Seasonal Tips: Gently Open to Spring Energy

Good day Healthy Trekkers,
Hope you are finding yourself with a beautiful weekend of light. The air is changing holding more weight to it and the sun awakening us has renewal energy waiting for us to bud. With such we ourselves are opening and welcoming the opportunities that are coming to have us be more out and about. We do ourselves good to take this gently, like a slow incline towards a peak, we don’t need to rush the seasons beginnings (as much as we may be craving it) instead, we can carefully prepare ourselves for spring in tandem with its energy. So what does spring energy look like and how can we gently invite it into our healthy living?

1. Our Bodies: Spring energy appears in our body, seeking movement, fluidity and cleansing properties to support our systems.  It is a time of unloading the excess of what we stored in our body that has kept us warm and comforted with the winter.  A renewal period in our growth as much as with nature it awakens our senses, as the buds of so much are slowly making their way to bloom so do our sense of sight as we seek the first early bloom.  The winds less harsh and more cooling bring our lungs to breathe with more comfort and it does us good to deepen our breathing practices with fresh air.  Spring allows us to adjust our body temperatures to the warmth that is to come.  Part of the way we do this is by slowly incorporating foods that begin gradually to cool the body and activate the blood to more flow.

2. Our Food: What we see returning to our environment in color and form with greens and buds sprouting to make their way to the surface mimic what we have to gain by incorporating these signs of nature in our foods.  Green is the color from everything from your beans like green lentils to your vegetables.  Increasing our vegetables with high water-based content supports this flow.  If sprouts or raw vegetables are tolerated in your diet, choose some to add to your diet begin with small amounts as garnish to your greens. Pressed vegetables can be a nice way to approach raw vegetables with the satisfying texture of it being crispy while a bit more digestive friendly containing the benefiting enzymes.  Daikon, turnip, celery and seaweed support detox.  Cooking methods call for less high temperature and long cooking of winter for lighter blanching and quick saute style meals. In general our cooking temperatures will likewise be balanced by applying less amounts of oil and salt.  Use alternatives like umeboshi plum, rice vinegar and lemon juice to add the salty bitter flavoring.   Steamed up greens with light seasoning, you want to taste the GREEN in greens.  When preparing grains, choose long grain vs short grain brown rice and trade the pressure cooker for a regular pot.  Alternative protein sources like tempeh and tofu are welcomed, lighter and less dense.

3. Our Environment: Our homes and environment we live in seek their own less dense and cleansing routine during this season.  If there are things that have worn their way through the winter and served their need, take inventory and see what can be salvaged and what may need to be recycled or if in condition to be given away.  Create an invitation to spring, this is a good time to apply natural cleansers to parts of the house that may have been kept closed, like window cleaning.  Take the opportunities that come with the warmth and cool temperatures to bundle up with less and head outdoors.  When you go for a walk, the warmth you feel can support your body in movement and flexibility, walk with care and attention to what you see and feel in the morning air and light.  Take time to sit outside in the sun, let it be welcomed by your face and warm you layer by layer.

I hope the season of spring finds you in warmer spirits and freshly awakened.  Take it in slow easy stride enjoy its budding as is its nature and calling to us all.

In health,

Safara

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