I am feeling cold and have low energy. Is there anything Ayurveda can do to help me in these winter months?
I feel you, yes, we are fully immersed in the Kapha sprinkled with a little Vata season. Meaning we will likely be feeling cold, lethargic, moody, down, anxious and sleepy if these are out of balance. And we don’t want that! Not right now please!
This is the thing, when qualities meet each other, they get over-zealous, and egg each other on to the point of imbalance. So cold and dreary weather and atmosphere, meeting a body that is also feeling less down and depleted, can lead us further down into sleepy domains that we don’t need to be in.
We want our minds and bodies to be bright sprightly and working well. So that we have strength and fortitude to fall back on. So how do we go about doing that?
Awareness is Key
One of my main aims when I start working with people is to get their awareness up. This is key. Having confidence also in knowing what you need at any given moment. Awareness of yourself, your tendencies and proclivities, your body type, which paths of temptation you are likely to go down and potentially trip up. I would then ask you to look outside, what is the weather saying, is it erratic or steady? How long are the days, how damp or cold is it outside etc. This then gets you into the mode of measuring your environment’s constitution at any given moment.
Once you know where you’re at, you can work out what supportive measures to take.
What is the weather saying where you are?
As I look outside in the UK right now, it is cold and dry, alternating with dampness, it is heavy at times as well as the atmosphere being filled with some tension and anxiety as a result of a new lock down safety measures. We are being asked therefore to come into ourselves, work out what we need, and how we might be the strongest version of ourselves, while building up resilience and fortitude.
How to do this:
- Keep a regular routine, try and go to bed and get up at the same time each day, this gives your psyche a comfortable boundary to exist within, as well as keeping your circadian rhythm in check.
- Sit with yourself first thing, what energies have come up in the night? I think it is imperative we check in on this each morning – if we see what we’re dealing with vibrationally each morning, we know where we’re at, and how we might deal with it. I do this by meditating and sitting with myself, before performing mantra japa internally to realign myself.
- Do pranayama breathing – this is just the best medicine! As it is cold outside, you can do some bhastrika, anuloma viloma, and kapalabhati, all of which aid in generating internal heat and energy as well as calming the nervous system and getting into the parasympathetic mode of your nervous system.
- Look for the sun in the morning, even if it’s behind clouds, it is a source of energy that I think we should connect with each and every day, especially in winter in the northern hemisphere, when we are less inclined to spend time with it.
- Give yourself sesame oil massages! You know I love to tell people about this, and once you have given yourself some oil-covered love, immerse yourself in a warm bath with warming calming essential oils. Maybe frankincense, ylang ylang and a little orange? Mmmm
- Eat warm foods and warm water, and warming herbal teas throughout the day.
- Try to have finished eating by 8pm at the latest and give yourself at least 12 hours til your next meal (break-fast)
- Don’t snooze after a meal, this will further increase kapha, making you feel more lethargic and downbeat
- Speak to your friends and go for walks with them so not to feel lonely or isolated, and keep smiling and saying thank you for all the blessings you are surrounded by.
Love, Selina
by Selina Van Orden
