Knowing what your body needs / Seasonal Self Care Rituals
With Susan Weis- Bohlen and Book Giveaway!
Hi Everybody! I just wanted to say, really quickly, thanks for being here with me. I am super delighted to get to talk to Susan Weis-Bohlen, Ayurvedic practitioner, this week on topics that expand my understanding of health and wellness and our connection to the seasons.
Who here has taken a Dosha Quiz? I was teaching last year when someone asked me what my Dosha was - and I had no idea. I still really don’t understand it but I LOVE personality tests. I find them really helpful when thinking, not in a prescriptive way, about our personality but just in a way that if it feels like it fits, it’s interesting. It’s all about finding a system that works for you and exposing yourself to new ideas, in my opinion. I am always curious about new ways of understanding being alive.
In her new book, Seasonal Self-Care Rituals, Susan helps us create little rituals that create space to intentionally notice how you feel. She defines self-care as knowing what your needs are. A few topics in this video that I find really mindboggling, that should have been kinda obvious to me:
Our food cravings are telling us something.
Eating seasonally is good for the planet, but also for your body on more levels than I understood.
A new understanding of moods can predict what your body is needing.
We need to live with the seasons, not against them.
According to the ancient texts of Ayurveda, “All diseases begin at the junctions of the seasons.” When we push against the essence of each season—staying up late in the winter, eating sweet, heavy foods in the spring, or neglecting our skin in the summer—we fall out of sync with nature and optimal health.
Drawing on more than a decade of experience, Chopra-certified teacher Susan Weis-Bohlen guides readers through simple yet profoundly effective, dosha-specific remedies and rituals—including food & drink, meditation, yoga, essential oils, chakra alignment, mantra, and breath work—to support your ideal body weight, increased focus and mental clarity, a healthier microbiome, improved stamina, better sleep, and emotional wellness.
We have 3 copies of Seasonal Self-Care Rituals to send people. Comment here if you are interested in learning more:
Susan also has a substack:
I wish you a curious week, filled with all the things that make being alive right now interesting. Thanks for doing this with me, forever grateful, Carissa
Ayurveda and seasonal living have both been significant eye-openers (and heart-openers) in my health journey. I would love to dive in more with a copy of this book, as well as re-commit to/discover some self-care practices based on my Vata-Kapha dosha. (Also: "I am always curious about new ways of understanding being alive." is the most beautiful way to describe a love for personality tests.)