March in Your Body

March is the real turn-of-the-leaf away from the dark time and into the light time. Once daylight savings Springs forward, the days get exponentially longer, the earth begins to thaw, and we’re drawn outward. You may notice that you crave less of the heavy sweetness that the Winter called for; you may even notice your appetite diminish significantly. Embrace that. Just like the cold, hard, and heavy winter gives way for the light, energetic, clearness of Spring, this time of year the body readies itself to shed an refresh.

qualities of the season

Here, in the throes of Kapha Season we meet the intersection of the dark time and light time. Between now and April, it’s not abnormal to feel slightly disconnected or pulled in two different directions. Fear not, this is the perfect opportunity to dial into your intuition. The body knows what the body wants, it’s just hard to feel fully aligned with it when we’re inundated daily with the things we’re told we should want.

While the body reheats and re-energizes, it’s helpful to support the transition with easy to digest, light, simple foods. When Springtime hits, the lighter load requires the body to leverage its accumulated stores for fuel. Prioritize warm, light, dry, mobile, sharp, penetrating qualities and embrace bitter, stringent, and pungent tastes.

daily/practices

Like other animals, we too shed our winter layers in preparation for the upcoming warm season. In our case, it involves losing the insulating layers of fat beneath the skin, a natural process that differs from the modern concept of striving for a "summer body." Instead, it aligns with the natural order, orchestrating changes to set us up for success in each season.

As this shedding process unfolds, our blood and lymphatic systems may experience congestion or sluggishness, leading to feelings of heaviness and lethargy. This slowdown can contribute to mucous build-up, common during this time of year. Dry brushing remains a helpful practice to support the somewhat reluctant lymphatic system.

The idea of scraping, known as lekhana, can be applied in various ways throughout the season to introduce a rough and mobile quality when it's lacking. For example, tongue scraping is beneficial year-round but particularly useful now to clarify and assess the state of the digestive system.

While the body lightens up, there's an increased risk of irritants causing seasonal allergies due to changes in blood circulation. Regular Neti practice helps cleanse the sinuses, flushing out any trapped irritants and reducing immune responses.

Additionally, spending time outdoors and staying active is essential. Embracing our connection to nature on nice days allows us to return to its warm embrace. Engaging in activities like preparing spring gardens brings joy in witnessing new life. Our nervous systems greatly benefit from reconnecting with nature, aligning our vibes with the environment around us.

diet staples

March signifies the switch to bitter, pungent, and astringent tastes. Foods high in prana, or energy and life, are more easily accessible as farm stand season returns. Gone are the dark, cold months of root veggies and preserves- now is the time for berries, cherries, greens, and grains!

Pungent and warming digestive herbs like ginger, black pepper, and turmeric assist the digestion, or agni, to brighten up and reinvigorate. It’s the perfect season to re-introduce all sorts of grains into the diet. Grains like barkley, buckwheat, and millet are light and mobile enough to give quick bursts of energy that will help keep the system running efficiently with the longer days.

finally, beans and lean meats - particularly easy to digest beans and fish - nourish the system via their fiber and protein content. Because the light time encourages getting outside and getting mobile, it’s important to keep protein in a light and easily digestible form in order to ensure the body is supplied properly for regeneration.

what’s it all mean

The big takeaway is this: the sun is back, the body gets to movin in the Spring. Support your body's transition with easily digestible, light, and simple foods. As the body taps into its accumulated reserves for fuel, prioritize warm, light, dry, and mobile qualities, alongside bitter, stringent, and pungent tastes.

In daily practices, shed winter layers with dry brushing, scraping, and especially tongue scraping to assess digestive health. Combat potential seasonal allergies by incorporating regular Neti practice. Embrace outdoor activities for overall well-being, connecting with nature during this time of renewal. Circulation, metabolism, and circadian health are primary focuses as we transition out of the cool, dark, dry and into the warm, light time!

If you need support with planning for your unique constitution, tap on (me!) your friendly neighborhood longevity educator!

February in Your Body

I always joke that February, August, Thursday, and 7pm have the same energy. After making it through the seemingly endless month of January, February comes and goes like the blink of an eye. At this point in the year, the season has turned from dry to damp and the darkness is slowly moving towards the light. February is also love month and national heart health month. Let’s dive into some ways that you can put your best foot forward in this season of transition.

Qualities of the season

Late-Winter into Early-Spring is a season of damp, cool, cloudy quality. it environment is ripe for the renewal of life energy for the year. This Late-Winter, Early-Spring is reflected in the beginning stages of life (infancy to adolesence), the middle part of the morning (6am - 10am), and the regenerative nature of the body’s mucus-y allergy season. As the Winter begins to thaw by the increased daylight and slightly warmer temperatures, our internal climate reacts by melting away the insulating layer of fat keyed up during the Winter season. Like increases like and opposites balance, so this time of year can aggravate Kapha dosha and any systems that are affiliated.

We balance the influence of this damp, cool season by incorporating more dry, warm, mobile, clear, and sharp qualities into our diet and routine. so what does this look like?

Daily/Practices

Like others in the animal kingdom, we too shed our winter layers to prepare for the warm season ahead. For us, that looks a lot like the subcutaneous insulating layers of fat being “melted away” as the days get longer and our energy output picks up. This is a far jump from the modern and highly problematic tendency towards a “summer body”, but instead reflects the natural order operating on it’s own accord to set us up for success season by season.

Without this awareness (and supportive protocol), our blood/lymph can get congested or stagnated entirely when this process starts to shake out. We feel a sense of heaviness and lethargy as a result of our circulatory system slowing down and thickening. We can ease and accommodate this process by incorporating dry brush to move the lymph and circulation.

Scraping (lekhana) introduces a rough and mobile quality into a time that is lacking in that. For instance, tongue scraping, while extremely valuable all year round, is especially useful to both clarify and assess the nature of the digestive system during this time of purging and clearing.

Finally, and worth an addm is getting outside and moving around. We are nature, so on the sporadic nice days that we do have, we return to her warm and loving embrace. We can prepare our gardens of the spring season, enjoying the art of sprouting new life. We can clean and clear out our homes as we embrace the season of sun. Our nervous systems also greatly benefit from being outside in nature and reattuning our vibes to reflect our environment.

Diet Staples

February is still root veggie and soup season. You cannot go wrong with the liquefying hydration of a brothy soup to keep you warm and nourished. As the weather turns from dry to damp, more clarifying root veggies (such as beets, parsnips, and radishes) can support the cloudy, gunkiness of the winter melt.

Add pungents and heating spices to your meals to start heating the system up from the inside, get circulation moving, and liquefy the mucusyness of the coming allergy season. It’s also a great time to add in dry and drying fruits and veggies (astringents) that can assist in the blood-cleasing process. These include but are not limited to cranberries, dried cherries, apples, pears, and berries. Cabbage-family foods (brussel sprouts, cabbage, broccoli), aspargus, and kale also have rough qualities that can support a balanced system in this time of year.

October in your Body

October can be truly a “turn of the leaf” from the lighter season into the darker season. The inter-day temperatures can be variable as the nights get colder, but the days remain warm. October is the perfect time of year to reassess your routine and, much like we pull out our winter clothing, we can start to prepare for our winter patterns.

Lifestyle & Routine

October is our transition phase in to Vata Season. Vata embodies the qualities of dry, rough, mobile, light, cold. Like increases like, opposites balance, so incorporating practices that are moist, smooth, stable, heavy, and warm will keep your feet quite literally on the ground through this season.

With October being such a drying time, it is important to keep your biggest organ (your skin) moisturized and warm so that it can keep you well insulated as the temperatures drop. Take time to maintain solid oil massage routine (abhyanga) and hydration practices (aka this morning bev). Our outside skin and our inside skin require very similar moisture for elasticity and proper function, so incorporating robust and healing dietary fats support this as well- ghee, avocado oil, coconut oil, olive oil.

We continue to be slowed down by nature’s transition to darkness. Instead of resisting the darker day’s slower requirement, find beauty in making your bed, preparing your home and hearth to be the sacred landing space for you and your family to rest their heads as the climate outside becomes less and less welcoming.

Eat your meals at regular intervals, keep a stable morning and nightly routine, and require very consistent sleep/wake cycles. One of the biggest autumn perks is how easily we can catch the sunrise. early morning sunlight/blue light access is a jackpot tool for regulating your circadian rhythm— prioritize early sun exposure and lessen night-time blue light where you can.

The big takeaways from this time of transition is to dress properly for the weather (layer up for the cooler mornings/evenings), keep our bodies a bit warmer at bedtime (to counter the insomnia of late summer), and continue to prioritize a solid bedtime (and bed time routine) to keep the nighttime repair cycles on track and efficient.

Diet Staples

As within so without. As the season shift slides into place, our bodies start to crave the sweet and nourishing foods of autumn. building/fatty foods will lay a solid foundation for our energy sources, build our ojas in a depleting time of year, and insulate our bodies from the cold. Fats are the body’s most concentrated (and therefore preferred) sources of energy. Some examples of these foods include applesauce, squash, nuts, fish, starches, avocado, and oils.

Think about our favorite Autumn staples- warming herbs, pumpkin spice, cookies, pies, nourishing and hydrating soups, milks and hot cocoa. having time to create with your hands is a great way to stay grounded in a mobile and lighter season. Preparing your food is an opportunity to have agency in your health. Cooking has a twofold value by maintaining a hands-on practice while also setting yourself and your household up for success with home-cooked, down home foods.

After the Summer has passed, our hotter organs (see: liver) may be depleted, this cooler season is a good time to help calm and rehab the liver’s function. Foods like almond milk, blueberries, pomegranate, cilantro, beets, carrots, kale, hibiscus, ashwgandha, and dendelion will clarify and strengthen the blood system.

What’s Next

We’re looking ahead at the season of lights, holidays, and a lot of opportunity for social events to keep our calendars full. Give yourself the space to slow down, give yourself permission to say “no” to opportunities, and allow yourself a chance at truly saying “yes” to yourself. Using this Fall Season to redirect some of the chaotic energy of the sun-season is a fantastic way to “begin again” without first hitting burn out. If you need support with setting the stage to start carving out time and habits, holler at your friendly neighborhood lifestyle and longevity educator.