Ayurvedic Guide for Summer

Share this :   | | | |

 

Summertime is Pitta Time

Summer is such an amazing time of year. We get beautiful, long, warm sunny days to be outside and play. Farmers markets overflowing with fresh produce. Dancing at outdoor concerts. Weddings, BBQs, reunions. Gardens going off. Swimming. Camping. Hammock napping. Supporting your local lemonade stand… So many wonderful things!

 
Summer and early fall emphasizes pitta dosha.
 
(Vata peaks in fall through early winter. And kapha is predominate in late winter through spring.)
 
Your local environment can influence your experience of summer. If you already have a lot of specific pitta qualities in your personal constitution (or a long standing imbalance) you’re going to be more sensitive to it. 
In general we notice an increase in the pitta qualities of: hot, sharp, light, oily, spreading, and acidic. Depending where you live, certain qualities might be way stronger than others. 
 
As these qualities build up through the long, hot, bright days – more pitta can accumulate in your body and mind.
 
We each have our go-to places for stashing excess pitta. Most common is a surplus of acidity at the base of your stomach. Or heat in the blood. Then, this excess flows over into other tissues and creates not so great issues. 🙁
 
Oily skin, itchy red rashes or acne. Big reactions to bug bites. Stinky acidic body odor. Sharp headaches. Or a sharp mind (critical, irritable, judgmental attitude…) Are a few ways pitta expresses in excess.

 

When left unchecked, or while living with with unconscious and unbalancing lifestyle practices, the intensity of summer can increase your pitta really quickly, leading to a variety of problems.

Symptoms of a pitta imbalance include:

Mind + Emotions

  • feeling burnt out or depleted
  • stressed out
  • workaholic
  • impatient, irritable, easily annoyed
  • anger or hot temper
  • judgmental or critical of self or others
  • sharp mind and opinions – always “right”
  • super competitive
  • perfectionism
  • overpowering, controlling or manipulative
  • cynical, aloof, always wanting to be alone

Body

  • sensitivity to heat
  • sensitivity to bug bites (“mosquitoes love me”)
  • rashes, boils, hives, eczema, and burns on the skin
  • inflammation
  • hemorrhages, bleeding gums, bloodshot eyes
  • dizziness, lightheadedness, blood sugar instability
  • fatigue and insomnia
  • sharp headaches or migraines
  • profuse sweating, sweaty palms, sour smell, intense body odor

Digestion

  • loose stools or diarrhea
  • sensitive to spicy foods
  • hyper acidity, acid indigestion, or heartburn
  • ulceration
  • loss of appetite

 

All of these symptoms of high pitta can be easily aggravated during the summer season, especially when daily rituals and lifestyle practices are out of alignment. They can be present any time of year for someone with a pitta imbalance. But they’re more common for everyone during the pitta season (summer.)

 

Ayurveda helps us be mindful and pro-active about preventing pitta from getting imbalanced. The earlier you can start adjusting your self care, diet, and lifestyle the better. This will especially impact late summer, fall and even winter!
 
For example, the excess heat and acidity of pitta leads to dryness. This creates weakness in the tissues. Thus increasing your chances of getting a cold, flu, or allergies at the transition into fall and winter. Think – dried out sinuses that fill with snot. Or red itchy eyes and hay-fever.
 
As you might guess (and crave), you want to increase the qualities of cold, soft, cloudy, dark, heavy or dry. Where appropriate.
 
You can go ahead and consider ice cream as medicinal this time of year. 😉 
 
With the extra activity and longer days it’s also the perfect time to indulge in sweet juicy fruits. The natural sugars combined with fiber give that extra boost of energy. Along with hydration, vitamins and minerals. Sweet taste is also cooling and softening in nature. A great antic-dote to the hot sharp qualities of the heightened pitta energy. Keep in mind that most fruit digests quickly and it’s best to eat it on it’s own. so it doesn’t get slowed down with other harder to digest things and cause fermentation in the gut.
 
Bitters, dark leafy greens, expansive views, and dropping your energy from your head into your heart are also amazing.
 
Here’s a simple guide to getting into your best groove with an Ayurvedic summer.

Top Tips for a Balanced Summer  ➣

 

Cleanse

Cultivate clear channels to create spaciousness. Space is cold, and the clarity allows for the cool flow of energy. More spaciousness within your body and mind will create a cooling effect and help you tolerate more heat.

 

Clogged channels equals heat, inflammation and irritability.

 

  1. Have lunch as your main meal of the day and eat an early, light dinner. This supports your body to digest and clear things out while you sleep, rather than digest a late heavy meal. Your liver and organs detoxification is strongest while you sleep from 10pm – midnight. Super important to cleanse and cool the blood which impacts your whole system.
  2. Poop first thing in the morning (w/o caffeine). You can drink a large glass of water with lemon or lime to help encourage peristalsis and flush your channels.
  3.  Make sure you don’t have any ama (undigested food, toxins or plaque). If you do, a light cleanse or detox to clear things out will help your body and mind stay cool.

 

Cool

Take out things that increase heat and add in things that have a cooling effect.

 

Adopt an Ayurvedic Diet:

 

  • Enjoy the bounty of summer foods, and avoid anything that’s too stimulating, heating, or creates inflammation.
  • Focus on sweet, bitter and astringent foods: sweet juicy fruits – watermelon, peaches, berries. summer veggies – summer squashes, sweet peas, snap peas, green beans, whole grains, legumes, coconut, cilantro, fennel, mint, cucumbers
  • Chlorophyll is your best friend! It cools the blood and creates energy. Add in all the greens you can! Feast on green smoothies, fresh raw green juice, salads and soups to flush out the heat, oil and acidity.
  • Keep the diet plain, fresh, simple, and light.
  • Reduce: pungent, salty, sour: spicy foods, salsa, kimchi, ginger, hot sauce, cacao, alcohol, coffee, fermented foods, pickles, kombucha. Fried food, greasy food, processed stuff, or snack foods.
  • Take out inflammatory stuff: processed sugar, seed oils, fried foods, wheat, gluten, alcohol, dairy. Alcohol in particular will set your blood on fire.
  • Let go of coffee and cacao. Both create a lot of heat in the blood.

 

Self-Care:

 

  • Play with the power of cooling and soothing essential oils – rose, sandalwood, lavender, peppermint, spearmint, eucalyptus. You can diffuse them, wear them, make a compress on a cold wet washcloth, or spritz with a spray bottle.
  • Try cold water therapy – cold plunges, cold showers, soak feet in cold water, swim in fresh water.
  • Walk over wet grass barefoot ~ this lovely little practice pulls the heat down and out, and grounds you into the healing effects of the earth.

 

Soften

  • Practice living in an easeful way. Daily practices such as meditation and self massage are important. Along with orienting your attitude and perspective of the world or daily occurrences in your life towards the best outcome. Not as a spiritual bypass. But as a way to be proactive towards the positive.
  • With intention, regularly soften and relax into your day, regardless of what is arising.
  • Wear soft colors and fabrics – white, light blue, etc. cotton, hemp, silk and linen.
  • Don’t overwork and make plenty of time for play! Fun, adventures, activities.. Anything that brings you joy.
  • Cultivate connection, and play nice. The sharp edge of a brilliant, sharp mind or overly competitive nature isn’t super fun for others. Relax. Listen, flow, let go.
  • Soften open your heart with compassion. For yourself and others.

Lifestyle Design

  • Rhythmic eating – Have three complete meals at the same time each day. Enjoy a nourishing, satisfying lunch and an earlier, lighter dinner
  • RELAX, unwind, and have an easeful evening. Quit work early. Turn off bright lights and glowing screens.
  • Go to sleep early, aiming for around 10pm
  • Focus on getting things done in the morning and early afternoon.
  • Create a daily meditation practice. Softening into your heart and body is better than sharp mental awareness.
  • Exercise: morning is best. Opt for something cooling – swimming, walks, hike to a vista. Avoid exercising mid day when sun is strongest, or late evening when it’s time to soften and unwind.
  • Your best yoga practices are: slow and steady, with lots of seated and twisting postures. Move with the breath and dropped into your body (not up in your head).
  • Exercise to avoid: overly competitive sports, hot yoga, mid-day exercise
  • Avoid the intense mid-day sun
  • Enjoy an afternoon nap or short siesta if you’re tired or need a refresh.
  • Protect your skin from the strong summer sun with light clothes and sunscreen, a hat, and seeking shade.

 

Ayurvedic Practices

  • During your daily meditation, you can add in Nadi Shodhana pranayama (alternate nostril breathing.)
  • Practice daily self massage with coconut oil and rose or lavender essential oil.
  • Moon Bathe, star gaze, make moon water
  • Healing skin mask – green clay, sandal wood, turmeric, rose petals, manjistha, and neem. Mix equal parts, add water to make a wet paste. Apply to face, let dry and rinse off with cool water.

 

Herbs

best teas: chrysanthemum, hibiscus, nettle, chamomile, mint
blood and liver purifying: dandelion, burdock, barley, manjistha
digestives: cumin, coriander, fennel, cardamom
restorative, nourishing: shatavari
brain and nervine, good for stress: gotu kola
cleansing and cooling: aloe, amalaki, triphala

 

 

 

If you’d like to learn more about the doshas, gunas (qualities), how they change through the the day, lunar phase, seasons and life cycles. And how to change your lifestyle to keep things in balance – check out my mini course Ayurveda 101: The Foundations. Click here for the deets.

 

To your health and happiness xoxo Anna
Newer post Older post