Entering Autumn with Wisdom and Grace

By Dhyana Haber CAS. PKS.

Ayurveda teaches us how to live our lives to nature’s rhythms. We being a part of nature will then feel connected to the earth and our true selves.  The ancient yogic texts of India describe how when one has a clear, steady mind and thus being connected to the higher part of oneself, they are very unlikely to get sick. The higher-self guides one to make the right choices which keep us healthy.  In times of distraction, stress and chaos, it is difficult to listen to our body’s needs and thus we create dis-ease.

Let’s start this season by making the right choices to be healthy from the inside out!   

Our lives and the earth have natural cycles, beginning with Kapha and ending with Vata.

Late winter to spring season is the earth’s embodiment of Kapha or new life, cool and moist.  The cold and moist properties of Kapha tend to accumulate in the body during the fall and early winter season.  The Kapha phase reaches it’s peak in the late winter and early spring and finally subsides in the late spring and summer.  In our bodies, the time of conception until puberty is the time of Kapha.  Childhood is the time of building and growing which is a characteristic of Kapha.  Kapha in our bodies is our physical structure.  Children are full of love and need lots of love.  Love, Nurturing and Protection are also qualities of Kapha.  Most Children have runny noses.  Phlegm is a byproduct of excessive Kapha.

Late Spring to Summer is when the Pitta phase in nature is at it’s peak. Believe it or not, heat in our bodies has been accumulating since late winter.  Like a pimple coming to a head. We all just went through a pretty warm summer.  I’m sure some of us felt a little more on edge about small matters, or physically experienced skin rashes, redness, acne or maybe even mild fevers. This is all part of our body’s reacting to Pitta or heat in the environment.  In the next season, Autumn and early winter, Pitta will finally subside.  In our bodies, Pitta is strongest from puberty till menopause for women, and for men until retirement, (from the ages of 15 till 50 years old for both sexes).  This is when the fire of Pitta’s heat and drive is strong and the desire to achieve one’s goal and ambitions peak. People in this age group who tend to have an excessive Pitta constitutional imbalance, are likely to be challenged by heart burn, hyperacidity, high blood pressure and other afflictions characterized by heat.

We now come to Autum or Fall.  All the dryness that has been building up in the summer will reach it’s height. Vata is dominant in the Fall season, where it tends towards coolness and dryness.  Vata is the end of nature’s annual seasonal cycle, before the new Kapha phase starts another year.  We can relate this to our life’s cycle as well. We end one phase of life, to make way for the next.  The Vata phase of life is from age 50 or so until death.  It is a very sobering time for many.  The ancient yogic text, The Bhagavad Gita, gives light on this matter, where it  describes in the second chapter 2, verse 13 “ As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at the time of death. A self realized soul  is not bewildered by such changes”

Even if one doesn’t believe in reincarnation, one can visualize the changing patterns of the body over time and the manifestations of cause and effect in one’s life in the same way that what you do in the previous season will affect you in the next season, or caring for oneself will result in good health, while not doing so, will result in poor health.   It is understood that every seven years, every cell in the body has been recycled and renewed completely.  So we actually have a new body, even though we remain the same person and every aspect has been changed.  Similarly, the Gita explains that the soul simply changes from one form or body into another, like a person changes garments, from one life into another.  And depending on one’s actions in life, the next form will be created accordingly.

Chapter 2 verse 14 “ The nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of the summer and winter seasons. They arise from sense perception, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.”

I thought this verse is very interesting and helpful. When we are happy, we wish to be happy forever and then something bad happens and we get upset and cannot accept the change.  When spring arrives until say early winter, it is beautiful and we wish it would last forever.  But like the changing seasons, life will surely bring change, so no point trying to always remain the same or holding onto that which must be let go of.

Autumn is a good time to go inward and reflect on the nature of this world and our lives.  Everything has a beginning and an end. Vata represents movement and change.  Like the changing winds, it can throw us off or center and ruffle us up.  In the Autum season we need to do everything we can to stay grounded and thus counter the turbulent patterns of Vata. Vata will also cause dryness in our bodies so we to stay hydrated and lubricated.

Here are some suggestions for this season :- 

  1. Drink lots of luke warm water. You may add herbs such as licorice, slippery-elm and marshmallow to increase the bodies ability to absorb the water and get nourished on a deeper level.
  2. A perfect time to start regularly giving yourself a self oil massage  (Abhyanga). Use warm sesame or almond oil. If you know you have Pitta constitution you may use sunflower or coconut.
  3.  To combat Vata in the digestive system which manifests as gas, distention and constipation, use spices such as fennel, cumin, asafetida, fresh ginger and ajwan
  4. Make your self warm grounding well spiced meals with whole grains, mung dall, fresh organic dairy, juicy vegetables such as zucchini, butternut squash etc and root vegetables such as yams and carrots.  
  5. To calm Vata in the mind take a few minutes a day to yourself and just listen your breath, then slowly deepen your breath, when you feel centered, ask your body how it’s doing and ask for guidance from your inner teacher within to help you be healthy on all levels.

Herbs such as Ashvaganda and Bhrami are highly beneficial in this season to calm Vata agitation in the mind.

Feel free to contact Dhyana if you have any questions or if you would like to schedule a  personalised Ayurvedic consultation, a treatment, a private ayurvedic yoga class and or a customized Herbal Formula.

You may view her websites at www.goldenlotusayurveda.com and for herbs www.goldenlotusherbs.com

 

 

 

 

 

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