Seek Sweet, especially now!
If we follow nature, now that it’s fall in the northern hemisphere, we would also be releasing what no longer serves us and bring our energies back to our core.
Nature has accepted life’s cycles as it prepares itself for winter when the trees let go of their leaves. And when the sap returns to their roots. Now is the time for letting go of the heat of summer and begin to turn inward.
Heat builds up in our bodies during the
summer
months. What can we
do to release this excess heat?
We have a big, old pear tree in the back yard of our home. If no one is there to pick those pears, they will fall onto the ground, ripe. This is what nature has given us at this time.
And for good reason.
Sweet is the best taste for autumn.
Sweet helps us to let go, stimulating apana vayu or the force which facilitates the process of elimination. The sweet taste is composed of the elements earth and water, devoid of fire which adds to the heat and absent of the constricting qualities inherent in the pungent and bitter tastes. Sweet is heavy and grounds us when the dry and cooler winds of change swirl.
Some years back when I used to can my own fruits and vegetables, I remember poaching a number of pears over the old gas stove in my big, stainless steel pot. And I couldn’t help but to pluck them from the warm waters and keep tasting them…the sweet taste was so satisfying. I also remember the release I had shortly after…the fantastic downward movement of vayu. I don’t think I had ever felt so healthy– a moment so memorable that I can write about it decades later!
Thus the advice that I would give us all NOW is to favor foods which help us to eliminate.
This is why cleanses and fasts are done this time of year. They help the body to release, then reset in preparation for the next season.
Good autumn eating includes these foods~
Baked apples, ripe pears
Figs, dates
Pumpkin, papayas
Winter squash, sweet potatoes
Cooked grains, such as basmati rice, quinoa
Ghee
Warm apple cider
What you can do to help your body reset:
Set aside 3 days to eat very lightly, supplementing with well-ripened or cooked fruit.
Avoid heavy, fatty foods and hard to digest foods like raw vegetables and nuts.
Squash recipes, pumpkin recipes are to be favored as well.
Notice all the colors you see in the fresh food isle at the market. Eat those. Cooked.
Try this kichari recipe, one that I’ve made many times. Feel free to vary the spices and know that this is a nutritious dish which has the inherent quality of sweet (basmati rice) and which is also super easy to digest. Banyan Botanicals makes kitchari preparation easy– you can purchase all of the ingredients in one click.
Banyan also discusses the benefits of a 3 day cleanse or, what I like to call, a 3 day break from all the stuff we’ve been putting into our bodies over the last months.**
Heat also builds up in the mind.
Let go of all of those ‘heated’ emotions that no longer serve you–if only for a short while in order to give your liver and mind a rest. Now is not the best time to let our blood boil. We must also find some sweetness in life for it to be a satisfying journey.
Let’s make this transition into winter as smoothly and as healthily as we know by countering the effects of instability and change. That means we go towards grounding and smooth and soft. And sweet.*
May we tread lightly, but determinedly on this earth as we make our way forward.
May you stay healthy and well on this journey. And may you find some sweetness on the way.
*White sugar (especially when mixed with other refined substances like white flour) is super refined and does not count as a healthy sweet as it imbalances all three doshas, especially when taken in excess. **If you choose to order Banyan Products, please do so by clicking on the Banyan Button on this site’s Resources Page.