An Ayurvedic Approach to Fall// Softening Vata

kellysunrose  
Brilliant Autumn Colors on the South Side of the Atigun River Five Miles Inside the Gorge. View Looks South 08/1973
Brilliant Autumn Colors on the South Side of the Atigun River Five Miles Inside the Gorge. View Looks South 08/1973

This post has been sitting in my queue for over a month now. I began to write it when I was in the throes of vata-imbalance. Vata is one of the Doshas (constitutions) of Ayurveda (the ancient science of health). Vata is associated with dryness, airiness, space (& spacey-ness). Autumn is the time of Vata.

And this year, I really felt it. As we transitioned into autumn, I felt chaotic, over-busy and un-grounded, relatively speaking.

Thankfully, I knew what was happening and called upon my sweet ayurvedic resources and brought myself back to Earth in about a week. The basic idea is to softly meet the dry wind of fall with heat and wet-earthiness. I like to get really creative and practical about how to accomplish this.

My recipe for easing Vata-imbalance:

  • practicing legs-up-the-wall and completely supported savasana every day
  • avoiding extended headstand (see also, this post on inversions) and too much vinyasa
  • eating cooked foods, especially grounding foods like eggs, butter, sweet potato and stews
  • avoiding caffeine, especially coffee
  • meditating more
  • sitting in warm baths as often as I could
  • drinking ginger teas
  • drinking hot smoothies like this one

I also worked with being in the eye of discomfort, remembering its impermanence.

And all of this really helped.

For more on Ayurveda, I recommend:

Food: A Love Story

Eat Taste Heal

Yoga for Your Type by David Frawley

 

LOVE!

 

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