Shishir Ritu, Ritual and Remedy

The winter solstice is December 21, marking the shortest and darkest day of the year, and the first day of Shishir Ritu, the 6th and coldest season. The earth is quiet, the plants are dormant, the air is clear, and the nights are long. This is the season of solitude, introspection, grounding, and deep rest.

According to the Charaka Samhita, the oldest and the most authentic treatise on Ayurveda, every season brings in a unique set of qualities that can either alleviate or aggravate the inner workings of our being, our seasonal routines should change and adapt based on these qualities. Our bodies may feel quite different in winter than in summer, and our needs and cravings prompt us to make these adjustments. The qualities of the water and earth elements (Jala and Prithvi Mahabhuta) reflect during this season, giving rise to Kapha dosha in the body.

By adapting our diet and lifestyle to balance winter's dry, cold, dull, heavy, and stable qualities, one can drastically reduce the likelihood of any seasonally induced imbalances. However, we also want to be mindful of the benefits of this season, draw our attention inward and practice mindfulness and self-connection, and ensure that we prioritize rest and sleep.

In modern times, shortly after the solstice, we celebrate the new year by setting our yearly resolutions. By a similar approach, Shishir Ritu is an ideal season to reflect on things you can clear from your life, organize your thoughts and home, and mindfully build healthy habits for the coming year.

Recognizing Shishir Ritu with a personal ceremony may help you to fine-tune your intentions and root you more firmly in your path to optimal wellness.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

• A candle

• A meditation pillow

• A journal and pen

THE RITUAL

Set up your ritual space in a peaceful, grounding area. Place your meditation pillow facing the lit candle. Take a few deep breaths in, ground and center. Take your time here. Don’t rush.

Form your hands into Padme Mudra – Lotus Seal, translated from Sanskrit, by bringing the palms flat together in front of your chest, then, keeping the wrists close and the thumbs and little fingers connected, splay the other fingertips out and away from each other.

Now, start ujjayi breath, by sealing your lips and slowly breathing in and out through your nose. Take an inhalation through your nose that is slightly deeper than normal, and exhale slowly through your nose while constricting the muscles in the back of your throat. Your breath should sound like waves of the ocean.

Close your eyes and continue to breathe. Imagine the heat of the flame flowing through you and think about what intention you would like to set forth. Visualize what your intention looks like in its full expression.

Now, write your intention out as a gratitude sentence that has already occurred. For example, "I am grateful that I followed and executed a plan to accomplish an injury-free triathlon in May of 2023.

Sit quietly in meditation, bring your palms to touch, and thumbs to the heart center. Feel the light of the flame growing inside of you and imagine your intentions doing the same. End by saying your intention out loud.

SHISHIR  RITU REMEDY

Winter is when the digestive fire is most vigorous because our bodies naturally require more nutrients.  Even though wintertime necessitates some substance, use your diet to stoke the digestive fire, maintain heat, liquefy mucus, and draw excess moisture out of your system. A supportive winter diet will pacify Kapha without increasing Vata or vice versa.

Focus on eating warm, cooked, well-spiced nourishing foods. Utilizing a generous selection of tasty herbs and eat as many vegetables as you would like and a wide variety of well-cooked legumes. Cooked light grains such as basmati rice, amaranth, barley, and oats can make for a great breakfast, while a warming carrot ginger soup would be ideal for dinner. Try to avoid, cold or frozen foods and excessively sweet or oily meals.

The Charaka Samhita encourages drinking room temperature or warm liquids, and winter is ideal for warm, hot beverages. Turmeric is one of the best warming and healthy spices that one can have easily at home. Golden milk can help keep you warm on winter days, aids in digestion reduces both Kapha and Vata, and boosts immunity, making it an ideal remedy for Shishir Ritu.


RECIPE 

• 2 ½ cups unsweetened almond milk

• 2 inches of sliced fresh turmeric

• 1 inch of sliced fresh ginger

• 1 cinnamon stick

• Pinch of black pepper

• 1 tablespoon of coconut oil

• Teaspoon of honey

In a saucepan place the coconut oil, and spices and cook for one minute on medium heat, releasing the fragrances of the spices, add almond milk and heat until it just starts to simmer, let cool, and add honey to serve.

Disclaimer
The sole purpose of these articles is to provide information about the tradition of Ayurveda. This information is not intended for use in the diagnosis, treatment, cure or prevention of any disease.

Warming Ayurvedic Breakfast for the Cold, Dry Winter Mornings

Roasted Rice with Dates, Cinnamon & Cardamom

• 1 cup basmati rice

• ¼ tsp black pepper

• ¼ tsp cardamom

• ¼ tsp cinnamon

• 4 whole dates

• 1 Tbsp ghee

• 1 to 2 pinches of mineral salt

• 3 cups of water

Preparation

Chop dates. Heat a medium saucepan on low, and add ghee. When it melts, add uncooked rice. Stir continually for 2–5 minutes, until it smells sweet and all the rice is coated with ghee. Add the spices and dates. Stir for 1 more minute. Add water and bring to a boil. Cover pot and lower to a simmer. Cook until rice is tender (about 20 minutes). Serve with warm coconut milk or rice milk. And top with slivered almonds or nut of choice.

Disclaimer
The sole purpose of these articles is to provide information about the tradition of Ayurveda. This information is not intended for use in the diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevention of any disease. 

Eating for the Season: Recipes to keep Kapha in Balance!

Ayurvedic dietary principles call for us to largely avoid refined sweets and excessively cold, dry, unctuous, salty, and fatty foods. I know this seems hard during the holidays, but if you keep this wisdom in mind, you may notice the ease that it brings to your body and mind. Because winter is considered a primarily kapha season, the meals you eat during this time should incorporate slightly more of the pungent, bitter, and astringent tastes that pacify this dosha. However, winter’s heavy, moisture-laden atmosphere frequently gives way to the dry, windy conditions of the vata dosha, so it’s also important to focus on vata-balancing foods and tastes on days when this type of weather prevails. Overall, you should eat warming meals that balance kapha and vata and help you adjust to the predominant weather conditions. Also be mindful of your agni, or digestive fire. Since kapha conditions can contribute to sluggish digestion, eat at regularly scheduled times without skipping meals or overeating. As always, eat your largest meal at lunch, when the digestive fire of pitta is strongest.

Here are some simple, tasty recipes that will make it easier and more enjoyable to maintain a dosha-balancing wintertime diet.

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup (serves 4)

·      ½ gallon water

·      1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

·      ½ cup rolled oats

·      1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro

·      1 tablespoon cumin powder

·      1 teaspoon coriander powder

·      ½ teaspoon turmeric powder

·      ½ teaspoon finely ground black pepper

·      1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

·      juice of 1 fresh lemon

·      1 tablespoon rock salt

·      1 tablespoon soya oil

·      2 scallions, chopped

·      parsley

·      watercress

Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add squash, oats, cilantro, and spices, including black pepper and salt, fresh ginger, and lemon juice. Cover and simmer on medium heat for 35 minutes. Transfer to the mixture to a blender and puree until smooth. Return to pot. Heat oil in a small skillet, and sauté scallions for about 2 minutes; then add to the pureed soup. Cover and simmer 5 minutes. Serve hot and garnish with fresh parsley and watercress.

Seven-Grain Bread (serves 4)

·      1 tablespoon natural yeast

·      ½ cup warm water

·      2 tablespoons sesame butter

·      ½ cup spelt flour

·      ½ cup unbleached whole wheat flour

·      ½ cup soya flour

·      ½ cup millet flour

·      ½ cup oat bran

·      ½ cup rolled oats

·      ½ cup cracked wheat

·      1 tablespoon Sucanat

·      ½ teaspoon rock salt

·      1½ cups warm water

Dissolve the yeast in warm water; then dilute the sesame butter in the yeast solution. Combine the flours, bran, rolled oats, cracked wheat, Sucanat, salt, and remaining water; then add the yeast-sesame butter mixture. Knead into a sticky dough. Transfer dough to a large oiled bowl. Cover securely and let rise in a warm place for 40 minutes. Punch down the dough, cover, and let rise again for 40 minutes, until it doubles in size. Form dough into four rolls, and place on oiled baking trays. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Whole Mung Dhal (serves 4)

·      1 cup whole mung dhal

·      2 ¼ cups water

·      ¼ teaspoon turmeric

·      1 pinch sea salt

·      1 tablespoon ghee

·      1 minced green chili pepper

·      ½ teaspoon grated ginger

·      1 tablespoon masala

·      1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Wash mung dhal until water runs clear. Soak in 3 cups of cold water overnight. Drain. Boil 2 cups of water and add dhal, turmeric, and salt. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 50 minutes. In a small skillet, heat ghee, green chili pepper, and ginger for a few minutes. Add the masala toward the end of browning. Add to dhal with lemon juice and remaining water. Cover and continue to simmer for an additional 30 minutes over low heat.

Sautéed Golden Beets with Masala (serves 4)

·      4 golden beets

·      1 tablespoon sunflower oil

·      1 tablespoon masala

·      2 yellow onions of shallots, cut into half-moon slices

·      1 teaspoon rock salt

·      1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

Scrub the beets and cut into bite-size pieces. Heat sunflower oil in cast iron skillet. Stir in masala and cook until slightly browned. Add shallots, beets, and salt. Stir in two tablespoons of water. Cover and allow to cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, garnish with fresh parsley, and serve hot.

Caraway Brown Rice (serves 4)

·      2 cups long-grain brown rice

·      3½ cups boiling water

·      1 pinch of sea salt

·      2 teaspoons of caraway seeds

Wash rice until water runs clear and add to boiling water. Add salt. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 25 minutes. Dry-roast caraway seeds in a small cast iron pan until golden. Add to rice mixture and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Red Cabbage and Onion Soup (serves 4)

·      ½ gallon of water

·      1 small red cabbage shredded

·      2 red onions, chopped

·      1 tablespoon coriander powder

·      ½ teaspoon cayenne powder

·      1 tablespoon dried dill

·      1 tablespoon dried parsley

·      2 cloves of garlic

·      1 tablespoon of rock salt

·      ¼ cup cashew butter

·      1 red onion, cut into thin half-moon slices

Bring water to a boil in a large soup pot. Add the cabbage and onions, along with the coriander and cayenne powders, dried dill, parsley, and salt. Lightly crush the garlic cloves with a handstone and remove the skin. Add the lightly crushed cloves of garlic to the soup mixture. Cover and simmer on medium heat for 35 minutes, until onions are practically dissolved. Add cashew butter to the soup and stir until it dissolves. Garnish the hot soup with thinly sliced red onions; remove from heat, cover, and let sit for 5 minutes. Serve hot with a heaping dollop of Millet Supreme.

Millet Supreme (serves 4)

·      3½ cups water

·      2 cups millet

·      ¼ cup fresh peas

·      ½ teaspoon turmeric

·      ½ teaspoon cumin powder

·      ½ teaspoon ajwain seeds

·      1 teaspoon rock salt

·      1 tablespoon sunflower oil

·      ¼ cup currents

·      ½ cup roasted almonds, slivered

·      juice of ½ lemon

Bring water to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan. Thoroughly wash the millet, and add to boiling water, along with the peas, turmeric, cumin powder, ajwain seeds, and salt. Cover and simmer on medium heat for 20 minutes. Heat the oil in a small skillet, and add the currants and almonds. Stir for another few minutes until currants begin to swell. Add the lemon juice. Add to the millet, and continue cooking for 10 minutes more. Serve warm.

Disclaimer
The sole purpose of these articles is to provide information about the tradition of Ayurveda. This information is not intended for use in the diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevention of any disease. 

How to Ensure a Healthy Transition with the Change of Season

Spring is almost here, but we are still experiencing the cold and dark conditions of the winter. Ayurveda defines rutu sandhi as the transition between two seasons, which generally consists of the final 15 days of one season and the first 15 days of the next. As we move from winter to spring, this “door” or pathway between seasons offers a great opportunity to switch out the old season’s clothes, lifestyle, and attitudes for a fresh new start. This seasonal juncture is an excellent time for a cleansing treatments like panchakarma. Chances are we have accumulated excess kapha in our system during the winter. This imbalance can be aggravated by the arrival of the spring, which like winter is a kapha-dominant season. Ayurveda recommends incorporating certain foods, practices, and herbs into our daily routine at this time of year to keep kapha in balance. 

Spring is the king of the seasons. During this time, Mother Earth awakens to bring new life after the dormant winter months. Spring is mild, moist, and full of color. It is a wonderful time for testing new skills, growing intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually and starting a new lifestyle. Spring is also a blooming season, when flowers shed their pollen and infuse the air with their glorious fragrance. While the transition to warmer weather and burgeoning plant life can be a delightful experience for some people, it can have a downside for kapha individuals (especially those with pollen-based allergies) and for any anyone else who’s accumulated excess kapha.For these individuals, the irritation of mucous membranes and the buildup of mucus associated with kapha can lead to an onslaught of colds, allergies, sinus infections, asthma attacks, and hay fever symptoms. Their discomfort often intensifies when the warming spring air liquifies the congestion, inducing runny noses and wet, phlegmy coughing.  

To alleviate excesskapha in the throat, you can gargle honey and hot water or a cup of hot water with 1 teaspoon of turmeric and 1 teaspoon of salt. Another helpful formula for this time of year is a combination of ginger, black pepper, and pippali (piper longum) known astrikatu. This spice blend not only clears mucus from the body but also increases digestive fire and helps eliminate toxins. Adopting a kapha-pacifying  diet during the pre-spring period can also lower the incidence of allergies, hay fever, and colds. 

Regimen for Spring

•  Adopt a diet dominated by bitter, pungent, and astringent foods. 

• Eat lightly, and consume easily digestible foods. Favor soups and cooked vegetables.

• Use small amounts of raw honey as a sweetener.

• Fast for one day a week, preferably on Monday or Thursday (for astrological reasons).

• Drink warming, cleansing herbal teas, such as ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, clove.

• Practice yoga, meditation and pranayama.

• Keep warm and dry.

• Rinse nasal passages with warm saltwater and herbs. By taking just a few seconds to do this, you can avoid days of misery from sick sinuses.

Things to Avoid

• Fatty and fried foods

• Excessive amounts of sweet, sour, and salty foods

• Large, heavy, breakfasts

• Between-meal snacks, except for dried fruit

• Cold or iced beverages

• Daytime naps

•  Exposure to dust, dirt, and pollen

• Cold drafts and air conditioning

Foods for the Season

• Legumes, split peas, red lentils, chickpeas, pinto beans, and fresh soybean products

• Amaranth, barely, buckwheat, corn, millet, oats, quinoa, 

• Radishes, spinach, artichoke, asparagus, beets, broccoli, carrots, lettuces, okra

• Apricots, berries, cherries, dark grapes, mangos, peaches, pears, pomegranates, and raisins

Disclaimer
The sole purpose of these articles is to provide information about the tradition of Ayurveda. This information is not intended for use in the diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevention of any disease. 

Herbal Immune and Lung Support for Spring

Spring can bring many challenges for the respiratory and the immune systems. You may notice many people around you are suffering from colds or flus at this time. This is generally due to excess kapha in the system, built up from the winter season. Allergens, pollutants, and other irritants can aggravate this buildup of kapha. Because too much kapha weakens our agni (digestive fire), it can lead to increased levels of ama (toxic undigested material) in our body. This accumulation of ama overloads our immune system, setting the stage for infections and chronic health issues. Since the seat of kapha is in the chest, the most likely place for these imbalances to manifest is in our lungs and their airways.

The Ayurvedic approach to maintaining a healthy immune and respiratory system during spring comprises a four-step process. The first step, boosting your agni, is inextricably linked to the second step, burning ama. There are many herbs that accomplish both of these goals, including pippali, ginger, turmeric, and an Ayurvedic formula known as triphala. Make a tea with a combination of these herbs and drink it morning and night. Having a cup of warm water with lemon and black pepper upon waking is another easy way to fuel efficient digestion.

Next, you should combine a kapha-reducing diet and lifestyle with herbal support for the respiratory system. Traditional Ayurvedic formulas such as talisadi and sitopaladi are particularly effective at removing kapha from the respiratory tract. These warming herbal blends help clear the throat and nasal passages and promote healthy respiration. Honey is a wonderful carrier for these herbs, as it target the respiratory tissues and gently scrapes off toxic residues.

The final step is to follow a daily herbal protocol for rejuvenating the immune system and building ojas (vitality). A nutritive herbal jam known as chyavanprash is an excellent choice for promoting proper immune function and rejuvenation, as well as for supporting healthy digestion, metabolism, and nervous system and respiratory system function. Take one teaspoon once or twice a day with milk. It’s also a delicious source of nourishment when served on toast or with other foods. 

Herbs such as ashwagandha and guduchi are also known to sustaining the body during periods of stress by bolstering energy, vitality, and overall health. In Ayurveda, the elimination of toxins and wastes from the body is considered the key to strengthening the immune system. To optimize elimination, consider adding triphala to your daily herbal regimen. The formula is the most effective when taken in the evening before bed.

We are happy to help you create a personalized herbal program based upon your mind-body constitution. Please contact us to schedule an in-office or online appointment.

Disclaimer
The sole purpose of these articles is to provide information about the tradition of Ayurveda. This information is not intended for use in the diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevention of any

Vata in the Fall

This time of year, many of us feel out of whack. Fall usually increases the Vata energy in all of us, which in excess can result in anxiety, pain, the urge to travel (which would of course make Vata even stronger), dryness of skin and hair and many other symptoms. We may find it harder to concentrate or focus for any length of time. We may feel compelled to create changes in our lives – when actually steadying the course is just what we need. If you are primarily made up of Vata energy, you will feel this even more keenly than the rest of us!

To keep Vata in balance, there are any number of things we can do. Food is the best medicine. So eat lots of Vata-balancing foods, which are generally hot, well-cooked and wet. Eat seasonal foods such as cooked onion, carrots sweet potatoes, parsley, beets, radish  grapefruit, grape strawberries, raspberries, figs and avocado. Also use whole grains such as whole wheat, basmati rice, brown rice and oats. Increase pecans, walnuts almonds and pine nuts. Drink warm water with ginger and lemon through out the day. 

For reducing Vata, take time before you shower and give yourself a sesame oil massage. Let oil soak in for 20 mins. It is good to calm your mind at this time, practice breathing exercises and meditate. Also, much of our grandmothers’ seasonal advice is well-aligned with what Ayurveda has to say about reducing Vata. For example, bundle up in cooler weather, drink warm (caffeine free) liquids, and protect your head (especially the ears) from the wind.  

The best way to deal with seasonal change is to get ahead of it. If you eat for your Ayurevdic constitution all year, and do a seasonal cleanse/panchakarma program at each junction of the seasons, you can avoid/prevent/lessen the imbalances often caused at these times of year.

Spring Cleaning

Our ancestors lived in harmony with nature’s changing seasons. Today we have lost our connection to that wisdom. The frenzied pace of the modern world, our increased exposure to environmental toxins and a growing alienation from nature have caused most of us to fall out of alignment with an optimal state of health and happiness. But each new year brings another opportunity to perform the time-honored ritual of internal cleansing. 

Spring, which celebrates rebirth is the perfect time for detoxification. Detoxifying in spring is an important part of the Ayurvedic seasonal routine. Spring is the Kapha season, because the wet and cool weather reflects the moist, cool, heavy qualities of Kapha dosha are predominate during this time of year (March-June). Biologically, nature supports cleansing the body in the spring. In winter the digestive fire is high, and people eat more sweet and heavy foods. Most the time they aren’t able to assimilate these hard-to-digest foods, so Ama (toxic product of indigestion) starts to accumulate.

When warm weather melts the snow, it has a similar effect on the body. In spring the Ama melts and the volume of Ama becomes so great that the channels of the body become clogged. If you don’t assist these toxins in moving out of the body, you can become prone to flu, colds, cough, or allergies. Or you may feel unusually fatigued, sluggish or drowsy after lunch, or lose your normal appetite.

Sharp headaches, dizziness, mild tremors in the limbs and unexplained muscle aches especially in the calf, can also be symptoms. Your tongue may be coated, and your throat may be sore. The skin can be less radiant, heavier and more oily. You may also find that you break out more often, are more prone to sunburn, and have dry patches on your skin. If you suffer from indigestion, constipation, bad breath, disturbed sleep, PMS or any of the above, a spring detox could be just the thing to get you back on track.

Spring is the best season for detoxification, because nature is already trying to de-clear out the toxins in your body. Its the time to help the body to efficiently detoxify the channels and the body tissues. A Kapha pacifying diet and lifestyle is the best at this time. If you avoid eating heavy, cold, hard-to-digest foods, and avoid or reduce the sweet, sour, and salty tastes, your digestive system will be more efficient in burning away the accumulated Ama. 

You can sip hot water ( if you do not have a Pitta imbalance) to help melt the digestive impurities that have accumulated. Sweet juicy fruits can help cleanse the body, although they should be eaten before sunset, as they have a Kapha-increasing effect after the sun goes down. You can add spices to your food -- such as coriander, cumin, turmeric, and fennel -- to help stimulate the digestion and detoxify the skin. Daily exercise, and avoiding day sleep will also help. 

According to yoga’s sister tradition, Ayurveda, health means a body that is clear of toxins, a mind that is at peace, emotions that are calm and happy, organs that function normally and wastes that are efficiently eliminated. Panchakarma, an Ayurvedic method of detoxification, aids in reversing the effects of daily living and restores good health.  Spring is the perfect time to partake in a Panchakarma. The core regime of Panchakarma consists of adherence to a diet that is appropriate for your psychosomatic constitution, sweating and purgation therapies and internal and external oil treatments. These methods gently cleanse the body’s tissues of toxins to open the subtle channels and bring life-enhancing energy that increases vitality, inner peace, confidence and well-being.