Balance the heavy, earthy, wet kapha energy of the spring season
When people ask me what Ayurveda is, I like to describe it as an awareness. Simply stated, the practice of Ayurveda is the practice of being so in tune with the energetic patterns in your mind and body that you are able to make choices that are energetically favorable for you in every aspect of life, in every moment. I’ll use a simple example:
It’s 7am, and I’ve been hitting my snooze for just under 2 hours; my eyelids are in denial of their call to attention. My head feels so heavy– what did I do last night? This isn’t a hangover, more like sinus pressure. …hmmm, what day is it? What time to I absolutely have to get out of this bed? I can’t calculate that right now; I’m sure five more minutes would be okay.
If you’ve ever had the above morning dialogue with yourself, you’ve experienced the feeling of excess kapha energy . That morning, I woke up able to acknowledge my kapha imbalance. For the remainder of the day, I chose foods, teas, asana, music and aromas that helped to balance kapha, thereby decreasing the kapha in the major energetic inputs of my day. Thanks to this practice of Ayurveda, the next morning, I woke up much brighter.
Make Balancing Choices
Balancing with the energetic awareness of the choices you make will be uniquely beneficial for you, as these choices attend to your unique health patterns. However, it is common to see patterns of imbalances as we all experience the energetics of a given season and climate. Springtime brings a great influx of kapha energy for all of us, and as such, it is common to see signs of kapha imbalance this time of year.
Kapha season feels both full of potential as well as omnipotential. We are inspired to birth ourselves anew with the New Year. The Spring Kapha season is when we turn over the fields of our lives and plant the seeds of that which we hope to blossom in our life experience. For those of us whom are pitta (fire element) predominant in nature, the damp coolness of kapha can be a welcome seasonal experience in which we enjoy the cool weather and feel more grounded. However, for those of us with excess kapha in our lives and bodies, kapha season can bring some unwelcome experiences (as listed in the sidebar, such as a sense of heaviness and sluggishness).
HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE KAPHA EXCESS?
If you have several of the signs of kapha imbalance listed in this table, you likely have more kapha energy in your life than your being prefers. | MIND | BODY |
feeling sluggish or dull; sleepy; tired; stubborn, holding on to psychological baggage, or grudges; melancholy or depression; more frequent crying; feeling unmotivated; groggy am wake; an increased desire to be alone; slow to act; feeling increasingly private | feeling heavy; sluggish digestion; swelling; congestion; bloating; low appetite, especially in the morning; pale skin; increased sweating; longer or heavier menses; cysts; rheumatic nodules; increased coating on tongue; weight gain |
How to Balance Kapha
In Ayurveda, we diminish an imbalance by decreasing the qualities of that dosha in as many aspects of our lives as possible. Kapha dosha is cold, stagnant, accumulating, slimy (mucous), and moist in quality. Thus, the goals of kapha balancing would be to emphasize all the opposite qualities in our diets, routines, yogic practices and general approach to life.
The Ayurvedic suggestions below will help to balance kapha in the mind and emotional body, as well as in the physical body. More specifically, the following practices prevent and alleviate kapha imbalance in the digestive, respiratory, circulatory, lymphatic and fat tissue systems.
Wake up early.
Once kapha increases in the atmosphere, we feel it and fall deeper into sleep. It’s tough to wake up when you are in a kapha cloud. The earlier you can get out of bed in the morning, ideally rising with the sun, the less likely you are to have kapha-head-stay-in-bed syndrome. I’ve found that 7am is the farthest most of us can push it before entering hit-the-snooze-button-land. Going to bed early is what makes waking up early a sustainable practice.
Sun Salutations
Surya Namaskar is great to keep our internal fire nice and stoked. Heat helps balance the cold quality of kapha. Surya namaskar also helps to get our circulation going, which counters the stagnant quality of kapha.
Breath of Fire
Kapalabhati pranayam helps to balance kapha energy. The translation of the kapalabhati is “shiny forehead” because you get a little sweat going from the heat you build. It also helps to release kapha from the heart and lungs.
Exercise
Being active in the morning helps to balance the passive and sedentary nature of the kapha time of day. A short 10-15min walk in the late afternoon or after dinner is also good to balance kapha.
Avoid cold temperatures.
Staying warm helps to counteract the cold quality of kapha dosha. Dry heat and saunas balance cold and damp inherent to kapha; saunas with eucalyptus essential oil are especially nice. While heating up your home, make sure you avoid the stagnant quality of kapha by also airing out the rooms.
Avoid cold foods.
Cold dairy foods are high in kapha energy. In general, cold foods and drinks decrease our digestive capacity, resulting in slow digestion and increased ama (partially digested and fermented food build-up). Foods warm in temperature help support our digestive system’s ability to handle kapha and stay in balance.
Decrease foods which are heavy in quality.
Foods that are heavier in nature, such as dairy, heavy grains, or even mashed potatoes are naturally high in kapha. Favoring lighter foods and smaller portions helps to balance kapha.
Use spices.
Most of the warming spices are natural decongestants–revealing their medicinal benefits on the digestive and respiratory systems. All culinary spices are digestive aids and help to balance kapha production and storage in the body.
Some favorite kapha-reducing spices are garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, turmeric, cumin, ajwain (Indian celery seed), and black pepper. Herbs can be used effectively in cooking and teas, but also as essential oils in aromatherapy and in baths.
Kitchardi Cleansing.
Kitchardi is a stew of mung bean, basmati rice, ghee, and digestive spices. The completeness score (how complete a food is in all of the elements needed by the human body–vitamins, minerals, starches, fats and proteins) of the mung lentil alone is about 80/100. The missing 20/100 (vitamins A, D, and E) are supplied by the other ingredients. As such, kitchardi gives you everything your body needs; this is why it is sometimes referred to as a superfood.
In Ayurveda, mung is recognized for its detoxifying properties while also being rejuvenative. This is unique as most herbs and foods that detoxify strip down the body tissues instead of replenishing them. For this reason, kitchardi cleansing is appropriate even while maintaining your usual activities and working.
Brush your skin.
Using a loofah or skin brush, brush the skin all over, moving from the periphery towards the heart. It promotes healthy circulation and helps to stimulate the body to access remote fat stores, which aids in toning skin and discouraging cellulite. Similarly, massage is a good way to counteract the stagnant nature of kapha.
Increase the passion.
Being loving and sensual are beautiful expressions of kapha during this season. Physical intimacy also increases our internal heat and stimulates our circulation.
Clear clutter.
“Spring Cleaning” is a great way to reduce kapha in your surroundings. Get to the stacks of clothes, paperwork, or stuff accumulating in closets and garages.
Try new activities.
Stepping a bit out of our comfort zone balances the immobile, sluggish, or stubborn sort of feel to kapha imbalance. This is a good time to finally try things you have been meaning to do.
Cultivate new friendships.
Getting to know the people around you is a great way to step out of your own life and balance the natural tendency to draw inward this time of year.
Try on new perspectives.
Try to consciously step out of old emotional responses, especially in situations and relationships where you feel repeat patterns in your experience.
Eliminate Excess
Some of the greatest benefits of balancing kapha include having more enthusiasm, energy and motivation, losing weight, and feeling mentally clear. When immersed in the sluggishness of a kapha imbalance, it can be challenging to implement change. However, incorporating a few of these practices regularly, even if just after two weeks, can be greatly beneficial in alleviating the symptoms of kapha excess.
Photo by Fluid Frame Photography: Fluidframephotography.com
Dr. Siva Mohan integrates Ayurveda with modern medicine in her Ayurvedic wellness practice and educational programs to define and achieve whole-being wellness. Dr. Mohan specializes in addressing the psychospiritual basis of healing. svasthahealth.com.