Can You Follow These Ayurvedic Tips For Seasonal Balance?
We’ve talked a fair bit about Ayurveda—the ancient East Indian medical practice—but if you need a refresher on the principles, or want to know your dosha, you can find it all here. In very brief, Ayurveda maintains that we are all made up of three energy elements called doshas, with some dominating more than others depending on the individual.
But these three doshas—called vata (air), pitta (fire) and kapha (earth/water)—also govern seasons, time of day, and more.
Fall, with its cooler temperatures and blustery breezes, is vata incarnate—which means vata types are super susceptible to the shift. But all of us can be thrown out of balance by autumn’s arrival—and most of us have a little vata in it. Unfortunately, it’s the first dosha to get thrown off balance.
For instance, as the soon as the season shifted Siobhan and I both noticed that we weren’t sleeping as well, frequently waking up between 2 and 4 am (a.k.a vata time). It’s also easy to get stressy in the fall; it’s that total back-to-school-time-to-make-something-of-your-life energy. Which is awesome, until it’s keeping you up at night and disrupting your digestion. You get the picture.
So, to give us all a helping hand, I turned to one of my favorite new health practitioners in Los Angeles: Jennie Erke, an ayurvedic doctor who works out of the beautiful Raksala space in Culver City. Jennie’s all about applying Ayurveda to our western lives and I recently had an amazing session with her. She told me ways to balance my diet and energy, and I told her which shampoo I thought she would like. Barter styles! It was so awesome that I asked her to do a little interview for the blog on balancing our lives this fall.
1. So, Siobhan and I need some sleep help! What are your recommendations?
Sleep is the foundation of staying connected to nature’s rhythms. So Ayurveda recommends a bedtime routine. Start with a sesame oil full body massage (abhyanga)—include your head, but not your feet—before your shower or bath (great e.o.’s for vata are rose, geranium, lavender and neroli). Then get into bed (with no TV, computer or exciting novel), rub some sesame or castor oil on your feet, and pull on some socks to protect your sheets. Lights out by 10pm.
The best quality sleep is available from 10-2am. These 4 hours are a Pitta time and recharge your batteries (helping you build prana). Try to get 8-9 hours of sleep during fall and winter. This will help keep vata balanced.
2. Fall can people make a little scatterbrained, right? Tell us how to get our focus back.
Make sure to eat a warm breakfast (rice/oats/quinoa cereal with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger and vanilla almond milk or raw organic cow’s milk. (and as tempting as it may be Vata’s do best to avoid dried fruits.) Then be certain to stay level/balanced and grounded by eating every 2/3 hours. Do not skip meals. This aggravates vata the most. Resulting in too much space and air in the body. Feeling ’spaced out’, or stressed and multitasking, ‘hurrying’ are typical results. Vata needs routine routine routine to stay grounded and focused.
3. If there were three diet recommendations you would tell clients as we transition into a new season, what would they be?
1) Routine! Do not skip meals. Eat every 3 hours. Nuts are great for Vatas to always have with them and a great autumn snack (oils soothe their dry nature and the protein keeps them calm.)
2) Take only warm, cooked foods. Spice is also helpful for digestion. This means no salad because it’s too cold and light and difficult to digest, which can result in gas and bloating for people who are already vata dominant.
3) Drink ginger tea before meals to boost digestive fire. (This can help gas, indigestion and bloating.)
4. Any other tips you can share on seasonal changes?
I save time and mess by making a great scrub so I get my oil massage in the warm shower.
I use bath salts or sugar in the raw, mixed with sesame or coconut oil and essential oils: neroli and ginger (AM) or lavender and chamomile (PM).
5. What’s your favorite ayurvedic beauty ritual?
Stay warm. Always bring a jacket or sweater along. And get some sunshine by taking a morning walk (but not a jog or run) in nature.
Thanks Jennie! I’m going to have to work hard on routine, my greatest downfall, and try to get back into an earlier sleep pattern. What will you try to adjust this fall?
Image of ayurvedic treatment via
OMG, I’m not easily rattled, but I think I am going to cry. According to another blog post where you has us test for our dosha, I am a vita/pitta. I have chronic insomnia (since childhood) and it is so disruptive and annoying, I cannot even begin to tell you. This weekend was a really awful bout. I always, without failure, awaken at around 2:00 a.m., so this post grabbed my attention immediately. Sometimes, I fall back to sleep more quickly than others. After an almost sleepless weekend, last night, or rather this morning (ahem), I woke at 2:00 a.m.; the last time I looked at the clock it was 5:15 a.m. Today, I am really trying to gain my focus, I’m scattered, I’m sensitive and on my third cup of 1/2 decaf coffee, just to make an attempt to feel “normal”. I have a bedtime ritual, which also includes an extremely comfortable bed, a set bedtime, (working out in the morning, because working out too late in the day keeps me up all night), no TV or other distracts and a favorite natural scent: mine is lemon or lavendar. I will try the ginger tea and some of the other dietary items pointed out in this blog post. This was a very timely post. Thank you.
One other thing: while I am awake, I often try to meditate and sometimes this really helps. Sadly, last night and this weekend it did not. I’m also not willing to take Ambien or anything like it, because I feel you need to treat the cause and not mask the condition. I’m not stressed, I’m a fairly happy and contented person, I have just always suffered with being unable to fall asleep, stay asleep and sleep soundly.
@Comagirl Thank you for sharing! I am also vata pitta (well, or pitta vata, but really pretty 50/50) and I feel ya. This weekend there were some very tough astrological aspects, if we want to get totally out-there, and meditation wasnt working for me either.
Anyway, let’s all try these awesome ayurvedic rituals and see if we can’t get ourselves back on track.
Weird! I too have had the WORST time sleeping for the past week, in particular this weekend. On Saturday I woke up while it was still dark out and then just kept going all day long. Felt so crazy about it too. Every night I’m waking up around 2am.
Anyway, I’m wondering–and don’t laugh–I have *toasted* sesame oil in my pantry. Can I use that? Or do I need straight up sesame?
Wow – I spent the whole weekend and the days leading up to it fighting back (not always successfully) tears and while nothing is categorically wrong, I know I’m feeling my personal and prefessional lives are getting more out of control and less stable, which always leaves me unnerved, at best. I went through your link to the quiz to determine my dosha and the explanations for my results seem spot on. Im going to try some of the recommendations starting tonight and already feel better at the idea that I may actually have some control over this!
do you guys know of any good articles for ayurvedic opposite couples? i am a vata with some pitta and my boyfriend, who i live with, is very kapha. it’s hard to meet in the middle on that sometimes!
warm breakfast! so simple and makes you feel sooo comfy. best advise ever :)
Awesome, I’m vata dominant and I love this post about breakfast and warm meals, it’s very true and it works very well for me.
I also have question on sesame oil, which type we should use? Is it hygiene enough for it to get on to the bed?
Another ritual I want to share with other vata girls, taking fruits / fruit juice before sunset works really well. I replenish energy better during daytime now, as I used to get tired very easily in the afternoon. I also make sure I take a lot of ginger, tumeric and black/ white pepper in all my meals. Those spices are supposed to balance vata.
Have to say Ayurveda helps me live better, i can’t wait to see more results as I adjust more in my daily rituals!
Thanks so much for sharing!
I’m really into Chinese medicine and this seems very similar!
I would love to try the sesame oil in step one (can get a bit messy in the tub?). Are there any brands / specific sesame oil you would recommend? Thanks!
Thank you so much for this article; it’s like you were describing me and my experiences; the sleep, the ’space in the body’, the coldness, everything. The advice is so interesting and I can’t wait to try all the tips.
This is a great post. Also thinking I need to lay off the wine during season changing time- I feel like it goes down different for some reason. I had a bad case of the white wine last night and am thinking of shelving it for a while. Maybe for the ten days of repentance between the major Jewish holidays starting tomorrow…?
Thank you for your kind words Siobhan. After a fitful night’s sleep, I’m sitting here drinking my first cup of newly purchased ginger tea.
@Comagirl Sleep tight, lady!
@Laura Interesting! Like, meaning for food? There are definitely foods that are considered tri-dosha, which means they are good for all of us no matter our type….
Re: sesame oil, get whatever you can find, but organic is best!
er…what? I’m kind of Dosha ignorant, all I know is I’m Kapha-Pitta. What season is gonna mess me up? Gaaaah!
Lovely post! I also love the irony of the typo in #2 (no really, it’s so adorable that I’m thinking it’s on purpose?).
I’m tri-doshic and so I love to dabble in a little of everything and anything Ayurvedic based on how I’m feeling, but mostly because I get to indulge in some of my fave and most comforting things…tea! warm meals! yoga! oils! Self-loving beauty routines! Keeping in touch with nature! This is all great stuff that nobody should be deprived of. Particularly, I am a big fan of using oil . I’d rather be a bit too oily than dry and scaly any day (for I am human, not lizard). Anyhow, hope everyone is keeping warm and cozy if you’re anywhere near the east side of North America. It’s positively miserable out there.
cook with lots of cardamom. it is grounding and for that reason, especially good for vatas. my mom uses it every fall.