How To Balance The Effects Of Winter

As the days grow colder and the morning dew turns to frost, winter is upon us. Plants and animals alike withdraw to prepare for a cold harsh winter. Many plants go dormant transferring energy to their roots, while several animals choose to hibernate.

The days are darker and shorter, the air is dry and chilly, and depending on where you live, a blanket of white snow may cover your home.

Just as the plants, animals, and environment are affected by the change in season, so are we. In the winter we often see an increase of the qualities of winter (cool, dry, light, rough, hard, clear, mobile) in ourselves.

If these qualities become too dominant they can lead to imbalances/symptoms such as constipation, cracking or stiff joints and bones, anxiety, dry skin and scalp, fatigue, and weight gain.

As winter progress we typically experience a thickening of mucus membranes (in the sinuses, lungs, and intestines) to protect our body from the dry qualities of this time. As winter comes to an end we’ve often build up a good deal of mucus which we will then shed in the spring.

Similar to how plants transfer energy to their roots in the winter, we transfer energy/heat to our core and gut. This in turn strengthens our digestive fire and appetite. Our digestion remains strong accompanied by a strong appetite for the majority of winter making hearty foods like fatty slow cooked meats, stews, and root veggies a great choice. However, in late winter our digestion begins to weaken and our appetite decreases as spring draws near. During this time we want to keep our foods warm and cooked and transition from hearty root veggies to lighter veggies like artichokes and sautéed greens.

While this is pretty typical of winter, it should be noted that the qualities of the seasons vary based on where you live so make adjustments to these recommendations as it’s relevant to you and your environment.

It should also be noted that not all of us are affected equally by the same seasons. This often has to do with what imbalances we are prone to and currently dealing with, and in Ayurveda this is linked with your dosha (if you are the vata dosha you will likely feel the effects of the beginning of winter more and if you are the kalpha dosha you will likely feel the effects of the later part of winter more).

So What Are Some Things You Can Do To Restore/Maintain Balance?

The main overarching goal here is to balance the qualities of winter by bringing more of the opposite qualities into our daily lives. Those qualities are: warmth, moisture/oiliness, heaviness, smoothness, softness, density, and stability. We can do this by doing the following things:

1) Sleep And Rest More

During the winter the days are shorter. It stays dark for longer in the morning and gets dark earlier in the evening therefore we often find ourselves wanting to go to bed a little earlier and sleep in a littler later than normal.

This is because our circadian rhythm is tied with the sun and therefore we often benefit from a little more sleep and rest in the winter compared to the summer. This can be as simple as going to bed 30 minutes earlier or waking up 30 minutes later. As always, not everyone is the same so listen to your body and find something that works right for you.

2) Spend Time Outside

While spending time outside seems to come naturally in the warmer months, it can take more of an effort to get outside in the winter time. I encourage you to get outside, move your body, and try to get some sunlight when you can. All of these will help to offset the depressing aspects of winter and keep your spirits up, as well as aid your health and prevent illness!

Besides nature is gorgeous in the winter time. Some of the most beautiful hikes I’ve gone on were in the winter. Whether it’s in the snowy mountains, at the beach, or in a forest; the dampness of winter combined with the tendency to be overcast really highlights the beauty, colors, and smells of everything around you!

3) Take Warm Baths Or Showers, Or Spend Time In A Sauna Or Steam Room

All of these will help support your natural detox pathways such as the lymphatic system and drainage through the pores of the skin. This will in turn reduce chances of illness and help prevent too much mucus build up. They are also very warming and relaxing practices which help to contrast the cold of winter.

4) Get Or Give Yourself An Oil Massage

Oiling your body can help lock the moisture into your skin and prevent dryness. If you add in a massage, you get extra relaxing benefits too! Be sure to use a very high quality oil, no vegetable oils! Remember, if you wouldn’t eat it, don’t put it on your skin! I like to use a homemade salve made of extra virgin coconut and extra virgin olive oil, but plain extra virgin coconut oil is great too!

If you really want to work on some tight tissue, you can try using a gua sha in your massage too!

5) Reflect Inward

Just as the plants and animals withdraw and refocus their energy inward so should we! Now is an especially good time to carve out some alone time in a quite place. Use this time to reflect on your current habits, the past year, what’s going well, what you want to change, and how you plan to move forward with the new year.

We often spend a lot of time focused on the external, but refocusing our attention inward from time to time can teach us a lot and is a very grounding practice!

6) Eat Nourishing Seasonal Foods

Winter is a time to really nourish your body with warm hearty foods. Stews, soups, slow cooked fatty meats, roasted root veggies, bone broth, meatloaf, oxtail, and corned beef are all excellent winter dishes. Tastes to focus on are sweat, sour, and salty for their building and moisturizing properties.

As winter progresses, it’s beneficial to add more pungent, bitter, and astringent flavors as well as shift to lighter meals to counteract the heaviness and wetness of the fast approaching spring time.

In many places winter is a cold and harsh month where snow prevents the growth of most (if not all) fruits, veggies, and other plants. Therefore our ancestors who lived in these snowy climates ate a more meat heavy diet in the winter time. If you find yourself craving more meat and fat in the winter time (especially if you live in a cold snowy place) that is quite normal and in line with the seasons.

However, in other places closer to the equator plenty of plants still grow so people who live there have traditionally consumed both meat and plants year round. The point being that food that grows/is available near you helps to balance the affects of the current season in your environment. So the best practice for eating to balance the affects of the season is to eat what’s available in your local community (that is what can actually grow there, not what’s shipped in from 100s of miles away)!

Below are some common examples of winter foods and if you want to check out some of my favorite winter recipes click here!

Ideal Winter Foods:

Animal Products:

Fruits:

Vegetables:

Other Foods:

Works Cited

1. O’Donnell, Kate. “The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook.” Colorado: Shambhala Publishing. 2015. Print

2. Seasonal Food Guide. Accessed 5 January 2022. https://www.seasonalfoodguide.org/

3. O’Brien, Doug (PA and Ayurvedic Practitioner). Personal interview. 5 January 2022.

4. Mischke, Melody. “Winter Guide Insulate Your Well-Being with Ayurveda This Winter.” Accessed 6 January 2022. https://www.banyanbotanicals.com/info/ayurvedic-living/living-ayurveda/seasonal-guides/winter-guide/