Rejuvenating Spring and Bitters! Be in the Flow!
Dear Friends,
Spring is in the air and around the corner, there is a lightness all around… it feels so nice soaking in the nourishing rays of the spring sun, hearing the buzzing of the bees and the lightness of the birdsong and enjoying luscious spring greens and delicate flowers here in Southern California!
However, your body and mind might feel a bit heavier and the lymphatic system sluggish from denser accumulations throughout the Winter Season (plus living through all the Covid19 restrictions!)
Ayurveda sees winter as Kapha season and the warming spring sun melts away sticky and congestive build up.
Ayurveda teaches us, that diseases don’t just ‘spring on us’ out of the blue!
We feel unwell through increased stress leading to irritations, stagnations caused by misaligned imbalanced lifestyles which can lead to dis-ease.
Lifestyle and attuning with the rhythm of the seasons is an absolute key in wellbeing and living vibrantly!
This is the meaning of going with the flow!
Some simple, yet effective practices you can do, to melt your sluggishness away and align with the lightness of spring!
1. Eat your bitters (tikta)!
The taste of bitter is cleansing, scrapes fat and toxins from the body and is also blood cleansing. It encourages the flow of bile in the gallbladder, liver health, and helps our digestion!
It is detoxifying and high in antioxidants!
And will make you feel lighter and gives you glowing skin!
Add more bitter foods into your daily meals: chopped up in your salads with lemon and high quality olive oil, steamed and cooked. Use the spices in your cooked foods in teas or tinctures!
‘What exactly are bitter foods?’ …something I hear quite a bit…
- dandelion greens, nettles
- swiss chard, kale, collard greens
- radicchio, chicory, endive, arugula, olives
- artichoke
- white asparagus, brussel sprouts, zucchini
- bitter melon (very bitter and you most likely find it indian grocery stores)
- burdock root, fenugreek, dill, cumin, turmeric, tulsi, milk thistle
- dark chocolate…..Yep! Just enjoy a little bit! I particularly love the raw and fair trade ones!
- coffee and black tea…please make sure that you don’t overtax your nervous system by overconsumption
Why do we tend to avoid bitter in our lives or are we afraid of it?
Taste wise we are often conditioned to like sweet, sour and salty. It is just conditioning!
Bitterness also accumulates in an emotional layer throughout the days, months and years as feelings of betrayal, disappointments, complications, destructions of a dream, heartbreak etc. If we build a wall around our hearts to not feel and taste these feelings and digest them completely, we are preventing ourselves to fully participate in life and keep creating freshness.
We need to learn to digest all experiences fully!
Our life is a blend of flavors!
Savor the bitter and allow it to transform you!
It is good for you and your evolution!
It will help you and digest and eliminate what you have experienced and swallowed!
Bitter flavors are most balancing for Pitta and Kapha Doshas! Please add them in moderation if you are more Vata or Vata imbalanced!
Today I had 30 minutes in-between clients and I chopped up radicchio, an avocado, put in some green olives ( my absolute favorites are Castelvetrano Olives), drizzled some fresh lemon juice and olive oil over it, pepper, salt, a bit of fresh thyme and voila, a super tasty, light, easy to make lunch!
2. Dry Brushing!
Get a body brush! Dry brush your body a few minutes before you shower. The movements are towards your heart. Dry brushing increases your circulation, stimulate the lymphatic system, removes ‘toxins’, and as a beautiful side effect makes your skin soft.
3. Get moving!
Get up early, to let the sun greet you and go for a brisk walk, building up to a light jog!
Or play you favorite music and jump on your trampoline or dance in your living room!
This is important to keep your lymphatic system open and flowing! Make it fun, so it does not add up to another ‘to do list thingie’ on your ‘never-ending to-do-list’. And it will make you feel lighter and more happy and some of your extra pounds will melt away while you feel lighter and happier!
Seize the movement!
4. For a totally personalized healing, detoxing and rejuvenating journey contact me:
~ Initial Spiritual Ayurvedic Consultation + Individual Program in person or online
~ Ayurvedic Treatments These treatment results in a profound feeling of stability, warmth and wellbeing
~ Siddha Varmam Therapy Very effective in acute and chronic conditions in body and mind
~ Individualized Pranayama/Breathing/Meditation Session
It is said in the Ancient texts, that certain Pranayamas remove the “emotional scars” in your brain and create new pathways for Prana to flow and open us up to deeper levels of clarity, peace and joy.
Very powerful, as well for hormone balancing and improving digestion.
Please contact me via email: jivasattva@gmail.com
For more info check out my website: www.jivasattva.com
In love and lightness,
Jutta