Feeling BLAH this Spring?
When I was a grad student at UVM many years ago, I took an amazing course on intercultural communication and spent two weeks traveling in Belize and Guatemala visiting small towns that were not typically accessible to tourists. We stayed with local families in each town as there weren't any hotels, and each community introduced us to their indigenous cultural practices. We learned how to harvest cassava with machetes and grind it into flour to make bread, how to weave baskets from grass, and how to make corn tortillas from fresh corn. We learned traditional songs and dances, and participated in sacred ceremonies.
In one small town, a group of Mayan elders led us on a hike through the rainforest to a ceremonial cave dug into the side of a mountain. It was a strenuous, steep hike, made even more difficult by the muddy conditions. I remember my legs getting stuck in knee-deep mud, and the immense effort it took to take each step. Once we finally reached the cave, the only way to enter was to lie down and slide in through a narrow opening that led to an expansive cave. By the time we got back to the village, we were all covered head-to-toe in mud, and we each walked fully clothed into the river to try to get clean, and to relieve our burning muscles. It was so humid in Belize that my hiking boots never fully dried after their mud bath and river cleaning, and by the time I returned home, they were moldy!
I think about that muddy hike each spring, and remember how formidable the mud was. We call spring "Mud Season" for a reason, and if your car (or your boots) have ever gotten stuck in the mud, you know how much effort it takes to get unstuck.
Spring is kapha season, which means the earth and water elements are more predominant in nature. When earth and water mix, they become mud, and mud is thick, heavy, sticky, cold, and damp. These same qualities can start to creep into our own bodies, leading to congestion, swelling, seasonal allergies, heaviness, and inertia. Even though there is an energy of emergence as the sun starts to peak out again, and the tenacious spring ephemerals push through the mud and start to bloom, it is common to feel weighed down and heavy during the spring. Can anyone relate to feeling unmotivated and stuck in the mud this time of year?
Signs of Earth & Water Accumulation:
Stagnation: Feeling stuck or unmotivated
Possessiveness: Difficulty letting go
Heaviness: Feeling bored and tired
Low Metabolism: Loss of appetite, nausea
Seasonal Allergies: Sinus or chest congestion
Swelling: Joint pain and stiffness
Sadness: Grief and loneliness
In the spring, we want the water to flow through the earth without getting stuck, so that we feel the gifts of kapha instead of the signs of imbalance listed above. Kapha's functions are structure and cohesion, which are necessary for healthy boundaries, juicy joints, love, nurturing, steadiness, focus, and endurance.
Mud season can leave us feeling sluggish and bogged down from the heavy, cold, damp qualities in the environment. I'm leading a workshop on Sunday all about how to flow through kapha season without getting stuck in the mud, so that the gifts of kapha are amplified. You'll learn how to recognize the signs of earth and water building in your system and how to bring yourself back into balance by making seasonal shifts to your yoga, nourishment, and self-are practices. Will I see you there?
