Slow Sunday, Ayurveda & a recipe

Lots of green veg soup

The image above was from a couple of days ago, bright blue sky, sunshine and very warm for October. That tree was along the road and around the corner.

Today, it was dark when I got up. As the light came into the sky I saw grey skies, deep charcoal colours and then, as more light arrived I saw the trees in the street still had lots of leaves on them, more than usual for October, blowing all over the place. There were some big flat copper and golden ones on the wet tarmac, and even though I was inside, I could feel the wet roads and damp air.

Across the road, there’s a tree with leaves turned lemon; I thought soon they’ll be falling. Just then gusts of leaves started to be blown about. Swirls of them spinning through the wet air, spiralling across the street.

Today, autumn has properly arrived.

Raindrops on the window, when I turn my head they light up, shimmer as they fall down. The street silent, no one up that I can see. Empty street and blowing trees. Curtains drawn, this dawn.

Down in the mud, worms wiggle, The fox left a token on the garden path and the leaves rush past this as I collect leaves from grass, leaving the ones on the soil to get rotted down by tiny creatures.

It’s hibernation time. Damp, wet, grey, gusty and, if you like living in tune with the seasons, cosy.

I haven’t always like it, summer; my happy time of year. I would feel dread as the evenings drew in, anxiety growing in the pit of my stomach as day turned to night, so early in what I felt should still be the day. My bones wanting to collapse into a heap of, oh no, not again. That is, until I discovered Ayurveda, and learnt that autumn is Vata season, and that this dosha within us can easily go out of balance when autumn arrives, especially if you have a lot of vata making up your constitution, which I have.

One of the symptoms of vata imbalance is anxiousness. When I started applying the remedies to balance vata dosha, autumn became a cosy time. Autumn is a time for going inside yourself, like the plants and leaves that die and go back into the soil.

So today, I can feel the autumn outside; inside me, and I known that next year summer will come again. And, I’m okay with that. How about you, do you enjoy the autumn season or prefer another one, perhaps you’ll tell me in the comments.

Anyway, today is a wet road day and later, when it’s dark I shall go for a walk around the city to see what colourful gems I can find.

Photo by Pexels on Pixabay

Joy dots

Autumn leaves

Wet tarmac

Worms in the soil

Charcoal smudges

Leaves blowing

Gusts of wind

Next doors black fluffy cat

Rain shimmying

Quiet Slow Sunday morning

Red tiles on roofs

Bright lights on wet roads

Umbrellas

Ayurveda

I’ve been reading a great book called “Good Energy” by Dr. Casey Means, about how all the different chronic disease problems we have in our culture, both physical and mental, are due to one thing, the breakdown of our metabolic health due to many different things within Western culture. Fantastic read I highly recommend it. The thing I love about it is that she is talking about something Ayurveda understood 5000 years ago.

Everything that Ayurveda recommends, is to ensure that we have good metabolic health so that our cells can function properly. In fact it went further by understanding that people with different constitutions need to take slightly different approaches to food and lifestyle protocols, in order for them to be able to have good metabolic health. This is why Ayurveda is such a great preventative approach to health. Here’s a link to the first of my Ayurveda shorts about how the ‘dosha’s create the different constitutions.

Recipe

Lots of green veg soup

I’ve been doing my autumn Ayurvedic cleanse, and this soup is great for part of the pre-cleanse. I sautéd celery and onion in ghee, added courgette, green beans, leek, peas and chard, plus stock and a little bit of wholewheat pasta, then sautéd. Once cooked I seasoned with freshly ground coriander, black pepper and salt, and fresh lime juice. It was warming, cosy and comforting.

Wishing you the best Autumn.

Photo by Castleguard — Pixabay

And, wishing you the warmest,

Lucy x