Pitta Season

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"When the music changes, so does the dance"   (African Proverb)

Practices have been sweaty lately. The good kind of sweat - enough to feel fluid, open, and energized. However, I have to be careful with the heat. I generate quite a bit when practicing, and end up out of balance if I don't manage it well. I've experienced this before, and have learned tricks of the trade to regulate the body during pitta season.  Whew! The intensity of Ashtanga yoga can really go up a notch in the summertime and it's a good idea not to burn yourself out in the process.

Having the constitutional make up of vata-pitta, vata being slightly dominate, I have the two-fold experience of being sensitive to both high heat, and extreme cold. Although, if one were to win out it would be the cold. Harsh cold is not my friend. To think I live in Sweden, now. LOL. Anyway, who cares about all that, it's summertime!

So, following are a few cooling tips for you Ashtanga yogis and yoginis out there. Extracted from one of my favorite blogs on Ayurveda, Monica B.

• Eat in season. I know, it goes without saying. However, it's a good reminder. Especially when it comes to fruits of the summer season - they help cool the body down during the sizzle. Mango, coconut, blueberries, watermelon, peaches, honey dew, cantaloupe, plums, nectarines, pomegranate, are in abundance depending on where you reside. Also, fresh veggies, including spinach, bitter greens, cucumber, jicama, carrots, broccoli, beets, and cilantro are in season. Although, with that being said, limiting alcohol and caffeine consumption would be wise, along with obstaining spicy foods. Not very pitta friendly. Sorry.

• Practice Nadi Shodhanam (alternative nose breathing). Helps to calm the mind and relieve stress. 

• Indulge in aromatherapy. Sandalwood is instantly cooling, grounding, calming, and comforting. Also, mint, ylang-ylang, camphor, rose and jasmine help to cool the body, mind and spirit. 

• Wear light weight, breathable clothing when practicing Ashtanga yoga. Duh. I know, pretty self explanatory, however, with the heating nature of Ashtanga, I've had to change my practice attire through the years. This may sound crass, however wearing the least amount of clothing while still being decent is a good idea during the hot months. When practicing at home alone it doesn't really matter how little one wears. However, making changes in this area has helped me tremendously. Gosh I think back when I used to wear sweats when practicing! Even in the summer. Blah.

• Oil Bath! I feel this is an essential ritual, especially for longtime Ashtanga yoga practitioners. I love my weekly oil bath (castor oil is best). I couldn't live without it. It lubricates the joints, cools the body, and draws out toxins. Below is one of the best articles I've come across explaining the practice by teacher Kimberly Flynn. However, I will add, it isn't necessary to use the soap nut powder to rinse off the oil. What a mess it makes! Johnson & Johnson's baby wash, and Dr. Bonner's Castile soap works just as well. And, just to add, if you're into daily self-massage, coconut oil is recommended for the summer months in that it is cooling to the body.

Relieve aches, pains and stiffness with oil baths
By Kimberly Flynn

Oil bath is a traditional, weekly Ayurvedic home remedy still practiced widely in South India. Shri K. Pattabhi Jois routinely recommends oil bath to his yoga students especially for the relief of back and knee pain as well as stiffness. Weekly oil bath reduces excess internal heat (pitta in Ayurveda) particularly in the joints, liver, and skin. This heat is generated by poor lifestyle, including consumption of oily, processed, and difficult to digest foods, alcohol and tobacco, in addition to stress, air pollution and inadequate sleep. This imbalance increases with the heat generated by yoga practice and hot climate. Eating an over-sufficiency of healthy foods that are deemed "heating" in Ayurvedic terms, also adds to this imbalance.

Excess heat can be felt in the joints as pain and stiffness and in the back, often in the lower right-hand side and hip, as a nearly debilitating pain. This heat also contributes to a short temper, burning anger, red skin, pinkish acne, and redness in the eyes. When a daily ashtanga yoga practitioner still carries extra weight, especially around the middle, has difficulty with weight loss or with digestion, and has a regularly sluggish bowel, these are all signs of surplus heat.

In India, oil bath is customarily taken with castor oil that is later removed from the skin and hair with a special herbal paste made of equal parts soap nut and green powders mixed with water. Castor oil delivers the best results, but is nearly impossible to remove without these powders. Guruji suggests that, after leaving India, the yoga student can replace castor oil with almond oil, which easily washes off with bath soap.

Daily baths in India are taken by pouring water over the head from a bucket while standing in the bath, a river, or other body of water. It is in reference to this bath that oil bath is so termed. In other words, the student is not soaking in a tub of oil; rather he or she is using oil first on the head. Oil is rubbed into the scalp which draws the heat upward through the body, where it finally exits through the crown of the head.

Pattabhi Jois recommends that a student takes oil bath every Saturday (on his or her day of rest or once per week) at the start of the morning. After oil bath, one should rest for the day and avoid the following: strong sun, cold water, yoga or heavy work of any kind. For men, tradition prescribes that oil bath be taken on Monday, Wednesday or Saturday. For women, oil bath is prescribed on Tuesday or Friday; Guruji provides that his female students can take oil bath on the day off, Saturday. A woman should never take oil bath during menstruation, rather, she should take it on the fourth day (following the first three days of menses, during which time she has abstained from yoga practice). If one is not able to take oil bath on a given Saturday, he or she may take it on one of the above appropriately listed days.

Directions for Oil Bath

Note: When using castor oil, first place the bottle in warm water to thin out the oil for easier application.

1. Apply ample amount of oil to your head, rubbing into the scalp and through to the ends of your hair.

2. Leave oil on the head for the allotted time. For your first oil bath, leave the oil on your head for only five minutes. Continue increasing the time weekly by five minute increments until the oil is left on the head for a full two hours (a 6 month process); this is the maximum recommendation. At this juncture, you should practice two hours weekly, not exceeding this time.

Important: Years of accumulated heat should safely be relieved in stages. Therefore, it is essential to carefully follow the time recommendation. Inappropriately increasing the prescribed minutes may lead to a cold, vomiting, chills or diarrhea, all of which are symptoms of too much heat rising too soon.

3. Having completed your allotted time for oil on the head, generously apply oil to the whole body. As you rub oil over your body, take time to rub and massage elbow, knee and shoulder joints, along the spine and into any areas that are chronically sore. You need not apply oil to the face. This step should take an additional five to ten minutes.

4. Take a very hot shower or bucket bath. Let the hot water run over the scalp as you massage the existing oil deeper into the crown. Continue to rub the oily skin focusing on the joints and spine. This is an important step as the hot water opens pores and draws internal heat from the skin and joints. This shower may last five to fifteen minutes.

5. Apply soap and shampoo, or soap nut and green powder mixture to remove oil. After turning off the shower, lather up with soap on the skin and shampoo in the hair to remove almond oil. If castor oil is used, then apply soap nut and green powder mixture rubbing the paste over the whole body and through the hair and scalp. Be careful and avoid getting soap nut powder, dry or wet, in the eyes or nose, as it will cause a burning sensation. As you rub the paste over the skin, it will turn from dark to light green which indicates that the oil is being absorbed.

To make the paste, in a large bowl mix equal parts soap nut powder and green powder with enough water to create a paste with a honey-like consistency. Soap nut is active in absorbing the castor oil and can make the skin feel very dry. Green powder leaves the skin and hair feeling soft and smooth.

6. Take a second shower or bucket bath to remove oil and lather or special paste. Take this shower at a warm, comfortable temperature and use enough soap and shampoo to remove the almond oil. If you are washing off soap nut paste and castor oil, be sure to close your eyes when rinsing your hair; you'll probably want to follow up with shampoo. This shower lasts up to ten minutes.

You have successfully completed oil bath.

7. Wash the shower/bath area. The shower floor will be very slippery and the drain may be clogged a bit. Scrub the shower area well to avoid slipping and pour a kettle of boiling water down the drain to keep it open. If you have used soap nut paste, you may be faced with a muddy mess. Clean all surfaces and be sure to pour boiling water down the drain.

8. Rest over the next few hours, avoiding hard work, strong sun and swimming in or drinking cold water. For the daily ashtanga practitioner, it is important to take a full day off, allowing the body and mind to rest and rejuvenate for the coming week of practice, study, work and family life.

If the desired results of oil bath are not felt at first, don't give up. Continue to include this time-honored treatment in your weekly schedule and be confident in the radiant health benefits it bestows.