Balancing Through Ayurveda in the Dog Days of Summer

When working or playing outside in the hot sun, a heat radiates from the core outward to the pores. Digestive power lessens. Bodies sweat and skin feels oilier. Summer time is pitta season.

A deep breath of hot humid air can feel like breathing in liquid lava. There is an increase of aggression as pitta emotions, like anger, boil over. People want to have fun. Hard working people, itching to leave the office, desire to cool off their hyper-focused minds, take a break from the hot electronic screens, and relax with a drink, (though so frequently that drink of choice is a toxin for the season, like liquor). Without awareness of the true joy that comes from balance, from dancing with Nature’s rhythms, so often we reach for relationships and substances that further tip the scales.

The Ayurvedic saying goes: “like attracts like, and opposites heal”.

Pitta constitution individuals tend to possess some or all of the following traits throughout their lives:

- sharp facial features

- medium bones and frame

- light, bright eyes

- oily or combination skin with a rosy undertone

- a tendency toward pitta disorders, acidic, inflammatory, bleeding conditions