Summer is on it’s way. Our weather is still changeable, isn’t? One day warm, another cool and wet or windy.  We are in Late Spring, and the days are variable in temperature and climate.

However, I can guess that like me, you are probably already looking ahead towards the arrival of Summer, right? Summer festivals, balmy evenings sitting out in the garden, family outings, all the many Summer outdoor activities and sporting events. 

The days are already noticeably longer and brighter, the evenings and early mornings are lighter. I am sure we have all (with relief) been able to turn the heating down or off, and we now leave the heavy coats, hats and gloves of earlier months at home when we venture out. 

All this is indicative of atmosphere warming up, isn’t it, in spite of cool days and sometimes inclement weather? 

All this points to the fact that the fire element is rising. As we approach Summer, we are approaching the Pitta time of year.

Now is the time to begin the process of adjusting and adpating to this seasonal change, to support body and mind to stay healthy and strong not only through the Summer but in the months beyond. 

Following Ayurveda’s guidance to pay heed to the messages of each season seems to be even more pertinent post-pandemic, don’t you think, with the many new and strong viral and bacterial infections that are widespread through the Winter and Early Spring, and increasingly difficult for people to shake off. Also, with life becoming generally more stressful and challenging with increasing costs of living, and many of the social structures we have taken for granted crumbling or at best in flux. It takes it’s toll and Ayurveda would tell us that in times of stress and difficulty we need to step up our efforts to keep body and mind in a healthy equilibrium. 

These general ongoing pressures are added to in times of seasonal change. Our physical and mental-emotional stasis is challenged as both body and mind attempt to adjust to the changes in the natural environment. 

Each season will impact each one of us differently, especially according to our constitutional type. And so, whilst the Vata and Kapha types amongst you who are generally sensitive to cool and cold conditions, might relish the warmth of a gentle Summer breeze and the heat of the sun on their skin, the Pitta types amongst you may find you heat up too much. The heat of the sun adds just a little too much to your already hot internal environment perhaps. 

Your skin may become inflamed and itchy. Your joints and body generally may become more inflamed. Digestive issues such as hyperacidity, and loose stools may flare up. 

The intensity of feeling that accompanies heat build up in the body can cause you to start having a shorter fuse than usual, feeling irritable and perhaps even a little hot-headed.

Pitta types will therefore relish the cooling and astringent foods of the Summer season: cucumbers, berries, watermelon, and salads.  (Mother Nature always provides us with the foods in our environment which antidote the effects of the season – this is why it is good to eat food grown in the season and in your climatic region!).

However, for those of us without a lot of Pitta in our constitution, these foods are going to be too cooling and, especially when eaten raw, will weaken and already low agni (digestive fire). In the Summer months our agni naturally becomes weaker, gaining strength again for Winter. 

There is a message in this. We are invited to eat lighter, easier to digest foods in the Summer season though not necessarily raw. This takes more digestive strength. Ayurveda advises us all, regardless of our Ayurveda type, to favour cooked over raw foods, and this includes raw juices and includes our fruits, as when cooked they are partially digested. 

Pitta types can enjoy salads more readily than Kapha and Vata types, but the recommendation is to eat them only at lunch time when the Sun is highest in the sky (and so the fire element around and within us is at it’s strongest to aid digestion). 

Pitta types can follow the common pattern of eating salads first. Kapha and Vat types are recommended to eat salads last. And it’;s advisable to make the salad only 20% of your meal. 

Instead favour lightly cooked vegetables including Summer squash, caulflower, celery, chard, artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, Summer greens, green beans, watercress.

And Summer season grains such as barley, basmati rice, couscous, quinoa, granola, amaranth. 

Favour aduki beans, black beans, white beans, garbanzo beans, mung beans, soybeans and split peas. 

Organic coconut oil and organic cold pressed olive oil or sunflower oils are good at this time of year. Coconut oil may be a little too heavy for Kapha dosha, and a little too cooling also for Vata dosha. 

Favour all the herbs that grow in your garden at this time of year such as parsley, mint, dill, basil, coriander, fennel. Cardamom is also a nice spice to add to teas and to stewed fruit desserts, It is not aggravating to any of the types. 

If you eat meat opt for lighter meats and fish, and only a couple of times per week.

This is the time of year to favour good quality carbs such as wholegrains and pastas – think of the grains ripening in the fields at this time of year! They gives us the energy we need for these more active months and are dominated by the sweet-natural taste which pacifies Pitta dosha. Again we want to adapt for our own Ayurveda type: for eg, the sweet tastes increases Kapha, so less grain for Kapha. Mix with legumes according to your Ayurveda type and therefore your capacity to digest: legumes are astringent and therefore find for Pitta and Kapha, as both have an oily aspect. Yet they will be too drying for Vata and are hard to digest so can challenge the vata system causing bloating and gas, In this case, eat sparingly, with oil/ghee added in the cooking process, and with asafoetida to reduce the gaseous effect. 

Favour room temperature (not iced) drinks such as filtered water with cucumber or mint, peppermint teas with licorice and/or fennel seeds. 

Watch out for citrus fruits, and favour lime over lemon at this time of year, salty, sour and oily and hot spicy foods, onions, chillies, tomatoes, red meat, sour cream and salted cheeses.  These will all be heating. 

This is the time of year to oil the body with coconut oil, perhaps mixed with olive or sunflower if you are a Pitta type or have Pitta in your constitution. Wear light natural materials and avoid darker colours which absorb and hold heat. 

Reduce high intensity exercise and avoid exercising in the Pitta time of day – between 10am and 2pm. Milder and more cooling forms of excercise such as swimming, walking in nature, and steady-paced approaches to Yoga practices are recommended in the Summer season. 

If you experience any of the Pitta aggravated health symptoms such as red inflamed, itch or oily skin, acne, red and inflamed eyes, burning symptoms in the gut such as hyperacidity, loose stools, ulcers, migraines, hayfever, menopausal flushes and sweats, please book a discovery call and let’s see how Ayurveda can further help you to reduce symptoms with herbal and body treatment prescriptions. Please click the button below to book an appointment. 

In the meantime, following these guidlines is going to go a long way towards supporting you.  Diet and lifestyle are the foundational practices. 

As a final note, Summer is expansive in nature with it;s increase in light and warmth. It can cause us to be more active in our outer worlds and in inner worlds as a by–product of the outer conditions. This means that, if you have Vata in your constitution, it’s recommended to pay attention to keeping Vata dosha balanced and watching out for any of those wired-“can’t-switch-off” states. 

SUMMER SEASON ENQUIRY PRACTICE:

As we appproach the Summer season, prepare heart and mind to navigate it the most successfully and effectively. 

Please take a journal and pen, and sit quietly where you won’t be disturbed.

Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Connect with what really matters to you in our life, with your breath and your body.

When you feel established in the presence of the moment, open your eyes and begin to reflect on these questions. Try not to censor or think too hard. Let your pen flow as if your hands are attached to and guided by your heart.

You can keep coming back to the questions and your journal as new insights arise from day to day as the Summer season approaches.

• How can you best give to yourself this Summer?
• How can you best make use of the extra energy that the season often brings?
• How can this extra energy serve what your most value and aspire to?
• How will you stay mindful not to move into exhaustion or burn out? What will be your gauge?

I’d love to read your feedback on any of the  recommendations here, and please feel welcome to ask your qeustions for clarification.  And to share your experience of the enquiry practice if you do it. 

Please look out for Summer recipes coming soon to my Recipe bank.