Autumn Season & Vata Dosha

Autumn is a time when children go back to school, life gets busy for all, and we start to feel the first rough brush of cold weather on the skin. Though we are racing around, we can feel that something is changing as we look up at the leaves beginning to brown, the trees thinning, and sky more apparently vast and expansive. The weather is suddenly warm then cool; there is sun and storms; the irregularity of it all teases out our summer nostalgia and nervous anticipation of winter.

Dry, light, cold, clear, subtle, mobile, and rough begin to predominate our outer experience. In Ayurveda, these are the qualities of Vata dosha, combination of space and air elements, which distinguish Fall.

These qualities have a strong impact on our body and mind.

After all, Ayurveda (and yoga) point out that what’s outside is inside. We are living beings in a state of constant change in interaction with the environment and so we feel what’s on the outside, internally. We may feel a little hypersensitive, even anxious, scattered, as our nervous systems take in the qualities of this season. There are many possible manifestations for high Vāta dosha in our various tissues.

To name a few:

- constipation, gas and bloating

- anxiety in the mind