Cool it! Ayurvedic tips for summer.

Texas, Ari­zona, India, Africa, Islands, etc–there are plenty of places where triple dig­its are a summer-time norm.  Whether you live in the desert or just plan to visit one, knowl­edge of basic Ayurveda can keep you cool and peace­ful even on the hottest of days. Ayurveda is trans­lated as the sci­ence of liv­ing.  It is a skill set for teach­ing one to be and to enjoy being well.  Put sim­ply, Ayurveda teaches one how to bal­ance the extremes of oth­er­wise grat­i­fy­ing expe­ri­ences, and in our case, how to beat the heat.  Adjust your inter­nal ther­mo­stat with the fol­low­ing practices:

1. Avoid most stren­u­ous phys­i­cal activ­ity from the hours of 10am to 2pm.  If exer­cis­ing in the heat of the day, one should focus on a mod­er­ate pace with great atten­tion to gen­tle, steady breath­ing.  Try to keep soft eyes and flu­id­ity in move­ment patterns.
2. Keep reg­u­lar meals and avoid excess con­sump­tion of oils/fats.  Favor cool­ing, sweet, bit­ter and astrin­gent foods like coconut, cucum­ber, water­melon, raw fruits and veg­gies (minus very sour or acidic fruits and night­shades.  Drink plenty of cool water (not iced).
3. Wear sun­glasses.
4. Keep bed­time cool and lightly ventilated.
5. Wear light, breath­able clothing–preferably cot­ton, linen or silks. Shades of blue, green and white are ideal.
6. Favor cool­ing and sooth­ing aro­mas such as rose, san­dal­wood, jas­mine, laven­der, and mint essen­tial oils.
7. Be happy, no worries–keep things light.

Happy Sum­mer!