Like western Spring Cleaning and Spring Fasting, associated with Easter in the northern hemisphere, this is a season to let go of unhealthy habits at least for a brief time and embrace heathier foods, habits, and lifestyles with the changing season.

In winter, we hibernated, ate a bit more, missed the sun, missed forays into nature, watched too much TV, and usually exercised less. It’s a little like the snows accumulating and as Spring breaks the snows begins to melt, cleansing the landscape of snow and trapped pollution.

In spring, the lymphatic system starts to move a little like the snow melting and eliminates the excess build-up of fats and fat trapped toxins from our winter eating and less active lifestyle. In an Ayurvedic seasonal routine we adjust diet, lifestyle, and daily habits to assist the body to balance the dosha (or body type).

By studying the seasons and what happened around them and inside themselves as the seasons changed the Ayurvedic Seers, through direct awareness, found the answers to best practices for wellness that evidence-based Science studies are now affirming.

Nature miraculously assists us to re-balance our winter’s excess. Spring produce provides small baby greens and sprouts filled with bitter and astringent tastes perfectly complement the removal of excess Kapha (spring dosha) and later provides berries filled with antioxidants to scrub the systems and refresh our vitality.

The scarce and limited spring foods almost provides a natural fast if you eat primarily seasonal produce to prepare for the warm season ahead. A short fast like a juice fast can help you transition from winter to Spring. Here are eight activities that can help to make a lifestyle change to adapt to the change of seasons.