In-Sync Transitions - Daily and Seasonal Routines

visargadan vikshepeh
Soma, surya, anila yatta
dharyanti jagal deham
kapha, pittamillasthata
Susrut Samhita

The body of the universe is governed by Soma, Agni
(surya), marut (anil). Our bodies are governed by
vata, pitta, kapha. The origin of vata, pitta,
and kapha is soma, agni and marut.

In Vaidya Mishra’s Shaka Vansya tradition of shudha or pure Ayurved, the first important step we can take towards healing ourselves consists in re-aligning our physiologies with the rhythms of the universe.

While the thought of a cosmic rhythm to adjust our daily routine to can be dwarfing, realignment can happen on many levels and in various ways. It starts very simply with the re-alignment of our daily routines to the circadian cycles of nature.

When do we wake? How long do we work? Do we have enough time for play? When and how frequently do we eat?

Attention to our daily routine helps us become aware of seasonal changes that inevitably occur in our physiology. Just as many of us tend to experience varying levels of energy throughout the day (some of us are “sworn night birds” while others feel their best early in the morning…), different seasons bring out different aspects of ourselves.

Ritu Charya
In Shaka Vansya Ayurveda, attention to the rhythms of nature holds a particularly important place. Ayurved discusses ritucharya – a special category of knowledge that deals with suggestions, recommendations, tips for adjusting one’s daily routine and activities to match the shifting rhythms of nature and its seasons. The term, ritucharya, derives from the Sanskrti words, ritu (season) and charya (activity).

Ritu Sandhi
Shudh Ayurved cautions us about the transitional period between seasons. It refers to the particular time-slot as: ritusandhi. Ritu means season and sandhi means gap. Ritusandhi means: the period between two seasons, when one season is no longer fully in effect, and the next season has not fully arrived yet.

Prakrit Sthapana
In Autumn, ritusandhi is roughly equivalent to the final 15 days of summer and the early 15 days of autumn. What does Shudh Ayurved recommend for this period?

Ayurveda discusses a gentle replenishing routine that involves prakriti sthapana (reestablishing our balanced nature). Prakrit sthapana is an Ayurvedic protocol whereby which the individual goes through a process of gentle detox (shodhana), pacification and balancing of the physiology after detox (shamana), and rejuvenation (rasayana).

It is necessary to go through all three processes in order to ensure a successful reinvigorating prakrit sthapana that aims at re-establishing one’s original natal balance (prakrit) despite the seasonal changes and one’s daily routine.

In this sense, prakriti sthapana is the ultimate goal of a healthy seasonal transition that becomes the basis for a healthy life. But why is any detox necessary at all at the period of seasonal change, or ritusandhi? And what happens to our physiologies at that point?

Solar Energy or Agni
During the summer, solar energy (agni) is relatively high in the environment, and the human body, exposed to more solar energy, receives and accumulates more agni.

According to Shaka Vandya Ayurveda, some organs in our bodies are more receptive to this solar, agni, energy. Some agni pre-dominant organs are: the liver, stomach, pancreas, spleen, eyes, the skin. As a result of increased exposure to solar energy, these organs tend to become hyperactive and “hot.”

Heat build-up in these organs can adversely affect optimal functioning if it is not discharged before the onset of the cooler season. This can lead to imbalances that in turn get stored throughout the winter months and become more difficult to correct as time goes by.

Toxic Build-Up
On another level, Shaka Vansya Ayurveda explains how the summer season also affects the physical circulatory channels (srotas). These channels, or srotas, become dilated as a result of the increased heat, and old accumulated toxins, particularly amavisha (reactive toxins) and garvisha (xenobiotics), are released and left to circulate freely.

Being highly virulent in nature, such toxins floating in the blood can irritate or rupture the circulatory channels. An excess of toxins released can also disturb the organs and even disrupt the proper functioning of tissues.

Vibrational Channels and Lunar Energy
The summer heat also affects our “vibrational” circulatory channels, the nadis. These channels are governed by marut, the aspect of nature which governs movement and intelligence.

When the index of solar energy, or agni, goes high in the summer time, it disrupts the balance of soma, or lunar energy, in our physiology. Soma helps to stabilize marut.

With decreased levels of soma, the vibrational channels become hyperactive. This is particularly true if a person has a build-up of amavisha (hot, poisonous, acidic, reactive toxins), or garavisha (xenobiotics – mercury, lead, arsenic poisoning).

EMF
In addition, in the summertime when a person exposes herself or himself to extensive electromagnetic energy through the use of cell-phones, computers, and other electronic devices, the physiology may be further aggravated, because soma is already less in the environment as well as in the body overall. Soma or lunar energy acts as a buffer for too much solar energy or hot reactive toxic build-up.

What To Do For a Healthy Autumn?
Through Shaka Vansya Ayurvedic pulse evaluation, it is possible to determine whether the agni energy accumulated in the summertime has impacted the physiology’s principles of governance, the doshas and/or the subdoshas – the ayurvedic vata, pitta, kapha system that runs the physiology.

A pulse reading can determine which physical channels or which vibrational channels need to be detoxed and rejuvenated. It can show what the overall impact of the summer heat was on physical as well as spiritual health (in Shaka Vansya Ayurveda spiritual health is the basis for physical and emotional health).

Disclaimer
These claims have not been evaluated by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They do not intend to cure, prevent, diagnose or treat any disease.