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Summer wellbeing: an Ayurvedic guide 

When trying to align ourselves with the changing seasons, we need to bear in mind the great Ayurvedic principle of ‘like increasing like’. To help keep you balanced, you need a diet and lifestyle that is opposite to the quality of the season.

In summer, the fire element is higher with more warmth, dryness and lightness. The increase in environmental heat can influence the onset of inflammatory symptoms such as hay-fever, prickly heat and summer fevers. Similarly, our emotions can also become naturally more ‘heated’ and we may experience a tendency to become slightly more ‘hot under the collar’ in stressful or unexpected situations. So, naturally, summer is a time of calming and reducing heat.

Here are some top tips for a summer routine that will leave you feeling cool, calm and collected during the summer:

  • Wake early (with the sun), before 7am, making the most of earlier mornings, spring vitality and energy.

  • Make your first drink of the day warm and spicy to gently stimulate and support digestion. Try Pukka Three Ginger, or Lemon, Ginger & Manuka Honey teas.

  • Practice self-massage to invigorate the blood. Vigorous skin rubbing with a loofa also encourages the movement of fluids around the body, supporting detoxification in spring. As an extra treat, visit a sauna to dry out all that accumulated winter moisture.

  • Try a daily yoga routine that is more dynamic, expansive and stimulating. Incorporate standing twists, chest openers and sun salutations as well as restorative postures to ground, center and connect. 

  • Keep meals warm, light and easy to digest with an emphasis on bitter, pungent and astringent foods such as green leafy vegetables, green tea and spices that will help clear excess moisture and balance kapha. In between meals, try our Turmeric Gold teas.

  • Avoid concentrated sweet, sour and salty flavours which are considered heavy and damp. Reduce chilled and refrigerated foods that are brimming with cold and excess moisture that further aggravate kapha.

  • Support our body’s natural efforts to find balance by supporting seasonal cleansing and detoxification practices to clear excess congestion.

  • Most importantly, allow your body and mind time to adjust to a new spring environment. Try to give yourself enough rest, sleep and exercise, as well as gifting yourself a good nutritious diet and a positive state of mind.

Your herbal heroes for the summer are cooling, calming herbs such as aloe vera, wheatgrass, shatavari and licorice. 

Try Pukka's Three Mint tea.

To discover your dosha, take our online dosha quiz and start your path of Ayurvedic discovery today.

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