About Springs: Ayurveda Spring Wellness

The season of birth, new beginnings, renewal, and growth – a time for the earth to manifest the latent potential within all things: seeds are germinating, flowers budding, insects buzzing, leaves unfurling. 

Spring is primarily governed by Kapha, Summer by Pitta, Autumn by Vata and Winter by a combination of both Vata and Kapha. 

If you are feeling dull, heavy, or stagnant, generally this time of year is related to kapha, known for the heavy, slow, cool qualities and wet weather of late winter and early spring: this is the time to welcome lightness to our meals, breathing, and movement practices to balance and brighten kapha. As we move through spring, we select foods and adopt a lifestyle that will balance out the increased elements of kapha: earth and water. In fact, the Sanskrit word kapha means “that which flourishes in water,” – spring season is more defined by the presence of water than every other season. Consequently, spring season and kapha dosha are deeply connected.

One of the basic principles in Ayurveda is that like increases like: we can assume that by its very nature springtime tends to increase kapha. We need to take out the heavy coat that kapha accumulated during wintertime looking up to establish balance through spring by shifting out of winter’s sleepy hibernation.

Ayurveda it offers us plenty of tools that we can apply in our day-by-day life: a seasonal routine is the very best to minimize spring’s kapha aggravating potential while supporting the elimination of any accumulated excess and aiming to align ourselves with the dynamic rhythms of the natural world. 

Your spring practice might include more active movement, breathing practices that bring heat and boost circulation, such as Breath of fire and lighter foods to energize your body and mind. Spring is also one of the two recommended times in the year to do a cleanse: take this opportunity to read on for some practical, specific tips or address questions directly to me. Cleanse during your spring will assure you to feel refreshed and invigorated.

Here I prepared some practical advice about foods and beverages to enjoy and a few to ignore:

• Incorporate light, cleansing, warm, and freshly cooked foods with raw greens and sprouts, warm grains, legumes, pungent spices, bitter vegetables, and astringent herbs.
  
• Enjoy room-temp or hot beverages such as herbal teas like tulsi, dandelion, and nettle or green or black tea in small amounts.
  
• Foods to minimise fast foods, sweets, soy products, nuts, excessive amounts of bread, and chilled or refrigerated foods— go easy on homogenised dairy, ice cream, meat, canned foods, cold beverages, and smoothies. As best you can, avoid overeating, snacking.
  
• Avoid heavy or watery veggies like avocado, cucumber, olives, sweet potato, squash, or zucchini.
  
• Gradually reduce your intake of heavy, oily, or fried foods.
  
• Try to curtail any tendency to overeat or snack between meals, and place less emphasis on the sweet, sour, and salty tastes.
  
• Heavy or sour fruits like oranges, bananas, pineapples, figs, dates, coconuts, and melons are also best reduced.
  
• Use very little oil or ghee when cooking and, if necessary, substitute water to prevent sticking.
  
• Do your best to minimise your intake of dairy products—especially in the morning—as they can be quite congesting. Rice milk and almond milk are suitable substitutes. If you do have cow’s milk, boil it first, take it warm, and consider adding a pinch of turmeric or ginger to make it more digestible (and less congesting).
  
• Similarly, you may feel lighter and more invigorated if you eat less meat; beef, pork, seafood, and duck can be particularly aggravating at this time of year.
  
• If possible, eliminate iced or chilled drinks, ice cream, and popsicles.

Ideal Spring Foods

This is a list of ideal spring foods recommended by prominent leaders in the Ayurvedic community, including Usha and Vasant Lad, MASc, and John Douillard. 1,2.

• Fruits to favour: Apples, apricots, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, raisins and other dried fruit, lemons and limes, peaches, pears, pomegranates, prunes (soaked), raspberries, strawberries.
  
• Vegetables to favour: Artichoke, asparagus, bell peppers, beets and beet greens, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, chilies, collard greens, corn, dandelion greens, endive, garlic, green beans, kale, leeks, lettuce, onion, peas, potatoes white, radishes, spinach, sprouts, turnips.
  
• Grains to favour: amaranth, barley, buckwheat, corn, millet, oats (dry, not cooked), quinoa, rice basmati, rice cakes, rye, seitan, tapioca.
  
• Legumes to favour: Aduki beans, bean sprouts, black beans, black eyed peas, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, lima beans, lentils, miso, mung beans, navy beans, pinto beans, tempeh, toor dal, white beans.
  
• Seeds to favour: Popcorn, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds.
  
• Diary to favour (all in moderation): Cottage cheese, goat’s milk, yogurt
  
• Animal products to favour (if you eat them): Eggs, freshwater fish, poultry (white meat), shrimp, venison.
  
• Oils to favour (in very small quantities): Corn oil, flax seed oil, mustard oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil.
  
• Sweeteners: Honey, maple syrup, molasses.
  
• Spices to favour: All spices will generally be very supportive through the spring season.

Breath Practices to Embrace

• Focus on invigorating and energizing breath practices like Kapalabhati and Bhastrika  that break up stagnation in the chest, location where Kapha is accumulated, emphasizes longer exhales to increase energy and calm; close your yoga practice with a shorter shavasana and consider savasana with support. 

Movement Tips:

• Try steady, strengthening, vigorous, and heating practice like biking, swimming, jogging, hiking and asanas with longer-held postures that will bring joy and a sense of vibrancy to your day like sun salutations, cobra, standing bow, sitting bow, boat, sage, camel, warrior 1/ warrior 2, reverse warrior. Prefer exercising between 6 a.m./p.m. and 10 a.m./p.m.
  
• Reduce oversleeping, sitting for extended periods of time, long Savasana, or naps.
  
• After eating, take a brisk walk outside for 5–10 minutes. More vigorous movement and sweating is helpful to counteract the sluggish tendencies of spring. 

Meditations to Energise and Refresh:

• Meditation should be light, lively, energizing, and expansive. You can try walking meditation in nature and/or contemplating the vastness of the open sky.

How to Improve Your Inner Fire:

Spring can bring sluggish, sticky, and slow digestion. If you notice these qualities, try these tips:

• Start the day with a large mug of hot water with lemon and ½ teaspoon raw honey. 

• Eat a light breakfast (like Grapefruit with Cardamom and Honey, or wait until true hunger arises for lunchtime.
  
• By noon, be sure to eat a nourishing lunch; don’t skip this meal.
  
• End the day with a light dinner.
  
• Put down the ice water or cold smoothie. Instead, sip on warm water and try a hot ginger fennel tea.
  
• Eat lightly one day a week, fasting on kitchari and herbal teas to restore digestion if you’re feeling sluggish. Follow a day in the Spring Equinox Cleanse.

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