Frosty mornings, Ayurveda & a recipe

Frost on the rooftops, winter settling in with shortening days, heading towards the solstice. A time for cultivating warmth inside and out. Everything slows down in nature including the needs of our own body.

Where I can, I snuggle inwards with cosy food, slow days, big jumpers, nourishing reads and food to make my insides happy; as ever, guided by Ayurveda.

I’m researching in relation to my next book which will be a 21-day challenge, introducing the three main things that form the foundation of any Ayurvedic healthcare plan—circadian rhythms, constitutional balance and digestion.

The term circadian rhythm is a western one, but Ayurveda bases its whole Science of health on the view that we are a miniature of the universe, that good health is dependant upon living in rhythm with the natural cycles in the external environment—day/night and the seasons—and our internal body clocks. That’s why as the seasons change, Ayurveda suggests we need to make a few changes, to remain in balance and in good health.

Here in the UK the temperatures have plummeted as we shift from autumn to winter. This is a season that has a mix of vata which brings dry, cold, light qualities, and Kapha which brings heavy, wet, cold qualities. As the winter season develops, the lightness of vata is replaced with the heaviness of kapha, but those vata qualities are still around on dry cold, windy days. And so, we need to adjust our behaviours to balance out the qualities we are taking in from our external environment. This is done by cultivating the opposite qualities.

When it’s cold, wet, and damp we need to create warm, cosy experiences in our home, our social lives and our stomachs. By wrapping up warm, creating warm homes in terms of temperature but also how it feels to the senses. And, by eating warm nourishing foods. When it’s cold, windy and dry, again we need to cultivate the opposite qualities, by slowing down and creating stillness, staying warm, taking warm steamy baths and eating unctuous heated foods. Creating warm-hearted social times, even on your own, is important to avoid the emotional coldness that can appear in response to the cold weather change outside, with music you like and downtime relaxing, doing things that bring you comfort and joy.

Here’s some ideas

• Eat warm nourishing stews, soups, porridge’s, rice puddings, and stewed apples with ghee or creamed coconut and spices.

• Avoid cold and raw foods.

• Use spices like cinnamon, cloves, cardamon, ginger and black pepper.

• Drink warm drinks like liquorice, fennel or cinnamon teas, or warm turmeric lightly spiced milk with maple syrup.

• Generally, eat more of the sweet (not processed), sour and salty tastes—different constitutional balances may need to adapt this.

• Cultivate light-heartedness and a sense of purpose—but not in a driven way.

• Create opportunities for fun and laughter and invite warmth into your life—it doesn’t mean you don’t care about those suffering and it does mean you will be better able to do what you can.

• Slow down and refuse to rush.

• Keep to a predictable daily routine.

• Exercise every day—when feeling over-stretched and exhausted stick to gentle things like replenishing yoga asanas, tai chi and walking; if sluggish and lethargic go for more energetic things like jogging or a long hike.

• Carry out Abhyanga—self-massage with lots of sesame oil—each day either first thing or before you go to bed followed by a warm steamy bath.

• Rest.

• Reduce stress.

Photo by Pexels—pixabay

Our busy lifestyle here in the West doesn’t always make these things easy to do, but if you pop up comments I can help you brainstorm. I used to manage these things when bringing up my children on my own, living on and under the poverty line without a car, sometimes having to choose between heating or food—I always chose food—before this became a National epidemic. I discovered it was all doable if I changed my mindset and made a few tweaks to my life. I remember one Christmas I couldn’t afford a Christmas tree so I cut out one from green tissue paper, then made decorations which I glued onto it out of other coloured tissue paper, glued this to the wall near a power socket and strung fairy tree lights over it. And you know, my kids still remember this with huge fondness and laughter, and they never remember the actual Christmas trees we had.

If winter gets you down, let me know your three worst things in the comments and I will share the Ayurvedic take on them to support you—next year I will put up a paywall (£5.99 per month) and create a community of people who would like me to share everything I know about Ayurveda with them, including my books as I write them. So if you can’t afford complimentary healthcare and don’t have the time to research or train for yourself, this is a way I can share with you. I trained with the American Institute of Vedic Studies, have membership with the Ayurvedic Professionals Association and have been helping people for the last ten years.

Recipe

Sweet potato & chard soup

Aren’t those colours gorgeous! I made a soup with lots of fresh ginger and black pepper to ward off all those winter bugs out there. I sautéd some red onion in ghee then added these vegetables along with lots of black pepper, fresh grated ginger and stock. Once cooked I seasoned with rock salt and a little fresh lime juice. It would have been nice served with some cashew cream seasoned with a cardamon dukka. When I write my cookery book next year I will weigh everything out, just playing at the moment.

I was chatting with a friend who lived in Norway for a few years, she was describing the beauty of that place and I thought, one day I will go there for Christmas.

Photo by Kristjan Kotar—unsplash

Wishing you the warmest, till Sunday,

Lucy x