5 Healthy Comfort Foods to Indulge in This Autumn & Winter
The cold weather is here, and nothing feels better than settling in with a hot bowl or plate of your most favorite dish that’s heavy, fatty, and oh-so-satisfying. Well, it's certainly oh-so-satisfying until of course you realize you're so full you can barely move!
Believe it or not, comfort foods can be tweaked so that they’re much less heavy and contain far fewer caloriesthan their full-fat counterparts. Check out some of the healthy comfort food ideas below and suggested recipes to bring warmth and nourishment to your body all throughout the autumn and winter months.
Vegetable soup
Skip the canned soups instead for your stock pot or slow cooker and lots of fresh veggies. Making your own vegetable with vegetable/chicken broth and optional chicken and/or noodles will help you cut down on the sodium content often found in canned varieties.
Try adding veggies like onions, mushrooms, carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, peas, corn, and anything else you think would go lovely in a soup. Here’s a loaded vegetable soup recipe to try if improvising isn’t your thing.
Vegan mac n’ cheese
Whether it’s from a box or homemade, regular mac n’ cheese certainly packs a lot of calories and fat from all that dairy. But making it vegan with a cheese substitute is a much healthier alternative—and it still tastes amazing!
Nutritional yeast is what you’re going to need, along with some almond milk, spelt flour, your pasta of choice and a few more ingredients to pump of the taste. Follow this easy, cheesy vegan mac n cheese recipe to get it just right.
Pita pizzas
You could order a pizza from your favorite pizza place… or you could just break out a few pitas and use them to make your own mini personal pizzas. This way, you have complete control of all the ingredients that you decide to top onto your pizzas.
Pita pizzas mean no dough making and no mess. This five-minute pita pizza recipe uses pocketless pita flatbreads. Best of all, you can make them in a toaster oven if you’d rather skip preheating the big oven.
Baked sweet potato chips
Settling in for a movie night calls for snacks, and chips are often a first choice. But instead of grabbing a bag from the grocery store, why not make your own healthier baked variety from sweet potatoes?
All you need is a mandolin slicer, a bit of olive oil, some kosher salt, and of course a sweet potato. This baked sweet potato chips recipe will show you how to turn that sweet potato into yummy chips in just 20 to 25 minutes.
Veggie lasagna
Lasagna sure is delicious when it’s loaded with ground beef, noodles, and lots of yummy cheese, but you can make a healthier version by at least swapping both the beef and noodles for veggies (and go easy on the cheese, please). Instead of noodles, use zucchini slices!
Veggies like spinach, eggplant, bell peppers, and onions turn this comfort food casserole into something much more nutritious yet still very filling. Take a look at this recipe to make it in your slow cooker!
7 Grounding Poses to Calm and Center Your Spirit
When life gets busy, thoughts and emotions can run wild and make you feel like you're out of control. To get back to a balanced state, you can use simple grounding practice for some much needed relief.
Grounding involves rooting yourself to the Earth both physically and mentally to help you find your center. Taking the time to ground yourself in your yoga practice, in your meditation practice, or even just in everyday life can help restore balance back to your body and mind when stress, anxiety, frustration, anger, restlessness, and other negative experiences get in the way of living your life.
Look toward the following yoga poses to help ground you and find a quiet, calm space within.
1. Mountain Pose (Tadasana)
This is a standing pose where you’ll often hear your teacher instruct you to ground yourself down through the four corners of your feet. You’ll instantly feel supported and connected to the Earth without having to bring your awareness to any complicated balances, twists, or holds.
2. Warrior I (Virabhradrasana I)
Warrior I is harder than it looks as you pivot your back foot and press firmly down into the ground while keeping your pelvis turned toward the front of your mat. With proper alignment, however, this pose becomes a great source of strength, courage, confidence, and stability.
3. Warrior II (Virabhradrasana II)
When the thoughts flowing through your mind seem especially turbulent, the stable nature of Warrior II pose can help bring you back to a more balanced mental/emotional state. Remember that heel to arch alignment, press the blade of your back foot into your fat, and engage both quadriceps.
4. Triangle Pose (Trikonasana)
Triangle pose is a similar grounding pose to Warrior II and is often performed right after Warrior II in many sequences by straightening the front leg, adjusting the back leg as needed, and reaching through the hand pointed toward the top of the mat to fold and rest it on the front ankle or shin (or a block of course). Consider practicing triangle pose after and Warrior II to enhance the grounding effects.
5. Tree Pose (Vrksasana)
Trees ground themselves to the Earth, which is why tree pose is truly one of the best grounding poses. It helps promote balance and centering, helping you to develop greater physical and mental steadiness. Regularly practicing this pose may also help you improve your ability to focus and concentrate in your everyday life.
6. Easy Pose (Sukhasana) with Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana Pranayama)
Don’t forget the power of breathing! Sitting in easy pose while practicing alternate nostril breathing helps the balance out sympathetic nervous system (which governs your fight or flight mode) with the parasympathetic system (which governs your rest and relax mode).
7. Corpse Pose (Savasana)
And last but not least, never skip savasana when you’re intention is to feel more grounded and centered through your practice. Savasana is all about surrender, and though it is physically the most uncomplicated pose of them all, it’s said to be the hardest for the simple fact that it involves learning to let go entirely in the moment.
5 All Natural Ways to Detox Your Skin
There are countless cosmetic skin care products and therapies out there that claim to have major detoxification and rejuvenation effects on the skin. But for those yogis who don’t have the time or money to indulge in expensive skin care treatments, some faster and simpler alternatives will suffice.
The truth is that you don’t need a fancy, expensive treatment to detox and improve the look of your skin. With just a few lifestyle changes you can do at home, at your yoga studio, or even when you’re on the road, you’ll be on your way to healthier skin sooner than you might think!
1. Refine Your Diet
When it comes to your skin, the phrase “you are what you eat” rings true. Start by cutting back on all processed foods, refined sugars, artificial sweeteners and possibly even dairy and gluten if you think you might be particularly sensitive to them. Seasonal vegetables like red cabbage, watercress, and beets are known to have a antioxidant properties that your skin craves. so stock up on them while they’re in season and get creative with some recipes!
2. Drink More Liquids
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all amount of water to aim for, but it never hurts to be more conscious about hydration since it will help rid the body and skin of toxins. Try herbal teas with antioxidant properties (like ginger) and anti-inflammatory properties (like chamomile). A squeeze of fresh lemon juice in your tea or in some warm water will also give your skin a healthy boost thanks to the high vitamin C content.
3. Practice Bikram Yoga
As the temperature continues to drop throughout the colder months, that hot yoga class will probably seem a lot more enticing—and that’s great news for your skin! Similar to the way sitting in a sauna helps the body detoxify itself through sweat, hot yoga offers the same effect. In fact, hot yoga may even enhance detoxification if there are certain twists and other detox-related poses integrated into the class session.
4. Try Ayurvedic Dry Brushing
Dry brushing the skin is an Ayurvedic practice that helps facilitate lymphatic cleansing and rids the body of cellular waste. As you brush away the dead skin skills, your skin will start to look brighter and healthier. Look for a body brushes with firm bristles online or in stores and plan to do your brushing in the morning before you jump in the shower—starting from your feet and working your way up your body using a gentle, circular motion.
5. Take More Baths With Epsom Salts
You may already know that an epsom salt bath can help soothe sore muscles, but the benefits actually extend beyond that to include detoxification. Epsom salts act as a toxin repellent, essentially flushing toxins out of your skin cells. Best of all, you can purchase epsom salts at almost any drugstore and add a few drops of your favorite essential oil for a relaxing aromatherapy effect. A full body epsom bath a few times a week throughout the autumn and winter months could do wonders for your skin!
7 Soothing Aromatherapy Oils to Bring Balance to Your Mind
Negative thoughts and emotions can significantly impact your life and well-being. Although you may not be able to control or ignore those thoughts and emotions (nor is it all that effective in the long-term to even try), you can at least take advantage of the many natural therapies available to help balance out your state of mind and stress-related tension running through your body.
Aromatherapy is just one of those natural therapies that can offer nearly instant positive effects. All you have to do is obtain an essential oil with mind-balancing properties to diffuse in a room (or in your yoga space), combine with carrier oil for a fragrant lotion, drop into a bath, sprinkle on your pillow before med, gently inhale before meditation, or use in massage therapy.
Here are just seven essential oils that are known to help balance emotions, improve mood, and help bring clarity to your mind.
Lemon
All citrus essential oils have a positive, uplifting effect on the mind that can really come in handy when you’re feeling down in the dumps, but perhaps none is as powerful as lemon. Lemon essential oil can help combat feelings of anger, burnout, depression, fear, irritability, anxiety, nervousness, and even grief.
Frankincense
Centuries ago, frankincense was considered more valuable than gold for its incredible therapeutic properties. When you feel like your mind is all over the place and keeping negative thoughts at bay seems nearly impossible, look toward frankincense essential oil to help improve focus and boost concentration while minimizing irritability and restlessness.
Rose
When you really need to get back in touch with your higher self so you can spread kindness and compassion while embodying love and joy, rose essential oil can certainly help. Rose helps get rid of your worries and reduces self-centered feelings like jealousy and fear so you can open yourself up to the world around you.
Bergamot
Part of the citrus family, bergamot is another essential oil that’s well known for its mood-balancing properties. Use this uplifting essential oil anytime you’re dealing with emotional stress, anxiety, sadness, confusion, depression, or poor concentration to calm those feelings and give yourself a much needed emotional boost.
Clary Sage
Clary sage works to balance a wide range of negative emotions and may be especially helpful for women suffering from the effects of hormonal fluctuations during their menstrual cycles. Whether you’re feeling out of control due to anger and aggression or stressed out with excessive worry and anxiety, clary sage is a powerful essential oil that can help.
Roman Chamomile
In autumn when excess vata is a risk, roman chamomile can aid in balancing out vata-related feelings of anxiety. This calming essential oil is also especially helpful in reducing destructive emotions like anger, aggression, recklessness, and impulsiveness—so keep it handy for when you’re feeling a little hot-headed.
Lavender
Lavender is the most popular essential of all for its versatile uses and wide range of healing properties—and this is especially true for its calming and relaxing effects on the mind. The aroma of lavender is powerful enough stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which govern’s the body’s “rest and digest” system. For everything from anxiety and panic, to mood swings and nervous tension, lavender can do some pretty remarkable things to hep bring the mind and body back to equilibrium.
Image (edited) via Your Best Digs on Flickr
5 Healthy Foods to Favor for Staying Grounded
Ayurveda states that we feel the changes of the season in our bodies. In the midst of the autumn season, you’re much more likely to feel restless, anxious, unable to focus, or even out of control due to aggregated vata—the dosha that's at its strongest this time of year, characterized by air and space.
To balance out excess vata in the body, it’s recommended to adopt lifestyle habits that keep you grounded. This means sticking to a daily routine and enjoying foods that are warm, heavy, moist, and nourishing.
To help pacify vata and feel more grounded, start looking toward these healthy foods.
1. Root Vegetables
Root vegetables are great for grounding and stabilizing vata because they grow underground. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, turnips, onions, parsnips, turnips, garlic, radishes, rutabagas, and ginger are all ideal examples of root vegetables that can be cooked up in warm dishes throughout the autumn season.
2. Pumpkin and Squashes
Ayurveda recommends going for sweet, sour, and salty flavours rather than bitter, astringent, and pungent ones. Many root vegetables and squashes fall into the sweet category when they’re cooked, so get creative by adding pumpkin to your baked goods, or incorporating squashes into your soups and sides.
3. Lean, High-Quality Meats
Yogis who are not vegetarian or vegan can help themselves feel more grounded by taking advantage of the high protein content in high-quality meat sources like fish, poultry, and beef. Just be sure to select meats that are as cruelty-free and environmentally-friendly as possible by looking for labels like organic, hormone-free, free-range, grass fed, etc.
4. Naturally Red Fruits and Vegetables
The root chakra, located at the base of the spine, is the chakra that governs grounding and is associated with the color red. Root vegetables help to balance this chakra but you can go further with it by incorporating red foots into your diet. Tomatoes, strawberries, cherries, apples, and pomegranates are just a few suggestions to try—especially when they're cooked or stewed.
5. Nuts and Seeds
Nuts and seeds offer plenty of protein and healthy fat (in additional to several vitamins and minerals), making them ideal to snack on or add to meals during vata season. Stock up on cashews, almonds, pistachios, and peanuts during this time. Sesame seeds in particular are also good to have this time for their powerful vata-pacifying effect.
Other Foods to Favor
During vata season, ground yourself in warm, nourishing meals that incorporate the above foods plus others like whole grains, some dairy products like milk and homemade cheese, naturally fermented foods (such as sauerkraut), warm spices, and healthy oils. You’ll want to cut back on anything that’s dry, raw, cold, or iced to avoid aggravating vata.
Though many dry and raw foods are healthy in general, now is not the time to be serving yourself a bowl of dry cereal for breakfast or a salad with raw veggies for lunch if you want to keep vata balanced. Liquids including milk and water should also be consumed ideally warm or at room temperature—with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice or a dash of spice like ginger.
Take this as an opportunity to really hone in on your diet, check out some new recipes, and enjoy the foods that this season has to offer. You’ll get to enjoy new tastes and feel better too.
5 Ways to Supercharge Your Practice With the Power of Gratitude
Gratitude is the way to happiness. Rather than seeking happiness outside of yourself, which is a trap that almost everyone falls into from time to time, you must cultivate your happiness from within by becoming aware of everything you have already.
While sitting down to journal, meditate, or indulge in some good old self-talk on gratitude is always encouraged, you can also integrate gratitude with yoga by making it the theme of your practice anytime you decide to step onto your mat. Here’s how.
Set your agenda aside.
Many yogis start their practice with a goal in mind—to sweat, to destress, to become more flexible, to soothe back pain, to grow stronger, or even to show everyone else how great they are at yoga. But by constantly focusing on acquiring something you think you need to feel satisfied, happy, or more whole, you can’t properly focus on being grateful for what you already have.
For your gratitude practice, give yourself permission to forget your goals. Practice to celebrate and given thanks for the moment as it is.
Set an intention for gratitude.
Whether you decide to start your practice in easy pose, thunderbolt pose, mountain pose, downward facing dog, or whatever else, it’s worth consciously taking a few extra moments to call up an intention for gratitude before you transition into the next pose.
For example, you might set an intention to be grateful for the simple opportunity to move your body today, or you might want to intentionally be grateful for a valuable lesson you learned from an emotionally difficult life event.
Practice grounding poses.
Gratitude is naturally grounding on its own, but it can always help to facilitate groundedness with certain yoga poses to further inspire a greater sense of gratitude.
Tree pose offers the challenge of balancing to help you calm your mind and surrender to the moment, inspiring you allow your growth to grow and soar toward the sky. Warrior poses also anchor you to the ground and encourage you to be grateful for the strength and focus needed to take on life’s challenges.
Do your sun salutations.
Sun salutations are performed to appreciate the energy of the sun and all of the life that depends on its light.
Even on the coldest, windiest, and rainiest days of autumn, you can connect to the sun that’s hiding behind all those clouds and use that connection to stoke your internal fire. With more heat and blood flowing through your body, you’ll find it easier to be grateful for all that you have when the weather seems dull and bleak.
Surrender in resting poses.
Once you shift back into child’s pose after an intense sequence or feel your body to melt into the floor in savasana at the end of your practice, allow yourself to surrender to what is. The real power of gratitude comes from surrendering not only to the good things, but to the struggles and challenges of life as well.
So give yourself a few extra moments to sink into the present state of reality in your resting poses. Open yourself what’s already here with you, what you have, and who you really are—and gratitude will naturally fill your heart with more love.
Image via Minoru Nitta
Self-Care Practices to Embrace the Autumn Season
In autumn, many people decide to get serious about their goals and the routine they need to establish to get there, but many also fall victim to overdoing it. They often push themselves against their resistance, unknowingly causing a cascade of adverse effects that push back in ways that either halt their progress altogether or cause them feel like they've moved backwards.
Self-care, when done right, is anything but selfish—and it's key to personal growth. We practice self-care not because we're self-indulgent, but to regain balance in our lives again—on all physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels.
Here are five things you can do this autumn, or any season whatsoever, to take care of yourself and reap the benefits of a well balanced lifestyle.
Get Serious About Downtime
Downtime is the time you take away from the day-to-day responsibilities that use up your energy rather than restore it. To get serious about downtime, you’ll have to put it into your schedule. An hour at the end of every day or a full 24 hours every week are good places to start.
Let Your Inner Child Out
Play is a form of active rest, and you can use the downtime you schedule into your day or week to embrace what your inner child loves to do. During the autumn season, you might want to try:
- Jumping in piles of leaves with your dog, kids, spouse, etc.
- Going apple or pumpkin picking
- Using pencil crayons to color in a coloring book by the warm fire
- Making autumn-inspired crafts out of leaves, twigs, rocks and other outdoor items
- Reading mystery, drama, or horror fiction books while sipping on hot cocoa
Create Your Own Personal Spa
Your downtime can also be used to pamper and nurture yourself with warm, soothing spa practices designed to moisturize and relax your entire body. Many of the items included in our Lifestyle box are perfect for creating your own little mini spa in your very own bathroom at home—such as Gypsy Soul Organics' Barefoot Lake Candle that came in our September box and Lotus Flower OM’s Bohemian Funk Massage Oil that’s in our October box. Simply light a candle, draw a warm bath, and sink into relaxing bliss!
Routinely Check in With How You Feel
The great thing about checking in with yourself is that it can be done anytime in as little as a few seconds, and you don’t necessarily need to take a significant amount of downtime to do it. Simply stop what you’re doing to mindfully check in with the physical sensations of your body, the mental thoughts flying through your head, and the emotions that are present. How is your body, mind, and spirit trying to tell you to take care of yourself?
Create the Perfect Sleep Routine and Environment
Lastly, never underestimate the importance of sleep in a good self-care regimen. Sleep is foundational for everything, so making sure get a solid 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night on a regular schedule is vital to feeling at your best and doing your best throughout the day. Consider removing clutter from your bedroom, eliminating all sources of light, and bringing items in that serve to relax you in healthy ways—such as by adding houseplants, using aromatherapy diffusers, or replacing your old pillows with new ones.
Most importantly, remember not to let anyone else make you feel bad for taking care of yourself first before tending to other responsibilities. To give the greatest gifts you’re capable of giving, you must fill yourself up with love first—and only you have the power to do that for yourself.
6 Mindfulness Tips for Letting Go of What No Longer Serves You
To reestablish a sense of balance in your life, letting go of all those bad habits you’ve picked up over the past year (or possibly years) is the only way to make more room for all the good things you know you should be embracing.
Look toward Mother Nature this autumn season to find inspiration in everything that retreats inward, falls to the ground, and dies. It’s not the end—just the opposite, in fact.
To facilitate the opportunity a new beginning, you must learn to let go. Here’s how.
1. Notice Activities and Behaviors That Make You Feel Good
The real key to creating good habits lies in taking notice of how good you feel when you do something or behave in a particular way. Note that this doesn’t mean it won’t also feel challenging—it can still feel good while part of you resists it.
Don’t ignore your resistance, but be sure to place your awareness on the good. The more you do this, the more naturally inclined you’ll feel to start making your new good activity or behavior a regular part of your life.
2. Notice Activities and Behaviours That Make You Feel Bad
Similar to building good habits, the key to breaking bad habits also lies in your awareness. Whether it’s smoking, eating junk food, watching TV, procrastinating, or any other bad habit—you don’t necessarily need to force yourself to stop it as long as you commit to being fully aware of what you’re doing, while you’re doing it.
Awareness alone is enough to motivate you to make the choice to stop doing it—because awareness shows you how harmful or unproductive it really is. Likewise, notice your tendency to want to cling to your old bad habit, as if wanting to escape yourself.
3. Journal About Both the Good and the Bad
At the beginning of your day, ideally first thing in the morning, take some time to journal about the person you want to be. The activities and behaviors that make you feel good are what will get you there.
At the end of your day, reflect on your day by journaling about the activities and behaviours that made you feel good and not so good. Doing this right before bed will help reprogram your subconscious as you sleep so you can do better the next day.
4. Visualize Yourself Growing from Embracing the Good
You can do this anytime, but just like journaling, visualization can often be most powerful first thing in the morning or right before going to bed. Simply close your eyes and picture what your life will be like if you kept doing all those good activities and kept embodying all those good behaviors weeks, months, and years from now.
Visualizing the effects of all those good things can motivate you to keep pressing on, even when times get tough. When you know great things are to come of it, you won’t want to give up.
5. Visualize the Freedom You’ll Achieve from Letting Go of the Bad
You could certainly visualize what your life might look like if you kept holding onto all those bad habits, but psychology research has shown that negative motivation rarely ever produces long-term results. While it can help you avoid unwanted effects in the short-term, long-term success relies on focusing on what you do want—not what you don’t want.
So visualize how much better your life will be weeks, months, and years from now without all those bad habits. Imagine the freedom, the happiness, and the potential for growth. This is all you need.
6. Practice Self-Compassion When You Slip Up
Mindfulness is simple, but it’s hard to keep up all the time. Most people find it impossible to kick a bad habit overnight, and you shouldn’t expect perfection.
Be kind to yourself when you fall back into your old ways. Simply take notice of what you’re doing, forgive yourself, and do your best to act or behave positively in the present.
Win a 6 Day, 5 Night Live Your Yoga and Surf Retreat in Costa Rica
What could be better than leaving all your worries behind and taking your yoga practice to a Costa Rican paradise? Whether you’re looking to swim and play in the warm waves, explore and deepen your yoga practice, or simply relax in nature, Costa Rica is a place like no other for yogis of all levels to do it all.
This October, one of our Yogi Surprise members will win a Live Your Yoga and Surf Retreat courtesy of retreat organizer and yoga instructor Amber Hagberg (valued at $1,000). Our lucky winner will embark on a 6 day, 5 night trip this December at Danyasa Yoga Retreat and Eco Lodge, located on the Southern Pacific Coast of Costa Rica in the beach-front town of Dominical, Puntarenas.
Danyasa Yoga Retreat and Eco Lodge is tucked away at the bottom of the jungle-covered mountains on the bank of Dominical’s Baru River. As a boutique style yoga retreat center, the lodge provides all of its guests with everything they need to experience the rich tropical landscape of Costa Rica while exploring the limitless depths of their own yoga practice.
Start your day off right with an early morning 7am yoga and meditation session before indulging in a healthy breakfast made with local ingredients, or sleep in with plans to attend the late afternoon yoga and meditation session instead. This is your time to reconnect with your inner child and explore new possibilities in one of the most beautiful and serene destinations on Earth.
The heart and soul of the lodge is the internationally renowned air Bamboo Yoga play studio,. It features stunning bamboo floors and an advanced sound system, which is where your yoga and meditation sessions will be taking place. Optional activities (including tours and lessons) such as zip lining, snorkeling, surfing, standup paddle boarding, mangrove adventuring and more are also available through the retreat the center.
You’ll stay in one of the lodge’s eight up-cycled shipping container rooms, which combine luxury accommodation with sustainable style. All rooms come with real mattresses plus top quality bedding, air conditioning, free WiFi, safes, and free filtered water.
A typical day during this retreat might look like this:
- 7:00 - 8:30 a.m. Yoga and Meditation
- 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. Breakfast
- 10:00 - 12:00 p.m. Free Time / Self Exploration / Beach Time
- 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Lunch
- 1:00 - 4:30 p.m. Waterfall Adventure
- 4:30 - 6:00 p.m. Yoga and Meditation
- 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. Dinner & Evening Journaling
Airport and transportation to the retreat center are not included, but can be arranged by request.
This incredible retreat is scheduled to take place this December 13 to 18, 2017, so if you could use a serious dose of serenity and spiritual rejuvenation in the midst of the holiday season, you won’t want to miss out on your chance to win! Click the link below to find out how you can enter to win this retreat.
Learn How to Win This Retreat >
Balance
Ayurveda tells us that autumn is a vata season. Its dry, windy, rough, cool, and unpredictable qualities can leave you feeling physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually imbalanced if excess vata is not tamed.
To balance vata, look toward cultivating the following practices in your life. Doing so will help make the seasonal transition not only easier but more enjoyable as you continue to grow yourself in the dark and quiet months leading up to winter.
Stress Relief
Now is the time to take a step back and be honest about what’s stressing you out. Whether it’s a bad habit you’ve developed or an excessive amount of responsibilities keeping you busy, you have to put your well-being first if you want to resolve it. This might involve taking more time for yourself, replacing a bad habit with a healthier one, making an effort to get enough sleep every night, or even making it more of a priority to indulge in therapeutic practices (such as yoga and meditation).
Warmth
As the temperature continues to drop, your body will begin to crave more warmth. By warming up the body, you essentially help ward off many unwanted effects of excess vata—including bloating and constipation, dry or chapped skin, and difficulty tolerating cold and wind. Build heat with sun salutations in your practice, take warm baths, give yourself a soothing self-massage, enjoy spices in your meals, and eat cooked rather than raw foods. And hey, it doesn’t hurt to cuddle with your pet, spouse/partner, kids, or anyone else with a warm body!
Nourishment
Nourishment goes hand in hand with both stress relief and warmth. Take good care of your body by keeping your skin moisturized, your mind calm, and your body well fed. Favour foods that are higher in fat and protein, giving preference to sweet, sour, and salty tastes. You can also add a generous amount of oily foods to your diet as long as they’re of high-quality. Think olive oil, almond oil, coconut oil, and sesame oil, and ghee.
Relationships
When vata becomes imbalanced, you may find yourself suffering from mental and emotional states like nervousness, anxiety, fear, restless thinking, and scattered feelings. In addition to meditating on these feelings, be sure to keep close friends and family members near. Knowing that you are loved and connected to others during the colder seasons can help pacify negative thoughts and feelings when they have a tendency to get out of hand.
Groundedness
Last but not least, establishing a sense of groundedness to the the Earth and the present moment will help you stay balanced as you work on letting go of what no longer serves you while embracing what is. Try to get in a good routine with your daily habits (meals, exercise, bedtime) and engage in healthy practices that encourage you to turn inward. Here are a few one-minute grounding techniques you can use this October and beyond as you quietly work on discovering more about yourself and prepare to grow even further into the new you.