The seasons have officially changed and we are experiencing the tail ends of autumn in the northern hemisphere. It is a time of year when you can literally feel the shift in the air & even the way the sun kisses your skin is noticeably cooler. Hallmarked for pumpkin spice everything, hot apple cider, warm blankets, and comfort foods and soups, it is one of my favorite times of the year. One thing I love about Ayurveda is its absolute simplicity and relation to our innate intuitive guide if we only listen. All the things I mentioned previously (pumpkin spice everything, hot apple cider, warm blankets, comfort foods & soups) are all things that help to bring us into balance during this transition in seasons. Vata in ayurveda is categorized or defined as being made up of both the either and air elements. As the water begins to dry up from plants, temperatures drop, everything starts its beautiful transition from vibrant greens and colors of flowers slowly transitioning to brown, the leaves fall and everything in nature seems to draw in or shut off its output in anticipation for winter. We tend to do some of the same, establishing structure and discipline (like going back to school) as the seasons change is actually a great remedy to help dispel excess vata in both the body and the mind. When we are thriving in both body and mind we can’t help but let our BEAuTY shine!
So what does excess vata in the body and mind mean? It can show up in a number of ways, and some will be much more effected than others. Classic symptoms of vata are dry, brittle, chapped, rough hair skin and nails. Constipation and indigestion (can be due to lack of fire & water element) restless sleep, insomnia, stress, and anxiety. A balanced amount of vata can bring us a healthy desire for social outings and communication, creativity, and an increase of intuition and ability to connect to your spirituality through meditation, angels and guides.
Practices to help bring you in to balance in this time of year are important, especially to increase and support your immune system, or ojas as we move into the winter months.
Daily beauty tips for vata season:
- skin brush
- massage your body with warm sesame oil (try adding some lavender or spikenard eo for extra grounding)
- soak in a salt tub between the hours of 6-10am/pm, or 2-6pm
- Use your Ageless face Serum as it is formulated for all four seasons. For extra dry skin add a little Ageless Face Serum in with your Ageless Face Mask
We all know beauty is more than skin deep so to speak, so here are some dietary and lifestyle tips too:
Dietary – diet is huge when talking about your beauty routine. We’ve all heard the saying you are what you eat. And that my friends is exactly true. When you eat food your body takes its rasa or essence and makes everything new again starting with your plasma working all the way to up to your reproductive fluids and ultimately you immunity or ojas. Ojas is what gives people that lusterly glow form the inside out, something you just can’t put your finger on other than to say wow, she just glows. Diet in turn leads to digestion. In vata season digestion can become sluggish, and this lack of movement begins to build up toxins and acidity in the body. This does not only lead to overly dry & inflamed skin problems like eczema and acne, but it can also give you a grey lusterless complexion. So lets keep that blood flow and prana moving this vata season with these few dietary and lifestyle suggestions to combat excess vata, and keep us shining bright form the inside out!
- Stay hydrated, drink lots of hot water & avoid any cold beverages. Hot herbal teas are a go to for me! I personally love peppermint tulsi. Be sure to have two glasses of hot lemon water first thing in the morning.
- Eat lots of warming grounding foods. Hot porridge, stews and soups are the perfect meal for this time of year. Think about what is in season, and available where you live, and eat more of that. In the northern hemisphere it’s primarily root vegetables & squash.
- Use herbs and spices to help assist in digestion like, garlic, fresh ginger, sweet onion, scallions, peppermint, oregano, rosemary, black pepper, bay leaf, cardamom, cinnamon, all spice, in moderation turmeric, salt, cayenne, fennel and fenugreek.
- Try having breakfast between 6-10am. Eat something like porridge with cooked fruits and spice. Have your largest meal at lunch, Steamed veggies, sweet potato or brown rice. Dinner should be your lightest meal of the day, something like your favorite soup. Snack on nuts, soaked is best.
- Get plenty of healthy fats, using oils, nuts, seeds and avocado.
- Eat 3 hours before bed time
- Eat triphala before bed!!!!!!! Look it up. Trust me you want it. It is an amazing blend of three herbs that flushes out toxins, is super high in vitamin C, corrects digestive flow and is a super anti-aging antioxidant.
LIFESTYLE – Our daily habits play a huge role in our health, BEaUty and vitality. Here are a some of my favorite for vata season. I always recommend tuning in and seeing what you come up with for yourself. There are sure to be things I don’t mention. For vata you want to think about structure, which can actually make predominately vata people feel freaked out, but in my experience when a vata person tries to apply more structure they can experience greater peace rather than more chaos.
- Implement a schedule, or structure around your activities. Make a todo list and check things off
- Take extra time for self care
- Get a massage
- Let yourself get a little more sleep by going to bed earlier
- Avoid excess screen time, especially a couple hours before bed. Yep, that means no scrolling or watching tv in bed. Let your bed be for sleeping
- If the weather is relatively calm, bundle up and get outside. Get as much time in the sun and fresh air as possible
- Start a creative project
- Volunteer for a cause close to your heart
- Practice grounding slow moving restorative yoga
- Practice pranayama like nadi shodana
- Make an end of year goal and an action plan to obtain it
Well BEaUties, those are my tips for this vata season. The season of change, shedding things that no longer serve us, the saving of seeds from our abundant summer, and planning for what lies ahead. I hope you find yourself positively radiant from the inside out as we migrate this transition together. Some say at this time the veil between what we see and what is not seen is very thin and a potent time for setting intention for what your heart desires. Be BEaUtiful, and let me know if you have any tips that work for you, or if you try any of these and how they go!
Shine Bright
Thank you Nicole! Any tips on how to get triphala to go down easy? It’s so potent! I have abandoned taking it, because I have it in bulk (not capsules) – it’s such a rough swallow in bulk. I could put it in capsules – just wondering if you have some other magical way I could take it, while keeping it in bulk. Thank you!
Hi Xiomara!!! Triphala can be a mouthful when taking it in the powdered form. Taking it in powder form is of course most effective because not only does your body not have to break down a pill, but the digestive and absorption process begins as soon as it hits your tongue. Triphala also has 5 of the 6 tastes and it’s thought that whatever of the tastes you perceive on your tongue can help guide you to your imbalance showing what tastes you need more of. You can try soaking your triphala in a glass of water over night, and even better let it bathe in moonlight in a windowsill. If you just can not get it in, in its powder form your better off using a tablet, because you do not want to miss out on its healing properties! Great question Xiomara, triphala deserves its own blog post as it is defiantly an herbal formula that not only increases health and vitality, but beauty too.
Keep shining,
xo Nicole
Thank you Nicole! I do want to keep it in powder form, so thanks for the extra info and suggestions. So appreciate your suggestion to allow it to bathe in moonlight. I will give that a go! With Heart, Xiomara