Lighten Up ~ Recipes and Self-Care for Spring
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Travel light, live light, spread the light, be the light.
~ Yogi Bhajan
Happy Spring Equinox! This season of growing light and awakening of the natural world calls on us to lighten up on so many levels. As the sun gets brighter and the days longer, it's time to throw off the heavy coats and boots, along with heavy foods as we let go of the heaviness and stagnation of winter.
Ayurveda, Yoga's sister science, honors this lightening up of the natural world by prescribing a lighter diet, heating, cleansing and purifying yoga and lifestyle practices. See below for a some recipes, rituals and a yoga playlist to inspire you to lighten up this spring.
I hope you can join me for Mindful Yoga to bring lightness to body, mind and heart this spring. You can find the details HERE
Ayurvedic recipes for spring
Ayurveda, Yoga sister science, offers specific diets for each season to help us live in harmony with the rhythm of the natural world. It calls for a lightening up at spring with a diet that is light, warming, drying and cleansing to help shed the heaviness and stagnation of winter. One of my favorite books on Ayurveda is Kate O’Donnell‘s The Everyday Ayurvedic Cookbook
Here are two of her simple spring recipes to help you lighten up.
Spring Digestive Tea
Ingredients
2 cups water
1/2 inch fresh ginger
1/2 star anise
2 or 3 black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions
In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups of water to a boil.
Coarsely chop the ginger. (You can include the peel.)
Add ginger, star anise, cloves, peppercorns, and cinnamon to the water.
Reduce the temperature to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
Strain into 2 cups and enjoy. It’s best to drink after meals.
Morning Refresh Juice
Ayurveda advises skipping heavy, cold morning, smoothies and this refreshing morning drink is a great alternative for spring.
Ingredients
Fresh squeezed juice from two oranges or two grapefruits or one of each. (About 2 cups)
1 1/2 inch of fresh ginger peeled
1 or 2 teaspoons of raw honey
Juice of one lemon (less, if you prefer it less acidic)
Optional dash of cayenne pepper if you’d like some heat
Directions
Place 1/2 of orange/grapefruit juice(one cup) and ginger in a blender and blend until smooth.
With the blender, running on medium drizzle in the honey from the feeder at the top.
Add the rest of the orange/grapefruit juice, your preferred amount of lemon juice and optional cayenne pepper and pulse to combine.
Split between two glasses and drink right away. Enjoy!
Self-Care for Spring
Dry Brushing
Dry brushing called garshana in Sanskrit is a major component of Ayurvedic self-care practices. Dry brushing your skin before your shower is a quick and easy way to to bring some self-care practices into your daily routine. You could do it every day if you had time or once a week is fine too.
How To
Using a dry brush with natural bristles, you want to begin brushing from the extremities in toward the heart. Starting at the feet up and then from the hands in, you can brush in a circular motion around joints and the stomach and long with long linear brushes on arms and legs.
When you’re done jump in the shower to wash off the dead skin cells and you’ll be left feeling energized and refreshed to start your day.
Dry brushing has many benefits. It creates warmth and cleanses the body by exfoliating dead skin cells, stimulating circulation, and stimulating lymph drainage.
