Seasonal Regimen

“Time” is an important factor, needing the attention for maintenance of health according to Ayurveda. It would be worthwhile to know about one of the basic constituents of the body i.e. “ Dosha”, for the maintenance of health in this context.

According to the Ayurveda there are 3 basic constituents of the body namely: Dosha, Dhatu and Mala. Doshas are three in numbers namely – Vata, Pitta and Kapha and they govern all activities in the body when they are in a balanced state. They maintain perfect health, but when disturbed or imbalanced, they give rise to diseases.

Ayurveda describes elaborately the various causes which give rise to imbalance  of the Doshas. ‘Time’ which is one of such factors.  For example in the morning there is increase of Kapha Dosha, in the midday it is the increase of pitta dosha and in the evening it is the increase of Vata Dosha. Similarly in the beginning of night there is increase of Kapha Dosha, in the mid of night there is increase of Pitta Dosha and in the end of the night i.e. before sunrise there is increase of Vata Dosha.

For the child hood, there is prominence of kapha dosha, in the young age it is pitta dosha and in the old age it is the prominence of vata Dosha.

According to season also, the doshas keep changing. The Kapha dosha starts accumulating  ( called as ‘chaya’ – technically ) in the winter  and further increases and spreads in the spring to cause disease  ( called as prakopa of Kapha in the technical terms ). It has a tendency to decrease in the summer.

On the other hand Vata starts accumulating in the summer  and causes diseases in the rainy season and decreases in autumn.

Pitta starts accumulating in the rainy season, increases further and spreads to cause diseases in autumn and decreases in winter.

Considering the variations of the doshas according to the ‘time’ factor, Ayurveda has described seasonal regimen also for maintenance of health.

Here are few hints to maintain health in various changing seasons.

1. Avoid direct exposure to cold, hot sunrays or rain.
2. Avoid cold drinks, ice creams in winter and hot / spicy food in summer.
3. Change the massage oil according to season if necessary. In India coconut oil is a better choice to sesame oil in summer and vice versa in winter.
4. Perform purification process (Panchakarma) according to season to maintain health e.g. Vamana i.e. process of emesis  and nasya in the spring season, virechana i.e. the process of producing loose motions and raktamokshana i.e. blood letting in the autumn season and Basti i.e. medicated enema in rainy season. For details about Panchakarma; please click here.