beat the Heat
On Monday, we released a new podcast episode where I had the opportunity to spend an hour with our resident Ayurvedic expert, Larissa Hall Carlson, and explore tips and tricks to stay cool this summer season. If you are pitta dominant, this is especially important, as you already have a lot of the fire element in your constitution. Don’t know if you are pitta dominant? Do you tend to sleep with one foot out of the covers? How about flipping to the cool side of the pillow in the middle of the night? Both of these are signs that you have a lot of fire in you. Ayurveda tells us that like increases like, which means that more fire in summer months can make the already more fire in your being increase, until it figuratively, spills over, which can literally, cause a big mess in the form of skin redness, or acne like eruptions, GERD, ulcers, sharp hunger, sleeping disturbances as well as mental upset such as irritability, impatience, and frustration.
The following tips can help you “keep your cool,” literally and energetically, even as summer heat intensifies. And if you are in the Northeast, bookmark this email, because I promise you, summer weather will be here very soon!
Lifestyle
☀️ Avoid being outside in peak sun/pitta time of day, 10 am-2 pm.
🪷 Spend time outside in the early morning and evening.
👒 Wear a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, and seek shade when outside.
Being near (or in) water soothes pitta.
❄️ Cold plunge for the feet and eyes. An easy go-to that will immediately reduce the fire is to stand in the bathtub and run the cold water over your feet. Keep them submerged and feel the heat moving down from your heat and out through the feet. I keep an eye cup on my bathroom counter and rinse my eyes with cool water every morning. The eyes are pitta organs and can be a place where heat accumulates, which will manifest as bloodshot red eyes or eyes that burn when you close them.
🗓️ Summer is the time to have space in your schedule. Think hammocks and summer reading lists. Prioritize non-competitive play and leisure activities. This one in particular will be my summer goal.
Yoga and Exercise
🧘 Favor a slower flow yoga routine—Moon salutations instead of sun salutations. Summer is not the time for hot vinyasa.
🏃♀️ Exercise in the morning before 10 am, just to the point of perspiration.
⚖️ Try balancing pranayamas like nadi shodhana and cooling pranayamas like sitkari and sheetali breathing. Vigorous and/or heating pranayamas, such as ujjayi and kapalabhati, may be too heating for sensitive pitta individuals.
🏊 Swimming is an excellent exercise to balance pitta, especially in cool lakes and rivers, and is most effective in the morning or late afternoon/early evening.
Foods to Favor
🍉 Nature always provides the remedy. Favor sweet, bitter, and astringent tastes, which are abundant in the seasonal produce: Summer melons, fruit, and greens.
🥒 Cooling foods and teas, such as cucumber, coconut, watermelon, fennel, cilantro, mint, and aloe, can cool you from the inside out.
🥤 My favorite summer beverage combos:
Coconut water with watermelon juice
Pomegranate juice with a shot of aloe vera in it
Hibiscus and mint tea
🎧 To learn more about Ayurveda, pitta dosha, and tips and tricks on beating the heat this summer:
