Nature's Healing Qualities: The Gunas

About Cold

Elements: Air, Water
Treat 'Cold' with 'Hot', ''Pungent'.
Show me 'Cold' ingredients.

Is every part of your body warm and cozy? Imagine you are lying on a couch in front of a fire under your fluffiest down comforter watching your favorite movie sipping hot cocoa. If you're any colder than that chances are a body part or two could use some nurturing hugs. Don't wait until shivering and purple lipped; get warm and cozy right now. Make Your winters like the dog days of summer!

Winter, High Healed Shoes & Aging

It takes work, wear and tear on the body to keep warm. We all work hard to reduce drafts in our homes during the winter. Something as simple as toeless high heals could create a big 'draft' in the body. Underdressing for winter leaks our vital energy. The stomach works especially hard to turn food into fuel. Organs age whenever stressed, especially repeated stress over twenty and thirty years. The best way to stay young is to keep vital energy intact.

Blood in Hibernation

Some people get cold feet even with two pairs of socks. When cold our body constricts blood vessels and pulls blood into core. Even socks can't coax the blood out of hibernation. The solution to cold feet and dry winter skin is warming the core and oiling the exterior. Daily oil massages and weekly hot baths will keep skin moist. A pinch of turmeric keeps circulation strong. Sour lemons in morning tea convince sweat glands and stomach glands to stay juicy.

Cold restricts all fluid motion, including digestive juices, and is not recommended for cleanses. Instead, Ayurvedic cleanses recommends sweat therapy. Cold stiffens muscles, condenses and compacts. Contact with a very cold temperature, such as ice cubes, constricts blood flow to the point of numbness. Cold stimulates the nervous system. The cold weather in autumn stimulates growth of tissues and a protective layer of Kapha in the skin. Animals like polar bears are large to help them retain heat.

Kapha & Vata Cold

Kapha gets cold from slow metabolism. Vata gets cold due to deficiency. Pitta is usually warm all year round! Vata cold comes from the core. When the core is deficient even digestion gets cold. Vata people with cold deficiency can forget to eat meals and have small, frequent appetites.

Cold Blood Pressure

Cold causes constriction of the vessels, hampering circulation and causing obstruction and toxic buildup. Constricted vessels cause blood pressure to rise. The kidneys compensate by filtering water from the blood causing dryness. Cold Vata people, lacking juicy blood, often have gas and constipation.

Stuffy Noses & Common Colds

Viruses thrive in colder temperatures. Since breathing through the nose makes the sinuses cool, the body stuffs up the sinuses to keep them warm whenever threatened by infection or cold temperatures. Many diseases in Ayurveda are named after patterns. The common cold is an example in English.

Causes of Cold

Improper clothing, insufficient food, climate, dryness, lack of fat tissue, lack of exercise, anemia, slow metabolism, blood stagnation, cold water.

Effects of Cold

Cold causes a slow heartbeat, weakness and loss of coordination, diuresis, pale skin, shivering, goosebumps, and slurred speech.

Treatment of Cold

Nourishment, warm spices (cloves, turmeric), ghee, extra layers of clothing & exercise all help warm the body. One of the best home remedies for cold is a warm oil massage followed by a hot bath. Hot showers heat the skin but are insufficient to heat the core of the body.