The Gunas of Kapha Season
The last few weeks I've taught a one day retreat and an Ayurvedic spring workshop. The theme I really tried to nail down for both groups. Gunas or qualities of the season. Noticing what is happening outside the body is happening within. If you understand the gunas it makes Ayurveda much easier to understand why we make the decisions to avoid salads in the winter, avoid overly heavy foods in the spring, or have hot tea in the summer months.
Let's break down the spring guans below.
Spring Qualities or Gunas
- Heavy- Think heavy snow, mud, people feeling a bit heavy at this time of the year.
- Slow-water slowing starts to move again post the winter melt, animals slowly awaken from hibernation.
- Cold-There are days when it's 75 and sunny and days when its 30 and cold. There is a bit of bite in the air in the spring still.
- Oily- Stools can be oily, hair might be more oily, the skin can be more oily at this season.
- Slimy/smooth-Again stools, mud, sap from trees.
- Liquid- water, trees, loose stools.
- Soft- The ground is very soft in the spring. (easy for farmers to dig to get ready to plant). Our bodies might feel a bit soft. Resist the urge to label good or bad and just sit with what is.
- Static- We might feel a stuck energy about ourselves. We aren't quite ready for the spring season we were enjoying the quiet energy of winter. Water can get static and stuck.
- Gross- Think large, this can be large amounts of heavy snow, lots of mud, bodies can feel larger.
- Sticky- Mud, sap, mucus in the body.
Noticing what is happening outside your window and how that is also happening in the body. Seasonal allergies anyone?
Why these qualities are actually perfect for establishing a strength practice
If we think of those kapha qualities we can see why a strength routine is so vital to help find balance during the spring months.
We have a lot of heavy, stagnant, stuck energy feelings as we shake off the winter energy within the body and mind. In Ayurveda we don't see those as separate.
A great example of this, last week I had a client just get back from traveling and said he would really like to do yoga he was feeling unmotivated, had missed his workout on Monday and felt stuck. He had been back from his vacation and we had worked out the previous week. I said you need to move. This all sounds like kapha qualities and movement is your medicine. Instead of using weights we just did his leg day without weights and he got movement in, but we took it easier. He felt good and hopefully will start to get his workouts in when I don't see him.
In the spring you want to move the body it's a time for a more vigorous yoga class, like vinyasa. It is a great time to add in cardio to your routine, throw in an extra walk outside. More is usually a good thing in the spring. **There are always caveats like if you slept poorly, or are getting sick.
The Ayurvedic principle of using opposite qualities to find balance: Kapha's heaviness met with movement and warmth
If we come back to the gunas once more and think about a few of the main ones like heaviness, feeling cold, feeling unmotivated (slow, heavy) we can see why movement- light, mobile, warmth can be just the action your body needs to find balance.
Now everyone has to tune into their bodies. When I mention listen to your body this is what I mean. What are you experiencing as some might still need the quiet practice of yin during the spring months to find their balance. I'm a great example of that. I love to push my workouts, play tennis, go for walks so I need my yin to stay grounded.
So What Does Listening Actually Mean?
Let's make it tangible and look at what listening to your body actually means.
Listening looks like:
- Feeling where the tension is. Are you actually in the muscle you're targeting or are you compensating somewhere else?
- Reading your breath. If your breathing is completely falling apart, that's information.
- Knowing when a rep is quality vs. survival. There's a big difference between a hard rep and a broken rep.
- Using RPE — Rate of Perceived Exertion. On a scale of 1 to 10 how hard does this actually feel? A set should rarely feel like a 5 if building muscle is the goal. Sitting around a 7 to 9 is where the work lives.
- Adjusting mid-set or mid-session. If you loaded too heavy today and the form is breaking down at rep 4, drop the weight. If you went too light and 12 reps felt like a warm up, add more or keep going.
The rep count is the starting point. Your body tells you where it ends.
A Simple Way To Start Applying This
You don't need to overhaul everything. Try this in your next session:
- Before you pick your rep range, commit to your weight first. Let the weight inform the reps, not the other way around.
- Set an intention for each set — are you going to failure? Close to it? Stopping at a specific RPE?
- On one exercise, let yourself go past your usual rep count if you still have quality reps left. See what happens.
- Notice the difference between a hard rep and a broken rep. Start developing that awareness now.
- After your workout, reflect on one set — did you stop because the muscle was done or because the number said so?
Wanting a little help with a seasonal workout plan?
This is exactly why I created Seasonal Strength. I wanted to create a program for those who like to workout at home, use dumbbells, and want to use the energy of what is happening outside to fuel their workouts.
Right now we are in the spring season. This is what I'm personally doing for my routines, I'm just adding a 4th set to all the routines. So they pass the vibes test. If you want a sample of what's inside head to my website as I have a little video showing you exactly what the app looks like, plus you get a week free to see if this is something you would enjoy!
Seasonal Strength
A 12 week at-home strength program that focuses on upper, lower and total body lifting sessions in 30 minutes or less.
About Andrea Claassen: Andrea is a personal trainer, yoga teacher, Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor and postpartum doula with 19 years of experience helping women build strength that actually lasts. She works with women virtually and in person in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
