Get Rosey in July
The month of July is filled with family and friends, celebrations, and floating down the river or in the pool. But July is also full of long hot days. The general vibe this time of year is heat! In some areas its dry sharp heat while in others is humid and heavy, but across our nation we can all agree that this month is a hot one. As we know like increases like and that means this is a month of high pitta. As the heat rises the pitta dosha becomes excited and unless we give our bodies what they need to maintain balance that excited pitta will grow and spread. As pitta spreads throughout the body it brings with it inflammation, rashes, infection, and more.
Our first line of defense is to stay cool in mind and body. We can do this by staying indoors during the hottest hours of the day, enjoying cooling foods, taking cool showers, and keeping the ac cranked to 60. That last part is a joke. But it is important for us to maintain a sense of chill.
Our go to herb for this time of year is rose. We love this fragrant beauty for more than its romantic sensibility and soft appearance. Rose increases the cold quality and decreases inflammation making it a great resource for summer. Rose presents as an astringent and sweet taste which are both pleasing and pacifying to pitta. This flower is cooling to the blood and astringent in nature.
Rose can be used in a variety of ways to bring balance to your system and help pacify rising pitta. You can use it by adding rose petals to an evening bath, enjoyed as a cup of tea, worn as an oil, and even misted as a water. Spritzing a light mist of rose water on your face is a wonderful way to cool off and refresh in the heat of the day.
During the summer we want to favor sweet, bitter, and astringent tastes over the others. These tastes are heavy, cooling, and dry which helps to pacify and balance the light, hot, and oily qualities of pitta.
The sweet taste is cooling, heavy and anti-inflammatory. It pacifies the hot and light aspects of pitta. Sweet foods are ripened fruits, organic vegetables, and grains. Keep in mind that fruit moves through the digestive system quicker than other foods and should be eaten on their own.
The bitter taste is cool and dry. It pacifies the oily, wet and hot quality of pitta. You can find the bitter taste in dark leafy greens such as: collards, dandelion greens, kale, chard spinach, and in spices: fenugreek, turmeric, saffron and cumin.
The astringent taste is heavy, cold and dry. It pacifies the light, hot and oily qualities of pitta. This taste can be found in some fruits and vegetables like cranberries, pomegranate, broccoli and asparagus. Mung beans, chickpeas, and lentils are also of the astringent taste because of the dryness they possess.
Yogurt is a heavy and sweet food that when diluted with water is easy to digest. Yogurt does possess the sour quality so when eaten on its own it can aggravate pitta and should be avoided in the summer months. However, when used to make the delicious drink we call Lassi, it is a delightful way to add a touch of sweetness to the heat of summer. Some of the most popular flavors of lassi are mango, strawberry, mint, or spiced, but today we are going to share our recipe for rose lassi.
As the heat rises in the environment our bodies try to counteract this by dimming our internal flame. The biggest flame is the one that governs our digestion. This creates the perfect situation for slow stagnant digestion to set in. At a time when we want to look our best and have the energy to hike up a mountain, the last thing we want is slow digestion and bloating.
Lassie is a very easy to digest drink that can be used to relive high pitta while stoking the digestive fire. The smooth cool quality of the drink will balance the heat from carminative herbs, such as cardamom or ginger. So, we can enjoy a sweet beverage while also doing our belly a favor. Adding carminatives to lassie will stoke the fire in your gut and help digestion get going. Adding in elements such as rose, lavender, or spearmint will add a nice cooling element that is sure to pacify rising pitta.
Rose lassi is like a cool sweet glass of nourishing love. It’s cooling to the body, nourishing to our tissues, calming to the mind and easy to digest.
To make rose lassi you will want to use a nice quality high speed blender so that you are able to incorporate all the ingredients together to create a smooth texture. The last thing you want is a lump lassi. Lassi is very easy to make
Ingredients
½ cup fresh yogurt
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon organic rose petal jam or 1 Teaspoon rose water
Organic natural sugar to taste
1 pinch ground cardamom (optional)