Spring It On

This Ayurvedic prescription for springtime health will help you leap from winter to spring with grace and ease.

By Scott Blossom

Springtime is magical, dynamic, and even sexy. As nature moves out of the cold, wet, dark winter toward spring, the pulse of life quickens, the earth warms, and blossoms unfurl, reaching for the sun. Nature makes it look smooth, but for us humans it's not as easy to transition gracefully from one season to the next—especially from winter to spring. More often we find ourselves feeling heavy and sluggish, like a cranky bear reluctantly coming out of hibernation.

Ayurveda, yoga's sister science and the world's oldest surviving system of healing, shows us that the key to feeling in step with the seasons is to harmonize with nature, to follow her lead and dance to her rhythm. The rishis (the ancient mystical "seers" who founded the yoga tradition) created rituals and festivals to honor each season and to remind us of our connection to the natural world.

The great yoga master T. Krishnamacharya adjusted his approach to practicing and teaching yoga to correspond with the time of year. You may not have a spring festival or an Indian yoga master to guide you, but by weaving some simple Ayurvedic principles into your life, you can weather this seasonal transition smoothly and emerge feeling transformed and ready to get your springtime groove on.

Shed Your Winter Coat
To enjoy a healthy spring, you need to understand the kapha (pronounced CUP-pa) dosha and bring it into balance. Of the three doshas—vata, pitta, and kapha— it's kapha that endows your body with its earthy-watery qualities. It provides lubrication for joints, as well as mucus to protect the sensitive tissues of the sinuses, lungs, and stomach; it also determines the size, strength, and suppleness of your muscles. (For basic information about the doshas, read "Intro to Ayurveda,".)

When kapha is in balance, you feel strong, composed, and stable. When it's out of balance, you might feel sleepy, mentally dull, or depressed. You may also experience excess phlegm in the lungs or sinuses, nausea, unhealthy weight gain, water retention, or heaviness in your limbs.

It's especially important to balance kapha in the spring, because kapha accumulates during winter and can create diseases by the time spring arrives. As the world becomes colder and wetter in winter, your body mirrors these kapha-like changes. You tend to eat, sleep, and stay inside more during winter, which can result in a "winter coat" of insulation. In spring, you need to shed this excess kapha or risk becoming vulnerable to seasonal allergies or head colds. You might also gain or retain weight or succumb to a general lethargy or emotional dullness.

Your Ayurvedic prescription for spring is to develop a rhythm and routine that helps you gradually lighten up physically, mentally, and emotionally without disturbing the stable virtues of kapha.

The best approach is multidimensional and includes eating lighter foods, adding certain herbs to your diet (see "Herb Help,"), and practicing asana, pranayama (breathing techniques), meditation, and some form of devotional rituals.

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