There sure is a lot of water coming down and rising up. According to the teaching of Ayurveda, we live most healthfully when we live according to the cycles of Nature. Right now the earth is holding on to a lot of water, so our bodies tend to hold onto water too. How do we know this? Look at the proliferation of allergies, colds, congestion and sinus infections.

Here are some suggestions from Ayurveda that will help us feel better right now:

√ Eat less. This is not a popular suggestion, to be sure! But the earth is not providing much food at this time; this is a sure sign to eat less. The harvest is greens of all types, radishes, asparagus and green beans. Try to avoid dairy and wheat products in the spring to prevent weight gain.

√ Drink enough (but not too much) water. Since the body is holding onto water in the spring we may forget that we still need to hydrate. Drink a little less than ½ of your body weight in ounces (150 lbs / 2 = 75 oz or approx. 9 cups).

√ Detox your liver. The typical winter diet is higher in fat and calories, so spring’s sparser harvest is aimed at reducing fat and detoxing the liver. Start the day with 1-2 cups of warm water with fresh squeezed lemon juice. Eat fresh beet and tart apple salad for lunch or a snack. Avoid fatty and fried foods. Cut down on alcohol.

√ Practice Yoga. Of course, yoga provides excellent practices perfect for the spring. Practice powerful breathing exercises like Breath of Fire and Bellows. Do chest and upper back stretches like back bends, Eagle pose and Cow Face with a strap. Do 2-4 Sun Salutations every day to break a little sweat.

Try these time-tested suggestions and you’ll be feeling great throughout the Spring.

This is the last of our series on news you can use from Yoga and Ayurveda to have a healthy Spring. So far we’ve covered Spring eating, Spring movement and Spring breathing. This post is on Spring meditation.
Meditation is meditation, right? Well, yes and no. Some people find a meditation style that works perfectly for them and they use it for years and years. But for many of us, our meditation style shifts with the seasons, just like our eating, movement and breathing.

So what exactly is a Spring style of meditation? It will take its cues from what we know about the Spring season, such as the heavy, slow, nurturing qualities that describe the kapha dosha in Spring. Here are some practices to consider:

Sitting meditation: This is a time of year when we can really take advantage of the heavy, slow qualities by emphasizing their best features—stability and stillness. We may find that sitting quietly is actually easier this time of year. Find a place where you won’t be disturbed. Sit up straight in a chair or on the floor; even sitting back against a straight wall can help. Set your timer for 5 minutes and follow your breath. If your mind wanders, continually return to your breath. Gradually add time until you’re sitting for 20 minutes.

Walking meditation: If the heavy, slow qualities of kapha are dragging you down, get up and walk. The traditional way to do this is to walk slowly and mindfully by concentrating on each step. One breath per step for 10-20 minutes. Another way to do walking meditation is to get out in Nature—go to a park or walk a trail all the while listening, looking and enjoying the gifts of Nature. No worries allowed to accompany you on this journey!

Give generously from the heart: The most loving and big-hearted people are those with kapha constitution. We can all take a cue from them by giving generously from our heart by making delicious foods to share with others, giving donations to charities that directly help people or animals, or listening without judgment when someone shares their pain or concerns.

Here’s to having a healthy Spring naturally. You can do it!

We’re continuing our series on news you can use from Yoga and Ayurveda to have a healthy Spring. This is part two on movement. Movement is SO important in the Spring because Spring is the slowest and heaviest season of the year. It makes sense, right? Just like when we are first waking up in the morning, moving slowly, wiping the goop from our eyes, Spring is also taking its time to yawn and stretch and get going.

According to Ayurveda, the two main elements that make up Spring (or kapha dosha) are earth and water. When we mix earth and water in Nature we get mud; when we mix these elements in our body we get sticky and dense. If we don’t shake off that mud, we’re going to gain weight, get congested in our head or gut, and probably feel sad or depressed.

Exercise to the rescue! The best part about our body’s need for exercise is that we don’t need a lot to get health benefits. 30 minutes a day of moving around burns calories and boosts the mood. Heck, you can even get your exercise in 3 10-minute segments and get similar results! Here are some suggestions:

Walk for 10 minutes after meals. You’ll get the calorie burn and an aid for digestion.

Work in your garden. Carrying rocks and pushing wheelbarrows, getting up and down from the ground, bending over and reaching provide a full-body workout. Plus you’ll be out in Nature which helps you attune to the circadian rhythms so you can adjust to Daylight Saving Time.

Yoga should be practiced every day too. Even if you can’t get to a 75-minute class each day, 15 minutes a day will keep you flexible in body and mind. The best yoga in the Spring includes
● Sun Salutations to break a sweat (to alleviate the water element)
● Back bends to open the chest and abdomen (these are the places where kapha dosha “live” in the body)
● Twists to stimulate digestion (which gets sluggish in the Spring), and
● Inversions to increase immune function (the lymphatic system benefits from headstand, shoulderstand and legs up the wall)

Add these movement ideas to the guidelines for eating from our last post so you can have a happy, healthy Spring.

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.

You can really feel the energy ramping up—shopping, cooking, cleaning, decorating, sending greetings and gifts. And that’s on top of everything else we have to do to keep our life running smoothly at the end of the year.

Very often illness or injury is a way for our body to say ENOUGH. If we get sick with a flu bug, sore back or worse, we have to slow down, take a few things off our calendar, and get more rest. If you’re not a fan of being under the weather, you’ll like to hear this:

The season of fall and early winter has many qualities such as “dry” and “cold” that we’ve discussed in earlier posts. There’s another quality that becomes quite evident right about now—"movement.” We see it in the wind, the blowing leaves, and the migration of the birds. Because the season already has this quality, we have to be very careful about overdoing in this season, otherwise our hyperactivity causes imbalance in our system. Results include colds, flus, bronchitis, pneumonia, nervousness, anxiety, fear, restlessness and insomnia. Sound familiar?

Ayurveda teaches that “opposites heal.” You might like to try these ideas to restore balance:

Take one thing (or more!) OFF your calendar each week. Look in the mirror and tell yourself “It’s okay to say ‘no.’”

Exercise LESS vigorously by walking rather than running, doing slow flow yoga instead of Sun Salutations, and supplementing your regular yoga practice with restorative and yin yoga.

SIT quietly for 5-10 minutes every day (twice a day if you can). Watch the birds eating at a bird feeder, sip a delicious cup of tea, gaze into an icon or flower, and express gratitude for your good health.

May you know peace, love and joy this holiday 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.

As we move more deeply into cold and flu season, we’re all looking for ways to stay well. Look no further than the neti pot which looks like Aladdin’s magic lamp and is sure to bring magical support to your health. Let’s find out why:

The neti pot is one of the oldest health practices of Yoga and Ayurveda. It’s basically an irrigation system for the nasal passages. And because all the systems of the head, throat and chest are interconnected, regular use of the neti pot benefits the nose, ears, throat, sinuses and lungs. Wow, that’s a lot of benefit from one simple practice!

I first started doing neti several years ago because of spring/summer allergies. After just a couple of months of using the neti pot daily, I was actually able to get off of all allergy meds. Now I use it every day all year because it also clears out the bacteria and viruses that might otherwise make me sick in the fall and winter.

Neti pots are easy to purchase online and some local stores carry them too. I recommend a porcelain pot because it keeps the water warm and can be easily sterilized in the dishwasher. There are also excellent online videos with instructions for using the neti pot so I won’t go over the details here. But here are a few things I have learned along the way:

Use purified water. Keep distilled water on hand or boil tap water for 10 minutes (and then cool) before use. Most people like the water slightly warm for comfort. Do not use water directly from the tap. When we drink tap water, the acids in the stomach mitigate any harmful bacteria in the water. Our nasal passages do not have the ability to eliminate these bacteria so we have to do this in advance.

Use salt water. There is special neti salt that is added to the water, ½ teaspoon of salt per cup of water. Do not use iodized table salt. The saltwater mimics the saltiness in the human body so that the solution is very soothing to the mucous membranes. Plain water aggravates the nostrils and will cause dryness and bleeding.

Use the neti pot every day. Yes, just as you suspected, you will probably pour a little water down the throat the first few times you try the neti pot. Therefore, it’s best to make the commitment to use it 10 days in a row before giving up. I promise you it will only take a few days to get the hang of it. Once you’re breathing better, sleeping more soundly, and staying healthy all year long, you will never want to miss a day, just like me.

In my last post I talked about hydrating to keep healthy this winter, and I’ve heard from many of you that you’re finding creative ways to get more hot water and healthy oils into your body. Good for you!

Another aspect of this season is the increasingly cold weather. Growing up in Chicago we took the cold seriously. We wore really warm clothes like down, wool, corduroy and we layered those over long underwear. Even though it can get quite cold in Oklahoma, I’m shocked to see people running around wearing hoodies in 25-degree weather! Come on, people, let’s take this cold weather seriously because cold and dry are the recipe for weakened immune system which allows viruses to take hold.

Ayurveda offers these simple suggestions:

Continue to add hot water into your diet. Avoid cold, icy drinks and sip hot water all day. Add some fresh lemon and raw honey to detox the upper digestive system.

Add warming spices to your food and drinks: turmeric, garlic, ginger, licorice, black pepper

Cover your head and neck. We lose a lot of heat through the top of the head, so a scarf, hoodie or beanie can keep us warm when we’re outside even for short periods of time. Plus, if you’re prone to congestion, earaches or sore throats, wrap a scarf around your throat and cover your chest.

Wear a coat when it’s cold or dress in layers. Layers are actually pretty nice because you can take them off one by one as needed. Going outside? Wear three layers. Getting into a car or bus? Take one layer off.

You can be well this autumn and winter by taking care of yourself in these little ways!

You’ve probably already seen the signs of dryness—itchy skin, cracked cuticles and dry nasal passages. And if you’re dry on the outside of your body, you are also dry on the inside of your body. This dryness can lead to many more problems, such as constipation, headaches, lower immunity to illness, nose bleeds, anxiety, and digestive distress.

Yoga and Ayurveda are all about keeping you healthy this winter, so follow these guidelines to stay hydrated this season:

Drink ½ your weight in ounces each day (150 lbs = 75 oz). Choose room temperature to hot water and herbal tea. Limit caffeine and alcohol.

Add 1 teaspoon of organic coconut oil to your coffee or tea each morning. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil on steamed veggies.

Massage ½ oz of warm sesame oil into your skin after your shower.

Use a warm mist humidifier in your bedroom.

Get to yoga class each week and supplement with a few mindful stretches or centered deep breathing every day. You don’t have to be sick this fall and winter. Stay healthy and strong by taking care of yourself!