The Close of the Vedic Year

While the New Year in the Western world begins on January 1st, the Vedic New year begins officially when the Sun enters Aries, which falls this year on the 14th of April.

The month or so preceding this shift into the coming year is traditionally considered a good time to embark on a cleanse of the physical, emotional and spiritual bodies. At this time we are carrying the weight of the entire year behind us, and in order to enter the next year fresh we can use this time to empty ourselves.

Many of us do this naturally, with spring cleanses and spring cleaning. There is generally a feeling of wanting to lighten up, unload and make space. Follow this feeling!

One of the best ways to support a system-wide detoxification and cleaning is to begin with the physical body. In Ayurveda—a sister science of Vedic Astrology and Yoga—spring is considered the most beneficial season to cleanse: because of its natural heavy quality (the snow is melting, the ground becomes saturated, the air can become thick with rain and moisture) and because at this time of year our ancestors would have been eating very sparingly, as the harvest was long gone and even what had been stored would have been all but consumed at this point of the year. Our bodies are still tuned to the rhythms of nature which our ancestors had no choice but to align with.

Everything in nature moves in cycles of rest and regeneration. We cannot expect our bodies to go full force endlessly. At this time of the year you may notice a sluggishness, tiredness and weight. Depending on your constitution you may experience this as either pleasant (if you tend to be of a lighter constitution) or unpleasant (if you are already heavy by nature). This weight is an echo of the experience the earth is having, being saturated with the snow melt, thick with the weight of a thawing winter. What is happening in your body mirrors nature, just as what is happening in your life mirrors the cosmos.

Earth is just beginning to poke its head out of the long slumber of winter, but just as you feel when you first wake up in the morning after a night of heavy sleep, She is slow to get going. And rightly so, as She is building her strength and fertility, which will eventually bear fruit. You have the same potential to bear fruit in the coming year, particularly if you give your body a break this spring by resting and realigning your digestive system.

In Ayurveda the Agni—or digestive fire—is the cornerstone of health. A good cleanse should seek to restore the digestive fire for the proper assimilation of nutrients which eventually turn into the various tissue layers (whose health can be seen based on the strength of the various planets in your horoscope). Extreme cleanses and fasts will often completely obliterate the Agni, making you weaker after the cleanse instead of stronger and deeply nourished. Ayurvedic cleanses generally put you on a bland diet of Kitchari, which rests your digestive system without putting your system into fight or flight, and gently rekindles your digestive fire.

I love Ayurveda because it teaches us that it is futile to attempt to go against the grain of nature. Disease is thought to be the result of a deviation from nature. It is a perfect correlate to astrology, which shows us that aligning with—rather than resisting—the cosmos is the key to the realization of one’s full potential, including physical health.

So as the sweet breezes of spring begin to flood your senses with new desires, impulses and ideas (which are actually the thoughts of Nature herself), consider aligning your personal will with that of nature, both through a simple Ayurvedic spring cleanse and a consultation to precede and plan for the year ahead.