Do you suffer from seasonal allergies?
Allergy season is fast approaching in the northern hemisphere, but if you are someone who suffers, ayurveda has some super helpful tips for you.
(Don’t have time to read the article? Listen to it on my podcast, Your Inner Radiance)
First, what are allergies? Allergies happen when the body decides to see something which is normally harmless as a pathogen and mounts an excessive defense against it. Three types of allergies can cause reactions: food allergies, airborne allergies, and contact allergies. Extra mucous and tears are two of the ways the body tries to push out the supposed invader, particularly to airborne allergies like pollen.
Ayurveda understands that various factors come together to cause allergic reactions in a person. These are a combination of genetics, weak agni (digestive fire), dosha imbalance, and accumulation of ama, or toxins in the body. Ama comes from our environment, stagnant emotions, and poorly digested food. Although we can’t do anything about our genetics, we CAN improve our agni, balance our doshas, reduce ama AND AVOID some of the things that will make congestion worse. A multifaceted approach can help you to alleviate the aggravating and disruptive effects of allergies. According to ayurveda, digestive imbalance is related to the majority of disease, and is most definitely involved in seasonal allergies. When our digestion is optimal and we are processing our food well, we are also best aligned to process all the other things life throws at us.
Here are some ayurvedic approaches to boost your digestive fire, correct dosha imbalance, and cleanse yourself of ama to reduce seasonal allergies:
Ideally, when winter transitions to spring, we do an ayurvedic cleanse to reduce the heaviness accumulated in winter and clear out the digestive tract, especially the liver. This will reduce the intensity of allergies when pollen peaks later in spring and early summer because your digestive organs will be freshly tuned and ready to deal with the allergens. If you missed it this year, it’s not too late to do it now! Cleansing protocols are based on the individual’s dosha.
During spring, focus on kapha reducing foods: Kapha is one of the three doshas that when aggravated causes stickiness, dullness, and heaviness in the body. Avoid heavy and cold foods and drinks including cheese, cream sauces, processed foods, fried foods, leftovers, iced drinks, and red meat, as these can dull your digestion and cause ama to build up. Focus on fresh steamed vegetables, especially greens, fruits, light grains like oats, quinoa, brown rice, barley, and cous cous, legumes like lentils and mung beans, plenty of digestive spices, and small amounts of olive oil, ghee, and avocado oil.
Kindle your agni by using digestive spices in your meals such as cinnamon, pepper, cumin, fennel, saffron, turmeric, basil, and small amounts of cayenne.
Try an agni deepana (digestive kindling) preparation before meals such as a slice of fresh ginger with a squeeze of lime and dash of salt, a teaspoon of trikatu with a spoonful of honey, or a digestive tea such as chai or cumin-coriander-fennel.
Mother earth provides cleansing herbs this time of year to support us with detoxification, particularly the lovely dandelion. Make dandelion green juice and try dandelion in tinctures.
Use a neti pot in the morning and evening: add a 1/2 teaspoon of pure non-iodized salt to a cup of warm filtered water and rinse each nostril. This loosens up sticky sinuses and clears out allergens and pathogens in the mucous membranes.
About 30 minutes after using the neti pot, squeeze of few drops of nasya oil into each nostril and inhale. (Skip during active sinus infections to avoid spreading the infection deeper.)
Support your agni and reduce ama with the herbal formula triphala: a classic combo of three fruits amalaki, haritaki, and bibhitaki.
During times of excessive pollen in the air and congestion in your sinuses, do herbal nasal steaming by simmering a small amount of water in a pot with some sinus clearing herbs or essential oils such as eucalyptus, camphor, and white thyme. Sit over the pot for 5 minutes with a towel over your head, breathing deeply (close your eyes!).
Exercise regularly to boost your agni and burn away ama. Morning and evening walks, jogging, yoga, dancing, hiking, biking, martial arts, weights, and fitness classes.
Practice pranayama, intentional breathing, such as nadi shodana (channel purifying breath), bastrika (bellows breath), and kapalabhati (skull shining breath).