Spring is a season of birth, new beginnings, renewal, and growth—a time for the earth to make manifest the latent potential within all things. Our physiology senses a natural opportunity for a fresh, clean start; our bodies are primed to lighten things up, cleanse ourselves of any accumulated imbalances, and rejuvenate our deepest tissues.

Spring embodies the heaviness of increased moisture, and it tends to feel slower than summer or fall. These are just a few of the characteristics that align spring with Kapha dosha, one of the constitutions in Ayurveda. In fact, the Sanskrit word Kapha means “that which flourishes in water,” and what season is more defined by the presence of water than spring and all the ice-tops melting?

With a seasonal diet and lifestyle that invites a little extra lightness, sharpness, dryness, and heat into our lives, we can support our physiology in its natural process of springtime renewal and revitalisation.

Get Moving

The growing hours of sunlight indicate that we’re naturally supported to move for longer periods of time in Spring. Whereas Winter is all about short bursts of movements surrounded by rest, Spring is when we emerge from hibernation and start moving for longer periods of time. Walking and cycling outdoors is a great way to reconnect to Spring energy, tapping into our innate human desire to spend more time outdoors.

It is also a great time to play. Go explore new things, implement changes in your life that you’ve been postponing and declutter your home, your diet and your mind. Go out of your comfort zone, and seek things that ignite you.

Waking with the Sun

Although sleep is incredibly important year-round, we evolved to sleep slightly less in spring and summer than autumn and winter. Just like movement, our sleep is deeply connected to the Sun, and our circadian rhythms (the body clock). When the Sun rises early, this supports us to wake earlier too, and when the Sun sets later, we may feel like staying up a little later than usual.

As Winter recedes, we can gradually begin to rise earlier. For most people, waking by or before 6 am during the spring months is ideal (and for others it sounds like a horror story). Give it a try for a few days. If not by 6 am, try to wake up at least at 8 am, if not earlier, to avoid the accumulation of heavy Kapha energy, giving us that ‘hit by a bus’ awakening. Try to not use an alarm clock when you next have the opportunity and don’t pull your blinds down completely – you may notice you wake early with the sunrise. If so, get up a little earlier, head outside, on the balcony or to the window to expose your eyes to natural daylight (thus setting your circadian rhythms).

Try and go to bed between 21-22h while the energy to unwind is strongest because after that, the fire energy in us starts rising again, making it harder to fall asleep. Of course, ensure you’re switching off all screens in the evening, which will allow your body to secrete melatonin, the darkness and sleep hormone.

Get into the World again

Spring is a natural time to socialise and to initiate (or rekindle) meaningful relationships—to enjoy our friends and loved ones. Whilst Winter is all about connecting intimately, Spring encourages us to get out into the world a little more. This is a great time of year to plan get-togethers with those you may not have seen over Winter, and to re-establish friendships you really value. When it comes to big parties and meeting lots of new people however, that is best saved for the height of the energy in Summer, so still be mindful who you spend your energy with.

Give some extra attention to your Liver

Spring is the season when our liver needs some extra care. Traditional winter diet is often higher in fats and protein, which can put extra pressure on the liver. It also makes sense because spring is so abundant in green foods and herbs, which support the liver’s natural digestive capacity. Traditional Chinese medicine teaches us that when energy is running smoothly through the liver, emotions run smoothly too. And who wouldn’t want that, am I right?

To give your liver a boost, try:

consuming at least two litres of water a day,
drink a moderate amount of coffee,
get plenty of movement,
reduce heavier foods and processed foods, and
try to eliminate as many toxins as you can from your home, which may mean swapping to more natural cleaning and self-care products.

A good way to give more space to your Liver and integrate all of the above is by doing a Three Day Food Reset.

Seek Seasonal Produce

When you think of Spring foods, think ‘green’. Leafy greens and vegetables are exactly what our bodies are craving right now, and if you’re able to shop locally and organically, you’ll be providing your body with the exact nutrients needed to prevent seasonal allergies and illnesses too.

The foods we eat provide our cells with information, and by consuming seasonal Spring foods, our body starts to align with Spring energy. When adopting a lighter Spring diet with seasonal greens, you may notice your energy levels rise, and your digestion may improve, too. This is largely due to the abundance of bitterness present in produce like kale, chard, spinach, chicory, and other greens.

Bitterness is a very important taste to include to boost digestion, cleanse heavy energy, and encourage a healthy liver, but it happens to be lacking in most Western processed foods. Opt for asparagus, artichoke, chicory, new potatoes, leeks, sprouting broccoli, radish, sorrel, kale, lettuce, watercress and peas. These greens are said to hold the most energy or ‘prana’ during Spring too.

If you’re a confident forager (if not, seek advice from someone who is beforehand), the following plants and herbs are likely growing in your local hedgerows and woodland right now, and are all very high in nutrients: nettle, dandelion, wild garlic, wild garlic mustard, cleavers, and wood sorrel.

Yoga and Pranayama

Whilst Winter is the perfect time for deep yin and restorative yoga, Spring is the time to bring in a little more movement and flow to reawaken and re-energise your body and mind. In addition to movement, any type of deep, diaphragmatic breathing you’re able to practice will go a long way to boosting energy levels, brightening your mood, and encouraging more oxygen saturation in the muscles and organs.

Try Dry Brushing and Ayurvedic Self-Massage

From the many ways to remove the heavy and sluggish qualities from our system and cultivating lighter and warmer ones, dry brushing is another effective and therapeutic way to do so. Ayurvedic dry brushing is an energetic detoxifier and energiser, and awakens the body and the mind. This practice can be further supported and balanced by Abhyanga, the tender and loving act of self-massaging with warm oils in the comfort of your home.

Yes, you’ve heard me right— massage ourselves. As much as it is nice to sometimes visit a masseur, it is equally nice, if not nicer, to get into a habit of knowing your body through massaging yourself. You will intuitively know where to start and what to do, and as it is such a heartwarming practice of establishing connection with our bodies, you may want to do it every day.

If this got your interest, you can read more about both practices, their benefits to the body and mind, and tips how to perform them here. Once you try, you’ll want to do it as often as possible.

If these tips have inspired you to start reconnecting with nature, the simplest way to begin is by heading outside. Observe which plants are growing around you. How does the Sun feel on your skin? Which scents can you smell? Which colours can you see? How does Spring make you feel?

Living Seasonally: Spring

Living Seasonally: Winter