today, I start anew 💙
Ayurveda (A-yur-ved-a): India’s traditional medical system which is based on the idea of balance bodily systems for whole body health
In Ayurveda and Your Mental Health: An Introduction, I share about the different ways Ayurveda and our mental health are related. Given the official start of Spring was this week, I thought it would be fun to share how Ayurveda can support us, especially as the seasons change 💙
Ayurveda views everyone as whole and complete with nothing lacking, nothing broken, and therefore anything is possible. We might just have forgotten, and that is where the practices and techniques of Ayurveda and our mental health come in... Ayurveda argues that when we were created, the elements of ether/space, air, fire, water, and earth bound to us in a very individual, particular, and perfect way. Our original elemental makeup is what makes us balanced and whole. Distress and dysfunction occur when we forget that we are whole and complete and live in ways that create elemental imbalance and agitation in our physical, mental, and emotional life.
To find out which Ayurvedic practices work best for each of us, it is important to find our elemental makeup, or our dosha. To find out what your dosha is, you can take an online dosha quiz, I love this one. The doshas and their elemental compositions are:
Vata (vha-ta)= Ether/Space + Air
Pitta (ph-it-ta)= Fire + Water
Kapha (kha-fa)= Water + Earth
Finding out our dosha is the first step in developing Ayurvedic practices to maintain and re-establish balance in our life, especially in the seasonal transitional periods.
People are not the only ones who have a dosha. Emotions, colors, times of day, times of our lives, and seasons have their own elemental makeup that balance, agitate, enhance, or diminish the expression and reflection of our elemental makeup. Therefore it is important to be mindful of how our mental health can be impacted by the seasons and also how we can (and should) adjust our daily routines and self-care practices to align with the seasons. The seasonal dosha breakdown is:
Fall - Vata (space and air)
Winter - Kapha (water and earth)
Spring - Kapha and Pitta (fire, water, and earth)
Summer - Pitta (fire and water)
A helpful way to conceptualize this Ayurvedic concept is to consider the New Year's resolution. Have you ever made a resolution to work out more or lose weight only for your motivation to fizzle out in a week or two? Either you didn’t see any results or your motivation waned? If we consider that winter time is the time of water and earth (kapha), these elements have the attributes of heavy, cold, slow, dense, cloudy, and static. There is a reason bears hibernate in the winter. To go up to a hibernating bear and say “hey you! lazy bear! you need to go do a high intensity work out and lose weight” is both unwise and unsafe...
When we have a clear sense of not only our dosha, but the seasonal doshas, we can make more informed decisions of how to spend our energy and time. We can also fortify ourself against societal and cultural values that might not be aligned with our very individual and personal actual wants and needs and therefore be empowered to live a life that is more aligned with our authentic self.
In a season as cold as winter, your body needs to be heavy, slow, dense, cloudy, and static to rest, restore, and rejuvenate for the warming of the Spring and heat of Summer. The practices of Ayurveda help us tap into our physical, mental, and emotional intuition. When we get that sudden urge to do some Spring cleaning, when a little fire (or Pitta) gets us motivated to shed what we no longer need, that is the sign that it is time to start getting a little bit more mobile, bring some heat, and get out into the light.
It is important to note that Ayurveda is not about "fixing" anything, but bringing awareness to what is happening and putting in, and keeping present, the practices that will bring us back into balance. Knowing how the seasons may impact our dosha, and our mental health needs, only gives us more knowledge and power to develop a plan that will bring balance and ease back into our life.
If you are interested in learning more about how you can start anew this season using Ayurvedic practices, you can read the full article here and find other helpful Ayurvedic, mindfulness, and mental health resources here.
Thank you for being you and all you do, Anjali Power Yoga is here because of each and every one of YOU 💙
with gratitude,
Lucia (she/her/hers)