Ayurveda Self-Care Tips For Winter

Ayurveda is a holistic health system that has existed for thousands of years and offers a vast amount of wisdom regarding how to create and maintain optimal health. Ayurveda believes in keeping a balance between the three doshas, or energies - Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. When one of these is imbalanced, we tend to suffer from ailments or disease. Luckily, Ayurveda provides many solutions to keep you warm and vibrant during the winter months.

Each of the three doshas has a season it thrives in, and right now, we are in the Kapha season, which lasts from the second half of winter through spring, and in many areas that means plenty of wet weather even as the summer approaches. Along with the cold in the earlier parts of the season, it’s this prevailing wetness that defines Kapha season.

Kapha season is a time where everything slows down. In winter, we can reflect on all that we harvested during autumn, and begin to rest and digest. The cold, moist, dense and stable gunas (qualities) that characterize Kapha season support us in going inward and laying low, in order to restore ourselves. However, if these qualities build up, they can then weigh us down. Even if you are not a Kapha Prakruti (constitution), the cold, wet weather can still start to build excess Kapha in your usual Pitta or Vata system.

SELF-CARE FOR KAPHA DURING WINTER

Keep Fit

Increase your get-up-and-go and take more high-impact exercise to raise your metabolism, boost natural release of endorphins and prime your body for action. Avoid slipping into a sluggish routine, don’t oversleep and fight the temptation to sleep during the day.

Mind Power

Set daily goals for visualisation to combat bouts of laziness, depression and to shield you from your more lethargic side. This will help you create images of achievement and trigger an attraction towards these sought-after desires, a focus for when we come out of lockdown.

Breathe Easy

Achieve a better state of mind and body through controlled breathing, or pranayama as they say in Ayurveda. Pranayama practice for kapha is ‘bellows breath’ which deepens the quality of your breathing. Meditation will also help a kapha active dosha by purifying the respiratory system by expelling stale air and keeping your immune system topped up.

Nutrition 

Use warming spices in your food, such as ginger, turmeric, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and chili peppers. Avoid heavy, sticky, slimy, overly oily, salty, or deep-fried foods. Because our digestive fires are strongest during Kapha season, the winter is the perfect time for extra nourishment - prepare delicious stews, warm grains, lentils and beans using liberal amounts of ghee. Kapha season is also the perfect time for warming drinks! Try a warming turmeric latte or hot milk with nutmeg to calm down before bed.

Self Massage

Add a dose of vitality-boosting movements to your daily regime. Kapha constitutions thrive on energising treatments so get into the habit of scrubbing your body daily with a body brush, and give yourself a massage using an Ayurvedic oil with the earthy scent sandalwood, fennel, and frankincense.

Gem Therapy

The right use of gems helps balance the aura and harmonise the body. Ruby and red garnet are good for kapha’s imbalance of low energy or poor circulation. Or try yellow gems to strengthen your immune.

About The Author Sunita Passi is a TEDx Speaker, BBC Radio Host, Ayurvedic Health Practitioner and founder of Tri-Dosha skincare. Her work explores how ideas in Eastern medicine are as relevant today as 5000 years ago. Website: tri-dosha.co.uk  Instagram: @tri_dosha