Introduction to Ayurveda

Well, as Autumn draws near, here is a nourishing article for you to enjoy with a warm drink, sitting by the fire! As you may know, I am an Ayurvedic practitioner and recently enjoyed a conversation with a fellow practitioner who kindly prepared some great tips to help you over this next month... enjoy and thank you Veronica!!

 

Ayurveda tips for a healthy, happy and luminous autumn

Autumn doesn’t come in quietly. When we thought we could get used to the clouds and the rain, the fireworks of late summer sneak in with a cheeky, bright smile, welcomed but uninvited, only to let the grey sky and the rain in again the following day.

Ok, then. Is it time for soups and stews or for salads? Do we wear a light jacket or start putting on warmer layers? All transitions can be very confusing indeed. What we know for sure is that something is shifting. Change is in the air. The days are definitely shorter and, even though autumn is the time of the year when the world asks us to rev up and race all the way to Christmas, nature calls us to develop a more introspective gaze, to look inside, to slow down, to conserve our energy and to enjoy the very small and luscious pleasures that autumn keeps in store for us, if only we slow down a bit, listen and allow our senses to open up.

 

Autumn, a change of season and your unique constitution

Change is always stressful, but especially to vata types (people with a high level of air and space in their constitution). In Ayurveda everyone is a unique combination of three energies: vata, pitta and kapha. Even if your constitution is other than vata (it can be pitta, where the predominant element is fire and water; or kapha, where the predominant element is earth and water) in autumn you might still feel literally ‘under the weather’. Our modern, fast lifestyle produces vata imbalances, no matter what your constitution is. What does that mean? Symptoms of a vata imbalance are:

• constipation
• joint issues and discomfort
• nervous system imbalances, such as anxiety or just feeling nervous more often than normal
• insomnia

 

If you are suffering an aggravation of any of the above symptoms this autumn, it’s very normal at this time of the year, regardless of what your constitution is. As well as following the dietary recommendations above, you could try the following remedies. Ayurvedic tips for this transition time:

• Make the most of the abundance of late summer with local, organic produce. Our bodies still have enough fire to deal with them. However, start shifting from astringent, cold and dry foods like salads to warmer soups, dahl and kitcharis. Think warm and creamy!
• To cleanse out the accumulation of heat that has happened during the summer, eat plenty of bitter greens (any green leaf vegetable). 
• Drink some tulsi tea to keep you warm, grounded and calmed during this time of movement and change. 
• Practise (self) Abhyanga (Ayurvedic self massage using warm oil) at this time of the year, sesame oil is the best. Use this lovely practise to increase the awareness of your body, to check-in with yourself and as a reminder that time for self-care is important. It’s also great for your immune system. Use mahanarayana oil on areas of your body where you experience aches and discomfort. 
• After your massage, make yourself a ginger bath: A third of a cup of dry ginger powder and third of a cup of baking soda in the tub. Warming, grounding and pure delicious. 
• Yoga:  try the Dru Online Studio class Letting go.
• Meditation: Blue Mist meditation.

 

If it is evident that autumn does not come in quietly, it is also true that it doesn’t leave quietly either. In this time of introspection, we all tend to feel a bit sad as we head towards winter. Lack of light - short days.  In a way winter may remind us of death, of the temporality of it all. Images of trees standing bare, heavy lead skies, cold. But there is a promise hidden in every season, a promise full of life and future and autumn is not the exception. Before the leaves fall from the trees to follow their natural cycle, they use their last bit of prana to explode in the most vibrant, pulsating, colourful breath.  That’s the promise that autumn brings us. There is beauty in every season of nature and we are part of that promise and that beauty, and by aligning with nature and its seasons through our daily lifestyle, we learn that something in us needs to fall and die in order to be reborn with an even brighter light.

 

Have a happy and cosy autumn.

Namaste 

Veronica Layunta-Maurel

Dru Yoga Teacher and Ayurveda Health Coach