Feeling a little out of sorts these days..

Feeling a little..umm…out of sorts in the last month or so? I had random conversations with private clients and friends, and they, too, complained of symptoms they didn’t normally have - some had other digestive problems, other more sleep issues than normal, others with strange colds or sicknesses.

I’m not immune to the effects of these strange shifts in seasons either. After learning what is best for my digestive type according to Ayurveda, I thought my days of having any digestive troubles were gone. Then the last few months, I felt like I used to pre-Ayurveda days - kind of bloated and, dare I say, airy. Ever since I learned that as an air-ether type (called vata in Ayurveda), it was best for me to eat warm, moist and oily foods to balance my cold, dry and airy digestive nature, I eat whatever I want free of digestive distress.

So why does this happen at this moment in time?

As I looked around the streets of Munich and in other parts of Europe during my travels, the changes around me were evident.. Temperatures just a touch cooler, requiring a jacket at night. The ground a little cooler in the morning. The air just a bit crisper. Not quite summer. Not quite fall. The strange transition time in between seasons.

The seasonal transitions from summer to fall and from winter to spring are kind of a big deal in Ayurveda. These transitions which we could describe as erratic, irregular and always changed are governed by (you may have guessed it) the vata dosha. Vata is the sensitive, erratic and unpredictable of the 3 doshas and most easily upset by lack of or irregular routines. According to Ayurveda, many humans live out of tune with the season, meaning that rather than adapting how and when we wake up, go to bed, what we eat or drink, how we exercise, travel or move according to the season, most of us kind of do what we feel like, or what others around us are doing.

Here in Munich, summer usually means later nights in the sun, drinking more alcohol, spending lots of time out in the sun, extending day time things more into the night time, and getting less sleep. These activities, while seeming totally commonplace in our culture, are what we call pitta aggravating - they stoke up the fire element within us. Summer also happens to be governed by the fire element (hello sun! no surprise there). So when we do fire aggravating activities in the fire season, particularly if we have a lot of fire (called Pitta) in our mind/body constitution, that is a big old build up of fire that accumulates and accumulates day after day as summer blazes on.

Once the summer ends, if we don’t clear up this excess (which in Ayurveda involves a mild seasonal cleanse to redirect to fall foods, routines and ways of moving and being) we end up bringing this imbalance into the next season. If we don’t start to clean things up, we get things like fall cold or flus, dry skin or hair, sluggish digestion, and the like.. ya know, the things I just spoke of. Sound familiar to you?

Making the connection between the changing season by changing your own routine can make a pretty huge difference in how you feel when you wake up, as you go about your day doing all.the.things and what you do to prepare for sleep. A few things I love:

Warm bath or shower followed by a slathering of oil all over my body (called abhyanga in Ayurveda). While you could do this any time of the day, I like to do it before I go outside as it seals the heat from the shower in. Then I feel cosy and not face-freezing cold when I get outside. I like a mix of nut oils (they are heating) with some nice essential oil scents like sandal or cedarwood. Move the oil upward to wake yourself up if you do it in the a.m. and downward to bring energy out of your head and down to the ground in the p.m. It helps with sleep

Eat yummy fall foods that are warm and moist. I am in love with stewed apples with figs, raisins and cranberries with a touch of porridge for breakfast. I’m not one for recipes, but here is a similar one. I make stir fries for lunch and soups with nice fats for dinner. All warm things. With warm spices and lots of pumpkins, squashes, beets and the like. They are only in season when they are in season, so get at it. :)

Lastly, I leave my phone in another room to charge starting at like 8 or 9pm, in airplane mode, so I won’t be tempted to send that last email or text. Yes, I am a yogi, but also hugely phone addicted if I don’t put some things into place to monitor myself. Tis the season of reading lots of books. Good reads is a great website to follow people with similar reading tastes as you so you are never in a place where you can’t find a book you want to read.

Happy transitioning into fall. I hope I see you soon - on the streets, in the park, on retreat, or in the studio.