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