With the darker and shorter days, we naturally want to cosy up. Light the fire, candles and enjoy nourishing warming foods. We are going into the natural state of hibernation. Mentally and physically.
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Even our digestion goes into hibernation. In Ayurveda, our inner and outer environments are closely related and affect one another. In autumn and winter, we experience less of daytime hours and the sun doesn’t make much of an appearance - not like in the summertime. As the external sun is less prevalent so is the inner fire - our digestion.
In our previous blog, we talked about how Ayurveda links the inner fire (our digestion) and the outer fire (the sun). Now it is time to find ways to work with our digestion and digestive fire rather than against it.
Digestive fire
If you suffer from wind, constipation or sluggish digestion at this seasonal juncture it is time to listen to your gut and kindle your digestive fire
Ayurveda asks us to consider foods that are warming, easy to digest and full of digestive spices and herbs.
Here are some of our top tips:
- Warming foods. No more cool salads or raw food. Enjoy food that has been cooked, baked or roasted. This means we have activated the external fire - even if this translate to our oven or hob. Once the food has started to cook it will be less taxing on our digestive fire. It’s the perfect time to enjoy casseroles, soups and roasts.
- Easy to digest. The go-to remedy for any digestive issue in Ayurveda is kitcheri. Kitcheri is a mix of basmati rice and mung dhal. It cooks for a while infused with digestive herbs and spices. You can even add a few seasonal vegetables to it. If you have digestive upsets this is the recipe to use. We like Hemsley’s recipe here but feel free to be creative and use your own mix of herbs, spices and vegetables.
- Digestive spices. Mix your favourite warming digestive herbs and spices into your dinner and even enjoy as a tea. Ginger is an all-time favourite for digestive upset, add black pepper to warm up any food, cumin for a bit of spice and a tiny bit of comforting cinnamon.
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What about our outer body - our muscles and skin?
You can also enjoy some the of warming qualities of spices externally. Using nourishing vegetable oils on your skin helps against dryness and grounds us. A body oil such as Yogandha Muscle Soothe uses warming spices such as ginger and marjoram which both kindle our fire, and it soothes and warms us. It's perfect to massage on the abdomen for digestive support before or after eating. You can also add the oil to specific pressure or Marma points on the body. We are explaining how 4 of them can help our general health and support detoxing in this blog.
Join Sinead from Yogandha for our FREE webinar on how to hibernate here.