How to stay balanced through Fall-Winter?

In the Northern Hemisphere, we’ve officially entered Fall time - the days are getting shorter, the air colder and crispier, the wind feels more rough and the leaves are turning colourful until they fall off the trees for Winter. It is only natural for cozy indoor activities start to feel more appealing - many of us already sense an urge to slow down and turn inwards.

According to Ayurveda, us human beings are part of Nature. More than a part, really, we ARE nature experiencing itself. Ayurveda circles around five elements (earth, water, fire, air and space) that are in constant flux and play in Nature, and they all have different properties, qualities and ways of manifestation. 

Since we are one with Nature, these elements can also be found within ourselves. Understanding these elements and their properties gives us access to one of the world’s most elegant and integrated methods of healing and living life to its fullest.

Being aware of the play of elements in our internal and external realities will help us restore our balance and live in greater alignment with our surroundings.

Fall is the season of air and space elements

The elements that are dominant in our external environment during Fall and early Winter (in Finland really until the snow starts to melt) are air and space. These elements make vata dosha. Now, regardless if you know about the doshas and what your personal doshic constitution might be, it is important to understand that vata dosha (dominance of air and space element) is strong during this time of the year, and we’ll all come to feel and experience it in our bodies and minds.

So, how do air and space manifest within our individual bodies and minds?

The qualities of vata dosha are dry, cool/cold, mobile, light, and rough. You might experience it in your body as dryness of skin, hair, eyes and/or nails. Vata digestion is often a little bit irregular, and excess air can be particularly visible in our digestive system. If you have trouble eliminating regularly (at least once a day, preferably around same time each day), or easily collect gas and feel bloated in your tummy, or notice dryness, hardness and roughness in your stools, this indicates an imbalanced vata situation in your system. 

On the level of the mind and nervous system, vata can easily feel a little overwhelmed and overstimulated, and health issues such as anxiety, insomnia, restlessness and poor sleep can occur. Too much air and space makes us feel spacey in our thinking, scattered- and absent-minded, and we might have a tendency to forget things and just spend too much time in our thoughts. 

Any of these sound familiar? Don’t worry, there are some really simple tricks to apply to restore your balance, and we’ll look at some of the most important ones next.

How to support and restore your balance during Fall-Winter through the lens of Ayurveda

• Routines, routines, routines!

  
  Especially if you notice yourself disliking routines or if you recognise your lifestyle including a lot of change and instability, you’ll benefit from refining your daily schedule to be a little bit more regular. Simply put: you communicate stability to your system by sticking to regular practice-, self-care-, meal- and sleep-times.

  It is highly recommended to go to bed before midnight (ideally before 10pm) and eat every 3-4 hours, around the same time every day. This alone will make you feel much more settled, grounded and peaceful in your mind and body.

• Enough time to wind down and balance stimulation with stillness

  Vata is irregular and responsible for mobility and movement on all physiological levels. That momentum must be balanced with time in stillness and silence, otherwise we’ll end up overwhelmed and tired.

  When the Fall hits, the pace of Nature slows down until it pretty much stops for the Winter. This doesn’t mean we must go on to full hibernation and pause our lives for the whole 3-4 months of Winter; but rather just acknowledge that is is natural to slow down a little bit. Winter invites us to practice introspection and really focus on our inner work - it is a beautiful opportunity to evaluate where we are, how we are, what we have learnt, where we want to go next. 

  This only turns into a conflict if we try to keep up with the social pressures and believe that we have to “grind and hustle” 24/7, all year long. Nobody grinds and thrives without pausing to reflect!

  Also, in my humble opinion true thriving happens when we are internally aligned (body-mind-hear in peace) and externally aligned (tuned to the frequencies of Nature). 

• Warm yourself from inside out with food and self-care rituals

  The qualities heightened this season are dry, cool/cold, rough, light and subtle. To maintain and restore balance, we need to stay warm, and learn how to warm ourselves from the inside out. 
  

  Food plays an important role in Ayurveda - it is perceived as energy, and energy has different qualities. Our meal choices are basically choices of what type of energy we want to invite into our bodies and minds.

  During the colder season we all benefit from warming foods. Over raw foods and salads, go for foods that are cooked and served warm. Use warming spices, and make sure you get enough healthy fats and proteins to balance dryness and lightness. In Ayurveda the way we eat is nearly as important as what we eat. Make sure you have a peaceful moment to enjoy your food, chew properly, and do not multitask… phone down, your belly will thank you later! Also a few deep belly breaths before and after the meal, along with gratitude for the food will make you feel so much better in your stomach after eating.

  
  Along with diet choises, we can also lean on to different yogic practices, purification techniques, and self care rituals. One of the most delicious rituals for colder days is Abhyanga, self massage:

  Buy virgin sesame oil (unroasted! Otherwise you’ll smell like a delicious thai dish for the rest of your day, which is not necessarily the worst thing), then warm it under hot water and get ready to massage your whole body, even face and scalp, with it. Start massaging from the extremities of the body toward the center, pay extra attention to joints, and massage your belly in circular motions clockwise. You can chill in your bathroom for a moment to let the oil really absorb into your skin - vibing yourself feeling moisturized and unbothered.

  Then hop in a warm shower and ENJOYYYYY. This little ritual will leave you feel so loved, and so warm.
  

• Stay grounded…your body is your portal to life here and now!

  Finally… If you’re ever experienced anxiety, fearfulness, or just having your mind sabotage your peace with all the imaginary scenarios of “what ifs”, you’ve experienced a vata mind. Vata has a tendency to get lost in the worryland and/or live their lives more or less through in the mental plane. This easily leads to disappearance of the physical body (poor body-mind connection), forgetfulness and absent-mindedness, and of course anxiety and extensive worrying. 

  How to balance this? Through different grounding practices. 

  In our yoga practice, we should focus on grounding and nerve-soothing stuff rather than fluid flows with plenty of stimulation (let it be external stimulation through loud music or internal stimulation through strong breathing practices and intensive backbending practices for example). Too much pranayama isn’t suggested because it will feed the air element even more, and meditation and yoga nidra is more than recommended.

  It’s also a good idea to explore other forms of movement and definitely keep up with our exercise routine, but make sure to stay present in the body while we move and never push too hard.

Obviously the greatest teacher of grounding is mother Earth.

Spend time in outdoors, and if it’s possible have your skin in direct contact with Nature.

When you cook, really feel into the textures of your veggies while you handle them. If you have house plants, be present for them, talk to them, touch them, dig your fingers into the soil. This will increase the Earth element inside, and help you root back into your physical form. 

I hope these tips support you through the colder and darker season ahead!
Remember, like the wise Lao Tsu said - "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

I have uploaded one practice from my online yoga library for you to ground and soothe yourself, and reduce excess vata out of your system to stay happy and balanced throughout the colder days ahead.

If you’re interested, I also have a hatha practices for all doshas (in Finnish) in my online yoga library, as well as some lectures on the topic both in English and Finnish. If you have any questions, or Ayurvedic health care sparked interest in you, I am also happy to have a 1-on-1 chat with you to see how your unique body and mind could be supported through this ancient healing modality.

Yin Yoga 60min: Grounding Practice to Soothe Vata Dosha / Fall-Winter Yin

Stay warm, friends! <3