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Terrace in a Viceregal Suite at Ananda Spa, luxury hotel in The Himalayas

Ayurveda | 10 Nov 2026

Vata Season: Ayurvedic Rituals for Warmth, Nourishment and Steadiness

As this season brings an air that is colder and drier, this article explores the Ayurvedic recommendations for staying nourished

This season brings an air that is now colder and drier, and a sun more welcome than it was a few months back in the summer. What does Ayurveda recommend for the season?

The answer starts with Vata, one of the three doshas, the biological energies Ayurveda uses to describe how body and mind function. Vata governs movement, from breath and circulation to the pace of thought. The tradition describes it through six qualities: dry (Ruksha), cold (Sheeta), light (Laghu), mobile (Chala), rough (Khara) and subtle (Sukshma). Late autumn and winter share many of these traits, which is why the season is considered the Vata season.

Ayurveda responds with Ritucharya, the seasonal regimen, which adjusts daily habits to the time of year. For the colder months, the guidance comes down to one principle: keep warm, stay nourished, maintain a regular routine, and add practices that bring stability to body and mind. The rituals below follow it.

Changing morning rituals

Dinacharya, the Ayurvedic daily routine, forms the foundation. It begins with Abhyanga, a massage with warm sesame oil, best done before bathing. The tradition singles out the feet, joints, lower back and scalp for particular attention. Shorter versions suit busy mornings: Shiro Abhyanga is a gentle scalp massage, and Padabhyanga is a foot massage.

Water for bathing and drinking should be comfortably warm, and long exposure to cold water is best avoided, especially on chilly mornings. A little time in mild morning sun is encouraged, with protection from cold wind and abrupt changes in temperature. Warm clothing, a covered head and ears outdoors, and proper footwear complete the picture. External warmth is only part of the season's care. The other part comes from the kitchen: nutrition that supports the body from within.

Food that warms and grounds

Ahara, the Ayurvedic approach to food, favours warm, freshly prepared meals: soups, stews, cooked vegetables, dals (lentil and split-pea dishes), and khichdi, a comforting preparation of rice and lentils cooked together with gentle spices. Ghee (clarified butter) and sesame oil provide the healthy fats that counter dryness. Whole grains such as rice, wheat, and oats; root vegetables including sweet potato, carrot, beetroot, and pumpkin; and nuts, seeds, and dates add substance, making for heartier meals.

Warming spices season the food according to individual tolerance. Ginger, cumin, cinnamon and cardamom are the most familiar. Ajwain, or carom seed, is traditionally used to support digestion. Warm water, ginger-infused water and suitable herbal infusions make good companions to meals.

Habits matter as much as ingredients:
• eating at regular times,
• not skipping meals,
• choosing fresh food over cold or refrigerated leftovers, and
• matching portions to appetite and digestive capacity

All support the same idea of nourishment suited to the season.

Movement in moderation

When well nourished, the body can move, though the season calls for a gentler pace than in summer. Vyayama, the Ayurvedic term for physical exercise, takes a measured form here. Yoga, gentle stretching and mobility work suit it well, along with regular walks in the warmer part of the day. The classical regimen for early winter, Hemanta Ritucharya, recommends exercising at "half strength", known as Ardha Shakti Vyayama, and stopping short of exhaustion. Adequate rest and recovery are part of the prescription.

A steady mind

The same moderation applies to the mind. Vata is associated with movement and variability, and in this season thoughts can feel less settled. A predictable, grounding routine supports emotional balance, such as:

• ten to fifteen minutes of daily meditation,
• gentle breathing practices,
• consistent sleeping and waking times, and
• quiet pursuits such as reading or journaling.

Reducing stimulation, multitasking, and late-night screen use matters too, as do time spent with people and activities that bring joy.
Research supports these calming practices. A 2017 meta-analysis of 45 studies found that meditation was associated with lower cortisol, blood pressure and heart rate.¹ A 2018 systematic review of slow breathing, at fewer than ten breaths a minute, found higher heart rate variability, a marker of the body's relaxation response, together with greater relaxation and lower anxiety in healthy people.²

In practice, this can be simple. Sitting quietly for ten to fifteen minutes at a fixed time, after the morning massage or before dinner, is enough to begin. For the breath, inhale for a count of four and exhale for a count of six, about six breaths a minute. A few minutes of this before a meal, a difficult conversation or bed is a good place to start.

Evening rituals for winding down

The last hours of the day shape the night, and Ratricharya, the Ayurvedic night routine, centres on settling the body. Its core elements include massaging a little warm oil into the soles of the feet, keeping the bedroom comfortably warm, reducing screen time in the hour before bed, and setting a fixed bedtime.

Sleep research agrees with several of these. In a 1999 study published in Nature, the dilation of blood vessels in the skin of the hands and feet, which releases heat from the extremities, was the best physiological predictor of how quickly people fell asleep.³ Warm feet are part of how the body prepares for a good night's sleep. A 2015 study of 12 healthy adults found that reading on a light-emitting device before bed, compared with a printed book, delayed sleep onset, reduced melatonin and shifted the body clock later.4

The practical lessons are easy to follow. Warm the feet before bed, with a gentle oil massage or a pair of warm socks. Put devices away about an hour before bedtime, and replace them with screen-free activities: a printed book, a few lines in a journal, or the slow breathing described above.

Adapting the individual to the season

These practices are a starting point. Ayurveda adjusts them to Prakriti, a person's inborn constitution, and Vikriti, their current state of imbalance, as well as to digestive capacity and overall health. It is best to seek guidance from a qualified Ayurvedic doctor and to consult a physician about existing health conditions before making significant changes.

Vata season is a time to slow down as the year ends and the air turns colder: warmth, regular meals, a steady routine and enough rest. Kept up consistently, small habits like these can make the colder months easier to move through.

That idea sits at the centre of how Ananda in the Himalayas approaches wellbeing. Ayurveda, yoga, meditation, and other traditional systems care for body and mind together, guided by experienced practitioners and complementing mainstream medicine. Because constitution and health differ from person to person, our team of experts tailor every stay. Our team begins by understanding your constitution, lifestyle and goals, then helps you find the programme that suits you. Learn more about our programmes here.

References
Pascoe MC, Thompson DR, Jenkins ZM, Ski CF. Mindfulness mediates the physiological markers of stress: systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Psychiatric Research. 2017;95:156–178. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2017.08.004

Zaccaro A, Piarulli A, Laurino M, et al. How breath-control can change your life: a systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 2018;12:353. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353

Kräuchi K, Cajochen C, Werth E, Wirz-Justice A. Warm feet promote the rapid onset of sleep. Nature. 1999;401(6748):36–37. doi:10.1038/43366

Chang AM, Aeschbach D, Duffy JF, Czeisler CA. Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2015;112(4):1232–1237. doi:10.1073/pnas.1418490112

Article - Min Read

Ayurveda | 02 Nov 2026

Ayurveda and Exercise: A Personalised Approach to Fitness

How Vata, Pitta and Kapha types should train, when to move, and how it fits a wider Ayurvedic lifestyle.

Most fitness advice assumes a single plan will suit everyone. Ayurveda begs to differ. What builds strength in one person can leave another tense or drained, because we do not all start from the same place. Ayurvedic exercise begins with that difference: it matches the way you move to your constitution rather than to a generic template. Approached this way, exercise should leave you with more energy than you began with, not less, which is the cornerstone of holistic fitness as Ayurveda understands it.

What Ayurveda Means by Exercise

The classical texts have a word for exercise: vyayama. Charaka, the ancient physician behind the Charaka Samhita, defined it as the effort that brings stability and strength to the body. That effort does more than tone muscle. In Ayurvedic terms, it kindles agni, the digestive fire that governs how well we process food, and it builds ojas, the reserve of vitality that helps us withstand illness and stress.

There is a limit, though, and Ayurveda is precise about it. Exercise is meant to warm the body, not wring it out. The old guidance is to work to about half your capacity and hold the rest in reserve, unless you are training specifically for endurance. A light sweat, a quickened breath and a pleasant sense of lightness are signs you have done enough; pushing well past them turns a good session into strain.

Movement, Stillness and When to Ease Off

Ayurveda treats fitness as one half of a pair, with rest as the other. The body works best in balance, and an overdrive in either direction, too sedentary or too intense, pulls it off course. Some of this is a matter of circulation. The lymphatic system, which ferries nutrients to the tissues and supports immunity, needs a calm internal state to do its job; driving the body too hard can hinder it rather than help.

There are also times to stop training altogether. During an Ayurvedic detox, or a yogic cleanse using the shatkarmas: the cleansing practices set out in the traditional yoga texts, heavy exercise is set aside. At Ananda, guests on these programmes are guided towards gentle Hatha yoga alone, since vigorous effort can disturb the flow of prana, or life force, and get in the way of the body clearing what it needs to release.

Exercise for Your Body Type

Your prakriti, the constitution you are born with, is the practical guide to what suits you. It is the difference between a workout that restores you and one that may quietly work against you, and it sits at the heart of any personalised fitness plan. Three broad patterns tend to show up.

Vata types run on air and movement: quick-thinking, quick-moving and easily tired. Left to themselves, they tend to throw everything into fast, intense exercise and burn out, often with scattered, anxious thoughts afterwards and strain on the joints. They fare far better with slow, grounding work: Hatha or restorative yoga, postures held long enough to rest inside them, an unhurried solo pursuit such as golf. A short meditation and ten minutes of shavasana, lying rest, will settle an overactive Vata mind once the session is done.

Pitta types run hot, built for strength and endurance and drawn to competition. Weightlifting, climbing and hard endurance sports appeal because they feed that drive, yet the same drive is exactly what a Pitta needs to temper. Cooling but spirited activities suit them better: swimming, river rafting, a flowing vinyasa sequence, or a walk in the shade. Breathable clothing and the cooler hours of the day help keep the fire in check.

Kapha types are steady and strong but inclined to settle; too much stillness can slide into sluggishness and low mood. They do best with the opposite of what they gravitate towards, choosing brisk, sociable, stamina-building movement over solitary repetition. Dancing, tennis and kickboxing keep a Kapha engaged in body and company at once.

When and How Much to Move

The timing of exercise matters as much as the type. Ayurveda favours the morning, up to roughly late morning, when the body is naturally primed for effort. It advises against hard exercise in the afternoon and evening, when Pitta and then Vata are already on the rise; adding to them late in the day can unsettle sleep. Leaving a gap after meals before you move follows the same logic, letting digestion take its course before exertion begins.

Beyond that, the sensible course is to know yourself. Age, sex, the season, the weather and your current health all shape what is wise on any given day, and an Ayurvedic physician can advise on what to favour and what to avoid for your constitution, along with a diet to match. Built into daily life this way, exercise stops being a bolted-on task and becomes one thread of a wider fabric of an Ayurvedic lifestyle. That is how Ayurvedic wellness is meant to work, and how we teach it at Ananda: not as a regime to endure, but as movement that fits the person doing it.

Nothing is punishing in any of this. It is recommended only that you move in the way your body was built to move, at the time of day it prefers, and stop while you still have something in reserve. Do that with some consistency, and fitness stops being something you force and instead turns into something you keep.

Article - Min Read

Holistic Wellness | 28 Oct 2026

The Sound of Nothing: The Science of Silence

In this article, we look at the fascinating science of quiet, the hidden cost of everyday noise, and what we see when guests meet real silence in the...

For close to three decades, we have watched guests arrive at Ananda from some of the loudest cities on earth. Their first 72 hours of quiet are quite revealing..

It usually happens on the second evening.

A guest arriving from Mumbai, Dubai, London or New York still carrying the shape of a working week, walks out onto the terrace after dinner and stops. The lights of Rishikesh flicker in the valley below. The foothills rise dark behind. And in between, there is almost nothing to hear.

Some people breathe out. A surprising number reach for their phone.

A retreat on a Maharaja's estate in the Himalayas gives one an unusual vantage point. You get to watch hundreds of people meet silence, often for the first time in years. And what we have learned is that quiet is not the soft, pleasant thing which you see on advertisements. For many guests, it is the most unfamiliar environment they will enter all year.

And increasingly science is saying the same thing.

The noise we stopped noticing

Our ears have no lids. We can close our eyes, but hearing runs all day and all night, and the body keeps responding to sound even when the mind has tuned it out.

Cardiologists at the University Medical Center Mainz have shown how literal that is. They played recordings of aircraft and train noise, 60 events a night, into people's bedrooms while they slept. Pooling four of these studies, covering 275 people, they found that after a noisy night blood vessels dilated less well, and blood pressure was higher.

The world’s noisiest cities reach peaks of 105 to 119 decibels, more than double the WHO’s 53-decibel guideline on a scale where every 10 decibels sound twice as loud, and long-term exposure is linked to hearing loss, sleep disruption and heart disease.

Natural quiet, meanwhile, is disappearing. The American acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton spent decades searching for places where you could listen for 15 minutes without hearing a single human-made sound and found very few.

Most of our guests have not experienced real quiet in a very long time. Their bodies have adapted to noise as the normal state.

Silence, the esctacy and the agony

In 2006, a team led by Luciano Bernardi at the University of Pavia was studying how music affects the heart. They played 24 people six styles of music, from raga to techno, and slipped a two-minute pause into the sequence almost as an afterthought. During that pause, heart rate, blood pressure and breathing fell below the levels recorded before any music started. The pause relaxed people more than the most soothing track.

And then there is the other side of the coin. In 2014, psychologists at the University of Virginia and Harvard asked people to sit alone in a bare room for 6 to 15 minutes with nothing to do but think. Across 11 studies, most did not enjoy it. In one version, participants could press a button to give themselves a mild electric shock they had already said they would pay to avoid. Two thirds of the men and a quarter of the women pressed it.

Put those findings together and we start to understand the paradox we see at Ananda every week. Silence is good for us. Yet most of us find it deeply uncomfortable.

What three days of quiet looks like

Over the years, our teams have come to recognise a pattern.

Day one is busy. Guests often want the full schedule, then want to add to it. Phones stay close. The quiet gets filled with emails, calls, plans. It is what a nervous system tuned to constant input does when the input stops.

Day two is uncomfortable. This is the dip. People tell us they feel restless, irritable or unexpectedly tired. Some sleep for ten hours. Some cannot sleep at all. Thoughts they have kept at a distance start arriving. Some quietly wonder whether they made a mistake in coming.

Day three, something shifts. Walks get slower. The phone drifts further from the hand. The phrase we hear most often at this point is some version of: I feel like myself again.

The most important thing we learned came from Yoga Nidra and early meditation sessions. When guests first settled into that deep stillness, emotions they had not touched in years would often rise to the surface. Not occasionally, but regularly. It was the silence itself doing this. That observation is what led us to build emotional healing into our programmes, rather than treating it as a separate discipline.

We also noticed who struggled most. Often, it was the most capable, most driven people. The ones for whom busy-ness had been working, quite well, as a way of not having to listen to anything else.

And we noticed what really helped the sceptics. Rarely being told to sit still. More often, a sound healing singing bowl session or a walk through the forest at first light worked best, where the quiet arrives through the body rather than through focussed effort.

Easing in

This becomes a part of life, if you go gradually.

Start with natural sound, not total silence. A 2017 study at Brighton and Sussex Medical School found that listening to natural sounds shifted people's attention outward and increased the body's rest-and-digest activity. The most stressed participants relaxed the most.

Claim the first ten minutes of the day. Before the phone, before the news. It is the easiest window to protect and sets the tone for the rest of the day.

Take one meal a day without content. No podcast, no screen. Just the meal.

Expect it to get louder first. In Bernardi's study the relaxation came in the pause, not the music. For most of our guests, it comes after the uncomfortable second day. If silence feels noisy at first, that is not failure. It is the start.

SOURCES

University Medical Center Mainz:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10584703/

Landscapes without human generated noise:

https://orionmagazine.org/article/silence-like-scouring-sand/

U. Virginia & Harvard study:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140703142154.htm

Pavia – impact of the pause :

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1860846/

U. Virginia & Harvard study:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140703142154.htm

Brighton Natural sounds study :