Spring Seeds
Oh the freshness of Spring!!
We can all feel it, the shift and change, the excitement for what is to come, perhaps a sense of groundedness and ease after the harsh winter has passed. We are moving from the Vata time of winter, marked by dry and cold, to the Kapha time of spring. The frozen potential of the ice and snow, the dormancy of plants, and the hibernation of creatures shifts to the budding, blooming, flowing and growing traits of spring. Earth and Water elements abound! Spring can be challenging in that it is not a steady and consistent change, we can go from one sunny melting week to a foot of snow and freezing temperatures, and back again multiple times before finally trusting that we are into the warmer weather and headed toward summer for good. We know the beauty of spring and it can be helpful to be aware of the beast or the challenges it brings as well.
Here are a few thoughts on taking what we know and observe in spring and expanding on these themes to deepen our experience:
Spring Cleaning. Maybe we were trained into it, maybe we crave it. You can open the windows and air things out, take the windows out and wash them, hang the laundry outside to dry, there is more space to pull out our stuff and sort it. Winter is a time when we crave the heaviness and grounding, the cohesiveness of our homes and things, of cuddling up with good books, etc. Spring now is more of a time of change and lightness. We may crave a cleanse in many ways, here are some suggestions:
Your Body: We naturally tend toward foods that would build up our weight, we may have gained some excess tissues in the winter or felt unmotivated to workout and thus are just feeling a little heavy. Pay attention to food cravings and see if you can tailor your diet to these. Common cravings: lighter meals or even feeling unmotivated to eat (this is okay! But choose not to eat, rather than skipping a meal and snacking), bitter foods like dark greens, fresh foods like sprouts. Food blahs are common this time of year, and it can be our bodies saying, “I am tired of consuming so much, I want to shed now! Stop adding to me and let me release”.
Your Routine: Wanting to rise earlier is natural. The winter pulls us into long slumbers and the feeling of never ending darkness can have us sleeping later in the morning throughout the winter. But now, we want to rise and shine! Plan on this, get up and have a morning routine that is cleansing. Scrape your tongue, hydrate with warm water to help eliminate, rinse your body in the shower (we detox overnight, which means rinsing in the morning is a great practice to cleanse!), dry brushing and/or oil massage, movement and meditation. Start the day right. Evenings will likely look different too, longer days and warmer weather pull us out side. Pay attention to what is changing in what you want to do and how your being responds to it!
Your Schedule: Go through your commitments and see if they fit or if they need to be adjusted. This is the season of intention, of planting seeds that we will harvest in the future. If we keep doing what we have always done just because we have always done it, we are missing the opportunity to have new and exciting growth, and this is the time of year to heed this call of new beginnings and to plant the seeds with intention.
Your stuff: Go through your wardrobe. Were there winter clothes you didn’t wear all winter? Let them go. Things that are too heavy, pack them away for the summer and make space for the lighter clothing choices. Go through your belongings and let go of the ones that no longer excite you and pull you forward. We are growing into our future selves, not pulling our pasts along with us, it is a time to let go and let newness in. Go through your contacts and delete the ones that are no longer active or important to you.
First Flowers: The time of hope and brightness, of looking forward to the brightness after the dark winter. We can add flowers, brighter colors to our wardrobe and surroundings, and go out into nature. If we were hunter gatherers, we maybe would have run out of our stored food by now, and it would be natural to go out searching in the woods for the first growths of edible plants. Naturally we would not want to hunt and kill animals because this is the natural time for there to be young animals born and raised, and this would hurt our survival later on! So we tend toward fresh plants.
One of the most inspiring aspects of season change is that our being gets to naturally shift into a new space, it helps us to continuously evolve through each change that nature gives us. Now we have the chance to shed the winter heaviness and bring in something light and fresh. What will change for us with this change of seasons?
