Navigating Spring’s hidden health challenges

SPRING is truly the time of revival – everything comes alive as the sun gains strength with its northward movement. But it brings its own set of health challenges that many of us are not prepared for.

According to Ayurveda, this season of renewal requires careful attention to our body’s shifting needs. The interplay of rising temperatures, changing atmospheric conditions, and our internal rhythms can create imbalances that manifest as fatigue, allergies, headaches, and joint pain.

The Ayurvedic texts explain this beautifully: accumulated kapha, when melted, overloads the system, resulting in tiredness. Hence, ancient traditions emphasized dietary changes in spring. Hot, dry, and light foods are beneficial in drying kapha, while day-sleep, which aggravates kapha, is strictly discouraged. Diet and physical activities should be kept light and the emphasis should be on cleansing the body internally as well as externally. These small seasonal adjustments help restore energy and vitality.

When weather changes trigger pain

Spring’s fluctuating temperatures, barometric pressure, and humidity often lead to headaches, migraines, or joint pain. From an Ayurvedic lens, such disturbances are linked to vata dosha, which governs the nervous system and circulation.

Joint pain during this season is common, not simply because of “age,” but because of swelling in soft tissues due to falling air pressure and reduced internal lubrication.

Ayurveda attributes this to a disruption in the flow of prana due to blockages and the drying up of sukra, which normally cushions and lubricates joints. Yogic practices, especially six joint rotations: neck, shoulder, wrist, hip, knee and ankle, which, when performed with internal awareness of the joints, keeping the eyes closed and synchronising with the Ujjai breath, help in strengthening the joints.

Each joint needs to be rotated seven times in one direction and seven times in reverse direction. All rotations are to be performed without straining any part of the body. These joint rotations are highly effective in restoring balance in the body.

The allergy battle

Seasonal allergies spike during spring, and Ayurveda views them not merely as reactions to pollen, but as the body’s response to an incompatible pranic force. Suppressing them with antihistamines may offer temporary relief, but can confuse the body’s natural intelligence and deepen imbalance. Ayurveda instead prescribes cleansing and strengthening practices for this.

- Jal Neti Jal Neti (nasal cleansing with saline water): removes allergens before they penetrate deeper. It is highly effective in ridding the body of flu viruses from the nasal tract before they enter the blood stream and cause diseases. For people who travel in polluted environments or are suffering from a weak respiratory system, Jal neti gives a lot of relief and successfully combats the allergens causing such conditions. It should be followed by putting warm cow’s ghee in the nostrils, which lubricates membranes and strengthens natural defence.

- Herbal Tea: A powerful herbal tea can provide significant relief from respiratory allergies. You require... 

250g green tea leaves

50g banapsha

25g mulethi (licorice)

12.5g black pepper

12.5g cinnamon

25g green tulsi leaves

12.5g Saunth (dry ginger powder)

Mix all the ingredients in a copper or earthen pot, ensuring even distribution. Store in a glass jar. To prepare, steep one teaspoon in boiling water for five minutes, cover, and sip without sugar or milk. This blend remains potent for 60 days and acts as a natural shield against seasonal allergens.

- Pranayamas (Balancing and purifying techniques): Abdominal breathing maximises the up and down movement of the diaphragm and ensures that the lungs function at their optimal level, that is, they throw out spent air completely and also adequately replenish the body with fresh air from the environment. A decreased lung activity causes toxic residue to stay put in the body manifesting as disease and loss of natural radiance.

Ujjai Pranayama: Sit with a straight spine. Close your eyes and become aware of your breath at the tip of the nostrils and watch the rhythmic pattern of the breath. Gently take your awareness to the navel and as you inhale, inflate your stomach and as you exhale, contract it. With every breath, make your breath deeper and longer. This is abdominal breathing.

As you get comfortable with this breathing pattern, take a long breath and as you exhale, open your mouth and with the abdominal exhalation let out a sigh of relief. If you have done this exhalation with awareness, you will realise that the air went out touching the interiors of your throat with a gentle hiss.

Follow the same process now with your mouth closed. Feel the air travelling through your throat with a gentle hissing sound without apparently touching your nostrils. Slowly practice the abdominal inhalation as well with awareness of your abdomen but with the air flowing through your throat gently making a rustling sound through it. Ujjai Pranayam, is a complete balancing and purification technique, that rids the body off toxins, by heating it to a temperature where toxins are removed and simultaneously cooling it making for a complete balance.

Spring’s hidden health challenges need not overwhelm us if we align with Ayurvedic wisdom. By honouring seasonal rhythms, adjusting diets, cleansing the body, and adopting simple yet profound practices, we can thrive during this transition.

Ashwini Guru Ji is the energy and inspiration behind various initiatives of the Dhyan Foundation and an authority on the Vedic sciences. His book, Sanatan Kriya, The Ageless Dimension is a thesis on anti-ageing. For more information, visit www.dhyanfoundation.com or mail to [email protected]. 

* It is always recommended to consult a qualified Ayurvedic practitioner to receive individualised treatment.

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