Supporting Women - Body, Mind, & Soul
Maybe like me, you wonder how to best choose your food and activities for today. I made up this little chart to share with students and clients to get in the habit of determining our daily dosha needing balance.
If you need to learn how to balance, choose my class series – Learn the Language of Nature – Ayurveda for a background which teaches you how to do just that.
Autumn is Vata season. Ayurveda teachings share a lot about adjusting to each season. How we eat, how we exercise, our lifestyles, can all help us be balance our personal physiology. By knowing your own balance (or imbalance) and the tendency of the seasonal change to disrupt you, the most individualized approach is possible. This article gives general info about the season. For more about your own personal balance, consult with me or another Ayurveda practitioner.
Of course where you live determines what the season is like. I live in Colorado. It’s generally dry, changeable, windy, high in altitude, so thin of air. These conditions tend to increase the Vata in our systems – more air and space. Our Falls tend to be temperate moving slowly into colder temperatures – unless there’s a sudden snow storm, which is also possible. It can be windy.
In general, Autumn is a Vata season – when plants die back, crops are harvested, leaves fall from trees, nights become cooler and frost will begin to appear. It is a time of Nature letting go above ground, going down into the roots in preparation for Winter cold.
So to guard against the drying, changeable, cooling effects of Autumn, eating a cooked, soupy diet of seasonal vegetables is in order. Crockpot meals are handy and soothing. Avoid any foods that cause gas for you, such as beans or broccoli, unless very well cooked and spiced to increase digestion. That expansive property is too common in this season. Root vegetables are very grounding and balancing for Vata.
Protect yourself against the wind and cold by covering yourself, especially your head and neck.
Vata can agitate the nervous system. After the long days and activities of summer, it becomes time to guard against too much activity, electronics or other ways that can over stimulate us. We begin the inward turning, just as the sun recedes from our hemisphere as the Earth tips away from it.
Other Vata soothing measures that you may include in your daily routines include:
Autumn is a wonderful time to enjoy the harvest of food and memories from the summer work and play.
There are so many health tips, diets, and regimes available today. How do you choose what is best for YOU? Ayurveda can help! This class series is the place to start. It will allow you to care for yourself and your family more wisely.
Ayurveda is the timeless teaching of India to support healthy, happy life. This way of understanding and cooperating with the language of nature includes theory, assessment, and techniques to for self care as well as more complex work to treat disease. In the USA, there are now Ayurvedic Doctors, Practitioners, and Technicians who are recognized by the National Ayurvedic Medicine Association
First created to honor Ayurveda Awareness Month, these videos are an introduction to Ayurveda from the perspective of self-care.
Each video class builds on the others.
You may also like to have mentoring sessions with Terra:
Ovaries and Uterus- Where are Yours? (5 min) is a brief, popular video that shows you how to find just where your uterus and ovaries are likely to be in your body. Sometimes women mistake their intestinal pains for being their ovaries or uterus. Being more aware will help your self care.
Ovaries and Uterus – Where are Yours? – the video
For more about how the uterus moves – with your cycle and with dysfunction – see our course on Female Anatomy
With Terra Rafael
Women often wonder “is this menopause?” when various things change in their cycles, their bodies, and their minds. This class helps you answer that question, as well as giving you some simple self care techniques. 52 minutes
Menstrual & Fertility Health with Ayurveda. This 2 hour class discusses understanding healthy menstrual & fertility, and treating menstrual and fertility problems in women.
Some knowledge of Ayurveda is assumed in this 2 hour lecture, originally given at the Colorado Ayurvedic Medicine Association. If you need to learn Ayurveda, see the Learn the Language of Nature -Ayurveda Series for an overview.
You may want to watch the whole series Women’s Health with Ayurveda
