Seasonal Guide: Fall Wellness Tips
Ask a natural healer, particularly someone trained in traditional herbal medicine systems, what their healing objective is, and they will probably say: it’s to help a person maintain their health and help bring it back when it declines. This can be approached by bringing the body into balance according to a really quite ancient understanding of the natural world that holds its practical relevance even today. The Unani-Tibb view of that natural world and all it contains looks at the universe and at ourselves and sees an ever-present drive towards external and internal harmony.
In concert with the shifting time, seasons, and ages we experience, there are periods of transition that allow us to ease into and out of new phases and seasons of life. These concepts of balance and shift allow us to proactively improve our well-being by building habits and routines that we can turn to for support. What does a preventative daily routine consist of?
Routines To Cultivate Balance
Rising at dawn – for Muslims that’s the fajr prayer, timed before sunrise. Taking care of our elimination needs as our body has been busily doing reparative and detoxing work during our sleeping hours. Washing ourselves including our mouths, which can be at a minimum the wudu Muslims perform; or we go ahead and bathe. After this sacred cleansing wash, we perform a spiritual cleanse by offering a prescribed prayer, directing our faces to the spiritual center and the Sacred House. To start the day with sacred prayer is to, with intention, humbly organize our day in harmony with the mandates set by the Creator. Being awake at sunrise, according to current health studies, is also the way to reset our circadian rhythms and our melatonin production, so that we can achieve restful sleep at night.
PowerFull Days - and now, having cleansed our bodies, minds, and souls at the very start of our day, we set about our active pursuits- work, exercise, education, etc.
We eat- what should be a moderate and vibrantly healthy meal. We know-again from ancient traditions and from Islamic medicine-that foods are understood to possess certain energetic and therapeutic qualities. Sacred guidance instructs us to eat the halal wa tayyiban – the permissible and wholesome; and the tayyib aspect should not be overlooked. Food traditionally is consumed according to seasonality and individual need (according to one’s age, temperament, and cultural custom).
We exercise – we should be exercising to promote immune, cardiovascular, digestive, and mood health. Physical exercise is an “effective prophylactic against various diseases, as well as strengthening the body.” Active physical movement improves our breathing, our heart health, our blood sugar balance, our blood health, our muscles and bones, and, it is the only way to circulate the body’s lymphatic fluids, keeping our immune health strong and supporting fat cell metabolism. Swimming is one of the few kinds of exercise that target all muscle groups in the body.
We connect socially, maintaining positive and constructive relationships throughout the day. Purposeful meaningful interactions centered in joy and love light up our lives. Human connection supports our mental health, our heart health, our immune health, and our emotional well-being. Call your parents, reach out to siblings, have tea with friends, spend time with loved ones.
We connect spiritually, refreshing and reinforcing a strong relationship with the Divine through prescribed prayers throughout the rest of the day at noon, late afternoon, evening, and night. And we capitalize on any and every opportunity to call on the Creator for each and everything, mindfully and full of hope.
Evenings at Rest - We balance periods of activity with moments of rest, especially getting good rest at night. At night, we sleep with one last call to our Creator, mindful of our bodies and our spirits at rest. Sleeping between six and seven hours is advised to give our system ample time to cleanse and repair. But, rest is more than sleeping at night. It’s also about quiet reflection and stillness at other times of the day. It might even be the time of the mid-day nap, so typically occurring near lunchtime in many parts of the world.
Through daily habits like these we are assured of maintaining a healthy balance in our:
diet | elimination;
activity | rest; and
social | spiritual connection.
These 6 Keys of Wholesome Health, distilled from long-standing healing practices and traditions, center around the sacred principle of mizaan, or balance {As for the earth, We spread it out and placed upon it firm mountains, and caused everything to grow there in perfect balance. (Surah al-Hijr:19).
Seasonal Regimen: Cold & Dry Autumn
Seasonally, this means a few specific things:
In Autumn – which is a season transitioning from summer’s dry heat into winter’s moist cold, characteristically features dryness and cold that aggravates the hair, skin, joints, respiratory, immune, digestive, and nervous systems. In response to a tendency towards cold and dry imbalance, we should be aiming to maintain warmth and some moisture – generally.
What does the transition to Autumn mean for movement and activity? Moving from a time when we received so much strong sunshine from early in the morning through long days of positive ion energy late into the evening, we were brimming with activity and motivated. Now, as we witness incrementally later sunrises and earlier sunsets, Unani-Tibb helps us understand what’s happening within our bodies in this seasonal transition: the Air dissipates the humours, leaving our energy level to wane and the blood to begin getting thicker. Moderate exercise is warming but be careful not to aggravate your joints with too much vigorous exercise. Swimming in particular is considered to be the kind of exercise that helps maintain the balance of moisture.
What does the transition to Autumn mean for emotional/mental shifts? Especially important is to give attention to mood health at the intersection of mental and emotional processes. In the Unani-Tibb tradition, our health is more susceptible to the influence of negative or excessive mood imbalances in Autumn. Bearing this is mind, we should be even more vigilant about our positive and supportive self-care.
What does the transition to Autumn mean for dietary shifts? So that would mean moving away from the cooling foods, cold drinks, and dry roasted meats and dishes of Summer, in favor of warm drinks and soups and stews, and warming spices like ginger, black pepper, cayenne, and cinnamon.
Vibrantly Healthy in Autumn
Warming foods and herbs:
Spices: ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg*, black pepper, cayenne
(* The permissibility of using nutmeg is a matter of dispute among Muslim scholars. Consult your shaikh or imam for individual guidance.)
HEAT-Supportive Practice built around cooked leafy greens; meaty, spicy, curried, savory meals with 30% complex carbs as vegetables and whole grains; also dried fruit; and cooked onions and garlic.
Aerobic exercise & Herbal Allies
Stimulant [cayenne]
Alterative Adaptogen [olive leaf]
Diuretics [quince]
Diffusive [ginger]
Rubefacent [cayenne]
Emmenagogue [fenugreek]
MOIST-Supportive Practice built around 30-40% grains/starch; 40% or less cooked veg; 20% animal protein; dairy, sweet, seafood, refined starches, eggs, shellfish, sea vegetables, meats, fresh fruits, beans/legumes,
Swimming & Herbal Allies
Demulcent [marshmallow]
Diuretic [celery]
Cephalics [sage]
Diaphoretics [yarrow]
Alteratives [yellow dock]
Lymphatics [plantain]
Nervine, carminative, and antispasmodic herbs, including lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) and lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) also help support a balanced system during this season.
Ready to put it all together for a warming & hydrating tea? Here’s a seasonal wellness tea for autumn.
Take inspiration from the wisdom of long-standing healing traditions and the enormous potential benefits for your health. Learn how to walk this path and take charge of your health with smart changes to your current diet and lifestyle habits. Try a new recipe, an herbal remedy, or even a cleanse. For more information on how to put this into practice for you, make a remote herbalist appointment with Rihla Wellness to discover comprehensive diet, herb, and lifestyle shifts for all natural health.
References
Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb (2014)
Khan, M.S. An Introduction to Islamic Medicine (2016)
Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum in Cummins, P.W. A Critical Edition of Le Regime Tresutile et Tresproufitable pour Conserver et Garder la Santé du Corps Humain (1976)