With the onset of warmer weather, we wish to throw open the windows, bring sunshine and fresh air into our homes, and perhaps sweep out the stagnant remnants of Late Winter. Spring cleaning of our homes goes hand in hand with spring cleansing of our bodies and minds.
You may want to contemplate about how your winter is winding down. Were you just as busy as ever or were you able to rest? Finding your moments of Winter hibernation is key to entering Spring with its abundance of new beginnings and returns. We need our winter rest to receive the seeds of spring or we will find ourselves in a state of depletion. Finding pause as the sun begins to melt winter away is one way to restore your seasonal balance. Allowing your digestive system to pause as well will also serve to rejuvenate the body.
We recognize the perfection of joining grain and legume to make our beloved kitcheri. This is the chicken soup of Ayurveda. It is the go to for ease, comfort and wellness. As in many cultures, beans and rice, rice and peas and many configurations of these blends are by definition the comfort food of the culture. This is the meal that sits on tables of the wealthy and the poor. This blend knows no prejudice. Do you have an ancestral dish of legumes and grains that sustained your family in their homelands? Try and make your kitcheri with these personal family blends for your next meal. Invite the flavors and spices from your ancestral homelands
When we take our pause for traditional kitcheri of basmati rice and split mung dal we allow our bodies to take a break from such hard work of digestion. This allows us to fully rest our bodies. Adding spices and warm fluids encourages toxins that we accumulated in winter to melt down and begin the journey out of the body.
When participating in an Ayurvedic cleanse or any cleanse we tend to stay away from foods that are considered toxic. We may stop having our morning coffee or evening wine. We only choose organic, pure, local seasonal foods which are all good choices.
But do we look beyond the belly? Are we eating these perfect food choices on the way to work in the car? Or in front of the computer screen?
Are we watching the news? A new horror movie or shoot’em up show? Our minds need to pause as well.
We must cleanse the mind if we are cleansing the body. We would not want to cook with a pot that is only cleaned on the outside. We must allow the mental digestion to go on a break as well! Invite beauty with incense or candles and listen to the sounds of nature if possible. When the body mind and spirit are as one, listening deeply to the self and welcoming purity and wholesomeness throughout, then we are able to emerge from the long dark winter to the new light of spring.
