Recently a friend told me that the holidays had sent her on a “downward-cookie-spiral-of shame.” Like many of us, she was having a hard time recovering. There’s a reason that January signals the prime season to begin diets and make resolutions for change: after marathon Yuletide party schedules and over-indulgences (and less exercise and yoga than normal), many people feel heavy, lethargic, and emotionally drained.
This comes at a time of year which, in Ayurvedic terms, is considered kaphic, or influenced by the elements of earth and water, with cool, heavy, and dull energy that can manifest in the body as excess mucous, lethargy, and weight gain.
As winter turns to spring, the body, like the earth, will begin to shed this heavy energy. But for now, we can take some tips from Ayurveda to begin to heat up our digestive fire, rev up our metabolism, and help the body begin to melt away the excess, physical and energetic, that may have accumulated over the past few months.
