Spring: how to seed some really good life seeds
Includes a food list, self care practices, and visioning instruction
Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.
— Yoko Ono
One of the many things I love about living in Chicago is, funnily enough, one of the reasons why many leave it: the seasons (namely, Chicago’s winter).
For me, to experience the seasons is to
be in circadian rhythm. To get the cues from, and sync with, Nature.
flow with life’s one constant: Change.
The reminder
The change of seasons reminds me that nothing stays the same. That, this too shall pass. Whether it’s the harshness of Winter, the rebirth of Spring, the warmth of Summer, or the beauty of Fall (my favorite season)… it too shall pass.
Embracing change means acceptance; not the defeatist notion of it but the empowering one that allows us to stay optimistic, agile, and responsive, able to bypass drama and simply move forward with what is.
The wisdom
There is wisdom in the seasons.
Nature provides us with beauty, nourishment, and efficiency. She is a way-shower, showing us how to be, and in being, how to thrive.
The more we heed her circadian wisdom by following her cues, the healthier we become, individually and as a whole, and in every sense of the word.
This is the tenet of Ayurveda, that optimal health comes through living in harmony with nature.
We only need observe her wisdom.
She delivers exactly what we need, the amount of sunlight, the climate, and the food that grows around us. She demonstrates to us, through the life cycles of plants and other creatures, what to pay attention to in our own lives.
What happens in Spring
The icy cold melts away and becomes muddy, wet… and still cold-ish, at least until we get closer to Summer.
In Ayurveda, these qualities are called Kapha, the qualities of Earth + Water: muddy, wet, cold, slow-moving, and foundational.
There’s a slowness to its arrival, akin to how we might feel upon first awakening. Spring’s awakening comes with back and forth bouts of Winter (with its cold and dry qualities, called Vata in Ayurveda) and Summer (with its hot and oily qualities, called Pitta). This back and forth provides us with the grit necessary to fully come to life.
As the Earth thaws, this back and forth behavior becomes mud, or nature’s mucous, reflective in our allergies and congestion.
Life begins to form. Plants begin to bud. Birds begin to chirp. We feel lighter, more spirited, as we awaken. The days get lighter earlier, prompting us to rise with the Sun, and longer, injecting us with more stamina.
This transitional season between Winter and Summer can feel either more difficult or easier depending on what we do to balance Spring’s kapha nature.
The Transition
It’s an exciting, transitional time. It’s the beginning of a new life cycle of birth, growth, harvest, and death (which is the reorganization and reflection necessary for regeneration).
We see this cycle in nature, and as we ourselves are nature, we go through this in our own personal seasons: our microcosm in the macrocosm of life.
Because Spring represents the beginning of a new chapter, it’s wise to take the cue and start off on the right footing.
Ignoring nature’s cues results in over-accumulation of Kapha, or what we call a Kapha imbalance: resistance to change, feeling uninspired, congestion, sinusitis.
Heeding her cues balances Kapha and draws from her strengths: stability, optimism, clarity, endurance, dependability, and structure (supportive boundaries).
Following Nature’s cues eases the experience of upcoming Summer, allowing us to trust what we’ve seeded in Spring so that our Summer “work” feels like play.
How to maintain balance and make the most of Spring
Let’s take a look at
food
lifestyle practices, and
visioning (seed planting)
This is going to feel like a lot in one blog. I thought hard about making intentions a separate article, but decided they all belong together. Thankfully, the first two are mostly lists.
FOOD
March - June is Kapha season.
Winter’s freeze thaws into cold, wet, and muddy. Combined, it’s heavy in nature.
This is the time, then, to choose warm, drying, and lighter, more easily digestible foods.
We want to get rid of the excess heaviness that have accumulated over the Winter, so that we may feel lighter and more agile.
This is why we tend to detox in Spring and do our Spring cleaning: to get rid of the accumulation and to reset. To make room for new life.
When we do the opposite and continue on choosing heavy foods and accumulating, we add more kapha to Spring’s already Kapha conditions, resulting in an out-of-balance feeling of cold, heavy, and mucousy. Also lethargic and uninspired.
If you experience sinus congestion or allergies during this time, this is especially important to pay attention to.
It’s wise to avoid cold, heavy, and fried foods as much as possible. And to minimize foods that create mucous, like bananas, wheat, sugar, and dairy.
Foods to minimize
Heavy and watery veggies and starchy foods like cucumber, zucchini, squash, avocado, and sweet potato
Heavy or sour fruits: bananas, pineapples, oranges, figs, dates, and melons
Fried foods
Oils. This is a good season to use water instead of oil to prevent sticking of food in a pan.
Cold drinks and desserts
Snacking
Foods to lean into
Flavor profiles: these flavors detox and stimulate our digestive system, mind, and body
Pungent: onion, garlic, ginger, black pepper, cayenne
Astringent: legumes, leafy greens, lentils
Bitter (for detoxification of the liver, clearing and drying): leafy greens
Teas:
Lemon and honey: excellent digestive, gentle, and delicious
Ginger: good for digestion, immunity, circulation, and an anti-inflammatory
Dandelion: good for detox and digestion
Cumin, Coriander, Fennel: provides for a gentle detox and soothes the digestion. Add a 1/4 tsp of each seed to hot water, let steep, and enjoy with your meal.
Beans:
My favorite are the split, yellow mung beans. They are the most digestible.
You can make a porridge or soup out of this with a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio of mung beans to white basmati rice (the most easily digestible rice) and at least a 4:1 ratio of water to beans & rice.
You can also add to it dark leafy greens, ginger, and spices (I use dry toasted coriander, cumin, and fennel seeds). Drizzle in some Bragg’s Liquid Aminos to your bowl to taste.
This can serve as a deliciously nourishing cleanse and a wonderful mono-diet detox.Second to that are red lentils. Add veggies like celery, carrots, onion, garlic, and parsley and make a delicious soup out of it.
Other beans like white, navy, pinto, black, garbanzo, kidney, aduki, bean sprouts, miso, and tofu are perfectly acceptable. I LOVE miso soup with tofu, scallions, finely chopped red peppers, and sometimes nori. I also love adding white or navy beans to my greens. Check in with your body to see how well it can digest any bean. I have some difficulty with the garbanzo (unless it’s made into hummus).
Fruits:
Best for Spring: berries, lemon, lime, apples, pears, raisins, peaches, apricots
Add a squeeze of lemon or lime to room temperature water, or on fish.
Make stewed fruit with pears, apples, and ginger root: peel all the skin, chop, add cardamom and cinnamon powder, and simmer in a covered pan with a tablespoon of water until soft. This is one of my favorites for breakfast.
Add some raisins to your salad. Or to your stewed fruit.
Grilled peaches are amazing. Remember: in Spring, we’re thinking warm. Come Summer, this will change.
Dark leafy greens:
kale, collards, chard, spinach, dandelion
Other veggies:
broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, lettuce, endives, bell peppers, chilis, artichoke, asparagus, microgreens
Seeds:
pumpkin, sunflower
Dairy:
Goat’s milk: If you’re having cow’s milk, adding turmeric or ginger makes it more digestible.
Yogurt: best to dilute and make lassi out of it, otherwise it’s too heavy and can overwhelm the digestive system. 3:1 or 4:1 ratio water to yogurt. See What I Drink Besides Water for the full recipe. You can have this daily. It’s a good source of probiotics, is great for your gut, and contributes to good bone health.
Animal products:
eggs, freshwater fish, poultry (white meat)
When in doubt, go to your local Farmer’s Market. If they sell the produce, it’s good for Spring, which means it’s good for your gut microbiome, which means it’s good for your immune system and energy. Grocery stores import all year from different climates to give us everything our heart desires, so we no longer naturally know what’s seasonal.
What’s at the Farmer’s Market in Spring that you want to use sparingly are the honeys, maple syrups, cheeses, and meats. You can enjoy them, but for best Spring results be careful about over-indulging.
If you’re interested in resetting your digestion…
Mono-dieting and intermittent fasting is sufficient for most of us, and Spring is the time to jump into it.
If you have a Kapha mind-body constitution, you can do a longer term fast. Longer term fasts for Pittas and Vatas can cause deregulation, so it’s not recommended.
Stick to eating choices that support better digestion:
Add spices like cumin, coriander, cinnamon, ginger, and black pepper. I’m not talking about spices like habanero or ghost peppers, though a little heat stimulates the digestive fire.
Add heat: cook your foods instead of having them raw.
Chew. Most of us don’t chew enough before we swallow. We eat way too fast.
Sit and eat. Stop it with standing at the counter or eating while driving or in front of your screen.
Choose foods that take less time to process and move through the digestive tract. There are more factors that go into it beyond what’s mentioned above, but simplified, fruits and veggies take the shortest time. Grains take a little longer. Meat can take days.
PRACTICES
Whereas Vata (fall and winter) benefits from calming activities, and Pitta (summer) benefits from cooling activities, Kapha (spring) benefits from stimulating activities.
This is what we’re looking for in Spring: that which stimulates and creates lightness, light-heartedness, play, warmth, and sharpness.
Get up earlier: this is a good time to leverage the earlier rising sun’s natural alarm clock. The later we rise, the more kapha that builds up in the body, making us feel more tired and draggy.
Pranayam: powerful breath exercises - like Breath of Fire - detoxes, creates heat, stimulates digestion, strengthens lung capacity, and increases stamina.
Yoga: strengthens and stretches, increases mindfulness, cultivates the ability to seamlessly switch back and forth from being and doing. Yoga is a mindful way of waking up your body, breaking up the blocks, and tapping into your internal resources and space to find clarity, stability, and inspiration.
Brisk walk, hike, or jog: connects you to fresh air and increases circulation, strength, feelings of lightness, and a sense of exploration.
VISIONING: How to seed some really good seeds in this seasonal cycle
Wanting, at least in spiritual terms, can get confusing.
It’s associated with a sense of
lack: you want what you don’t have
attachment: the notion of needing certain things, or for certain things happen, in order to be happy.
On a deeper level, our wants stem from the more spiritual desire to feel connected and whole; to make a difference, to truly exist and feel alive.
Spirituality often poo-poos wanting.
In farming, we have to want to eat and feed our family in order to plant the seeds that will grow into food. So I’d like to get past wanting as superficial and look at it as a part of our internal navigation system that guides us towards authentic being. Let’s take a look at this.
Our deeper desire is to be fed.
We get to decide what we want to seed. But not totally. It depends on where we live and what Mother Nature has to say about it. On this note:
We’re not attached to this idea that unless we can grow coconuts in Chicago, we won’t be happy. We know there are some limitations, and we accept it. Moving on.
We seed things and we wait.
We take turns with Mother Nature. We let the rain, sun, and earthworms do much of the work and get involved exactly when we need to. No more, no less.
We don’t question if our kale will grow into kale. We know that our kale seed will grow into a kale seed. Because we planted a kale seed.
Of course, we can kill our dream of kale if we get over or under involved.
Now look around your house.
You might have framed pictures of people you care most about, of your beloved farmhouse or garden, and of the furry members of your family.
What these pictures have in common are that they are images of what you cherish and already have.
Visualization + Vision Boarding
Visualization turns something elusive and fuzzy into clearer, more concrete images. It prompts conscious attention. Which means, it seeds.
Vision boarding is akin to framing a picture of something you cherish and already have.
It’s a powerful way to seed. It’s also light, playful, and creative. It’s a divine way to honor Spring.
Key to vision boarding:
Rather than focusing on the things that you want,
it’s so much more useful to focus on the experiences you desire.
And then to find the images that represent those experiences.
Example:
Last Spring, I included this image of a high-end kitchen with a stone island to my vision board:
To have this in the literal sense was not the point for me, nor was it an expectation.
This island represented:
my love of cooking delicious, healthful foods. Prepping and serving foods beautifully and in good ambiance is important to me.
the spaciousness that an island needs to fit into a kitchen, a room that nourishes, holds, and connects people. At the time of this vision boarding, my separate and adjacent dining room served as an extension of my kitchen; as my kitchen island (and a slew of other things, yet remained clear in between all of its functions). The well-used look and patina of my 10-seater table gives it all away.
the quality of all things kitchen-related, including the foods that I choose and how I nourish myself and others.
A month later, Larry called and said that a townhouse near him just went up for sale… do I want to look at it?
I never shared my vision board with him.
Fast forward several months later, and here’s our kitchen:
The seed is the most important part of new seasons and chapters.
Taking the time to pick the right seeds is important. Don’t grab any seed.
Here’s an example of a faulty seed I once planted:
… my own business that makes money while I sleep.
Sounds good, right? I mean, who doesn’t want that?
I ended up marketing a cleaning product that I had created for myself initially. I was hard-nudged by the people around me to take this to market. In truth, their hard-nudging was prompted by the Universe’s deliverance of my half-baked vision: it happened shortly after I “asked” for my own business that makes money while I sleep.
Here’s the product:
My new self-employment entailed waking up every day thinking and breathing vendors, manufacturers, marketing professionals, projections, and future potential investors. I was in my car traveling the Midwest or on the phone with stores all over the country.
What I actually wanted was to be available for, and to enjoy and witness all the milestones of, my two grade-school children. I did not want other people raising them in my absence. I also wanted time to invest in community and friendships. I wanted to focus on changing the actual fabric of peoples’ lives.
Instead, I got busy doing things that were not aligned with anything of real value to me, so I efforted my way towards success until I was burnt out. The potential of selling my company for financial freedom some years down the road did not feel like a good trade off from what I was giving up today.
I wanted intimate relationships, freedom from the cubicle, and to explore new places. Which is why I thought I wanted “to make money while I slept.” Not that I don’t want this per se, but it’s not the true desire. It’s a perceived step towards certain freedoms.
Freedoms that I realized, actually, that I already had.
It just needed a tweak.
Get in touch with the experiences you ultimately want. Otherwise, you’ll seed the wrong seed. You know this is happening when you’re feeling like you’re spinning your wheels and you dread what you’re doing.
So along with the high-end kitchen with island, I included a picture of a plane in the sky, the members of my family, Larry kissing me, and friends.
The plane represents
ability to get from here to there with speed. It doesn’t represent rushing. It represents that when one is aligned, things happen fast.
exploration
the impossible being possible. I mean honestly, how do planes even get off the ground??
the most obvious: travel
2024 turned out to be a HUGE transitional year for me. One that was seeded last Spring, cultivated in Summer, harvested in Fall, and celebrated in Winter.
I feel closer than ever to my family of origin. I now know that we can weather challenges together and form stronger bonds through them.
Larry and I moved in together. And once our new home was done, we began traveling again.
The dynamics of my relationship with my children changed due to both of them now having finished school and becoming full time adults. This prompted us to find ways to preserve the intimacy we’ve always had, but in an evolved, more relevant fashion.
The nature of my friendships evolved as well. They are much less out of convenience. The numbers are more intimate, and we actively find ways to know and tap into each other.
2025 will continue to be about family, friends, home, and travel.
It will also be about one more thing: writing and building a community around my work, a medium and form of expression I enjoy immensely.
Myth: we want what we can’t have.
Truth: we want what we already have.
Your wants are already in your hands… otherwise, you couldn’t have desired them.
Wants are the seeds you plant. Which means that by wanting, you already have the seeds. Simply water them by acknowledging them with gratitude and whatever other feelings you would have, and actions you would take next if you had them.
The misunderstanding is this: we confuse our wants and ambitions with our need for approval. Or as a response to our fear of stepping into our Joy (aka power). We get externally referred. Go in.
Vision board: “Frame” images of what you cherish and already have. Like the pictures in your house.
Find visual representations to help you can see and remember.
And remember, most of all, that those are only representations.
Your joy doesn’t depend on any of it. Because joy exists right now. What you perceive to exist right now is what you seed.
Enhance upon it and frame it. As a reminder.
Spring is here. Clear the accumulation, wake up, detox, find your inspiration, check in with your values, and seed what you want to grow more of. You got this.
Love, Savitree