How to Ensure a Healthy Transition with the Change of Season

Spring is almost here, but we are still experiencing the cold and dark conditions of the winter. Ayurveda defines rutu sandhi as the transition between two seasons, which generally consists of the final 15 days of one season and the first 15 days of the next. As we move from winter to spring, this “door” or pathway between seasons offers a great opportunity to switch out the old season’s clothes, lifestyle, and attitudes for a fresh new start. This seasonal juncture is an excellent time for a cleansing treatments like panchakarma. Chances are we have accumulated excess kapha in our system during the winter. This imbalance can be aggravated by the arrival of the spring, which like winter is a kapha-dominant season. Ayurveda recommends incorporating certain foods, practices, and herbs into our daily routine at this time of year to keep kapha in balance. 

Spring is the king of the seasons. During this time, Mother Earth awakens to bring new life after the dormant winter months. Spring is mild, moist, and full of color. It is a wonderful time for testing new skills, growing intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually and starting a new lifestyle. Spring is also a blooming season, when flowers shed their pollen and infuse the air with their glorious fragrance. While the transition to warmer weather and burgeoning plant life can be a delightful experience for some people, it can have a downside for kapha individuals (especially those with pollen-based allergies) and for any anyone else who’s accumulated excess kapha.For these individuals, the irritation of mucous membranes and the buildup of mucus associated with kapha can lead to an onslaught of colds, allergies, sinus infections, asthma attacks, and hay fever symptoms. Their discomfort often intensifies when the warming spring air liquifies the congestion, inducing runny noses and wet, phlegmy coughing.  

To alleviate excesskapha in the throat, you can gargle honey and hot water or a cup of hot water with 1 teaspoon of turmeric and 1 teaspoon of salt. Another helpful formula for this time of year is a combination of ginger, black pepper, and pippali (piper longum) known astrikatu. This spice blend not only clears mucus from the body but also increases digestive fire and helps eliminate toxins. Adopting a kapha-pacifying  diet during the pre-spring period can also lower the incidence of allergies, hay fever, and colds. 

Regimen for Spring

•  Adopt a diet dominated by bitter, pungent, and astringent foods. 

• Eat lightly, and consume easily digestible foods. Favor soups and cooked vegetables.

• Use small amounts of raw honey as a sweetener.

• Fast for one day a week, preferably on Monday or Thursday (for astrological reasons).

• Drink warming, cleansing herbal teas, such as ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, clove.

• Practice yoga, meditation and pranayama.

• Keep warm and dry.

• Rinse nasal passages with warm saltwater and herbs. By taking just a few seconds to do this, you can avoid days of misery from sick sinuses.

Things to Avoid

• Fatty and fried foods

• Excessive amounts of sweet, sour, and salty foods

• Large, heavy, breakfasts

• Between-meal snacks, except for dried fruit

• Cold or iced beverages

• Daytime naps

•  Exposure to dust, dirt, and pollen

• Cold drafts and air conditioning

Foods for the Season

• Legumes, split peas, red lentils, chickpeas, pinto beans, and fresh soybean products

• Amaranth, barely, buckwheat, corn, millet, oats, quinoa, 

• Radishes, spinach, artichoke, asparagus, beets, broccoli, carrots, lettuces, okra

• Apricots, berries, cherries, dark grapes, mangos, peaches, pears, pomegranates, and raisins

Disclaimer
The sole purpose of these articles is to provide information about the tradition of Ayurveda. This information is not intended for use in the diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevention of any disease. 

Why Panchakarma?

Ayurveda teaches that the key to optimal health lies in our ability to fully digest everything that enters our body and mind, integrating whatever nourishes our being and eliminating the remainder. Because of genetic tendencies and, more commonly, unhealthy lifestyle choices , the most vulnerable areas of our body tend to accumulate toxic residues from foods, experiences, and feelings that haven’t been completely digested and metabolized. When left unaddressed, the buildup of this sticky toxic waste, known as ama,  can give rise to physical and mental fatigue, disease, and emotional distress. Its presence often manifests in physical symptoms ranging from high cholesterol, hardened arteries, tooth tartar, and joint pain to a coated tongue, foul body odor, and excess mucus. Signs of ama’s harmful impact on our psychological and spiritual well-being include frequent episodes of boredom, irritability, and insatiable craving.

For thousands of years, Ayurvedic medicine has relied on the purification process known as panchakarma to deal with this fundamental threat to our health and happiness. The word panchakarma means “five actions” and refers to five procedures that intensively cleanse and precisely balance the body, mind, and emotions. The correct application of these techniques quickly reverses the degenerative process and often yields profound and long-lasting benefits. Ayurvedic practitioners use panchakarma as a preventative or supportive measure for a variety of health imbalances. It can be particularly effective for managing health problems that are chronic, metabolic, or stress related.

According to Ayurveda, every human being is unique and therefore best served by an individualized approach to health care. The aim of Ayurveda is to help a healthy person stay well and to eliminate the causes of disease in a person who is ill. In both cases, panchakarma nurtures wellness with a set of procedures that are tailored to an individual’s constitution, age, digestive strength, health issues, immune status, and situational factors.

Panchakarma therapy detoxifies the various microscopic and macroscopic structures of the body, including the respiratory, lymphatic, circulatory, reproductive, and nervous systems. By optimizing digestion, elimination, and nutrient absorption and by introducing antioxidant enzymes into the body, panchakarma helps neutralize free radicals, balance cholesterol and triglycerides, and regulate blood pressure. It can slow the aging process, boost vitality and mental clarity, and even reduce the risk of heart attacks, stroke paralysis, and cancer by enabling our mind and body manage stress more effectively. Brain wave studies indicate that panchakarma techniques foster a relaxed yet alert mental state. By inducing this state of restful alertness, these techniques help protect our mind and body from the potentially deadly effects of chronic stress and tension, while enhancing our physical and mental performance.

Many Ayurvedic practitioners believe that even healthy people should undergo regular panchakarma treatments to combat the effects of chronic exposure to today’s rising levels of environmental pollution. Traces of the thousands of  synthetic chemicals used in modern industrialized societies (including many compounds that are linked to cancer and other health threats) permeate our food, water, air and can accumulate in our bodies, adding to the toxic burden of ama on our organs and tissues.

Ayurvedic theory emphasizes the importance of a panchakarma program for easing the challenges of transitioning from one season to the next. This is particularly true during the early spring when the lingering effects of excess kapha on winter-stressed bodies tend to increase susceptibility to colds and seasonal allergies.  

The first stage of panchakarma comprises treatments that stoke agni (digestive fire) while liquefying the sticky mass of ama in your organs and tissues and pushing it toward the digestive tract. This preparatory phase, known as purvakarma, consists of oil massages, ingestion of medicated ghee, and techniques like steam baths to stimulate sweating. These treatments lay the groundwork for efficient waste removal by lubricating the body’s subtle channels. After several days of purvakarma, the practitioner chooses one or more of the five (pancha) actions (karma) designed to rid the body of the ama. This stage also typically lasts for several days. The elimination stage is followed by a series of internal and external rasayana (rejuvenation) procedures. This phase, which strengthens and nourishes the body, is just as vital as the first two to panchakarma’s goal of preventing disease and restoring our natural state of balanced health and happiness.

Just as you would with any medical procedure, be sure to consult with a qualified physician before undergoing panchakarma therapy. An Ayurvedic physician has the specialized expertise to determine your constitution, diagnose any health problems, and recommend the panchakarma techniques that are most appropriate for your condition. Specially trained technicians must administer these procedures in a defined sequence over a specified period of time. The importance of close supervision by an Ayurvedic expert at all times during the treatments can’t be overemphasized. If your body isn’t properly prepared for cleansing, or if the techniques are incorrectly administered, the process can overwhelm your nervous system or dislodge more toxins than your body can handle. Each stage of panchakarma must be performed with proficiency and grace in keeping with the rigorous standards of Ayurvedic tradition.

While many of the most popular cleanses promise fast results, these quick fixes tend to be harsh and unpleasant and their benefits often prove fleeting. Panchakarma is gentle, soft, and slow. It seeks to create a gentle, steady wave of cleansing—not a tsunami—so this time-honored Ayurvedic therapy may grant those who experience it deep and enduring rewards.

Panchakarma may help with most minor and major health problems including:

• Nervous system disorders

• Stress, insomnia, anxiety

• ADD/ADHD

• Obesity

• Diabetes

• Sports injuries 

• Arthritis

• Frequent illness

• Allergies, asthma

• Infertility & sexual dysfunction

• Hormonal imbalances

• Muscular dystrophy

• Multiple sclerosis

• Drug abuse

• Stomach discomfort

• Weight gain or loss

• Fatigue

• Headaches & migraines

• Digestive disorders

• Skin conditions

• Psoriasis

• Autoimmune disorders

• Candidiasis

• Joint immobility

• Circulation-related imbalances

• Thyroid conditions

• Crohn’s disease & IBS

• Constipation

• Insomnia

• Heart disease

• Osteoporosis

• High blood pressure

• Menopause

• Emotional problems

• Seniors’ health issues

• Parasites

• Depression & bipolar disorder

• Chronic fatigue syndrome

Sources:  “What Can Panchakarma Do for You,” Yoga International, https://yogainternational.com/article/view/what-can-panchakarma-do-for-you.

Disclaimer
The sole purpose of these articles is to provide information about the tradition of Ayurveda. This information is not intended for use in the diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevention of any disease. 

Ayurvedic Fasting

"The greatest discovery by modern man is the power to rejuvenate himself physically, mentally , and spiritually with rational fasting." 

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Fasting is considered an important medicine in Ayurveda, as long as it is not a long-term fast that would deplete the individual. It’s nature’s ancient, universal remedy for numerous ailments. By expelling ama (toxic buildup) from our digestive system, fasting frees up energy for healing and  strengthens the immune system. 

In modern life, we are bombarded with many new fads in fasting, juice cleansing, lemon fasts, water fasts—the list goes on. It’s hard to know which are helpful and which are harmful. In Ayurveda, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to fasting. Furthermore, some of these popular fasts can actually be detrimental if they’re incompatible with an individual’s unique constitution. A fast that may be good for one person isn’t necessarily good for another. It is important to take your constitution into consideration when choosing a fast. 

Fasting in a larger context means to abstain from that which is toxic to the mind, body, and soul. One way to approach fasting is to think of it as the elimination of physical, emotional, and mental toxins from our being, rather than simply cutting down or stopping food intake. Fasting for spiritual purposes usually involves some degree of removal of oneself from worldly responsibilities. It can mean complete silence and social isolation during the fast, which can be immensely restorative to those of us who have been directing our energy outward. When fasting with a spiritual intent, one withdraws from everything that is toxic to the mind, body, and spirit. This allows the mind to become freer, to achieve higher states of spiritual communion, and to release ama from the mind and the body. 

Ayurvedic fasting is an effective way to kindle the digestive fire and burn away accumulated toxins from the body and mind. It also eliminates gas, makes the body light, improves mental clarity, and preserves overall health. Ayurveda favors regular, short-term fasting over infrequent, long-term fasting. Short-term fasting could entail fasting on the same day each week or setting a few days aside each month to fast, depending on your constitution and cleansing requirements. Ayurveda suggests that  a more extended fasting is best at the change of each season. According to Ayurveda, fasting for up to a week can cause metabolic imbalances that can take months to rectify. 

In determining the appropriate type and length of a fast, it’s important to take into account your constitution, digestive strength, level of ama, and overall vitality. It’s never advisable to deplete your energy during a fast. If you’re new to fasting or have a chronic illness, we recommend consulting an Ayurvedic practitioner for specifically tailored guidance.

If you are of vata constitution you should never fast on water or undertake any other severely restricted diet, nor should you fast for more than two days at a time. Consuming light foods, such as kitchari and conjee, is a good option for the vata constitution. Vata individuals can fast once a month or at the change of seasons. 

Pitta individuals can fast on liquids, such as, fruit or vegetable juices and broths or on lightly cooked vegetables, but never on water alone. Pitta should never skip on quantity. Ideally they should consume diluted fruit juices, like prune, grape, or pomegranate. Cucumber juice, which is both astringent and bitter in taste, is another good choice, and they should avoid strong, sour-tasting juices. Fasts can last two to three days, and it is suggested that pitta types fast only four times a year, at the change of the seasons. If you are of vata-pitta constitution please add kitchari to your fast, or focus on grounding vegetable broths. 

Kapha individuals can easily do prolonged water fasts if they so choose. Otherwise, they many use raw juices or warm vegetable broths. For kapha people to maintain good, strong digestion, they should do weekly fasts, picking one day each week to fast. Kapha types should avoid strong-tasting sweet and sour juices.  

Sipping warm teas throughout the day is also a highly effective way to flush out accumulated toxins from the body. Simply place the ingredients in a medium saucepan with 4 cups filtered water, bring the water to a boil for 5 minutes, and then steep for 2 to 5 minutes. Always add the lemon while the tea is steeping. Strain into a teapot or thermos.

• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

• ½ teaspoon coriander seeds

• 1 cinnamon or licorice stick 

• 10 fresh basil leaves 

• Squeeze of lemon juice

Simple fresh ginger tea and a squeeze of lemon is a good option as well. 

Note: In juicing, please do not combine fruit and vegetables juices, and be sure to use no more than two different fruits or vegetables at a time. Otherwise slow digestion and bloating could result, and you could reverse the beneficial effects of fasting. It’s best to choose a fasting period in which you’ll be able to follow a peaceful, nonstressful routine. We recommend following daily and nightly routines based on Ayurvedic principles. It’s also important always to break your fasts properly. The most important rule to remember is to begin eating again gradually, slowly working your way up to solid foods.

Disclaimer
The sole purpose of these articles is to provide information about the tradition of Ayurveda. This information is not intended for use in the diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevention of any disease.