Summertime Ayurvedic integration: living with the season

The Sanskrit word Ayurveda is translated as “life-truth”, “the truth of life” or “how to live”. Put more simply, it’s a manual for living in your body. The Ayurvedic tradition pays close attention to the seasons and the hours of the day, and asks you to notice how they show up in you. The weeks after an ayahuasca ceremony can be a good time to learn Ayurveda and start weaving its practices into your life, so that the way you care for your mind and body becomes something you choose on purpose.

As above, so below; as below, so above

Ayurveda teaches that everything in the Universe, from galaxies and giant stars to our planet, our body and every cell in it, is made of the same five energies: earth, fire, water, air and ether (space). Each has its own qualities that balance the others, like a game of rock-paper-scissors turning like a clock, in a cycle of giving way and taking over.

As galaxies turn, their solar systems turn. As solar systems turn, their planets turn, and the living things on those planets, and the cells inside them. It runs the other way too: the cells move the organism, and the organisms move their planet. Each wheel turns the next. In this view, the small and the large always move together, and each one affects the other.

We call these rotations seasons. A season arises and passes away. Anitya. You may be reading this at the start of summer or in the middle of it, when it’s brutally hot outside. Think for a moment about how the air feels at the beginning of February, in the middle of winter. The difference comes from the tilt of the Earth’s axis as it travels around the Sun. Around June 21st, the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun, which gives us longer, hotter days. From then until December 21st the tilt moves the other way, leaving the northern hemisphere colder and with less energy, and then it tilts back again: spring, summer, autumn, winter, again and again. Ayurveda sees the same pattern of seasons over thousands of years and within every single day.

Surviving Thriving in summer

Summer can be hard for a number of reasons, and it can also be wonderful. It’s a time for play and rest. The hard work of spring is over and the hard work of autumn hasn’t started yet. It’s too hot to work outdoors anyway, so why not splash around and cool off?

In Ayurveda, summer belongs to Pitta, the energy of fire and sharpness, and with all the heat it runs high. While the sun is high, plants are working hard to store energy in their roots, turning sunlight into carbohydrates they’ll need in winter.

We’re not plants, and the tradition has its own summer suggestions for us. Treat them as a way of paying attention to the season. They aren’t medical advice: if you have a health condition, talk to your doctor before you change how you eat.

Do more of this

• Drink water and coconut water, with a squeeze or a few slices of lime.
• Eat bitter, astringent leafy greens like watercress, arugula, spinach and kale.
• Enjoy cucumber, cantaloupe, watermelon and berries.
• Add mint, cilantro and basil to your food.
• Get your carbs from basmati rice, wild rice and quinoa.
• Apples, pears, melons, plums and prunes are coming around the corner. Eat ’em while they’re in season.
• Turn down the intensity, in your mind and in your life. Meditate a few times through the day: bring your attention back to your breath and let thoughts go as you notice them. Do the same with your life. Look at what matters and let go of what doesn’t.
• Wear a sun hat. The heat of the sun and its UV rays are no joke. Keep your dome cool!
• Wear light-colored clothes. Ever heard “don’t wear white after Labor Day”? White reflects the most light and black absorbs the most. Save the dark tees for cooler days and pick light colors for now.
• Take cool showers and let the heat of the day wash down the drain.
• Practice pranayama (breathwork) like Nadi Shodhana, alternate nostril breathing.

Ease off on this

• Salty, oily, fried and spicy foods, onion and garlic.
• Caffeine. Ayurveda sees it as too stimulating, especially for Vatas and Pittas.
• Working outside between 10am and 6pm.
• For Pittas and Kaphas, red meat, and meat in general.
• Working long hours. No flower blooms all year long, and neither do you. Use the hot months to chill, read a book, take a vacation, play and listen. Do you see many wildflowers out this time of year?
• Hot showers. Your body doesn’t need any extra heat right now.

Eat seasonally

In autumn we have pumpkin, in winter cabbage, in spring asparagus. Every plant has its season. Industrial farming can grow and ship everything year-round, but that doesn’t mean you have to eat everything year-round. Ayurveda counts eating fresh, local, seasonal food among the best changes you can make. Remember: so below, so above. In this tradition, plants are made of the same energies we are.

Vegetables and herbs in season during the summer:

• Corn
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant
• Green beans
• Bell peppers
• Tomatoes
• Okra
• Bitter melon
• Potatoes
• Summer squash
• Basil

Summer fruits:

• Berries
• Mangoes
• Cherries
• Peaches
• Watermelon

Use your intuition and trust yourself.

Seasons of the day

Even in winter, some hours of the day are hotter and more energetic than others. Ayurveda says the same of the millennia: some ages are hotter and more energetic, others cooler and quieter. Here we’ll stick to the seasons of each day, since those are the ones you can build into your daily life.

To make them practical, Ayurveda groups the five energies into three doshas, a word often translated as “weaknesses”: Vata, Pitta and Kapha.

The word “weakness” makes sense once you know the aim. Ayurveda is about coming into balance with the small and the large cycles around you, and your own “weakness” or “fault” is where you can most easily see where and when you’ve drifted out of balance. Here is how the three energies move through each day:

Vata is air and ether (space), the energy of movement and exploration. In Ayurveda it’s highest between 2am and sunrise, the hours the tradition links with deep, wide dreaming and with touching the spirit world. It peaks again from 2pm until sunset. Ayurveda would say that’s why you may daydream, yawn or want to leave work before 5 o’clock.

After Vata comes Pitta: fire and water, the energy of transformation and change. It’s highest in the middle of the day and the middle of the night, 10am to 2pm and 10pm to 2am. We’re most alert and active in the middle of the day, and the tradition keeps the middle of the night for deep rest. That’s why it asks you to be in bed before 10pm.

Anchoring both is Kapha: earth and water, the energy of grounding and steadiness. Kapha is strongest from sunrise to 10am and from sunset to 10pm. It’s a relaxed, getting-things-done energy that makes routine tasks easier in the morning and family time easier in the evening.

Here’s one way to plan a day that goes with these energies instead of against them:

A day in rhythm

First rise (Vata: 5 to 6:30am)

• Get up with the sun, or a little before it, while it’s still Vata time and your body feels light.
• Scrape your tongue, a daily Ayurvedic habit.
• Wash your face to wake up and prepare yourself to be seen by God.
• Drink a glass of warm lime or lemon water.
• Pray to let your wishes be known.
• Meditate to listen to what you’re being told.
• Stretch, walk or exercise and enjoy how easily your body moves.

Mega morning (Kapha: sunrise to 10am)

• You haven’t eaten since supper. Sit down and break your fast with a light meal. Ayurveda says Kapha time is slow for digestion, so keep it light.
• Do the routine things that need doing:

• Emails
• Daily job checklists
• Cleaning, laundry, chores
• Errands that don’t take much thinking

Empowered midday (Pitta: 10am to 2pm)

• Time to strategize and work through complex problems.
• Sprint and planning meetings.
• Your most demanding work, the kind that needs focus.
• Sit down to a hearty meal. Ayurveda counts Pitta time as the best for digestion, so this is the day’s big meal.

Airy afternoon (Vata: 2pm to sunset)

• Exercise, walk, stretch, move!
• Write down any ideas that come to you. You won’t remember them later.
• Make a checklist of things you want to do, for Kapha to take care of in the morning.
• Do something creative: write, draw, paint, sing, play.

Cooling evening (Kapha: sunset to 10pm)

• Relax and talk with the people around you.
• Eat a light dinner between 6pm and just after sunset. Again, the tradition sees Kapha as a slow digester.
• Stretch out the tension from the day.
• Before bed, do abhyanga (self-massage) with coconut oil as a way of thanking your body.
• Pray and meditate to calm the mind.
• Scrape your tongue and brush your teeth.
• In bed before 10pm!

Transformational midnight (Pitta: 10pm to 2am). The tradition wants you asleep for these hours, and counts them among the most valuable of the day.

Spiritual dawn (Vata: 2am to sunrise). After the night’s rest, it’s time to listen and learn. In Ayurveda, this is when spirit speaks loudest.

Living by a different clock

The way most of us live now runs on artificial light, fast food at any hour, instant worldwide messages, a non-stop media “feed” and work weeks that never end. A lot of that comes from wanting to control the world and its cycles. After an ayahuasca ceremony, some people see more clearly how much that pace has been wearing on them. Ayurveda is one tradition’s way of paying attention to the season and the hour, and you can use it to build a day that feels more like your own.

Namaste

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