Autumn: The Winds of Change
Welcome to the season shift of fall. This is a very special time in Ayurveda as it has to do with what is called ritucharya, the diet and lifestyle changes that are based on the earth’s ever-changing seasons. I have spoken about dinacharya in past posts, which has to do with daily routines and rhythms. The world ritucharya comes from the Sanskrit word ritu, meaning “season”, and charya, meaning “to follow.” It is seen as a time to reconnect with nature’s rhythm and reset our diet and lifestyle accordingly.
You have likely been feeling the shift around you and within you - the cool winds, leaves falling from the trees, adding extra layers when going out, and craving more cooked, warm foods. These all signal a shift from summer to winter. These seasonal shifts, which occur in both the spring and fall are such important times as they give us an opportunity to reset and resync with ourselves and the world around us.
This makes the autumn season a perfect time to partake in a seasonal cleanse or detox. It’s all about resetting your digestive fire, eliminating toxins, letting go of habits that no longer serve you, and re-establishing good habits. For me, this entails in a 2-week mono-diet of kitchari and clearing my schedule for more self-care and reflection. For those of us who are not able to or do not want to take time to detox, we can slowly start to shift our diet and lifestyle practices from those of summer to those of fall. By doing this we avoid imbalances and mental unrest. This particular fall with the elections, COVID, and violence that has been experienced by humanity, makes it an especially auspicious time to do so. Then we can face the winter months feeling grounded, balanced, and healthy in body and mind.
Fall embodies the qualities of Vata dosha (ether + air). It is dry, light, cold, rough, subtle, mobile, clear, and hard. You can see these qualities all around you in the vegetation as it becomes dry and brittle, the wind as it blows the leaves, the cold crisp light air, and in the hardening of the earth as it prepares for winter. Within your own body and mind, you may start to experience dry skin, cold hands and feet, gas and bloating, constipation, or feeling distracted and anxious. In order to balance these qualities so that they do not over-accumulate, we must bring in the opposite qualities to balance: moist, heavy, warm, smooth, stable, sticky, and soft. Below I have outlined some simple ways of embracing the change of season so that it will support your health and well-being.
Ways to Stay Balanced this Autumn
Shifting to a diet of cooked, warm, moist foods.
Avoiding raw, cold, or dry foods.
Favoring warm beverages and room temperature water.
Avoiding cold or iced beverages.
Practicing abhyanga (self-oil massage) to keep your skin lubricated and your nervous system grounded.
Gentle exercise, ideally between 6-10 am/pm
Nadi Shodhana pranayama (alternate nostril breathing)
Take ashwagandha (an Ayurvedic herb that calms the nervous system, supports sleep, and increases strength).
Use a neti pot and/or Nasya oil (oil to lubricate your nasal passageways).
Bring more calm, peace, and rest into your daily routine.
Fall Foods to Favor
Healthy oils and fats like olive oil, avocado oil, ghee, and coconut oil
Root veggies like beets, carrots, and sweet potato
Winter squash like butternut and kabocha
Warming spices like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, black pepper, turmeric, ginger, mustard, and cumin
Hot soups and stews
Hot teas, hot cocoa, and hot cider
Bone broth or vegan healing broth
Sweet, salty, and sour flavors
Cooked apples
Hot cooked grains
Fall Foods to Avoid
Iced beverages
Carbonated beverages
Raw veggies and cold salads
Tropical fruits
Dry foods like granola and cereal
Smoothies
Bitter, astringent, and spicy flavors
Time for a Seasonal Detox
If you are feeling up for a deeper change - a chance to reset habits and your digestion - a seasonal detox is what I would recommend. I have been doing this practice each spring and fall for the past 6 years and have found so much benefit from this practice. If this is something you are interested in, I have updated my starter seasonal detox on my website which you can buy HERE for $10. I also love Dr. John Douillard’s Colorado Cleanse (this is the first cleanse I ever did) which you can do solo or as a group online. Kate O’Donnell also offers a group seasonal cleanse which I have done. The point is there are many options and it is so customizable. In general, this detox lasts about 2 weeks and includes a mono-diet of kitchari, self-care practices, and self-reflection. I see it as a twice a year opportunity to reset my habits, get back on track, and feel healthy and refocused. The great part about making this a lifelong practice is that you get a chance to continually build onto your new good habits each time you do it.
Wherever you find yourself this autumn, I invite you to take some time for yourself. Some time to reconnect with the earth, your health, and your happiness. Below is my favorite reading which I usually read when I teach yoga in the fall. Since I’m not doing that this year, I wanted to share it with you :)
“Too often we develop an idea of ourselves that we forget to update. We give ourselves and our lives labels...what we do, who we are...and treat them as if they are static and stable. We are but a microcosm of the beautiful world that surrounds up. Ek ong kar. The creator and the creation are one.
During each season, we have an opportunity ourselves to take a moment, center ourselves into our breath and reflect. What have we done this past season of action and growth? What have our lives become? Who is better off for our having been in this world?
Often we don’t want to reflect because we are afraid of our own answers, afraid that we won’t measure up to the expectations of the world or of the little critic that lives inside our own minds. But if we look with different eyes, determined to be our fan instead of our critic, we can also find moments of goodness and grace. We find times where we lived up to our potential and smiled in the face of adversity.
This world, for all its chaos and challenges, is a beautiful world. The leaves could fall off the trees with no real fanfare, the snow could land and melt without its glistening glory, the plants could never produce sweet-smelling blossoms of beauty. Instead, the leaves change into a rainbow that circles the globe, each leaf falling at its own time, spinning and twirling to the ground in a graceful tumble. The snow accumulates into a shimmering landscape of unique snowflakes as a blanket covering the earth during her cold winter, and the flowers blossom, assaulting our senses with their beauty and abundance.
Our lives could just exist and end without any real trace left on the world, and often we feel like that is exactly what is happening. But we grow and expand, we change our colors from green to yellow to red, we sway in the wintery winds, and finally, we dance home to the arms of our creator and blossom.
When we accept this change and are present through the ever-changing seasons of our lives, we connect with the beautiful harvest within ourselves and we connect with the creative aspect which accomplished it. We connect to God in a way that allows God to experience his or her own creation through us and our lives and allows us to connect to the beauty of our own experience. We give ourselves permission to simply be and rejoice, knowing that greatness is greater than ourselves. The only thing that is permanent in this life is change, so why not embrace it and live every moment with fullness, love, and gratitude.”