The Beginning of Kapha Season

As the winter months wind down (here's hoping they wind down fast!), we enter Kapha season which lasts through the spring months. Kapha is one of the three doshas as outlined in yoga's sister science Ayurveda. The other two are pitta and vata. Though I don't practice or follow Ayurveda I do see aspects of each of the doshas in my life and I can certainly relate to the effects of Kapha season.

Dosha literally translates to imperfection or imbalance and the thought is each of us experiences some sort of dosha imbalance - most of us tend to align more strongly with a single dosha, though you may find, depending on the season, that you have a bit of all three within you.

I actually associate more closely with pitta but during these late winter and early spring months I find myself more easily falling into the kapha bucket. The weather is cold, damp, and heavy with some sort of condensation and the last thing I want to do is to get up and get moving. You might find yourself wanting to cancel plans rather than making an effort to meet up with friends. Sleeping in on a Saturday morning sounds much better than waking up for that early morning yoga class. I think we're more apt to make excuses during this time, too to make ourselves feel less guilty about missing that yoga class or sleeping in later than usual over the weekend.

But, of course, the things we should do during kapha season are the exact things we don't want to do - waking up early when we want to sleep in, exercising maybe even a little more than usual, and keeping plans with friends and family. It's actually a great time to try something new - a new, stimulating activity (yoga, perhaps, but probably not a restorative class), a different running route, and some new spices when preparing your meals.

The concept of kapha season encompasses bits and pieces of my last two posts - the importance of listening to that inner voice that's saying I should get out of bed and to yoga while also paying attention to what my body needs. It's a fairly fine line but once you learn to listen to your body and distinguish between what you really need and what you want to do, you can make choices that, in this case, can help combat the sluggishness of kapha season.