There is something about the whisper of autumn’s near arrival that awakens the senses.

The natural world begins to change and perhaps we feel and sense it with our body and soul before we really begin to recognise the changes through our eyes and senses as the glorious colours of autumn begin to arrive. All still looks so green and yet if you look closely there is an almost imperceptible shift their shades and we can begin to anticipate the emergence of those wonderful gold, russet and amber colours that fill an autumn landscape. The light also begins to shift. The sun is not so high in the sky as we approach the autumn equinox. And especially in the past days with the arrival of blessed rains after a long hot summer, the fragrance of damp earth and the feel of a softer earth underfoot, tell us we are at the threshold of a significant change in the natural environment. And this will ask us to change the pattern of our days.

One of the changes I notice already at this time of year, is a definite shift in eating. I have only just the other day, changed the contents of my veggie delivery to suit autumn’s approach and in my kitchen, I am now turning to hot steaming grains, earthy balancing soups – still not too heavy yet grounding and warming. I know to pay particular attention to keeping the rhythm of my days regular.

Candles in the mornings to accompany my practice, fairy lights across the logs left over in the fireplace from last year, and thoughts of filling a log store ready for the warmth of real flame as that seasonal blanket of darkness gradually descends upon us.

This is my instinctive response to the seasonal shifts taking place around us. I wonder if you are also noticing changes in the way you conduct your days, the time you go to bed – maybe a little earlier these days, and the foods you are drawn to?

We often think of food in terms of nutrition — calories, vitamins, protein, carbohydrates, fats. However, with Ayurveda we learn another way to approach and experience food and that is through the doorway of taste.

This is not about whether we enjoy the taste of something. It is much more than that in Ayurveda. In fact, taste is one of the building blocks of Ayurveda nutritional understanding.

According to Ayurveda, taste is one of the first ways in which food communicates with the body. Before we have even swallowed, something has already happened. The senses have been awakened. Saliva begins to flow. The digestive process is preparing itself.

The aroma, appearance, texture and taste of food all become part of the experience of nourishment. And foods in their whole and natural state – not processed, offer us six clear tastes that have definite impacts on the body.

Those six tastes are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent and their understanding brings us a completely new, fascinating and empowering approach to food and nutrition.

Each of the six tastes has its own qualities and its own interaction with the doshas. Some tastes are warming, some cooling. Some are moistening, while others are drying. Some tend to stimulate, while others soothe and nourish.

This is one of the reasons Ayurveda pays such close attention to the changing seasons. By paying attention to the changing seasons, and remaining aware of the dosha influences upon them, we can understand how best to adapt our food choices to help keep doshas in balance.

Remember the notion in Ayurveda that like increases like? Meaning that when Vata dosha increases in the natural world around us in the autumn, it increases within us too. If we eat Vata increasing foods, the dosha will increase further within us and excess dosha in Ayurveda is one of the causes of disease. However, if we choose foods which will reduce Vata dosha, then we are supporting our ongoing health and wellbeing. And amazingly, mother nature provides us with exactly the foods that antidote the effects of the season. Our ancestors who lived closer to the land, also understood how to prepare foods to antidote the effects of the seasons and support the body to thrive.

Herein lies the wisdom of seasonal eating. Ayurveda is inviting us into a closer relationship with nature and to remain aware of the qualities arising within nature at any point in the year.  

As autumn approaches, we notice the air becoming cooler. More wind cools the atmosphere even as the sun shines. Despite September rains, the atmosphere overall is becoming drier. Nature herself has passed her peak, and she begins her movement towards stillness, withdrawal and rest.

We are impacted by the shifts in the seasons because, as we have established through these pages, we are an inseparable part of that natural world. And so we are inevitably impacted by seasonal shifts and called upon in Ayurveda to adapt our daily lifestyle and nutritional choices accordingly.

This not only supports the body to stay well; I find it also supports greater equilibrium in the mind and emotions as the doshas shift with the changing seasons: doshas are the psycho-biological managers of the body-mind. They influence us psychologically as well as physically.

Personally, I also find that adapting and aligning with changes in the natural world through the course of the year, nurtures a greater sensitivity towards my inner and outer world, and through the connection with the land that it cultivates there is a nurturing spiritual blessing that arises out of seasonal living. Our understanding of our oneness with the entire existence is not only conceptual: it becomes lived through Ayurveda living and an unwavering and life enhancing sense of belonging to the whole adds an extraordinary and blessed sense of richness and fulfilment to everyday life.

And so, as you pay attention to the seasonal shifts over the coming weeks perhaps you could resolve to listen a little more closely to what your body, mind and heart are asking for. Perhaps a slower rhythm to the day, less engagement in outside activities, more time in the comfort of your home, in quietness and stillness; and as the climate becomes cooler and drier, let yourself be drawn towards foods that are warming, nourishing, moistening and satisfying. Enjoy more cooked food and fewer cold meals: soups, stews, porridges, roasted vegetables and warming spices and notice your strength grow rather than wane as the daylight hours fade and the cold, short days begin to replace the still light and gentle nature of the last days of late summer.

Food plays a major role in helping us meet the season with balance and resilience.

Ayurveda also gives great importance to agni, our digestive fire.

In truth, agni is much more than digestion in the narrow sense. It describes our capacity to receive, transform and assimilate. Just as fire penetrates a substance and transforms it – for example, wood into ash – so our digestive fire transforms foods, making them assimilable. Not only our foods, however. Also our life experiences, ideas and visions.

We might think of it as the fire that helps us transform food into nourishment, and ideas, plans and visions into a life-enhancing reality.

During the cooler months our digestive fire is likely to become stronger, to support us through the harsh days ahead. However, Ayurveda does not suggest that we should simply take advantage of that and throw more and more onto that fire. Like any fire, agni needs careful tending.

I always think of the fire rituals we do on retreats. Often in a windy outdoor environment, we make our fire pit and make offerings of oil onto the flames: too little and the fire will go out, too much and the fire will also be put out.

Too little fuel from food will weaken agni, therefore, and too much food or food that is difficult to digest will overwhelm it. In sum, extremes can disturb agni and at this time of year we want to be thinking about keeping it strong.

Not only does agni transform our foods and ideas and experiences, it is also our first line of defence, killing ingested pathogens that can make us sick and disturb the equilibrium of the body.

Our task is to refine our sensitivity to the body, and namely here, the digestion. Noticing what will nourish us and what we can digest that will leave us feeling warm and satisfied. Satiated but not heavy and uncomfortable.

And as the nature of the seasons change, our answers to these questions will change with them. What supports us at one time of year, will not feel as beneficial at another time of year.  Building discernment as we pay attention to the changes around us and notice their impact upon us, will therefore be of immense benefit to our ongoing health and longevity. Our sensitivity to what nourishes us, what we can and cannot digest at any time of year will grow and our health and happiness will grow with it.

One of the things I love about Ayurveda seasonal cooking is that something intended for therapeutic dosha or agni effect, can still be so rich in flavour and texture

Ayurveda chutneys are a perfect example. They combine sweet, sour and salty tastes, warmth from the pungency of the spices, and also wonderful aromas, textures and colours. They engage the senses beautifully – as do so many aspects of Ayurveda cooking, one of it’s distinctive features.

A spoonful of chutney not only awakens the senses and adds richness to an otherwise simple meal, but it can also become something like a little daily spoonful of medicine when we regularly add it to our meals. Recipes and ingredients vary through the seasons.

As autumn approaches we can look to mother nature and use the ingredients she is providing us with – spiced apple, pear or plum chutneys are a wonderful addition to your kitchen medicine.

I love to make use of the apples in my garden and the abundance of windfall plums when out on walks. And as Ayurveda chutneys do not have the sugar and vinegar content that are in the chutneys we are maybe more familiar with, they do not last as long but can keep nicely in the freezer for an extra special condiment at Christmas.

In Ayurveda, they are prized not only for the stimulation they bring to the senses. Chutneys play a key part in kindling agni and this is never so important as in the autumn and early winter seasons, as a means to support agni’s naturally increasing strength through these months.

Here is a yummy apple and ginger chutney for you to try.

Apples bring their natural sweetness and remind us of the abundance of this time of year. Ginger brings warmth and pungency. Other spices add their own distinctive qualities and aromas. A little vinegar contributes sourness, while salt helps to bring the flavours together.

Perhaps you can enjoy making it as the season begins to turn, turning your cooking experience into one of an exploration of the nature of the season, linking yourself right into its rhythms and energy in this way. Notice the colours, the growing lines on the foods as you cut them, the aromas, and the sounds as the apples cook and soften. You can serve it with rice and dhal, alongside roasted vegetables, with a simple curry or whatever feels right in your own kitchen. Taste the final product and adjust with extra spice or lemon.

Then if you have a kitchen altar, a lovely practice is offer some of the chutney in a small pot to the altar, an act of remembrance that this food is nature’s medicine – the ingredients given to us for seasonal balance by the abundant generosity of mother nature, the wisdom to combine them effectively having been handed down through the ages since the time of the Veda.

Click here for the Spiced Apple and Ginger Chutney Recipe.

THIS WEEK’S ENQUIRY PRACTICE – AN INVITATION TO TASTE

Perhaps this week, rather than trying to suddenly change the way you eat, simply become more curious.

Notice what you are drawn towards as the season changes – are the foods and tastes your  are drawn towards changing too? Are you turning towards more warmth, something a little heavier and nurturing, something sweet and comforting?

THIS WEEK’S AWARENESS PRACTICE:

Perhaps mealtimes can become a more intentional opportunity to pause this week, to come back to the senses and to be present to them and the foods you are ingesting, and to hold your senses present to the foods you are choosing and eating.

Before the first mouthful, take a moment to really notice the colours, aromas and textures of your food. The first taste of each meal is one to really savour slowly.

Can you discern the various tastes – the sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent (drying effect in the mouth) tastes of Ayurveda?

In bringing our attention and our appreciation fully to all this aspects of the food on our plate that perhaps so often go unnoticed, it brings a more holistic nourishment to the eating experience. We nourish not only the body, but nurture the senses, and ease the mind as we bring it into the present moment.

Autumn reveals to us that the natural world is slowing down and no longer so outwardly active and expressive as in the summer months. It carries with it therefore the invitation for us also to slow down and become a little more introspective.

Eating with a little more awareness this week can help us to glide into the spirit of autumn more smoothly, as well as bringing a little extra support to digestive systems also adjusting to the seasonal change.

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