Vata Season
Each year has two major season shifts— one in February and one in August. When August arrives, we notice days getting shorter, temperatures getting a little less predictable, and schedules fluctuating as well. Our bodies start to crave the preparation for the colder darker months. Vata season is a time of cold, dry, mobile, subtle, rough quality. The idea that like increases like and opposites balance acts a good benchmark to begin understanding balancing activities/qualities for the changes of the seasons.
Ayurveda understands the known universe through categorization of qualities. The doshas act as constitutions that make sense of who we are and as patterns of disease when they go out of balance. Doshas are just another system of categorization, embodied in our tissues, our bodies, our day-to-day, year-to-year and across each of our lifespans. In short, your intuition (and your gut) craves those things that will keep it in harmony with the season, you’ve just got to listen.
Lifestyle Suggestions
After the heat and the depletion of early Summer, our bodies begin to dry out— we run ourselves ragged. Much like the hot humidity of Summer turning into the cold dryness of Autumn, we burn up our ojas (juicy vitality) in the Summer and all that activity shrivels us up. One useful way to avoid this is by integrating oil massage into your routine. Abhyanga, or Ayurvedic oil massage, moisturizes our largest organ. The things we touch are absorbed into our skin and are transported directly to the circulatory system. Abhyanga keeps the body warm, skin supple, and helps with the increased fat intake that our bodies need for the coming winter months.
August is often the time right before school begins when folks desperately flee for last minute vacations before the arrival of Fall. Make time for ritual and regularity in feeding and sleeping schedules. This is vitally important to keeping our bodies grounded and consistent curing this time of change.
“The mind loves freedom but the body likes structure” and our circadian rhythms are more than just sleep cycles, they play a major part in digestion and over all endocrine function. When we know when we’re going to eat (and we honor those signals) our bodies ease out of mobile, subtle uncertainty and feel more grounded as well.
Autumn invokes the feeling of cool breezes, dried leaves, maybe a flurry or two, and increased darkness. The ground hardens and life shrivels up— we’re moved indoors to avoid the elements but it’s important to make time to spend in nature. We can wear warm clothing and build our body heat with activities like raking leaves or going for a run. Our bodies benefit from connecting with the electrical currents of the earths magnetic field. Spending time grounding is healing— it calms our sympathetic nervous system and supports immune health.
Baking and creating with your hands are fabulous activities to take up during this time of year. Putting your hands on tangible things helps with keeping us out of the conceptual clouds and grounded in reality.
Diet Staples
Ayurveda categorizes six major tastes— sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, astringent. The latter half of the list have drying qualities while the former has moistening qualities. In a dried out time, tastes that increase moisture, increase heat in the body, and aid in retention are extremely useful.
Sweet taste is both liquifying and cold— sweetness that occurs naturally includes sweet potatoes, honey, apples, apricots, pears, gourds/squashes, avocado, fennel, red meats, etc. - any carbs/fats/proteins.
Sour is of fire and earth— warm and grounding. Sour tastes include citruses, berries, vinegars, cheeses and ferments, spinach. Sour is a secretagogue, so it encourages our body to liquefy and moisturize.
Salty is valuable in aiding in retention (and combating cold dieuresis). Mineral salts are preferrable over white table salt because they’ve retained some of their earthy/electron energetics which are valuable for the bodies electrical impulses— think potassium/seeds.
How This Effects You
The three doshas are embodied within and without, so Autumn is Vata season. Folks with Vata imbalance, or that tend towards Vata qualities, are irritated by the likeness of the season. For Pitta-imbalanced people, coming off of the summer aggravation, Autumn comes as a calm, cool welcome. Kapha, the cold/wet/heavy, time of year is just ahead, so Autumn is a fantastic time for people with Kapha imbalances to begin to plan strategies to keep their systems running efficiently in preparation for their season of aggravation.
Small steps to start finding balance are more valuable than expecting a ton of change and falling flat with none— so pick a few things, keep a few things in mind, and continue to give yourself grace on your journeys.