Why is Spring the Best Time to Cleanse?
Spring cleaning for your house and your body!!
Everything feels so bright, and alive, and happy during the spring. Birds hatch, flowers bloom, and the whole world seems to explode with vibrant color. Spring is also the season we are supposed to deep clean our homes and donate items that we are no longer using.
Interestingly, Ayurveda also teaches that this is an effective time to cleanse. But why?
Ayurveda focuses on routines. Daily routines, lifecycle routines, seasonal routines- the whole world functions on a seemingly hidden, constantly ticking clock. Our hunger rises and falls with the sun, our bodies age and change with time, each season brings its own changes that affect the environment, body, and mind.
Studying the seasons from an Ayurvedic perspective comes under Svastha Vrtta. Svastha translates to ‘healthy person’ and Vrtta to ‘regimen.’ All of the Ayurvedically prescribed daily and seasonal routines are included here.
Ayurveda can be understood through the lens of the 20 Tattvas, the 20 qualities that can be used to describe everything in the universe.
The next foundational concept to consider is the theory of tridosha. There are three functional energies that are responsible for the form and function of everything that we experience. Vata, the energy of transportation, is cold and light. Pitta, the energy of transformation is hot and sharp. Kapha, which governs structure and lubrication, is cold and heavy. You can learn more about the tri-doshas here.
Vata is dominant in the environment during the fall and early winter, Pitta during the summer, and Kapha during late winter and spring. During the late winter and spring, the qualities of kapha accumulate in the body. This is why we may notice some weight gain around this time (January/February) and we have all experienced the desire to sleep in a little later and feel that our energy is a little lower during this time. We can literally feel the heavy, cold, stagnant energy of kapha in our bodies, just as it is seen in the environment around us.
In our modern world, this also lines up nicely with the holidays! No one wants to avoid the delicious festivities around the holidays and no one should have to. Ayurveda provides us with an understanding and suggestions on how to clear some of the excess food intake and possible toxins that accumulate in the body from this indulgent season.
When spring comes to animate and bring warmth to the world, we should take this time to do the same thing internally. Drinking warming teas with cinnamon, adding warming spices like black pepper, ginger, and turmeric to your food, and eating freshly cooked foods are wonderful lifestyle techniques to have a healthy spring and are a wonderful way to gently cleanse the kapha and possibly accumulated toxins from the body.
Tips on cleansings in the Spring:
Follow for a consecutive 21 days
Avoid processed wheat and sugar
Drink warm water with the juice of ½ of a fresh lime first thing in the morning
Add warming spices: black pepper, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon to your food
Prioritize freshly cooked, warm foods (avoid raw foods and pre-packed foods)
Do not eat leftovers that were cooked more than 24 hours ago
Go on a daily 30-minute walk
There are of course more in-depth and personalized seasonal cleanses that can be recommended. Described above is a great way to get started at home!
