Today begins a four-part series on news you can use from Yoga and Ayurveda to have a healthy Spring. The four topics are Spring Eating, Movement, Breathing and Meditation. Return in two weeks for part two!
 
One of the mistakes people make with regard to food is eating the same things all year. In Nature different foods grow at different times of the year for a reason. For instance, in the winter foods are heavier and we eat more protein. Why? To give ourselves a fat layer to keep us warm during the cold months.
 
But something HAS to change in the Spring. If we continue to eat the way we ate in the winter we will continue to put on weight, get sluggish and tired, and suffer from seasonal allergies, sinus congestion, coughs and post-nasal drip.
 
In the Spring, Nature provides us with food that is pungent, bitter and astringent. Bitter greens detox the liver and spices help to wake up a slow, sluggish metabolism. The best foods to eat are lentils, beans, apples, pears, berries, artichoke, radicchio, radishes, broccoli, asparagus, beets, spinach, salad greens and sprouts. Grains that are slightly drying are much better in the spring than white bread and pasta. Instead, eat barley, quinoa, buckwheat, rye, millet and corn. Use a wide variety of spices and herbs especially ginger and turmeric, but go easy on the salt because it can make you hold on to too much water.
 
Another important thing to remember is that the earth is not providing much food at this time so that is a sign to eat less. As much as possible, try to avoid dairy and wheat products in the spring to prevent weight gain.
 
Whatever your Spring symptoms, this guidance from Ayurveda can help you manage them more naturally.

Ahh, seasonal allergies! We know they’re coming every year but they still hit us like a ton of bricks. Because they tend to be strongest in the spring and the fall, it’s a good idea to have our self-care measures in place so we don’t have to resort to medication like antihistamines. Catch Part 1 of this series to learn about the dangers of anticholinergics and simple things you can do to co-exist with your local environment.

In this post I’m sharing two more ways to support your body during allergy season. The first is for your head, and the second is more systemic.

Facial massage is incredibly helpful in easing pressure in the sinuses. I like to make an essential oil blend: in 1oz of carrier oil (sesame, coconut, jojoba) put no more than 7 drops of essential oil. Please, please, please do not put essential oils on your skin directly from the bottle. Always dilute them in a carrier oil. My favorite essential oils are a combination of mint—peppermint, eucalyptus, spearmint—and citrus—neroli, bergamot, grapefruit, orange, lemon.

Put a few drops of the carrier oil/essential oil combination into your hands and rub them together. Massage along the cheek bones and into the temples. Use your index fingers to make gentle circles around the eye sockets. Always be careful that you don’t get oil in your eyes. Also use your index finger to press gently on the inner part of the eye closer to the nose bone than the eye itself. Hold for 30-60 seconds and you’ll usually feel some drainage of the sinuses.

Slide your index and middle fingers downward several times with gentle pressure along the front of the ears and directly behind the ears. Also massage down the sides of the neck. All of these movements encourage the downward flow of mucous.
 
Herbs are another natural way to counteract plant allergies. The only caution here is that, if you know you have an allergy to specific plants, it’s best to do a little research on the herb before taking it. If it is in the same family as the plant you’re allergic to, it can make you feel worse not better.

By far the best herb I’ve ever taken for allergies is Butterbur. Capsules are easy to come by in the health food store. It has the advantage of working quite quickly, often within 24 hours.

Stinging nettles (or just “nettles”) has long been used for allergy relief. The dried plant can be taken in capsules or it can be even more effective if you grow the plant yourself and make tea from the leaves.

Rosemary is an herb you probably have in your pantry or growing in your yard. It is also a natural antihistamine. Make a tea from dried rosemary, supplement with capsules, use rosemary tincture, or mix some rosemary essential oil with a carrier oil at a stronger dilution of 14 drops per 1 oz of carrier oil and massage it on the bottoms of your feet, belly and the back of the neck.

Garlic is both antihistamine and anti-viral so it will help both seasonal allergies and colds. You can take garlic supplements if you like, or just add more raw and cooked garlic to your diet. Raw garlic opens your nasal passages so you can breathe better.

And breathing easier is what we all seek to do during allergy season.

I just learned of a scary new study on antihistamines in the Journal of American Medicine demonstrating a distinct increase in dementia in those who regularly use anticholinergic medicine. Yikes! Since antihistamines are a common medicine taken to combat spring and fall allergies, this is information we need to heed.

Ayurveda is the ancient medical system of India and, fortunately, it relies on natural remedies to heal body and mind. Ayurveda’s take on seasonal allergies is that they are a result of ongoing dryness in the body. This may explain why the antihistamines are so detrimental—they increase dryness in the body. Ayurveda says that when the body is dry, it produces mucus as a way of fighting off an allergen, whether it be ragweed, pollen or grass clippings. While an anticholinergic might provide symptomatic relief, it does not tackle the main cause of the sickness which is a weakened immune system due to dryness.

Ayurveda offers many suggestions for coping with seasonal allergies. We’ll look at a few in this post and offer a few more in the next post.

Eat local food. The most obvious is to eat food that is in season and grown in your local community. Why? Because local food has natural bacteria from the local microbiome which helps your internal microbiome develop a powerful immune response to allergens. Perhaps you’ve heard of the benefits of eating local honey and honeycomb. Visit your farmers’ market or grow your own vegetables.

Use water and oil to counteract dryness. One way to do that is to drink one half of your body weight in ounces every day. If you weigh 150 lbs., drink 75 oz. Favor fresh water with lemon or lime, herbal teas and fruit juices.

Use a neti pot each day to rinse your sinuses with saline solution. This is very effective in clearing out the allergens before they can cause a problem. There are excellent videos online to walk you through the process.

Put a drop or two of sesame or coconut oil in your nostrils every day. Sniff it in and massage the outside of the nostrils.

Drizzle extra virgin olive oil on steamed veggies and/or mix EVOO with balsamic vinegar to make a salad dressing.

Give these a try so you can feel better soon! Check back for more suggestions in the next post.

Early Spring means early Spring colds and allergies. Here’s what you need to do now to stay well!

Why is everyone having such a tough time? Ayurveda teaches that Spring is the season of melting—just as snow melts in the mountains to fill the rivers, fat melts in the human body to help us shed the winter weight and “wake up” from the winter slumber. The melting occurs in two ways—the shedding of winter weight and the loosening of mucus in the body. And if our digestive system is not working at its optimal, that mucus will turn into colds and allergies.

Use a neti pot: This little genie’s bottle really does work some magic on congestion. Fill the pot with warm distilled water and add some nasal salt. Lean over the sink and pour the salt water in one nostril and out the other. If you lift your head too much and the water goes into your throat, simply spit it in the sink. Gently blow the nose and you’ll have easy breathing all day.

Exercise: This is the best time of year to break a sweat. Sweating assists the body’s melting of the fat layer we put on in the winter. And it also helps counteract the coolness of Spring days when it’s easy to get a chill and feel out of sorts. Try a brisk walk by the pond to see the birds pairing up for mating season or do some vigorous Sun Salutations.

Eat seasonal foods: Mother Nature provides us with greens, dandelions and other early Spring plants to help detox the liver and assist this melting process. Also eat beets, ginger, spinach, berries, garbanzo beans and lentils. Use lots of spices and herbs in your food. Avoid dairy and sugar in the Spring.

If you’d like to learn more about how to make these recommendations more specific to your constitution and lifestyle, consider doing an Ayurvedic consultation with Janet this Spring.

Sneezes and sniffles! Our poor noses are suffering this season due to an early Spring (three weeks early according to The Weather Channel). Ayurveda encourages us to take good care of our noses, not just in the Spring but all year around. Here’s why:

The nose is the organ for our sense of smell. Ayurveda places great emphasis on the five senses because each one is connected to one of the five elements. The sense of smell is connected to the earth element and, wouldn’t you know it, Spring is the season of earth awakening. Believe it or not, one of the ways to take care of our nose in Spring is to shed the heaviness we’ve been holding onto since Winter. To do this, eat more bitter, astringent and pungent foods like asparagus, broccoli, radishes, arugula, cabbage, hot sauce, etc. Avoid eating foods that will add water or weight, like salty and sweet foods and dairy.

The nose also provides a direct link to our brain. The respiratory system and nervous system are actually separate, but there is a way to cross over that barrier. Ayurveda uses a technique called nasya, which means “nose.” A medicated oil is sniffed into the nose. As it coats the inside of the nostrils, it makes contact with the olfactory nerve, which carries the medication (herbs) directly into the brain. Even without the medication, nasya is very effective in enhancing the sense of smell and moisturizing nostrils that are irritated from all that sneezing.

To do nasya, wash your hands well. Place one drop of organic sesame oil on each pinky finger and coat the inside of the nostrils. Sniff vigorously and rub the sides the nose with your other fingers. The best time to do nasya is in the morning, either when you first get up or after your shower.