Building Resilience

The energy of the sun is universal – Practicing meditation to honour it, especially during the longest days of the year helps build resilience in our spirits. 

Have you noticed how quickly the warmth of the sun changes our natural environment and our moods? The leaves on plants and trees grow greener by the day, known as the science phenomenon of photosynthesis. The sun has the same effect on humans – only if we take advantage of this time.

How can we take advantage of this extra sunlight to help us? By making the time to meditate and storing this energy in our body, as we move into fall and winter. 

Sunlight Governs Our Body

It’s a proven science fact that sunlight governs our bodily functions, such as how we digest our food, our sleep, our blood pressure levels, body temperature and cellular rejuvenation. As the sunlight period increases during the summer solstice time, this also impacts our emotional, physical and spiritual being.  Ayurveda has understood how our body feels the effects of more sunlight. Furthermore, it has been the only natural healing system that has emphasized this for thousands of years – much before modern science confirmed it. 

In 2017, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms that control circadian rhythms. “They found that the diurnal rhythm of nature affects the functioning of cells in plant, animals, humans, and even some single-cell bacteria.” – Deepak Chopra (Foreword given to the book – Change your schedule, Change your Life – Author: Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar).

Meditation to Balance Pitta

The summer solstice officially is the beginning of Pitta season or known as the summer season in the Gregorian calendar. During this time, the energetic qualities of hot and sharp become more predominant in our environment. With these qualities becoming more strong, some folks (especially who have a strong Pitta dosha or have imbalanced Pitta dosha) will feel more mental frustration, impatience and irritability in the mind and the body.

Any type of meditation done regularly during this time will help balance those Pitta qualities and create an anchor in your life, so that you can feel a deep sense of tranquility, especially when you do this in the mornings. By meditating during this time, you harness the heating qualities and direct them in a way to create internal transformations within. (just as the sun creates transformation outside of us).

To help you navigate this season, I’m offering the 21 Days of Honouring the Summer Solstice, where we will meet as a community, virtually on Zoom and practice 3 weeks of daily postures and meditation focused on Surya (sun energy). You will also benefit from many tips for the Pitta season.  Who wants to join in?