Daisies and I surely are happy to be basking in a cool breeze, and moonlight while at Charlotte Beach after some hot and muggy days. Summer announced itself with a big splash this past week here in Rochester. This drastic weather change offers the perfect opportunity to put on our ‘Ayurveda shades’ and ask:
What are the effects of the qualities currently impacting me?
To find greater ease, this is the first question on the journey of upgrading your relationship to your well-being, according to this ancient and scientifically grounded approach to daily living.
When experiencing humid heat, you might find the answer to be irritation or inflammation.
What good things can I bring to my system having the opposite qualities of the ones I’m negatively impacted by?
Whether intuitively, or from experience, if you replace your spicy foods and acidic beverages with foods cooked in coconut oil and drink mint water between meals, you are already making use of Ayurveda’s wisdom!
Just as cooling qualities help harmonize your heated system, so too is the opposite of this. If for example, you’re used to warm weather but recall a time spent in cold conditions where you felt mild depression or sluggishness as a result. By choosing to sip on ginger tea or eat warming, well-spiced foods, again, you were again aligning with Ayurvedic principles!
Whenever you feel inconvenienced by an undesirable quality, the opportunity to bring ease to the situation is also present.
A Simple Law of Nature at Your Disposal
Like qualities increase one another, and opposites can be used to promote balance.
This simple and doable law of nature is solidly rooted in science and has withstood the test of time — Ayurveda.
Aligning yourself with nature’s qualitative laws restores Ease. An approach to living that I now invite you to curiously and gently lean into as an experiment:
Experiment Pt 1~ Create Your Symptoms Prevention Tool Box
Consider how different qualities impact you daily and what good things you can bring to your system that have the opposite qualities of the ones negatively impacting you.
From this inquiry, begin to create a list of practices you suspect can support you in moments of imbalance.
Experiment Pt 2 ~ Embrace a ‘Dis-ease-Prevention’ Way of Living
While building your list, commit to using it daily, even if for just five minutes. Instead of justifying why you don’t have time to care for your basic needs, start today with five minutes and see how your life transforms over time.
For instance, if you’ve been juggling too many tasks (drying and mobile) and feel depleted as a result, a pause to go into the forest (moistening and stabilizing) will be harmonizing. Even using your imagination of a forest for five minutes is a good start!
Wishing you the ease of balanced living, today and in all ways,
