Hi Reader,
How has your week been? Mine, I could only describe as forgetful.
Autumn has officially arrived in my brain.
This week, I have forgotten things, mixed up dates and generally felt as though several thoughts were moving through my head at the same time — without any of them being particularly interested in staying there.
Very Vata.
And rather fittingly, I’m writing this on Day 2 of our annual Autumn Cleanse.
In Ayurveda, autumn is the season when Vata naturally begins to increase. Vata has the qualities of movement, lightness, dryness and irregularity, and we can see those qualities all around us now.
The wind picks up. Leaves are moving everywhere. The air becomes cooler and drier. The weather can change from one hour to the next.
And sometimes our minds seem to join in.
We forget things. We jump between tasks. We get dates mixed up. Our routines become more random. We might feel more restless or find it harder to concentrate.
Apparently, this week, I decided to provide the practical demonstration.
Which makes this a particularly good moment to be cleansing.
For seven days, we simplify. The food becomes simpler, meals become regular, there is less stimulation and a little more attention to the daily routines that help the body settle.
And the timing is deliberate.
October takes us properly into autumn. The heat accumulated over summer can still be present in the body, while the colder, drier and more mobile qualities of Vata are becoming stronger.
This seasonal transition is traditionally a good time in Ayurveda to clear some of what has accumulated, support digestion and prepare the body for the colder months ahead.
So, for this October Special, I thought we could take a little walk through the month together — through the kitchen, outside, onto the yoga mat and into some of the everyday practices that can help us respond to the season as it changes.
First, step outside
One of the simplest ways to understand what Ayurveda is asking us to do in October is to go outside. You don’t need to know anything about doshas to notice the qualities of the season.
Feel the air. Is it cold? Windy? Damp? Dry?
Notice the light. Look at what is happening to the trees. Notice how much earlier darkness arrives.
Then notice your response.
Perhaps your skin is becoming drier. Your hands and feet feel colder. You’re hungrier than you were during the summer. You want warmer food. You feel less inclined to go out again once you’re home in the evening.
Your body is already responding to the season, often before you consciously think about changing anything.
Ayurveda gives us a framework for understanding those changes.
Autumn is predominantly associated with Vata, which carries the qualities of cold, dry, light and mobile. As those qualities increase around us, we begin naturally to balance them with their opposites: warmth, moisture, nourishment, regularity and grounding.
You don’t have to change everything.
Notice what is changing and let one thing in your day respond.
Into the kitchen
This is probably the easiest place to see the seasonal shift.
The salad you happily ate in July suddenly feels unsatisfying.
Porridge sounds good again. Soup becomes lunch. The oven comes back on. You start thinking about roasted vegetables, dals, stews and bowls of warm grains.
Follow that.
October is a good time to make warm, cooked food the foundation of more of your meals.
Think oats, barley, rice, mung dal and lentils. Add root vegetables, squash and leafy greens. Use ghee or good-quality oils to bring some moisture and nourishment as the season becomes drier.
Spices such as cumin, coriander, fennel, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom and ginger can support digestion and bring warmth and flavour to your food.
Breakfast might become stewed fruit or the porridge I mentioned.
Lunch could be a dal, seasonal soup, kitchadi with roasted vegetables on the side or a warm grain bowl.
Dinner can stay simple: soup, cooked vegetables or leftovers from lunch.
And this is where eating seasonally becomes wonderfully practical. The foods appearing around us now already lend themselves to autumn cooking.
Lunch could be a dal, seasonal soup, kitchadi with roasted vegetables on the side or a warm grain bowl.
My horse gram soup is another one I bring back at this time of year, particularly as we move into cough and cold season.
Try the Horse Gram Soup
What’s in season in October?
October is one of my favourite months for food because the autumn harvest is properly underway.
Fruit: apples, pears, quince, grapes and late plums.
Roots: carrots, beetroot, parsnips, swede, turnips and celeriac.
Squash: pumpkins and all kinds of winter squash.
Greens and brassicas: kale, chard, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli.
Other autumn vegetables: leeks, fennel, onions and mushrooms (yes, in moderation — their heaviness can be grounding during this light season).
Nuts: walnuts, hazelnuts and chestnuts begin appearing too.
Roast them. Stew them. Simmer them. Add them to soups and dals.
The ingredients themselves don’t have to change dramatically from one week to the next. How you prepare them can respond to the weather.
Why autumn is a good time to cleanse
Which brings me back to what I’m doing this week.
Seasonal cleansing in Ayurveda is traditionally used around the transitions between seasons.
After summer, the body may still be carrying accumulated heat. Then autumn brings increasing cold, dryness and movement.
For a short period, we simplify.
During our Autumn Cleanse, meals become very straightforward. Kitchadi forms the basis of much of what we eat. We drink hot water and digestive teas. We use oil externally. We reduce some of the usual stimulation and create more regularity around meals and daily routines.
The intention is to give digestion space and support the transition into the next season.
You don’t need to undertake a full cleanse to work with this principle. You could have a couple of simpler food days or a kitchadi weekend.
You could give your digestion a break from constant snacking, make lunch your main meal again or eat earlier in the evening.
It's about simply returning to regular mealtimes and removing the complexity.
Bring the oil back
There is another thing that becomes increasingly useful as October progresses: oil.
Dryness is one of Vata’s main qualities, and we can see and feel it everywhere in autumn. Skin becomes drier. Lips begin to chap. Hair can feel different. The cold and wind can leave us feeling slightly depleted.
This is when abhyanga — Ayurvedic self-massage with warm oil — comes back into the morning.
Warm some oil and massage it into your body before your shower or bath. This could become part of your daily routine. And if you’re already thinking, “I can’t possibly squeeze anything else into my mornings,” make it a weekend practice instead.
Ayurveda also traditionally uses oil in the ears and nose as the weather becomes colder and drier.
And oil belongs in the kitchen too.
Ghee, olive oil and other suitable oils bring moisture and nourishment to autumn meals.
We are balancing dryness from both directions.
Come onto the mat
Autumn movement has a particular quality too.
Vata brings movement. When there is already plenty of movement around us, our practice can give the body something steady to return to.
This doesn’t mean you have to make your yoga slow all autumn.
Move intentionally through the joints. Build strength. Give your practice a clear rhythm.
Feel your feet and hands on the floor. Stay with your breath. Repeat movements rather than constantly changing them. Give yourself enough time to arrive in a posture before moving on.
And then breathe.
Read & Listen for more ideas on 'Adapting Your Yoga to Autumn (Vata Season)'
A useful breath for October: Nadi Shodhana
If your thoughts have become busier or more scattered as autumn progresses, Nadi Shodhana — alternate nostril breathing — is a useful practice to return to.
Traditionally, Nadi Shodhana is used to cleanse and balance the nadis, the subtle channels through which prana is understood to move in Yoga.
It also gives the mind one simple thing to follow: the breath moving from one side to the other.
That combination of rhythm, breath and attention makes it particularly useful when there is a lot of movement in the mind.
Even a few rounds can become an anchor in your day.
Read & practise: 5 Reasons to Practise Nadi Shodhana
Let the evenings change too
October changes the other end of the day.
Darkness comes earlier, and that is information. For most of human history, changes in light, temperature and food availability gave us very obvious seasonal cues. Modern life allows us to override many of them. We can turn the lights on, keep working, eat strawberries in December and make 9 pm look remarkably similar to 3 pm. But our bodies still receive the signals outside.
October can be a useful time to let your evening respond. Eat your evening meal as early as you can. Dim the lights a little earlier too. Keep your house a little cooler and put on another layer. Allow the day to have an ending.
You might find that your body has already been asking for this.
This Week's Blog Post/Podcast
This is exactly what I explored in this week’s article and podcast.
Seasonal living doesn’t require you to reorganise your life four times a year.
It starts with noticing.
The temperature changes. The light changes. Different foods become available. Your appetite, energy and desire for movement can change too.
Ayurveda teaches us to pay attention to those qualities and respond.
This week, I explore why our bodies still respond to seasonal cues, how Ayurveda uses opposite qualities to maintain balance and a few very practical ways to let your daily life change with the season.
Read & Listen: What Happens When We Stop Living with the Seasons?
What’s happening in October
Back to Yourself
I’m also going to be opening a small number of spaces for my 1:1 work again.
For the last couple of years, I have offered this as Restoring Digestive Rhythm. But the work itself has gradually moved beyond that name.
Digestion is still very much part of it. When I work with someone individually, though, we are looking at the whole picture: what you eat and when, your digestion, energy, sleep, stress, movement, daily rhythms and the patterns that keep showing up.
Because all of these things influence each other.
Over time, the work has become much more about understanding what your body is telling you, seeing what is getting in the way and finding practical ways to support yourself in everyday life.
So the programme has a new name:
Back to Yourself.
It is still my eight-week 1:1 programme, with the same personalised approach. The new name simply reflects what the work has grown into.
I’ll be opening a small number of places shortly and will tell you more over the next couple of weeks.
Read more about Back to Yourself here
When Rest Isn’t Enough
I’ll also be running When Rest Isn’t Enough again this autumn.
This is for those times when you are tired, you rest, and somehow you still don’t feel restored.
We look at why rest doesn’t always reach the kind of tiredness you’re experiencing and what Yoga and Ayurveda can teach us about rebuilding energy in a more useful way.
Find out more about When Rest Isn’t Enough
Back to Rhythm is underway
We have now begun our 12 weeks together inside Back to Rhythm.
At the moment, we are looking closely at what is actually happening in everyday life: meals, digestion, energy, sleep and the patterns that repeat through the day.
This is the part I find fascinating.
Often, we already know many of the things that help us feel better.
The interesting bit is discovering where they fit into real life and what gets in the way of doing them consistently.
Over the coming weeks, I’ll share a few glimpses of what we’re exploring together.
Your October Ayurveda Guide
If you want the short version to keep nearby this month:
October pattern
Cooler → drier → windier → increasing Vata → greater need for warmth, moisture, nourishment and regularity
Focus this month
Keep warm (especially feet, lower back, head)· eat cooked food · nourish dryness · maintain regular meals · allow evenings to become quieter · support digestion
Your daily anchors
Hot water in the morning · regular mealtimes · lunch as your main meal · warm cooked food · oil your skin · a few rounds of Nadi Shodhana · gradually earlier evenings
Useful foods
Porridge · stewed fruit · soups · dals · kitchadi · warm grain bowls · root vegetables · squash · ghee and good-quality oils
October harvest
Apples · pears · grapes · carrots · beetroot · parsnips · celeriac · pumpkins · squash · leeks · kale · cabbage · cauliflower · mushrooms · walnuts · hazelnuts · chestnuts
🌿Pause & Reflect
Before you change anything this week, go outside.
Notice the temperature, the wind, the light and what is happening around you.
Then notice your body.
What has it already started asking for this autumn?
Perhaps more warmth. An earlier night. A proper lunch. More oil. A different kind of movement. A little less rushing.
Choose one thing and let it respond to the season.
If this Sunday Read might be helpful for someone, you’re very welcome to share it with someone who might enjoy it.
💭 If you have a question, or there’s something you’d love me to explore in a future Sunday Read, you’re always welcome to let me know.
Here’s to moving through your days with calm, ease and intention.