Ritucharya for Your Ever Changing Life

There is one reality that is shared by all humans;

life is ever changing

We grow from a child to an adult; it’s the changes on the inside that aren’t as visible.

We look outside and we can see the changing weather, feel the change in the temperature and we can smell the change of seasons in the air. Everything in nature is affected by the changes in the seasons. All of what you see out the window affects you as well. You may notice that in late winter and early spring there is more dampness, therefore you may be creating more mucus and phlegm.  This is the season of coughs, colds and allergies.

Ayurveda says that the whole year is divided into two parts by two solstices.
Adana is the accumulation period between December and June.
Visarga is the release period between June and December.

In the Visarga or release period there is a predominance of the qualities of the moon or cooling energy.  At this time the appetite is strong and the strength of all living things beings increase.

In Adana period the qualities of the sun outweigh the cooling effects of the moon, dryness increases along with bitter, pungent and astringent tastes in produce.

When the weather heats up and the temperature increases many people start to sweat, experience heartburn and acid reflux. Emotional people feel irritable and restless and then the season changes again and becomes dry and cold. When this happens we experience dry skin, constipation, arthritis, anxiety and other things of that nature.

We can counteract the affects of the seasons by maintaining a diet and activities with opposite qualities from what we experience seasonally.

In Ayurveda Ritucharya means “seasonal routine”. When we follow Ritucharya we are able to prevent imbalances and maintain stability with the change of the seasons.

When we create more balance in our system we prevent the health problems that the change of seasons can present, “We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sail” for example, Texas has a long hot summer and Oregon has a cooler and shorter summer season.

It is important that we are conscious of the way we feel, that we check in with ourselves and pay attention to small changes that we detect.  The small changes that we feel when left unaddressed can lead to bigger issues and end up in disease.

Remember it is not the calendar that we go by when we plan our Ritucharya; it is nature that tells us when to make changes. Ritucharya also depends on the region you live in.

Sudden changes shock the system, make sure your change in Ritucharya is gradual, adding and subtracting foods and activities one at a time to make the change more gradual so the change in the season is less likely to make imbalance in your system.

blog post by Shelli Thompson