:: July/August 2005 Volume 4/Number 5

Season of Fire: How to Handle Pitta this Summer

By: Felicia M. Tomasko

Summer is the season of long days and intense sunlight. In the Ayurvedic cycle of the year, it is the season of the fiery pitta dosha. Seasonal changes create fluctuations in day length and sunlight that have a profound effect on us. No matter where you live in the Northern Hemisphere, summer’s radiating sun at an intense angle causes an accumulation of the pitta dosha, or Ayurvedic quality of fire in both our bodies and minds.

Pitta is the dosha, or physiological category, of fire. In our body, it is responsible for the actions of transformation and digestion. Pitta controls the luminosity of our skin, our vision, enzymatic processes, metabolism, detoxification and our ability to digest food, thoughts and emotions. The sun, being of a fiery pitta nature, increases our internal pitta. We experience this through our eyes and skin, our organs of sensation.

By nature, the eyes themselves are pitta, and summer increases their fire, making our eyes more sensitive to light. The eyes are related to the also intensely pitta liver. An excess of heat absorbed through the eyes and skin can aggravate the liver and interfere with our body’s detoxification processes. When pitta boils over, the emotions of irritation, anger, jealousy, impatience and extreme competitiveness can smolder. Physically, too much pitta can cause a feeling of being overheated, sunburn, redness, rashes and skin problems, high blood pressure and increased inflammation.

To create balance, Ayurveda recommends a multi-faceted approach of working with nature, yoga, food and other practices to respond to the delightful, yet intense luminosity of summer.

Pitta in Nature

Why do we intuitively head for the hills or the beach when the summer sun sparkles? It is because our body, mind and other aspects of our selves naturally gravitate towards those qualities that help to bring us into balance. Our intuition, when we truly listen, helps guide us to a state of balance. It is important, though, to find the intuition of the body or inner wisdom rather than rely on the capricious desires of the mind.

Listening to the body brings us to the qualities of the other two doshas, kapha (water) and vata (air); they both can help cool pitta. These permeate the world around us, so where you spend your free time can impact our internal state of being. We may already realize this intuitively, yet Ayurveda provides a framework for managing the interplay of these doshic energies. The ocean is predominantly kapha in nature; summertime pilgrimages to the beach help cool pitta through proximity to water. To calm pitta, it may not be enough to just look at the ocean. So jump in, go swimming, or at least walk in the wet sand!

The mountains, being high and dry, have an airy vata quality. A trail hike, especially beneath a cool canopy of green summer leaves, helps to soothe pitta. Stark, beautiful and extreme, the desert is the most pitta of regions. This is why the intuitive decision of going to the mountains or water and staying away from the desert is the most balancing choice to make.

To more directly calm pitta, spend some time in the light of the full moon. As seen in the very name of hatha yoga, the sun and moon are opposing and complementary forces. The name ha tha refers to the sun and moon. To invoke the cooling soothing energy of the moon, moon bathing is a traditional Ayurvedic practice to contain the body’s fire. During the mild nights of summer, full moon beach walks, hikes, neighborhood strolls or even sitting outdoors under the rays of the moon infuses the body with the moon’s cool kapha nature.

The Competitive FIRE

It can be easy to succumb to the temptation of overdoing it in the high-energy summer months because our competitive drive may be heightened due to pitta. We see this competitiveness in recreational sporting events, including the summer schedule of races and triathlons. To practice in these events without aggravating pitta, soften the gaze while running or biking, practice some cooling breaths before, during or after the event (see below), enjoy a cooling, post-race dip (triathlons already include water in the event) and pamper yourself afterwards with cooling aloe smoothed on the skin. Although it can be challenging to do so, compete while becoming unattached to the outcome, letting go of the overly competitive spirit of pitta.

Poses for Cooling Pitta

Asana practice can be adjusted with an eye to calming pitta. Be cautious of the effects of too much heat in a practice, and remove the need to strive and strain while on the mat. To soothe pitta, cultivate a sense of ease while holding a pose or completing a vinyasa. Some practices that help to foster ease are focusing on the breath, particularly lengthening the exhalation, drawing attention to the feet, and moving with a quality of flowing like water. As mentioned, the eyes are a pitta sense organ; so soften the gaze, and cultivate a feeling of coolness.

The pranayama, or breath practice of shitali or shitkari, is helpful for cooling pitta. Inhale through the mouth and exhale through the nose. There are three positions of the mouth that can be used: curling the tongue, gritting the teeth in a slight smile or pursing the lips. These can be practiced at any time you need to cool down and dampen the fire of excess pitta.
Poses to quench the fire also include forward bends, in any configuration or variation: seated forward folds, standing forward bends, and poses like plow, which are forward bends lying on the back. These are poses of surrender and drawing one’s attention inward, qualities which help to soften pitta’s intensity.

Asanas that are grounding and cooling include those practiced on the floor or earth, including: seated or lying-down twists, locust, low variations of cobra and bridge. Out of the inversions, shoulderstand is the most cooling and pitta-soothing. To calm pitta, keep the neck and shoulders relaxed and be careful not to hold the pose too long.

Calming pitta through asana does not necessitate avoiding heating poses like headstand, standing twists or backbends. Just become aware, there are heating poses and there are cooling poses and to create a balanced practice for summer that favors cooling poses, or ends with a segment of poses to soften and soothe the body and mind.

Food for Pitta

Ayurvedically, summer is the time for ice cream – finally. A naturally, heavy, cold kapha food, ice cream can be difficult to digest in the winter, causing excess mucus. But on a sunny summer day, it can be a lovely snack to quench pitta’s flames. Eating ice cream right after a meal, though, can dampen agni, the digestive fire.

Although ice cream is a sweet that cools pitta, some sweets are heating, such as honey. So if you are in the habit of using honey in your tea and you would like to cool down, choose cooling sweeteners such as maple syrup, unrefined sugar (sucanut, turbinado sugar or jaggery), rice syrup or date sugar.
Herbs and foods can also be used directly on the eyes to cool and soothe the effects of long days of bright sunlight. Cucumber slices, or tea bags like black or green tea which cooling and astringent or soothing herb teas, can be placed on the eyes. Inflamed or irritated eyes can also be washed with a weak solution of room temperature mint tea or room temperature tea made from the traditional Ayurvedic herbal formula triphala (for triphala tea, strain very well).

Foods that are sour, salty or pungent (hot and spicy) increase pitta, while the sweet, bitter and astringent tastes decrease pitta. This does not mean that salsa, oranges and chips must be strictly avoided in the summertime, but create balanced meals that favor soothing foods.

To cool the fire in the liver, cleansing herbs and foods such as burdock, dandelion greens and cilantro (one of pitta’s best friends) can be added to a meal.

Pitta-reducing foods to incorporate into a menu include cucumbers, mint, cilantro and coriander, blueberries, grapes, melons, basmati rice, green leafy vegetables like lettuce, kale and collards, mint, dates, coconut and cottage cheese. Make salsa more soothing by adding extra cilantro or diced mango. Add shredded coconut to grains or cereals and cooling cucumber, celery and jicama to summer salads and picnic baskets.

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