As human beings, we are blessed with the opportunity to move in harmony with nature or resist its course. As we move through the cyclic rhythms of the seasons, the energy within us changes, moving and aligning with these cyclic rhythms helps us to harmonise each layer of our being.
We can do this by:
- fueling our bodies with seasonal food sourced from our local environment
- by adapting our yoga practices for the season
- preparing the body/mind so it’s in its optimal condition to align with the changing energy around us.
Spring is the season of life, new blooms are sprouting, our energy starts to move up, and we spend more time outdoors and with others. It is the season of natural abundance, love, and happiness.
Our bodies start to shed excess kapha (that conserves energy in winter), and the body has a melting effect, the same that happens with snow on the mountains.
Many of us get runny noses, and hay fever during Spring due to the other shedding aspects of nature. For example, flowers shedding their pollen, emitting their fragrances, and setting off hay fever and allergies.
With nature on our side, we can peel away the layers and birth the new spring version of ourselves, breathing new life into our daily rhythms, practice, and space.
Here are the ways we love to transition into Spring:
1. Wake Before Sunrise
Sleeping after sunrise imbalances the kapha dosha which keeps us feeling heavy.
We recommend meditating after 4 am or just before sunrise, finishing this part of your routine as the sun breaks the horizon.
When the nature around us is quiet, so is our mind.
2. Lemon and Ginger
Start your morning by drinking a little lemon and ginger in warm filtered water.
This is warming and nourishing for the body, helps to boost your immune system, and supports the cleansing process.
3. Practice Yoga with the Rising Sun
We recommend the following sequence:
- Energizing kriya and pranayama (breath) practices that stokes the detoxifying processes
- Sun salutations to build heat and to offer a connection with the sun and the light within us.
- Dynamic and detoxifying twists and side bends
- Inversions to assist the body in filtering and detoxifying the blood and lymph by sending the rivers of our veins and lymph to their filtering glands and organs.
4. Lighten Up!
Ayurveda teaches us that Spring is a time to develop routines that shed kapha accumulated during winter, gradually “lightening up.”
This means lightening our diet, shedding excess winter weight, and lightening the load from our homes by giving away what we no longer need.
Cleaning / cleansing your space thoroughly so you can live and practice in a healthy space
5. Local Honey
Local honey is warming and is known to help to balance kapha in the spring.
It is also said that natural honey assists with reducing pollen allergies and inflammation.
We recommend sourcing from a supplier with local hives and where the honey has not been processed, in other words, in its most natural form.
“ We must come to know what the sages knew: that the key lies in developing an affinity with nature. We must come to see ourselves in creation, and creation in ourselves” ~ Pandit Rajmani Tigunait
Connecting with the rhythms of nature puts us back in touch with our innate instincts and intuition and can reveal so much of the internal nature of our minds, energy, and body.
In spring, we open ourselves up for new beginnings, we shed what we no longer need by moving more and bringing more light into our days outdoors. We also open ourselves up to more love in our lives, it is the time to celebrate, create and start new projects.
Angela Knight
Calm Buddhi Ma
Yoga, Meditation and Yoga Nidra Teacher