Balancing Spring Energy
Take notice of your daily energy patterns in these first few weeks of spring. Are you feeling more tired in the mornings or afternoons than usual? How is your sleep each night? Do you have a surge of energy at any particular time? How is your food affecting your digestion in these warmer days? Changes in our energy patterns may be subtle during the onset of spring, but 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 giving yourself a good nutritious diet and a positive state of mind.
What Influences Our Energy In Spring?
Changes in weather
The transition from winter to spring is one of the most abrupt in our annual temperature experience. This sometimes unpredictable rollercoaster of cold to warm and wet to humid can affect our skin, digestion, mental health, and our energy. Many kapha dominant individuals are especially susceptible to these somewhat extreme spring weather changes regarding their energy levels.
Enjoy herbal teas to help warm you when you’re chilled, and cool you when you’re a bit too warm. Ginger, cinnamon and turmeric are warming for the chillier days, while mint, fennel and chamomile are more cooling for warmer days.
Dress in layers of natural fibers during these first few transition weeks of spring. Keep warm from chills, and try not to go from extreme warm or cool environments too often. When our body temperature drops dramatically, we can experience a lingering drop in energy as well.
Time change
We will experience daylight savings at the beginning of spring, and this naturally causes our body’s circadian rhythm to need time to adjust over several days. We may feel much more tired in the morning and more energized in the evening for a week or two, or longer for pitta individuals who are often more resistant to circadian changes. Keeping to a consistent schedule of rising in the dawn hours or just before the sun can be very helpful in maintaining a healthy energy flow for each dosha this season.
Just after rising, maintain a predictable first hour of activity such as a brief movement practice, enjoying your herbal tea, sun gazing, or journaling. Consistency with our routines, especially after a time change encourages our body to adapt more smoothly.
Food transitions
Spring offers us new, fresh, crisp foods such as bitter spring greens and more tart flavors. This is a dramatic change form the warming, oily, heavy and dense foods of winter. As our digestion transitions to the new energetic of spring foods, we may notice our appetites decrease slightly, and our energy dropping shortly after consuming meals.
After eating each meal, take time for a 5-10 minute walk to encourage your digestion along and continue to stoke your digestive fire. Walking helps to facilitate our digestive function and keep detoxification and elimination pathways running smoothly.
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.
Movement
The onset of spring brings with it an upward surge of energy that invites our body and mind to move with it! Now is the time to gently shake off the winter hibernation and get moving, stimulating our lymphatic flow, creative juices, and stoking our metabolism.
Try a daily yoga routine that is more dynamic, expansive and stimulating. Incorporate Tree pose (Vrikshasana), Downward dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) & Triangle pose (Utthita Trikonasana) along with sun salutations to ground, center and connect to your body and breath.
Enjoy our line of delicious, organic Matcha Teas this spring to help bring balance and stability to your energy levels without consuming excess caffeine. is a beautiful, vibrantly green herbal green tea used to enhance liver and detoxification health, provide antioxidant support, and encourage health energy levels throughout each day.
Join Lindsay for an Instagram Live on Thursday, April 15th at 12pm EST for a discussion on Building VItality: 3 Factors for Sustaining Energy