Cooling & Refreshing Summer Drink
When San Diego’s summer days heat up, it’s the perfect time to slow down, sip something cool, and nourish your body in a way that’s both delicious and balancing. This Ayurvedic summer refresher comes from my dear teacher Divya, shared in her beautiful book, and it’s one of my favorite ways to keep my system calm and hydrated during the heat of Pitta season.
Why This Drink Works in the Summer
In Ayurveda, summer is considered Pitta season; hot, sharp, and intense. This drink’s base is naturally cooling, thanks to lime, fresh mint or basil, and a gentle touch of raw sugar and salt to replenish minerals lost through perspiration. The optional dosha-balancing add-ins make it versatile for everyone; whether you’re looking to stay calm, uplifted, or energized.
Ingredients
- ⅛ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 cups spring water
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint or basil leaves
- 1 teaspoon raw sugar
- 2 small pinches salt
For Vata Balancing: Enjoy as is.
For Pitta Balancing: Add ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg with the rest of the ingredients in Step 2.
For Kapha Balancing: Add ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg and ½ teaspoon dried ground ginger with the rest of the ingredients in Step 2.
How to Make It
- Toast the cumin seeds: Place cumin seeds in a dry skillet over low heat. Toast gently for 1–2 minutes, just until fragrant, be careful not to burn them. (:
- Blend everything together: Add toasted cumin seeds to a blender with spring water, lime juice, mint or basil, raw sugar, salt, and any dosha-balancing spices. Blend until well combined.
- Serve: Pour into a glass or jar and enjoy!
Benefits
- Cumin Seeds: Support digestion and help regulate body temperature.
- Mint/Basil: Naturally cooling for the mind and body.
- Lime Juice: Refreshing, hydrating, and slightly alkalizing.
- Salt & Sugar: Balance electrolytes lost on hot summer days.
- Nutmeg & Ginger: Optional adaptions for grounding or energizing, based on your dosha.
Extra Tips to Stay Cool in Summer Season
Along with sipping this Ayurvedic summer refresher, here are a few lifestyle and diet tips to keep your body and mind balanced when the heat is on:
- Exercise in the Early Morning: Avoid midday heat by moving your body before 10 a.m., when temperatures and Pitta energy are lower.
- Choose Cooling Foods: Enjoy fresh fruits like melon, cucumber, berries, and leafy greens. Avoid excess spicy, fried, or acidic foods, which can increase heat and irritability.
- Stay Hydrated: Drink room-temperature or slightly cool water throughout the day; avoid iced drinks that can weaken digestion.
- Avoid Excess Acidity: Citrus in moderation is fine, but steer clear of excess vinegar, fermented foods, or very sour fruits during peak heat.
- Wear Light & Breathable Fabrics: Whites, blues, and pastels help reflect heat and calm the senses.
- Practice Cooling Breathwork: Try Sheetali pranayama to cool the body from within.
- Protect Your Mind: Heat doesn’t just affect the body; it can also inflame emotions. Practice gentle yoga, meditation, or even a short Yoga Nidra to keep your inner climate calm.
Whether you’re coming back from a beach day in Coronado, a yoga class at Chula Vista Yoga Center, or an afternoon walk along the bay, this drink is a delicious way to refresh without shocking your digestive fire. Sip slowly, savor the flavors, and let this recipe help you stay cool and grounded all summer long.
☀️ Keep Your Body Cool + Mind Calm: Ayurveda & Yoga Tips for a Balanced Summer
Summer is a season of light, play, and outward expansion; but it also brings heat, intensity, and the potential for burnout if we don’t pace ourselves. In Ayurveda, this is the time of Pitta dosha, ruled by fire and water. To enjoy summer with clarity and ease, we turn to practices that cool the body, calm the mind, and support digestion.
When the outer heat rises, it’s vital to reduce inner heat. Ayurveda recommends foods that are light, hydrating, and soothing.
Eat for Cooling, Not Just Craving
Favor:
- Seasonal fruits (watermelon, pear, grapes, mango)
- Coconut, cucumbers, zucchini, bitter greens
- Cilantro, mint, fennel, coriander, rose
- Basmati rice, mung dal, light soups, and herb teas
Limit:
- Sour, salty, spicy, oily, and fried foods
- Onions, garlic, tomatoes, coffee, and alcohol
✨ Cooling Favorite: Add a spoon of this Fresh Cilantro Chutney to your summer meals for digestive support and a burst of freshness.
Cilantro Chutney
Ingredients:
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 2 tbp of coconut flakes
- ½ inch fresh ginger
- Juice of 1 lime
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- Pinch of mineral salt
Blend until smooth. Use within 2–3 days. Excellent with kitchari, summer veggies, or grain bowls.
Hydration is a sacred ritual in summer. Rather than just water, Ayurveda suggests herbal infusions that cool, calm, and clarify.
🌿 Sip Calm: Herbal Elixirs & Infusions
🌸 Hibiscus Rose Elixir
A heart-opening herbal drink that supports liver, skin and mood.
❄️ Śīta Kāṣāya (Cooling Infusion)
This simple Ayurvedic practice involves steeping herbs without boiling; extracting their cooling properties gently.
Ingredients:
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- ½ tsp coriander seeds
- ½ tsp rose petals (or a few drops rose water)
- Optional: 1 mint leaf or pinch of licorice root
Instructions:
- Soak all ingredients in 1–2 cups room-temperature water overnight (or at least 4–6 hours).
- Strain in the morning.
- Sip cool or at room temperature throughout the day.
✨ Benefits: Calms Pitta, supports digestion, soothes the liver, uplifts the heart.
Ease into movement with practices that soothe the nervous system and release heat.
🧘🏽♀️ Move Mindfully: Cooling Yoga for Summer
Best postures:
- Child’s Pose, Seated Forward Bends
- Gentle Twists
- Supported Backbends
- Viparita Karani (Legs up the wall)
- Moon Salutations 🌙
Breathwork: Practice Sheetali or Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril) to cool and center.
🧴 Ayurvedic Rituals to Ground and Restore
Summer asks us to slow down and find softness. Create space in your day for grounding rituals:
- Abhyanga (self-massage) with coconut, brahmi, or sandalwood oil
- Rose water mist on the face and heart
- Wearing white, blue, or pastel shades
- Journaling or quiet reflection by water
- Evening moon gazing or a cool shower
✨ Tip: Apply vetiver oil or rose oil over the heart and temples before rest.
Let Rest Be Your Ritual
True summer radiance isn’t found in doing more—it’s in honoring your inner rhythm.
- Schedule white space in your calendar
- Take one screen-free day per week
- Choose silence or a Yoga Nidra practice over constant stimulation
- Sleep by 10 PM to help Pitta reset overnight
✨ Mantra for the Season:
“I release the heat of striving and return to the cool ease of being.”
Whether you’re near the sea, teaching your community, or tending to your own healing—may these practices bring peace, pleasure, and presence to your summer days.
Let Ayurveda and Yoga remind you: balance doesn’t mean withdrawal. It means knowing how to move with the season—softly, wisely, and beautifully.
Morning Rituals in Ayurveda: Why Fruit and Coffee May Not Be the Best Way to Start Your Day
In many modern wellness circles, starting the day with a fruit smoothie or a cup of coffee is often praised as energizing and light. But from an Ayurvedic perspective, these popular habits may be doing more harm than good, especially if they come before we’ve properly awakened our Agni, or digestive fire.
Why Ayurveda recommends a gentler approach to morning nourishment? how small shifts in your morning routine can have profound effects on digestion, energy, and clarity.
Understanding Agni: Your Inner Digestive Fire
Agni, the Sanskrit word for “fire,” represents not just digestion but the power of transformation, how we convert food into energy, thoughts into clarity, and experiences into wisdom.
Each day, our Agni follows the rhythm of the sun. Just as the sun rises slowly and reaches its peak midday, Agni starts softly at dawn. The early morning hours (6–10 AM) are governed by the Kapha dosha, which is slow, cool, heavy, and moist.
If you eat cold, light, or overly acidic foods during this time, you’re essentially throwing a cold towel over a fire you’re trying to light.
The Trouble with Fruit First Thing in the Morning
Fruit is often considered the ideal breakfast; light, hydrating, and full of vitamins. But Ayurveda views fruit a bit differently, especially when and how it’s consumed.
Why fruit may not be ideal first thing:
- Most fruits are cooling and watery; perfect for calming heat in summer, but not for kindling a sleepy digestive fire in the early morning.
- Cold fruit or juice dulls digestive enzymes, particularly hydrochloric acid (HCl), which is just beginning to build up after a night of fasting.
- Fruits digest quickly, but if your stomach isn’t ready, they can ferment, leading to bloating, gas, and sluggishness.
“Eating fruit too early is like putting cold water on a warm pan; it stops the heat before it can build.”
— Divya Alter, The Joy of Balance
Ayurveda recommends eating lightly spiced, warm fruit (like stewed apples with cinnamon) if you prefer something sweet in the morning. Raw fruit is better reserved for mid-morning, when digestion is stronger and the body is ready to metabolize it.
Coffee Culture: Why Your Morning Brew May Be Backfiring
Coffee has become a non-negotiable part of many people’s morning ritual. While it may provide a jolt of energy, it does so by stimulating the nervous system before the digestive system is even awake.
According to Ayurveda, drinking coffee on an empty stomach:
- Disrupts Agni by introducing acidity and dryness before digestion is ready.
- Aggravates Vata and Pitta, leading to anxiety, acidity, dryness, and in some cases, heart palpitations.
- Dehydrates the body, especially when consumed without water or food first.
“Drinking coffee first thing is like pressing the gas pedal with no oil in the engine.”
— Dr. Vasant Lad’s teachings
If you enjoy coffee, Ayurveda suggests having it after breakfast, ideally with warming spices like cardamom or cinnamon to help mitigate its stimulating effects.
Ayurveda-Approved Morning Routines
So what should you do first thing in the morning? Ayurveda offers a simple and nourishing rhythm:
- Hydrate with warm water, or tea with a slice of lemon, ginger, or cumin to gently wake the system.
- Eliminate waste before eating to avoid toxin reabsorption. ( here seriously another blog, that I will soon write soon ).
- Stimulate circulation and digestion with light movement (yoga), dry brushing, or pranayama (breathing techniques).
- Eat a warm, grounding breakfast; such as stewed apples, soft grains with ghee, or root vegetables.
- Wait until mid-morning for fruit, and enjoy coffee only after food if needed.
Classical Wisdom & Modern Appliccation
In the Charaka Samhita, one of Ayurveda’s foundational texts, the concept of Viruddha Ahara (incompatible food combinations) is key. Eating fruit with dairy, coffee on an empty stomach, or cold food during Kapha time are all seen as disruptions to digestive harmony.
Similarly, Divya Alter emphasizes that food must not only be nourishing; it must also be digestible. That means choosing the right time, temperature, and combination for your unique body type.
Final Thoughts: Build, Don’t Burn, Your Morning Fire
Ayurveda teaches us to approach the body like a sacred fire, one that needs care, attention, and patience to ignite. Starting your day with warm water, breath, and intention helps your digestion rise like the sun: steadily, powerfully, and with lasting energy.
Let your food be warm. Let your rituals be gentle. Let your mornings be medicine.
Respecting the Natural Order of Digestion
Ayurveda teaches not just what to eat, but how and when to combine foods for proper digestion and absorption. This is especially helpful if you’ve tried changing your diet but still deal with bloating, gas, or sluggish digestion.
General Rules of Ayurvedic Food Combining:
- Fruit is best eaten alone. Especially on an empty stomach, between meals, or as a light snack.
- Avoid combining fruit with dairy (like milk or yogurt), or heavy grains like oatmeal.
Why Not Fruit + Milk (like oatmeal with berries)?
Fruits are considered part of the sweet taste (madhura rasa) and are juicy, light, and quick to digest. Milk, on the other hand, is heavier, cooling, and slower to digest due to its unctuous (snigdha) and building (balya) qualities. Grains like oatmeal fall in the same slow-digesting category.
When you mix fast-digesting fruit with slow-digesting milk or oatmeal:
- Your body prioritizes digesting the heaviest substance first; the milk or grain.
- The fruit is left to sit in the gut and ferments before it’s processed, leading to gas, bloating, and loss of nutrients.
- So yes, that beautiful bowl of organic blueberries over oatmeal may look pretty; but it’s likely being wasted in your gut before it ever gets absorbed.
“Fruits are best eaten alone. Combined with milk or other foods, they can ferment and create ama, leading to imbalance.”
— Dr. Vasant Lad, “The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies”
“Combining raw fruits with cooked foods is one of the main causes of digestive upset.”
— Divya Alter, “What to Eat for How You Feel”
“One should not take milk together with sour substances, salt, or fruit… such combinations are incompatible.”
— Charaka Samhita, Sutrasthana Ch. 26 (Viruddha Ahara)
Of course, everything shared here depends on you; your constitution, your current state, and the strength of your Agni
If you’re not sure where to begin or want to learn how to apply these principles in your own life, I’d be happy to help.
💬 Feel free to reach out for a free 15-minute call to see if there’s something I can support you with.
📧 Just send me an email or text—I’d love to connect.
The Healing Power of Marma Therapy
Where Touch Meets Consciousness
In the ancient healing system of Ayurveda, balance is everything; not just physical health, but emotional well-being, energetic flow, and mental clarity. One of Ayurveda’s most beautiful and powerful healing tools is Marma Therapy: the art of awakening the body’s subtle energy points through intentional touch.
🌿 What Is Marma?
The word Marma comes from the Sanskrit root “mri”, meaning “vital” or “to kill.” Marma points are considered sacred intersections of body, mind, and energy. These points lie where muscles, bones, joints, and ligaments meet prana, the body’s life force.
There are 107 major marma points on the body, each acting as a doorway to your inner healing system. When touched with awareness, these points can help release stuck energy, stimulate organ function, and restore the body’s natural intelligence.
Marma therapy isn’t about force—it’s about listening. A soft touch can spark a deep response.
🌿 What Happens in a Marma Session?
A Marma session is gentle, grounding, and deeply restorative. Here’s what you might experience:
- Gentle pressure on specific marma points using fingers, warm stones, or herbal tools
- Application of Ayurvedic oils like Dashamoola (detoxifying), Bhringaraj (rejuvenating), or Brahmi (calming the nervous system)
- Optional use of essential oils (lavender, frankincense, rose) to support mood, emotional release, and deeper relaxation
- Time to rest and receive, as your body unwinds and restores from within
Each treatment is tailored to your constitution and current condition; whether physical discomfort, hormonal imbalance, anxiety, fatigue, or simply the need for a reset.
🌿 Why Marma?
Clients come to Marma therapy for many reasons. It supports:
- Pain relief (neck, back, joints)
- Digestive balance and improved metabolism
- Hormonal support for menstruation, fertility, thyroid, or menopause
- Calm and clarity for stress, insomnia, or emotional heaviness
- Facial rejuvenation and improved skin tone
- Circulation of prana, the vital force that nourishes body and spirit
After a session, people often describe feeling lighter, clearer, more present and deeply relaxed.
🌿 Rooted in Ancient Wisdom
Marma therapy is grounded in the Sushruta Samhita, one of Ayurveda’s classical medical texts. These ancient teachings warned that trauma to marma points could be fatal, hence the name. But in therapeutic practice, we now use them not for harm, but for healing and transformation.
By applying oil and attention to these points, we stimulate the body’s inner pharmacy and reconnect with our original rhythm—the place of balance and inner knowing.
🌿 My Approach
In my Marma sessions, I use a blend of Ayurvedic herbal oils and pure essential oils, chosen based on your dosha and current needs. Whether you’re struggling with chronic stress, feeling disconnected, or simply craving deep rest, this gentle practice can help you reconnect to yourself on every level.
It’s not just bodywork, it’s nervous system repair, and a form of loving presence.
🌸 Ready to Experience It?
If you’re curious about Marma Therapy or feel drawn to a more holistic, intuitive path of healing, you’re welcome to book a session at Chula Vista Yoga and Ayurveda Living by ME.
Your body already holds the wisdom. Let’s help it remember.
Book your session: Book Now
Or call/text: 619-576-7954
The Common Cold
Do you remember your mom or your grandma saying… “you got sick because you went outside when it was hot and you had the AC on” or “you had the heater on and went outside when it was cold, and you were uncovered, so you got sick.”
According to Ayurveda, a common cold, or respiratory disease can be caused by exposure to a cold environment (weather, foods etc…). Combined with change (mobility, traveling), dryness, overexertion or a light diet and you have a recipe for getting sick. Also, changes that include: seasonal changes, change of jobs, relationships etc…those changes also create stress, which makes the body weaker. Your Vitality or Immune system (Ojas) are low due to overdoing any of the above or combination of one or two of these.
According to Ayurveda, all sickness or disease starts in the digestive system. How does this happen in the digestive system? What? Yes, that’s right.
Picture How easy it is to get a cold, or any disease, when you overdo or continuously repeat the same patterns over and over.
If your doshas are more predominantly (Vata air- ether) and you have been Traveling for a few days, eating “Bad food” for your dosha, Like I did (Green Juices, Coffee, pushing the adrenals to keep going, eating dry, fried, spicy food, no routines around meals for days), these can easily aggravate your dosha and bring it out of balance.
If you are more Pitta (fire and water), maybe you experience more heat and intensity. The Intensity of the day to day struggles or over exercise, homework, can all contribute to a weaker immune system. It could also be related to the food intake, eating salty, pungent and sour foods. Again, any type of change, seasonal and weather, etc…can all make it easier to get sick.
If you are more Kapha, then the onset occurs after a period of consuming an excess of cold foods, too much sweet, sour or salty foods. Exposure to cold, damp weather, can bring on a cold. You might think about how we tend to eat a lot and watch Netflix and over indulge during the winter and colder months, then in spring, we get allergies or a cold. All that excess consumption catches up. The excess “water and earth“ food (heavier foods like cakes, holiday dinners, comfort food, etc.), that we consume during the colder months, starts to melt, just like a snowy, white topped mountain starts to melt during the spring.
It all starts with the Accumulation of toxins. This happens in different parts of the digestive system. That is the reason we all Experience different symptoms when we get a cold, flu or any respiratory disease.
Vata- more dry cough (not too much mucous), pain and fatigue.
Pita- more heat, inflammation. Fever.
Kapha- congestion, more mucous, phlegm. Lethargic.
Depending on where the accumulation happens, those are the symptoms you experience.
In Ayurveda The treatment is to bring In the opposite qualities to alleviate the doshic imbalance. In Ayurveda, we like to say “like increases like and opposites balance each other.”
What to do? Well, maybe call your doctor if you feel super sick.. don’t listen to my nonsense, lol.
Or…you can also start by first, bringing the digestive system back to balance; maybe fast one day. This will be really helpful (consult with your doctor or Ayurvedic practitioner to make sure you can fast).
Why fast? It will help normalize the digestive enzymes. Giving your digestive system time to recuperate and ignite that fire (digestive enzymes) within us; ridding us of toxins or accumulated food that has been trapped in our digestive track.
Drinking Ginger tea or pickled ginger to avoid nausea and bring the Agni (digestive fire) back to normal. Coconut water or natural electrolytes to avoid dehydration.
REST, REST, REST AND MORE REST.
Yoga Nidra is wonderful (I always remember my dear friend and teacher telling me about the benefits of this practice. Well, It’s truly magical. Try to practice it, once in a while. You will love it. And when you are sick, 2 or 3 times a day is even better.
Colds indicate a weakness of the immune system (Ojas). They occur as a result of living out of harmony with our nature. You can look at a cold as a message from your body telling you that you are living out of harmony. Hopefully, you will make a change. If you don’t, then that cold will turn into a disease or illness.
Take, at least, 3 days off and rest. Use this time wisely to see where you have been lacking or overdoing. Ayurveda is translated as a science or knowledge of life, study of your life. Self study.
Neti pot with Himalayan salt (sometimes with herbal preparations according to your dosha).
Eye wash with Rose water
Light diet or fasting: (soups.. yes soups are easy to digest, and very simple to make. Maybe you recall your mom making you that chicken soup when you were sick. You needed that soup; that watery content, full of nutrients to replenish all the liquids of the body. Adding spices to digest, and bring back nutrients into our body, so we can remove all that is not serving us.. (mug dalh soup, with spices like ginger, turmeric, dry fennel seeds, cumin, cinnamon, maybe topped with cilantro). Veggie soups are also easy to digest, don’t use too many ingredients though.
Imagine you want to bring moisture and warmth into your body. For Kapha, add more pungent herbs.
Enemas -(enemas (bastis) purgations, therapeutic vomiting can be done at the onset of condition).
Nasya – (oils in the nostrils with herbal preparations according to your dosha).
Lemon, honey and water if you have sore throat…herbs can be added too.
Baths, with essential oils. Daily.
Pranayama (pranayama is essential. Maybe talk to your yoga teacher or Ayurveda practitioner to ask which practices will benefit you the most).
These are some of the things I do to help me get back to balance from my cold which is more predominantly vata and Pitta, of course.
The excessive movement and intensity of the last couple of weeks made my Ojas lower and the exposure to different climate changes made my body react. Now, here I am turning this illness into a positive.
Hope you can find some understanding to my rambling…lol.
Living your Ayurveda Life !
Something wonderful happens on a retreat
It’s like magic. You are taken to another realm where there is nothing you Have to do, but to be mentally and physically present.
Our eyes and all the rest of our senses are extremely receptive and open. We notice the beauty, all around us, in the simple things; like the smell of a flower, the earth, even the food tastes different.
There is no rush, you forget the days and time and just be…
A yoga retreat, or any wellness retreat, is the best thing you can do to reconnect to yourself.
Maybe you don’t have to go outside the comfort of home to find your own retreat. You can find this inner peace and reconnect with your true self at home, sipping on a cup of tea, on a rainy day.
Perhaps your retreat is taking a nice, quiet, bath or a peaceful walk in nature.
It’s very humbling to be part of our yoga retreats at our @chulavistayogacenter studio. We do our best, so that our students get the best experience and go home a renewed and relaxed person, ready to take on anything that life brings us…
Next April, we are going to Brazil with my very good friend and teacher Gerson Frau. If you are interested in joining us, or have question about our retreat, join us next Saturday we’ll be on IG live. Bring all your questions and we’ll tell you all about the retreat details and place that will be hosting us.
#nature #yogastudio #yogaretreat #brazil#yoga #yogaayurveda #ayurvedalifestyle #restoreandrenew #alllevelsyoga #dharmayoga #reconnecting #with #yourself #loveyourself
![Your current health is the result of your daily habits. You want to feel strong, have energy at the end of the day and wake up with vitality. Do you […]](https://ayurvedalivingbyme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/BALANCE-art1-698x442.webp "Finding Balance")
Finding Balance
Your current health is the result of your daily habits. You want to feel strong, have energy at the end of the day and wake up with vitality. Do you need willingness to move and to be ready to start your day?
Start paying attention to where your energy goes every day.. Ayurveda and yoga teach us to be a witness. The foods and daily routines are fundamental to our health.
A yoga practice teaches us to be present and conscious of our body movements. It’s not just getting into a pose; it’s feeling the pose, where the energy of that pose is going.
Same with food; feeling the energy that food gives you as fuel. At the end of the day, that is your fuel
So what kind of fuel are you giving your body?
One that is going to make you tired, heavy, and take all your energy away?
Or food that gives your body real fuel, foods with prana (energy) to nourish your body inside and out !
![#vata – Air and Ether Movement of the body, the mind. Creative, Enthusiastic and most of the time hands and feet feel cool. #pita Fire and a little Water Intense, […]](https://ayurvedalivingbyme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/The-subtle-energy-in-the-yoga-room-698x442.webp "The subtle energy in the yoga room")
The subtle energy in the yoga room
#vata – Air and Ether
Movement of the body, the mind. Creative,
Enthusiastic and most of the time hands and feet feel cool.
#pita Fire and a little Water
Intense, project doers, passionate,
Most of the time they feel hot or warm.
#kapha Earth and Water
Nurturing people, they love to help others. Stability and grounded are their qualities. They adjust to temperature easily sometimes hands feel moist.
Want to learn more about Ayurveda and how you can bring it into your daily life ?