Before I delve in, I want to say this: the irony of Satori summer yoga themes matching this year’s natural cycles of rain and fire did not escape me.

Driving alongside the live flames of interior BC wildfires brought tears to my eyes and an ever - increasing sense of personal responsibility.

I question my habits, my ignorance in how I consume natural resources, and my contribution to climate change and it’s derivative – extreme weather patterns.

Writing in this regard – even though the topic is deeply personal and heart wrenching for me - is outside the scope of Satori and use of yoga and mindfulness for pain management. If you are keen to have a discussion though, you and I can brew a cup of tea and talk social activism and personal responsibility into the wee hours of the morning.

Now, without further ado, off to today's topic:

Have you noticed how fall can bring on bouts of pain, insomnia, digestive dissonance, and general foul mood?

I have forever struggled with the flare-ups of chronic pain, digestive discomfort, insomnia and fatigue in the fall, yet it took me forever to connect these to unmanaged heat during the summer months.

     Wait! What the heck…?

A few years back I was finishing my apprenticeship in Ayurvedic Lifestyle consulting at the Chopra Center in California. Part of the course curriculum requirement was undergoing a panchakarma – traditional Ayurvedic purification ritual.

I was prescribed to drink copious amounts of ginger tea (which of course is heating) and then spend just as copious amounts of time in the steam tent, sweating out the impurities.

Did I mention all of this happened in August? In Southern California?

Heat rush and a pounding headache aside, I found myself getting progressively sweaty and irritable as the days progressed. Finally, unable to control my temper by day 3, I’ve asked to change the treatment protocol.

Surprisingly, things have settled in just a few short hours after that…

I didn’t exactly become cuddly, but at least I wasn’t tearing strips off my roommate.

This experience – especially the swift shift in my mood  - left a lasting impression (and an even more lasting dislike of steam rooms and saunas), and also a sense of curiosity.  It was the first time that I was so acutely attuned to my body’s – and mind’s! – response to the outer environment.

Curiosity leads to research; research leads to fascinating information.

However, fascinating information without knowing how to apply it is – well, - pretty useless.

I knew about my body’s reaction to heat and hot weather, yet I didn’t see the link between summer’s heat fatigue and what was happening in my body in the fall.

Ayurveda links the all-too-familiar fall ailments – such as the usual chronic pain flare ups, fibro flares, and even simple colds – to excessive and unmanaged heat of the summer. As the heat accumulates in tissues over the summer months, it dries them out, creating friction and inflammation, leading to flare ups, runny noses and fall sick days.

This pattern is especially true for us northerners because change - of – the - season temperature fluctuations challenge our bodies and minds even further.

Ayurveda, of course, have multiple ways of managing excessive body heat: it prescribes very specific foods, breathing practices, and yoga poses to do just that.

Join us on the mat and learn what you can do to prevent those fall flares and fall- outs. This month our mat practice focuses on breathing and movement practices to pacify the liver and gall bladder meridians (more on that next week) and help your body manage heat more effectively.

In the mean time, try this soothing – cooling breathing practice on your own:

This breath can be practiced both in seated or reclined positions.

Inhale as usual; to exhale, roll your tongue into a tube - bringing the side edges of the tongue toward each other, and breathe out through this tube.

With more practice you will be able to both inhale and exhale through the rolled up tongue.

* Just a note here: not everyone can roll his or her tongue; so instead, you can simply breathe out through the mouth.

See you on the mat,