In the summer, it is important to balance the fiery pitta energy with ways to cool off, calm down, and restore. If we do not purposefully schedule downtime in summer, tempers can flare, irritability can get the best of us, and we can burn out more easily.
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What we eat and drink seasonally can have a profound effect on our bodies, either aggravating or pacifying our Doshas. During the summer, it’s imperative that we prioritize consuming foods and beverages with cooling qualities to soothe any excess heat accumulated from the summer season. We all love a refreshing summer beverage, and it’s important that we choose one that is equally balancing as it is delicious. Here are a few of our favorite Pitta Balancing Beverages to sip all summer long.
Traveling endows us with the clear, light, mobile qualities of Vata, and can provide insights and open our eyes to a perspective we may have been missing. Vacations inspire us with new beauties of the world, cultures, and nature, and remove us from the redundance of our day-to-day energy bubble and life routine.
As the days get longer and the air gets warmer, we’re all looking forward to bringing in some fresh summer energy. When summer begins to take over, we welcome Pitta season. Pitta is one of the three Ayurvedic Doshas, and it governs the summer season.
Part of what makes summer unique is the sunlight that shines brightly into the evening. This time of year can remind us that life always is in flux, as the days will start to get shorter after the summer solstice. While we tend to associate summer with longer days, the start of summer marks the slow descent into the darker months.
We are all different, at least from a physical and mental perspective. We each have our own likes and dislikes, our ways of reacting to situations, the health challenges we might face, and a myriad of other unique qualities. It would be a very boring world if we were all the same, these differences are what make life interesting. The science of Ayurveda recognizes these differences and categorizes them as combinations of three energies known as the Doshas - Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Knowing your doshic combination, or Ayurvedic body-type, opens a whole treasury of guidelines to balance and support all areas of life.
Anger can be an intense emotional experience that often feels inexplicable. It can arise out of nowhere for something seemingly irrational and can feel hard to get a hold of. Experiencing anger persistently is usually a sign of stuck and unexpressed emotion. These emotions may have nothing to do with anger, but when experiences like sadness, shame, and frustration are held in the body, they can manifest as anger in our day-to-day lives.
Familiarizing ourselves with the dominant doshas of the season and acknowledging what feels in (and out) of balance in our own constitution allows us to choose activities, foods, and even meditations that can support us through changes in seasons and in our personal lives.