I wrote yesterday on ten things I love about Ayurveda. There are more things to add to that list of course: the recipes, the oils, the beautiful treatments, the way that the herbs can reach and impact our consciousness as well as our bodies, and the way Ayurveda can guide us into personalised and seasonal lifestyle, nutrition and even Yoga practice.
One of the things included in that list of ten yesterday, was Ayurveda’s pointings for living in harmony with our own nature and with Mother Nature.
A significant part of this living in alignment with Nature in Ayurveda is the practice of Ritucharya.
Ritu can be translated from Sanskrit as season, and charya means regime or discipline. And so ritucharya is the practice of aligning our dietary and lifestyle regimens with the changing seasons. At Heart of Ayurvedas, we also align our Yoga asana and pranayama practice with the seasonal rhythms.
I spent numerous years living overseas and though each place had their seasons, I missed the four seasons of the British Isles. There is nothing comparable I thought, A veritable sun worshipper, I came to appreciate also our darker, colder times of year.
Ayurveda’s teachings on seasonal living has guided me towards this.
Since returning to the UK and immersing into the practice and teachings of Ayurveda, I am finding a deeper connection and sensitivity to Mother Nature and her rhythms awakening. Also, an appreciation of the messages and gifts she brings to us in each season. Each time of year has it’s bounty and gives us cause to give thanks and celebrate Life.
A key part of ritucharya, is to take note of the seasonal junctures. These are the times when we transition from one season to the next and Ayurveda deems them to be particularly vulnerable times for body and mind as both endeavour to adapt to the changing climate, and hours of dark and light that each season brings. There are specific dates for these in the Vedic calendar, which I know will have their certain wisdom and reason.
However, I find myself personally more attuned to the seasonal junctures marked by our pagan ancestors, just as I find myself more attuned to a four season rather than a six season year (also purported by Ayurveda).
We have the solstices and equinoxes as our natural seasonal markers, and the pagan festivals that lie halfway between them: Imbolc exactly half way between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, Beltaine between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, Lammas between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox, Samhain between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice. All these serve as reminders of the passing seasons and the changes afoot in the cosmos.
In aligning with these seasonal markers, and carrying out seasonal rituals at these junctures – cleansing, resets, taking time in retreat, gradually shifting dietary, lifestyle and Yoga practices as each seasonal shift approaches to support body and mind, I find myself more connected and rooted in our ancestry and this has a profound impact on my spiritual life and sense of belonging.
Our ancestors are not just the personal ancestry of our family line, but of our whole cultural heritage. All those who have walked before us on our lands, and shaped our ways through their love, caring and often through their bravery and hardship. There is much benefit to be felt in reconnecting with our forebears as we remember their natural ways, as a by-product of this alignment with the rhythms of Nature.
I love to visit the nearby Rollright Stones, standing stones not far from us that are older than Stonehenge. As I walk the paths around these stones, I can almost viscerally sense those who have walked before us and the impression and vibration they have left on the landscapes of the surrounding natural world, and on our spiritual hearts and minds. More and more flock to the stones around our lands these days, doubtless also finding that renewed sense of belonging and connection to ancestors and Nature, so needed in our society.
Our systems are breaking down, indicative of the inner spiritual breakdown happening individually for many and collectively. A restored sense of belonging is doubtless longed for.
And so, the Ayurveda practice of ritucharya can be much more than a way to adapt lifestyle and diet for sustained balance in body and mind. This is significant enough in itself and the benefits are clear, supporting year round enhanced health and well-being.
Yet ritucharya touches, as always in Ayurveda, not only our bodies and minds, but our whole being including our spiritual self.
Some years ago, I was living with chronic illness, house-bound and told there was not much chance of recovery, only a limited and adapted life.
I would not settle for that, and through my various endeavours on the pathway to recovery, a 6-step whole person programme was revealed to me. It is a programme that incorporates the body-mind-heart-soul practices of Ayurveda, in Ayurveda’s uniquely personalised way. I am quietly drawing this programme in all my clinical work, and in my courses, workshops and retreats.
The 6-steps programme is also included in my personal seasonal living practices, as well as in my seasonal workshops and retreats. Living through the seasons with this whole person approach sustains strength, happiness, balance and connectedness – to self, to Mother Nature, and indeed to that one consciousness at the heart of this Existence. This engenders a sense of wholeness and belonging that in themselves are deeply healing and restorative to body, heart, mind and soul.
I’d love to share with you more of this understanding and the practices supporting it.
Please look out for an upcoming blog on my 6-step programme through the Summer. And for upcoming seasonal retreat dates.
There is an Autumn Ayurveda Rejuvenation Retreat scheduled for September 30 – Oct 4th
Now you know more of what it is about, The retreat will immerse you in my 6 step programme and it’s body-mind-soul nourishing points on the Ayurveda road map to whole person, seasonal and year round health and well-being.
Do you experience any challenges during any of the four seasons of our climate? For example, hayfever. SAD, heat-reactions.
In Ayurveda, one of the causes of disease is said to be the effect of the seasons.
Please comment below and I’ll be happy to message you and open up a dialogue with you so that we can see how Ayurveda can help you to relieve symptoms and redress the dosha (humour) imbalances that may be triggering them.
I hope to hear from you.
With my love
Sara Shama