A Perspective on Ayurveda in Spring & the Root Causes of Disease
Insights & Recipe by Ruth Smiley with Blue Oak Ayurveda in Mariposa, California.
Prefer an audio/listening format of this blog post? Click here to access on the Spice Insights Podcast YouTube channel!
Spring abounds with cues to reawaken our senses to the clamoring of the world around us.
Hard to ignore are the buzzing of bees, caws of birds, and the joyful sights and aromas of seeds sprouting, and blooms bursting. The urge to peer out the window and ramble freely outside without a jacket — even with a bite of cold still in the air — may overtake us. Hungry for sunshine, crispy produce, colorful citrus, and fast walks or long bike rides. More often than not, as we enter this season, we harbor simultaneously some residual creaking or stiffness in the joints and muscles, and even lethargy or congestion leftover from the wintertime.
In the illuminating craze of spring, we have to acknowledge where in our bodies, minds, and hearts we have accumulated excesses, stiffness or sluggishness, and may have an instinct to purify. Ayurveda has a wonderful approach to realigning with each season, lending us its ancient wisdom and energizing practices to alleviate imbalance.
“Hungry for sunshine, crispy produce, colorful citrus, and fast walks or long bike rides. More often than not, as we enter this season, we harbor simultaneously some residual creaking or stiffness in the joints and muscles, and even lethargy or congestion leftover from the wintertime. ”
To highlight today’s recipe, Springtime Beet Salad, with its cleansing and restorative properties, I’d like to share with you a brief birds eye view of the root causes of disease, as stated in the ancient text Ashtanga Hridaya.
These are (paraphrasing for a modern audience):
Unfaithful use of the Senses ~ excess exposure or deprivation of sound, touch, sight, taste, & smell
Crimes against Wisdom ~ when you know, but do it anyway
Wear and tear due to a poor or exhaustive use of Time
At the same time we are captivated by the indicators of Spring, we are also led to recognize where we have been inconsistent in our self-care, suffered at the hand of too much food and drink, or engaged unhealthily through our sensory intake.
In such moments of reckoning, we can find solace in foods and culinary herbs that help to realign and liberate the functionality and ease of our digestive processes, and contribute to restoring normalcy to the bloodstream and its nutrient balance.
Beet roots, spicy or bitter greens, along with neutral spicing help balance the moisture and heat of the digestive system to give more spunk, and “declutter” the viscera responsible for filtration and processing richness and heaviness from the body.
Springtime Beet Salad
• 4-5 medium size whole beets
• 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• ½ teaspoon coriander seed powder
• ¼ teaspoon fennel seed powder
• ½ cup finely chopped spinach or arugula
• Pinch ground hot pepper, optional
• Salt & pepper, to taste
Optional protein additions:
• ¼ cup cubed goat or sheep cheese
• 2 Tablespoons toasted walnuts or pecans
Preparation: Boil beets whole with skins on, just covered in water, until roots are cooked but firm in the middle. Depending on the size and density of the beets, this may take 20 minutes, more or less.
Set aside boiled beets, and allow to cool in the water they boiled in, just long enough to handle. Using a paper towel or a clean washcloth, slip the skins off to expose the beets smooth, shiny surface. Cut the beet from top to bottom, then in half moon slices about a ¼ inch thick.
Place the sliced beets in a shallow glass or ceramic bowl, adding balsamic vinegar and a splash of the beet water. Let this combination marinate for 1-2 hours at room temperature, then proceed to add spices and finely chopped spinach and arugula. If adding protein additions, like cheese or toasted nuts or seeds, add these immediately before serving.
Springtime Beet Salad is tasty served on the side with steamed white basmati rice, over a bed of salad greens with salmon, or simply by itself with a mango or rose lassi as accompaniment.
Ruth is the owner-operator of Blue Oak Ayurveda Healing Center located in downtown Mariposa, California. Visit blueoakom.com to learn more.