July 21, 2022
Do you feel the change?
Summer has arrived.
There’ve been a whole bunch of mini explosions happening and it’s finally the best time to move into your best self. Yup! We are talking about stretching yourself to your fullest potential. Light, warmth, interaction, and movement are at their peak during the summer. Things feel expansive, radiant, outgoing, and warm…
Like FIRE.
In short, summer brings much new, vibrant energy.
Are You In Balance With Summer?
If you are in balance with summer, you’ll feel that energy and love it. If summer brings you joy, and if you view it as a time for laughing, socializing, exercising, and having a good time, then you’re likely pretty in balance with the season.
You’ll get the urge to complete a project or maybe dive into something new. After all, it’s THE BEST time to work hard and play hard! Just make sure you avoid burnout by getting adequate rest and sleep, and eating lighter foods.
On the flip side, if you find yourself loathing summer – maybe you overheat, have heart palpitations, get irritable, anxious, or feel otherwise negative around the season – it’s a sign you may be out of balance.
Below are some tips to help you get back in balance with summer.
Move
Notice how there is so much movement reflected in nature over the summer months– bees are buzzing, flowers and trees are in full bloom, the sun is hot, and days are long. Everything is fully alive and vibrant. It is a time for all plants and creatures to reach their fullest potential. Unlike winter – where things tend to be still and meditative – summer is all about movement.
When it comes to fitness, our bodies respond really well to more explosive movements in summer (fitness level allowing). This is also a great time to learn how to use body mastery principles to fuel a life that inspires and energizes you.
If you have built up your stability and strength, take some time to focus on “power” exercises. An excellent place to start is by training your speed and agility. If you’re not quite ready for that, focus on muscle-building, and work your way up to incorporating short high-intensity training (HIIT), high jumping, core exercises, and fast speed races. This is not the time for endurance sports or marathon running.
That said, when you move your body you move your life, so focus on finding your next goal on your fit-for-purpose journey.
Summer marks the ascendance of power. So go with it, and reach your fullest potential.
Eat
There is a ton of fresh, vibrant foods available in the summer. This is no accident, and if you simply focus on eating locally harvested foods, you will have a much better chance of staying in balance with the season.
So what does that look like? Summer is all about eating lighter so that you don’t create too much heat and stagnation in the body. Instead of having stews and soups, you want to fill your plate with lots of lightly cooked or raw, colorful vegetables such as tomatoes, sugar snap peas, summer squash, and bright leafy greens such as spinach, pea shoots, watercress, and mung bean sprouts.
Avoid overeating because it’s very warming. This means that you do need to slow down when sitting for a meal. Get calm, still yourself. Concentrate on eating slowly, chewing more, and checking in with your belly as the meal progresses.
It helps if you stay very well hydrated throughout the day. You can do this by drinking water. If you’ve been in the sun or pretty active, you may feel more energized after adding a little sea salt to your water. Weird, I know, but this is wisdom that our ancestors living in hot climates knew about for thousands of years. That said, an alternative to sea salt would be adding some electrolytes.
Make sure to use cooking methods that keep the food as fresh as possible, like steaming, blanching, and grilling. Rather than focusing on lots of sauce, see if you can bring the flavor out of the foods and enjoy them in a more natural state.
Eat less:
- Meat
- Eggs
- Seed
- Nuts
- Salt, generally
- Heavy foods like greasy, oily, baked, stewed, or deep-fried foods
Eat more: Pungent foods, as they help you sweat out some heat.
- Onions
- Mustards
- Leafy vegetables
- Mung beans
Sleep
Our sleep schedules are imperative all year-round, but they should change with the energetic changes of the seasons.
In summer, rise at least an hour before sunrise. Remember, there is lots of energy in the atmosphere. If you go with it, it will attune you. If you sleep in late, you will end up feeling very heavy, and you may feel tired and groggy all day.
You can also go to bed later in summer, around 10 or 11pm.
Notice that my definition of “later” is still not too late. If you go to bed after 10 or 11 pm, you often go through a “wake cycle.” In that case, you begin interfering with your natural sleep cycle, interrupting the times when your body should be processing foods and cleaning blood (i.e. taking the nutrients out of the food and making nice blood).
If you are eating late or staying up late, you are using your energy for the wrong reasons and taking away from sleep’s restorative powers.
If you’re struggling with any element of the energetic transition from spring to summer, feel free to reach out to us and book a call – we’d love to help you get back on track and more in alignment with the natural energy of this time of year.
