Ritucharya - Seasonal Routine

Greetings.

Yesterday I blogged about Dinacharya or daily routine and today I’m going to tell you about Ritucharya or seasonal routine.  We are all constantly interacting with ourselves, with each other and the universe.  And to maintain that equilibrium, we have to work in accordance with the laws of nature and the changes of the earth.

We get day and night because the earth travels through the galaxies and the cosmos.  And because the earth rotates around the sun, we get seasons.  Therefore we receive all the changes in our body as it is in the atmosphere.  

‘Yatha pinde tatha brahmande’ 

As is the individual so is the cosmos

Everything is constantly changing and nothing is stationary.  We are moving with the earth all the time.  If we change with the universe, we’ll feel balance, steady and whole.  We can’t control or stop the season or nature, but we can control how we interact with the seasons.  For example, in the winter it is cold, therefore we’ll wear a winter coat.  Seasonally we change so that we can experience the entire variety that nature has to offer.  

I feel that if we all stick to what nature has to offer, we all will be in balance, positive and have great energy.  In todays supermarkets, all kinds of food items are available for our pleasure all the time.  They don’t have the specific foods according to the seasons.  Can you imagine how our lives would be if all the supermarkets of the world only carried those foods that we had to feed our body as a fuel for that specific season?  It blows my mind.  

The year is divided into 6 seasons - 

1 - Hemant - early winter - avoid light and cold foods and drinks 

2 - Shishir - late winter - avoid bitter, pungent and astringent foods and drinks

3 - Vasant - spring - avoid unctuous, heavy, sour and sweet foods and drinks

4 - Grishm - summer - best to avoid alcohol and drink lots of water; avoid salty, sour, hot and pungent foods and drinks

5 - Varsha - rainy season - avoid cold and sweet drinks; favor sour, salty and unctuous foods 

6 - Sharad - autumn - sweet, light, cold and bitter foods and drinks should be in favor