Welcome Rain...

Finally they have touched the skies of Mumbai. Yes the dark black rainy clouds are ready to shower rains on us. Thank god this year it has come on time as a great relief in excessive, scorching heat.

I am pretty excited about the rains as I am every year, and planning to enjoy the first showers. Today no one can stop me from my intentions of going out in the rain. I want to inhale the electric scent of the earth deep within so I could recall it whenever I feel like.

So what about you, don’t you want to enjoy the rains?? So enjoy this beautiful season to the fullest…

But beware, take care of your health as well, because slightest carelessness can lead to serious health problems.

Rainy season (Varsha ritu) from the perspective of Ayurveda  –

According to Ayurveda , Varsha ritu (Rainy season)  falls in the Utarayan (northern solstice). Indian calendar marks this season in Shravan – Bhadrapada.

The season is beautiful.  The sky is filled with clouds. Western winds blow. Air is damp and chilled. Rivers are flooded with water. The Land is muddy and wet and there is vegetation all over the earth due to enough supply of water.

Despite, such a cheerful atmosphere in rainy season, the agni (digestive activity) is weak. In summer agni is already weakened by extreme heat. In rainy season agni or digestive activity gets further decreased by the effect of thick clouds full of water, cold winds, dirty water, heavy rains, warmth of the earth and sourness.
The poor strength of digestive activity provoke doshas & thus they start vitiating one another and cause many diseases.

Hence all general measures to mitigate imbalanced doshas and to improve digestive activity should be adopted in rainy season to avoid health problems.  None other but the cleansing processes –“Detox procedures” is the perfect solution for diseases that are caused by imbalance in doshas.

1. Undergo detox or panchkarma therapy to correct the imbalanced dosha

2. Diet in Rainy season –

• Consume fresh, light and easily digestible food items
• Consume yusha (soups and kanji) made up of old grains (kept for a year) like rice, wheat, barley and green gram. Theses should be processed in oils or ghee
• Add ginger in your daily diet
• Eat warm food and avoid eating uncooked foods and salads
• You can take honey in moderate quantity if you are not diabetic. As per Ayurved it helps to reduce dampness in the body  
• Often we like to eat tasty, sumptuous and fried food items in rainy season. But such food can disturb you digestion process and cause gastro intestinal diseases. Hence try to avoid such food
• But the good news is that you can add food items that are sour in taste and contain enough of salt. (watch your blood pressure). Having homemade “Panipuri when it’s raining cats is not a bad idea as it helps to pacify vata dosha.
• But please don’t eat outside food, heavy junk food like pizza, burger, stale food
• Avoid leafy vegetables during monsoon.
• Avoid curds, red meat and any foodstuff, which takes longer time to digest. One may have buttermilk instead of curds.
• Drink boiled and cooled water mixed with little honey
• Avoid drinking excess of fluids at this further slows down the metabolism.
• Bhavaprakash states that consuming ‘haritaki (terminalia chebula) with rock salt in monsoon season is beneficial to health.

3. Along with healthy diet one should adopt      healthy lifestyle. The important changes that  one should make in one’s lifestyle in rainy  season are:

• Avoid Sleeping during daytime as it lower basal metabolic rate by decreasing function of agni (digestive activity)
• On a clear day in rainy season avoid over exertion and over exposure to sun
• Always keep the surrounding dry and clean. Do not allow water to get accumulated around.
• Keep body warm as viruses attack immediately when body temperature goes down
• Avoid walking in dirty water during rainy season. keep your feet dry.
• Fumigation of dried clothes with fumes of guggulu and dry neem leaves is also recommended in Ayurvedic texts
• Dusting powders or udwartana containing sandal powder, agaru can be used

By adopting above-mentioned diet and lifestyle slowly and gradually, over a period of couple of weeks, try to adjust yourself with the coming season. It will help you to cope up with the changes brought about in your body physiology because of change in season.

Trust me if you adopt these few changes in your lifestyle and diet I am sure you will enjoy this coming rainy season and maintain your health.