One of my favorite things about living Ayurveda is how the strategies for finding harmony with nature change throughout the year. I used to blindly follow the same protocols for food, work, and exercise all year, but with Ayurveda’s seasonal guidelines, I enjoy the variety of approaches and am much more in touch with the changes in nature and in my own body and mind. Ayurveda is like an amazing compass with which to navigate and plan my year.
Ayurveda outlines six distinct seasons per year. These specific seasons follow the natural pattern of the three doshas as they build up, peak, and then dissipate throughout the year. Following a seasonal Ayurvedic regimen not only keeps you healthy during each current season, but it also prepares your body for the following season. Here’s how the doshas flow through the seasons:
I used to eagerly look forward to summer, but now I most look forward to greeting early winter. Because none of the bioforces are peaking, or even building up, it’s considered the time of best health. Everything within your body and without is in its most natural state of harmony. Your digestion is strongest in wintertime, giving you the best opportunity for physical strength, and allowing you to enjoy heavier holiday meals and larger meals in general. Because it’s cold outside, your inner fire increases to help you adapt (your body’s natural homeostasis response).
In summer, since there’s so much heat outside, your body’s inner fire reduces to help you stay balanced with the atmos-phere. I look forward to carving out adequate time for rest and rejuvenation in late summer, since digestion is weakest then. I enjoy eating light, easily digestible, moist foods in the summer, and smaller quantities of food.
Each season brings you different opportunities to take health into your own hands. In Ayurveda, the collection of recommended seasonal behaviors is called ritucharya (ritu translates as “season” and charya means “behavior”). Knowing about ritucharya and following the guidance in this chapter has made a huge difference in my own health, and that of my clients and students. It’s so empowering to finally know what to do when — and why.
The guidelines that follow are given to protect the health of those who are relatively healthy. If you are suffering from imbalances and diseases, you should still keep seasonal guidance in mind, but I recommend also making an appointment with a qualified Ayurveda practitioner to receive customized guidance.
Ayurveda classifies seasonal foods according to their tastes and qualities. There are six tastes in Ayurveda — the five that are acknowledged by the Western perspective (sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and pungent/spicy) plus the astringent taste (a walnut is astringent). These six tastes correspond with each element, as well as each dosha.
The sweet taste is composed of the earth and water elements and is associated with the kapha dosha. When you eat more sweets, the amount of kapha in your body and mind increases. Spring is the only season in which Ayurveda discourages having the sweet taste because of the large amount of kapha in the atmosphere during this time of the year. We all know cookies, cakes, and fruits contain the sweet taste in abundant quantities, but in Ayurveda, sweet does not necessarily equal sugar. When you have foods with the sweet taste in a digestible portion, they’re excellent immunity builders, giving your body strength and fertility. How nice, to enjoy sweetness guilt-free!
Examples of the sweet taste: many fresh fruits, ghee, milk, rice, wheat, cucumbers, squash, pumpkin, masoor lentil, green gram mung lentil, black gram lentil (urad dal), dates, almonds, cashews, coconuts (and coconut oil), fish, lamb, pork, beef, goat meat, potatoes, okra, cardamom, fennel, rock candy, and sugar.
The salty taste is made of fire and water. The fire in salt increases pitta dosha, and its water increases kapha dosha. It’s best to eat less of the salty taste in fall, when pitta dosha is naturally high, and in the spring, when kapha is predominant. It’s great at all other times of year. The salty taste adds heat to your body and aids digestion, food absorption, and elimination when consumed in the appropriate quantity.
Not all salt is the same! Learn why Ayurveda recommends Himalayan pink rock salt, here.
The sour taste is a combination of the fire and earth elements. This taste, like saltiness, increases pitta and kapha doshas. Eat less of the sour taste in the fall and spring, and enjoy it all other times of the year. Sourness creates the sensation of taste on your tongue and has a great laxative effect.
Examples of the sour taste: tomatoes, many fruits (especially citrus, berries, and pomegranates), lemon, lime, some pickles, and tamarind.
The bitter taste is one of our favorite medicinal tastes in Ayurveda. It cleanses your tongue of everything you’ve tasted before and is especially helpful if you’re trying to digest toxins; the bitter taste clears bodily channels. It’s great if you suffer from blood disorders, itching, infections, fever, or parasites. The bitter taste is dominant in the air and space elements. It increases vata dosha. Ayurveda recommends more intake of the bitter taste during the spring and fall, when kapha and pitta, respectively, are predominant in the atmosphere.
Examples of the bitter taste: fenugreek leaves and seeds, bittermelon, dandelion roots, peas, spinach (also sweet), carrots (also sweet), many green vegetables, turmeric, fennel, and saffron.
The pungent taste has fire and air. Spiciness increases vata and pitta doshas. Because of the fire element in spiciness, this taste, in moderation, promotes digestion and opens your lungs in cases of cough, colds, and congestion. The only time of year this taste is actively recommended is spring, when the heavy, cold, and sweet earth and water elements rule. Spicy food is not as harmful during winter (especially if you suffer from congestion) as it is in summer and fall, when you should definitely reduce or avoid this taste, so as not to overheat.
Examples of the pungent taste: red chilies, green chilies, wasabi, black pepper, hing, raw garlic, ginger, radish, mustard, all kinds of peppers, ajwain seeds, fenugreek seeds, and mustard oil.
The astringent taste isn’t easy to identify independently, but it is dominant in the air and earth elements. Because the earth element is subtle, it increases only vata dosha. It’s an excellent taste to have in moderation to dry your body and close the flow when you have excess bleeding or diarrhea. Like the other five tastes, it helps to keep your diet balanced. Ayurveda recommends enjoying more of the astringent taste in the fall and spring seasons.
Examples of the astringent taste: unripe bananas, pomegranates, green beans, barley, black gram lentils (urad dal), green whole or split mung dal, toor dal (lentil), sorghum, peanuts, safflower seeds, walnuts, honey, chicken, rabbit, water chestnuts, pumpkin, drumsticks, apples, pears, coriander, and nutmeg.
| Season | Tastes to Enjoy | Seasonal Food Ideas |
|
Late Winter |
Sweet Salty Sour |
Eat larger food quantity; favor heavier foods like spiced milk, more ghee, wheat, nuts, seasonal fruits, goat meat, black gram lentil (urad dal), and goat cheese |
|
Spring |
Bitter Pungent Astringent |
Have lighter foods, in smaller quantities, and use less oil/ghee (can use mustard oil to cook); favor green vegetables, peppers, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, gourds, green mung dal, beans, hot water, more spices, raw onions, honey, and barley; avoid fruit |
|
Early Summer |
Sweet Sour Salty |
Eat smaller food quantity, use less oil/ghee; favor soups (especially mung dal soup), squashes, cucumbers, cilantro/coriander, coconut water, pomegranate, grapes, rice, sweet seasonal fruits, and fruit juices |
|
Late Summer |
Sweet Sour Salty |
Eat smaller food quantity, use less oil/ghee; favor light soups, green mung dal, gourds, squashes, carrots, puffed rice, peaches, plums, raisins, and blackberries |
|
Fall |
Sweet Bitter Astringent |
Favor pomegranate, wheat, rice, barley, green mung dal, bitter and green vegetables, squashes, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, green beans, asparagus, okra, ghee, sugar, dates, takra with sugar, and sweet well-ripened fruit; avoid sour fruit and all fermented foods |
|
Early Winter |
Sweet Sour Salty |
Eat larger food quantity; favor heavier foods, like sooji cereal, dates, all nuts, meats, spiced milk, more ghee, fresh cheeses, wheat, seasonal fruits, sweet cakes, and pies |
It’s wonderful that Thanksgiving and Christmas fall during the winter, as that’s the best time, according to Ayurveda, to enjoy rich, luxurious food. I always look forward to the food I can enjoy in the wintertime, especially the delicious entrées prepared by Chef Sanjai for the Vedika Global community.
Exercise, discussed here, is something we’re told to do for good health yearlong. In Ayurveda, however, the type, duration, and intensity of your ideal exercise change throughout the year.
In the summer season, when you’re already receiving heat and intensity from the sun, intense workouts aren’t a good idea. When you exercise a lot in the summertime, you can easily overheat and become exhausted. In summer, your digestive capacity is a lot lower, so you don’t want to eat as much. When you don’t eat a lot, you naturally don’t feel as energetic. In the winter, however, because your digestion is so strong, you can more easily replenish your body with plenty of rich, heavy, nourishing foods after working out. That, in turn, gives you the energy to work out more.
In the summer and fall, you can enjoy more relaxing forms of exercise, like restorative yoga classes and poses that are still and meditative. This is the time to enjoy walks in nature. You can also do gentler forms of exercise, such as tai chi, less intense Pilates workouts, and swimming.
In winter and spring, you can go all out with exercise. Enjoy vigorous workouts. You can do more cardio-intensive exercises, lift weights, play sports, run marathons, incorporate more poses into your morning yoga routine, and do fun winter sports like ice skating, skiing, and snowboarding.
Late spring (April or early May) would be a perfect time to schedule a marathon. You can start with less-intense runs in the fall and work your way up to the marathon in the winter and spring, when it’s helpful to get more vigorous exercise.
Try cross-training in summer, perhaps swimming and yoga, to tone your muscles and protect your physical strength for when you’ll need it most.
Like with food, the beverages that you benefit from the most change with the seasons.
To drink hot water or not? That is the question. Hot water is great in the colder winter months. It’s also excellent in spring, when kapha dosha, with its heavy, sticky, sweet qualities, is everywhere, within and around you. In the warmer months of summer and fall, when vata and pitta doshas are more active, it’s helpful to drink boiled water after it has cooled down to a drinkable level. This is true anytime you experience burning sensations and feel hot physically. (Ice-cold water is never recommended, as it is not helpful for digestion; see here.)
Enjoy homemade juice in the summer and fall. I love the fresh, rejuvenating effect that juice has on my mind and body. Ayurveda encourages you to make your own juice by squeezing your favorite fruits and drinking them fresh. Store-bought juices contain many more fruits than you would ever want — or need — in a single day. You can dilute store-bought juice with water to make it lighter, but it’s really best to make your own. By making fresh juice, you are practicing self-love, taking the time, attention, and care you need to nourish yourself. So much of living Ayurveda is about opening your heart to loving yourself enough to create the health and life you deserve.
Make soothing mango and rose lassis in summer and fall. To make a mango lassi, combine 1⁄4 cup plain whole organic yogurt, 1⁄4 cup fresh ripe mango pulp, and 1 cup boiled and cooled water in a large glass or a small bowl and churn with a whisk or process in a blender. Add organic sugar to taste.
To make a rose lassi, blend 1⁄4 cup plain whole organic yogurt, 1 cup water, 1 to 3 teaspoons organic sugar, and rose water (or fresh ground rose petals) in a blender and blend until smooth. Happy lassi drinking!
| Questions | Answers |
|
Who? |
Consult a practitioner to find out what’s best for you. Red wine can be helpful for balancing excess vata dosha in some people. Those with excess pitta dosha may be advised against alcohol, or to only drink sweet wines. |
|
What kind? |
Wine is the most beneficial alcohol type in Ayurveda. Those with more vata and pitta can enjoy sweeter wines, like dessert wines, while those with more kapha can have more astringent-tasting or spiced, aged wines. Medicinal wines need to be prepared and prescribed by a qualified Ayurvedic professional. |
|
When can I drink more? |
The best time for wine is in the winter months, when you’re at the peak of health. |
|
Where? |
Drink in a clean, inspiring place where alcohol is ideally not the main attraction, but simply a nice enhancement. |
|
Why? |
Wine has many flavors that can enhance a meal, and you may feel good while drinking it. Wine made with jaggery, along with sweet and sour wines, can enhance your digestion. |
|
How much? |
As with all things Ayurveda, moderation is key. A glass or two is great. |
|
With what? |
Wine consumed for pleasure should be taken with heartier food or a meal that is not overly spicy. Wine consumed medicinally will come with instructions from your practitioner. |
To burn through the layers of fat in your body, Ayurveda teaches that you need a good amount of fire. Two of the best ways to increase the fire already in your body are:
Spring is the best time to exercise as much as possible and eat spicier foods. This is because the heavy earth and water elements associated with kapha dosha are more prevalent in the atmosphere. You’ll stay most balanced by doing what you can to counteract the natural heaviness in the environment by building your inner fire through exercise, eating less food, and eating a more heating diet.
Because there’s already so much heat in summer, this isn’t an effective time to lose weight. When you try achieving “the perfect bikini body” in the summer, with intense exercise and heating foods, you can easily overheat. This could potentially lead to conditions like heartburn, hyperacidity, and other heat-related problems. Losing weight during this time is not worth the risks. The good news is that Ayurveda recommends a lighter diet during the summer and fall, so the weight you take off in springtime won’t easily come back later.
In the winter, because your digestive fire is so naturally strong, it’s important to feed it well, but it’s also important to exercise heavily at this time, so you won’t necessarily gain weight. In other words, the best weight-loss strategy recommended by Ayurveda is to take the weight off in springtime and then keep it off during the rest of the year.
The winter season, from November through March, is best for conception, according to Ayurveda. You’re at your strongest during this time, and sex, like exercise, requires a lot of strength and energy to be effective. Immunity is also the strongest during the wintertime. Immunity and fertility are connected: The more immunity you have, the healthier you are, and the better the chances you’ll deliver a strong, healthy baby.
Regardless of whether you are trying to conceive, Ayurveda recommends having sex more often in the winter and spring and less often in the summer and fall. Doing it more during the colder seasons heats up your body and helps you stay in balance with nature. Too much sex in summer and fall can burn, exhaust, and deplete vital sexual fluids, which are the same fluids that create overall health in your body. Your sexual tissue lives in every cell of your body. It’s an essential ingredient for good overall health.
Eat, drink, and be merry! This is the best way to summarize Ayurveda’s winter recommendations.
Fall is the best time to launch a new venture — whether a new business or a new project at your workplace — because this is when pitta dosha is naturally high, giving you focus, clarity, intelligent strategic thinking, and planning abilities. I launched my Ayurveda practice in the fall for this reason. Fall is the harvest season when we start ventures. I spent a lot of time before fall thinking about how I wanted to structure my work, how I wanted to connect with people through it, and what strategies I wanted to use to make a difference with Ayurveda.
The fall season also brings illuminating Vedic holidays such as Diwali, the Vedic festival of light. This festival celebrates the victory of the light of knowledge over the darkness of ignorance and the illusions we unconsciously carry around within us. It occurs sometime between September and November and is considered a very auspicious time to launch new ventures with a blast of positivity.
Another nice thing about launching ventures in the fall is that you have the energy to work really hard throughout the winter and spring. By the time summer rolls around, you can afford to schedule downtime, which creates a window of receptivity for great inspiration of ways to improve your project or for new ideas to explore.
I was surprised at first to learn that Ayurveda recommends traveling more in winter. Having grown up and lived in a colder part of the world (the midwestern United States), I loved summer and looked forward to the freedom and joy I associated with it. Now, as an Ayurveda practitioner, I anticipate wintertime with the same eagerness I once reserved for summer.
When you follow Ayurveda’s seasonal health guidelines, you’ll be at your healthiest in winter, which means you’ll have the greatest freedom in what to eat, how far to travel, and what kinds of activities to partake in. Wintertime is definitely the best time to travel. You can go on adventures that take you to multiple destinations and enjoy all the outdoor activities and excursions your travel destination offers.
Summer is still a great vacation time, but it’s best to go where you can remain in one location. Summer vacations are great opportunities to have retreat-like experiences, where you can relax, reflect, and conserve energy by spending more time in quiet contemplation and meditation. Silence has a profoundly calming effect on vata dosha, which is naturally active during summertime. Also during this time, take care to ensure you don’t have to travel too much via plane, train, car, bus, or other transportation. This is the time to pull inward.
Enjoy going wherever your heart desires. When you plan accordingly, you’ll be able to make the most out of your next vacation.
Ayurvedic sages recommend staying in cool places in summer where you can visit gardens and be near water. This is poetically expressed in Ashtanga Hrdayam:
Spend time in houses around which bunches of flowers and grapes are hanging from their creepers, sheets of cloth spreading sweet scented water are arranged to fan the air, bunches of tender leaves and mango leaves hanging all around. Sleep on a soft bed prepared with beautiful flowers. Spend the long summer days remaining inside houses that have fully blossomed flowers suspended all around, that are cooled by water fountains with water scented by fragrant herbs.
Isn’t that beautiful?
It’s easy to catch colds and start coughing and sneezing a lot in spring. The water and earth elements of kapha dosha are dominant in the atmosphere and get secreted from your body through mucus and phlegm. Because coldness is a quality of kapha dosha, do what you can to heat your body (remember: like increases like, so we want opposing qualities when the aim is reduction). This wisdom holds true anytime you feel vulnerable to getting a cold or cough.
Eat food with more spices. Spring is a time to enjoy different spices that may be too heating during the summer and fall seasons. I love adding garlic, ginger, mustard seeds, ajwain seeds, fenugreek seeds, some black pepper, garam masala, and other warming spices to my food during spring and wintertime, and anytime I notice signs of a cold or cough.
Avoid sweets. It’s very important to eat less of the sweet taste in springtime when kapha is prevalent — and eliminate sweets anytime you feel prone to colds and coughs. Sweet food contains the earth and water elements, both of which increase kapha dosha in your body. Colds and coughs are signs of excess kapha dosha in your system. By reducing sweets, you’re reducing the amount of kapha buildup in your body.
I remember initially feeling disappointed I had to give up sweets for a whole season, but I find it’s worth temporarily putting them away to stay healthy. The best part is that I enjoy the sweets a lot more when I’m able to eat them.
Here are some other recommendations that will help you prevent spring colds:
Oiling (see here for instructions) is recommended any time of year. However, if you feel congested after applying oil, are gaining weight, or find you have allergies in springtime, try using a dry body scrub instead. Grind 3 cups masoor lentils very finely. Add 1⁄4 cup neem powder and 2 cups triphala herb powder to the masoor lentil mix. If you’re feeling adventurous, try adding one of these powders: tulsi leaf, turmeric, vetiver, green gram, or haritaki. Use your hands to rub a handful onto your skin in the bathtub, then shower and rinse it off. This scrub helps improve your circulation and supports weight loss by removing fat deposits (cellulite) and dead skin cells.
Protect yourself from the cold with wool. It’s especially important to protect your head and ears during harsh, cold winters. Even in milder climates, cool winds can easily enter your ear canal, disturbing vata dosha, so keep a scarf handy to cover up.
In summertime, wear loose-fitting, ideally white or light-colored clothing, with white pearls, hats, and sunglasses. Pearls are recommended because they’re soothing and cooling, particularly if you have burning or heat-related conditions such as heartburn, hyperacidity, or shingles. White and light-colored clothing is not only a practical way to protect yourself from the intensity of the summer heat, it also promotes mental peace, optimism, clarity, and all of the other qualities associated with sattva and a peaceful mind (see here).
All year round, wear fresh clothes and maybe even spray yourself with aromatic perfumes or wear flower garlands to help you feel fresh and clear-headed throughout the day. Wear brightly colored clothes to feel inspired and uplifted, and to attract good vibes.
The only season in which Ayurveda recommends napping is early summer, when the atmosphere is very dry and the sun is the strongest. Just a 30-minute afternoon nap, at least 1 hour after lunch, replenishes your body with much-needed moisture. I find that taking naps in summer is rejuvenating and helps refresh my perspective.
During the rest of the year, there’s more moisture in the atmosphere, so when you sleep, your digestive fire also goes to sleep. Since digestion is so crucial for good health, you don’t want this to happen! Hence, if you’re tired, Ayurveda recommends sitting and reclining back slightly while closing your eyes for about 30 minutes. This prevents your digestive fire from sleeping, while allowing you to rest. I like doing this on days I haven’t been able to sleep as much the previous night, such as when I’ve taken overnight flights.
Exceptions to the no-napping rule include pregnant and postnatal women, babies and small children, and the elderly. It also includes those who are exhausted from travel, work, studying, sexual activity, or exercise, and those who have stayed up all night. Ayurveda recommends you sleep for half the time you missed at night. If you normally sleep 8 hours and missed 5 hours of sleep the previous night, you’re able to sleep 2.5 extra hours during the day (anytime after 6 a.m.).
As a modern, globalized society, we’ve lost touch with the movements and healing aspects of the sun, moon, and wind. Ayurveda urges you to return to nature and benefit from nature’s subtle medicine. Natural elements are always at play around you and are more accessible than you often realize.
Whereas pitta dosha is connected with the sun and its metabolizing heat and intensity, the moon is associated with kapha dosha, which is made of the earth and water elements. Kapha dosha is naturally stable, soothing, cool, calm, nurturing, and grounding.
Ayurvedic sages recommend you go outside to absorb the moonlight in fall, when a lot of pitta dosha is present. Those suffering from excess heat, whether physically or mentally (from too much stress or having to meet many tight deadlines), can particularly benefit from the moon’s soothing, maternal medicine.
The Vedic holiday Sharad Purnima is on the most powerful full moon of the year, when the moon is closest to earth. On this fall night, as my teacher revealed, “It’s believed in Ayurveda that exposure to the moon’s rays is very helpful in mitigating the adverse effects of excess pitta dosha, including many kinds of digestive, blood, skin, lymph, and heat disorders, throughout the season.” I have fond memories of getting together with my Ayurveda classmates to soak in the moonlight. It felt like we were in on some special secrets of nature. I remember how much of a difference it made one year in particular in improving a heat-related condition I had been struggling with. But don’t take my word for it. Get out in the moonlight and experience the healing and subtle power of moon medicine for yourself.
Take this quiz to discover your mind’s most dominant qualities. Don’t worry if it’s not all sattva! The journey from tamas to rajas to sattva is ongoing. It’s fun to take and re-take this quiz as a quick way to see how you’re progressing. All the practices in this book build your natural sattva.
| Questions | Answers |
|
1. What do you eat? |
a) I eat mostly fresh, light, easily digestible foods b) I eat a big variety of food and lots of spicy foods c) I eat a lot of meat, fast food, and leftovers; I constantly crave food |
|
2. How easily do you forgive others? |
a) I forgive other easily and completely b) I forgive others with a lot of effort; I often plan revenge c) I hold onto grudges |
|
3. How’s your sleep? |
a) I sleep soundly and awaken refreshed b) I have disturbed and interrupted sleep c) I sleep deeply and never want to awaken |
|
4. How do you speak? |
a) I speak clearly, calmly, firmly b) I get excited, passionate, argumentative c) I have a hard time expressing myself |
|
5. What’s your day usually like? |
a) I am creative, productive, pace myself well, and try to help others b) I am passionate, competitive, and feel very driven c) I procrastinate a lot and have trouble getting things done |
|
Which category does your mind mostly fall into? |
Mostly a answers: sattva Mostly b answers: rajas Mostly c answers: tamas |