Summer is the Season of Pitta

As the wheel of the year moves into deep summer days, we enter the predominance of the fire element, the season of pitta in Ayurvedic terms. The fiery processes of transformation in the body, such as digestion (jathara agni) and consciousness (bhuta agni) can become engulfed in the heating energies of the summer months, and may benefit from some extra tending.

An easy interoceptive awareness building practice: Take pause throughout the month to notice how the fire element is moving in your body and in your mind.

Are you more fired up to go on adventures or undertake projects you might not endeavor other times of the year? Your digestive fires may be wilting in the time of pitta, so bring in lighter, cooling foods. Someone with a lot of fire in their elemental makeup may have to be vigilant of increasing fiery emotional imbalances like being quick to anger or overly sharp and judgmental.

Interoception is our sense of the internal conditions and states of the body, which we can cultivate with regular practice. Regularly checking in with our internal world helps to build resilience, capacity for regulation, and equanimity. Looking through the lens of seasonal awareness can really enhance the development of interoception, an important life skill and foundation for embodiment.