This Summer the heat is really oppressive. My brain goes to mush and I just can’t seem to get much done. This is totally fine when I’m on vacation or on the weekend when I can just float on a lake, or lay in a hammock, or swim in the ocean. These are the best things to do now if you can!

But vacation ends and Monday eventually comes and I need to pull it together and get something done. If I push myself to be productive in this heat, it backfires and I get stressed out. These hot days my stress shows up as acid reflux and indigestion from inflammation. How about you?

The other day I was late getting to an appointment. On my way to the subway I was speed walking on the hot pavement getting irritated at people walking slowly in front of me. Does that ever happen to you, or is it just me? Since I live in NY, I don’t have a car, but you might find yourself in this heat leaning on your horn more, or calling other drivers “choice words” in frustration.

A few years ago in the Summer heat I had gnarly red heat rash on my stomach. Some people find they have crazy acne this time of year or eczema. Are you having skin irritations this Summer?

If I hadn’t studied Ayurveda, I would have told myself that I was a stressed out, irritable, cranky person with digestive problems. But from studying Ayurveda and learning about the doshas, the Ayurvedic body constitutions that are based on the elements, I understand that these are all just signs that my pitta dosha, fire element, is out of balance. And in the Summer when it is hot, pitta dosha tends to go out of balance. With the climate crisis and global warming in full gear, we are all getting extra overheated so everyone can benefit from learning ways to help us stay cooler internally. We won’t all be able to take a rocket out of here!

Through my Ayurvedic studies I have learned ways to help internally cool my system, with the foods that I eat, lifestyle choices, and practicing yoga postures that cool me down so that the heat does not affect me as much.

Keep your eyes open on my social media and e-mails. Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing lots of  Summer pitta cooling tips.

Join me for my Summer Chill: Yoga & Ayurveda Workshop for a sweet cooling yoga practice to balance pitta dosha, Sunday August 15, 4-6pm PST, 7-9pm EST.

The workshop is livestreamed on zoom through Sellwood Yoga, which is a beautiful yoga studio in Portland, Oregon owned by one of my dear friend and favorite yoginis, Savonn Wyland.

keep it cool baby!
Leigh

ps. Save the Date

Radiant Heart Retreat:Thailand
Feb. 7-16, 2022