exceedingly simple Ayurvedic hot tip for you

Solar Flare. Courtesy NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams. From Scientific American.

Hello friend,

I am invested in your actual, real-life wellbeing, the health and happiness of your very physical person, and I’m thinking FLORENCE ought to share occasional bits of wisdom from the Ayurvedic playbook¹. Would you like that?

But what is this “Ayurveda”? Even here in California, primal home of every sounds-weird health-trip early adopter, most people don’t know. Here’s a succinct definition for you:

Ayurveda is a traditional, and contemporary, mind, body, and consciousness medicine from India. Ayurveda understands that

• every individual is unique, and uniquely constituted

• the expression of any imbalance is unique

• and therefore the appropriate treatment is unique to each person

Three more important things to say about Ayurveda:

• It emphasizes prevention

• It empowers everyone to take responsibility for their own well-being

• It works

While Ayurveda is a science of life that respects the uniqueness of the individual, there are still a number of general guidelines that will benefit most people, most of the time, and I want to offer you an easy and effective hot tip for helping keep the digestion strong and the mind sharp(er) over the next weeks while we replete ourselves with the rich foods of the season.

Drink hot water.

It’s so simple I’m almost embarrassed to type it up. But why, how hot, and how often?

Ayurveda wants to keep all the fires of digestion (we have 13) burning bright. What do we digest? Food, water, breath, perceptions. The fire of the belly is the primary fire of wellbeing, and if we keep it well tended and hot we can digest anything that comes our way, whether that’s via the mouth & the gut, through the screen, or in our social engagements. As a general principal, the weaker the fire, the more heavy, sluggish, or foggy-headed we’ll feel, moodier, and the less generally up-to-the-task. When we eat a lot of heavy and rich food, or a lot of sweet and cooling food, we run the risk of damping down the primary fire. (Think how sodden and slow you can feel after a lot of meat, cheese, pie, cookies, cakes. Happy maybe!, but immobile.)

Cold food and cold water also dampen the digestion. In this season of cold and dry, leading to the season of cold and damp, most of us are already partial to warming, well-spiced foods (gingerbread anyone?) and warm, well-spiced drinks (pumpkin latte? mulled wine?). Our natural inclination tells us warming up is a good idea. But to cut the fog of heavy food and drink (milk, cream, butter, sugar, meat, potato, oil) a simple routine shift can make an actual difference, in how you digest and how you feel, and that’s hot water.

How hot? Bring to a boil, let it cool enough to sip, or to dip your pinky in. No scalding-hot-water drinking please! If you want to go the Ayurvedic distance, let the water continue to boil for 10 minutes before you take it off the fire².

How and how often? First thing in the morning, every single day, with or without a squeeze of lemon. If you notice you’re not digesting your meals as quickly as you’d like, add the lemon. If you’re prone to catching cold or flu this time of year, definitely add the lemon. Let this cup of hot water be the first thing you take in the day, before your coffee, before anything else. I get out of bed, put the kettle on to boil and either jump back under the covers for five minutes more while waiting for it to whistle, or I get on with my morning routine. I carry my warm water around the house with me as I do whatever I need to before I’m ready for breakfast. And if you can sip warm or hot water throughout the day, between meals, all the better. Replace all your cold or cold-water drinks (tap, bubbly, soda, and so on) with warm.

That’s it. Quick hot tip. Give it a try, especially the morning after any extra-indulgent meals, & let me know how it goes.

🔥💧🫖

💕

Suzanne

1. I’m an Ayurvedic wellness counselor finishing up a three-year course of study in Ayurvedic medicine. I know whereof I speak and want to share.

2. Letting the water boil longer, according to Ayurveda, increases its subtle energy, better stimulating the digestive fire, and helping purify the subtler channels of the body.