As summer’s nearing end, I find myself and the world around me entering a season of change – back to school, vacation’s over, and the lush vibrant greens of midsummer are now showing browns and yellows at the edges.  Just today I saw a hint of red coming forth!

No matter where you live geographically, your internal “nature” experiences the change of the seasons.
Summer is the season of heat.  The sun is close, and the element of fire is predominant in nature.
This seasonal change – summer to fall – is all about the summer heat burning off, giving way to the cooling winds of fall.  Nature’s clearest expression of this comes through the desiduous trees as the green leaves gradually turn to red, orange, and yellow – the colors of “fire”!

Ayurveda, the ancient science of longevity, explains the natural rhythms we see “outside” of us are simultaneously occurring “inside” of us.    During this seasonal change, physical symptoms often present  themselves, as our internal nature “burns of the summer heat”. 

You may feel overheated, irritable, burning sensations in the body, redness in the skin, fatigue, or an inability to stop “thinking and doing”.  The beauty of Ayurveda and Yoga is the myriad of simple and profound practices you can do to support your body and mind during this seasonal change.

Here’s 3 you can try at home:   

1. Use Mint and Lime: Add mint and lime to your water bottle,  to support the body release of heat.  Check out my Mint/Lime Refresher below - recipe and link to Kathryn’s recipe book.

2. Clever Showering:  Avoid the use of hot water on your head.  When you rinse your hair turn the temperature down to warm, cool, or cold depending on what you can comfortably tolerate.  I use warmer water for my body and then cool it down for my head.  You are literally cooling the hot head ! 

3. Get on the Ground and Chill – Lay down, and stop doing for 5 minutes.  Force yourself!  Convince yourself !   Lie on your back with your knees bent, or extend the legs out.   Another option is to place your lower legs on a chair or place your legs up the wall.  Listen to one or two songs of soothing music while you’re there, your 5 minutes will be up.   Get up slowly and feel the refreshment!