Namaste and Welcome,
Ayurveda has always understood the year as a series of seasons, each with its own qualities, and each transition between them as a distinct moment worthy of attention. These transitions are not just calendar markers. They are physiological events — times when the body is actively shifting gears, releasing what one season asked of it and preparing for what the next will require.
We are in one of those moments right now.
In Ayurveda, this junction is called Ritu Sandhi — the seam between seasons. May sits squarely in it. Spring is loosening its grip. Summer has not yet arrived. And the body, which is far more attuned to the natural world than we tend to give it credit for, is doing a great deal of work to keep up.
Once you understand what that means, a lot of things start to make sense.
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What is happening right now
Through winter and into early spring, the body accumulates Kapha — the dosha of earth and water. This is simply biology. Kapha gives us the insulation, the steadiness, the stored reserves that the cold months require. It’s not the enemy. It’s a guest that has been here a while and is now, slowly, preparing to leave.
As May arrives, that accumulated Kapha begins to loosen and release. Think of it like a knot slowly releasing — there is a moment of adjustment before the body finds its new alignment. At the same time, Pitta — the dosha of fire and transformation — begins its slow ascent. It will not reach full intensity until summer. But it is waking up. You can feel it if you pay attention.
This is the seam. Two forces in motion at once, and your body right in the middle of it.
What you might be noticing — a loose field guide
Because your Prakriti (constitution) is your own, not everyone moves through Ritu Sandhi (seasonal transition) the same way. But here are some things that are common in this window. See if any of these sound familiar.
Digestion that seems unpredictable. Strong one day, sluggish the next. Ayurveda would say this makes complete sense — Agni, the digestive fire, is recalibrating as the season shifts. This is not the time to test its limits with heavy or complicated meals.
Skin changes. A little more sensitivity than usual. Perhaps some breakouts, or a different quality to the skin than you had even a few weeks ago. As Pitta begins to rise, it often shows up in the skin first.
I have rosacea and it appears each time the seasons change - since I now know what is happening and why, I don’t get upset thinking that it was gone and is back again.
Appetite that shifts. You may find yourself craving lighter foods without quite knowing why. Those slowly simmered, long-cooked stews that felt right a month ago may suddenly feel like too much. The body is already gravitating towards lighter, quicker preparations — and it knows what it's doing.
A kind of restlessness. Not quite motivation, not quite anxiety — somewhere in between. The stillness of winter has passed but the full energy of summer has not yet arrived. This in-between feeling is not something to push through. It is something to move with gently.
Lingering heaviness. Some of us still feel residual Kapha — sluggishness in the mornings, a sense of not quite having fully arrived in the new season. Gentle movement and lighter food are your friends right now.
Do any of these sound like you? Drop a comment below — it helps me understand what you are navigating, and it often helps other readers to know they are not alone in it.
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Introducing Pitta
If you have been reading this newsletter for a while, you have heard me talk about Vata and Kapha at length. Vata carried us through autumn and the dry, restless energy of early winter. Kapha shaped our spring — the heaviness, the slow mornings, the accumulated weight of the cold months.
Now it is time to introduce the third member of this trio. Pitta.
Pitta is the dosha of fire — the force that transforms food into energy, that processes experience into understanding. Its qualities are hot, sharp, and light.
When Pitta is in balance, it shows up as clarity, focus, warmth, and strong digestion. When it begins to tip out of balance, it shows up as heat, inflammation, and skin flares.
In May, Pitta is not yet dominant — think of it as arriving rather than ruling. The days are longer, the light more direct than it was even a few weeks ago. These are Pitta's early signals. Start noticing them now — a moment of unexpected heat, a food that felt right in March but feels like too much today, a change in your skin. You are not imagining it. You are just learning a new language.
We will talk much more about Pitta as summer gets closer. For now — just make note of it. Consider this the introduction.
What to eat right now
The food that belongs to this particular window is also transitional by nature. Not the heavy, warming food of winter. Not yet the cooling food of summer. Something in between — light, slightly pungent, easy to digest, and ideally seasonal.
Which brings me to what is showing up at the farmers market in New York right now: spring alliums.
Ramps, scallions, and green garlic are the stars of the moment — and if you can't find them, leeks, onions, shallots, and chives are available year round and work just as well.These are perfect for this moment — they are Kapha-clearing by nature, gently stimulating to digestion, and they carry just enough warmth to support Agni without overheating the system. Radishes too. Raw, as a crunchy addition to a side salad or a grain bowl, they bring a pungency that moves things along beautifully. Mint and thyme are coming into season, and both earn their place — mint is cooling without being heavy, and thyme is a quiet digestive hero that rarely gets the credit it deserves.
And then there is asparagus.
I have loved asparagus for as long as I can remember. It is, in my mind, the vegetable that means spring — the one I look forward to all year. So it was with some personal indignation that I discovered this season I have developed an allergy to it.
Asparagus, as it happens, is well suited to this moment in the season — its qualities are cooling, slightly bitter and astringent, which is exactly what the body benefits from as Pitta begins to rise. For those of us who cannot eat it, the good news is that green beans, snap peas, and zucchini offer similar seasonal lightness. None of them are asparagus — I will not pretend otherwise — but they are good vegetables and they belong to this moment just as much.
Is there a seasonal food that doesn’t agree with you, and what do you reach for instead? Leave a comment — this is the kind of practical, collective wisdom I find genuinely useful, and I suspect other readers do too.
While we wait for summer
If something feels slightly off right now — digestion a little unpredictable, skin a little reactive, energy somewhere between winter’s stillness and summer’s momentum — that is not a problem. That is Ritu Sandhi (seasonal transition) doing exactly what it is supposed to do. The body is in transition. Give it a little room.
A few things that help right now:
🪴Sip warm water with fresh ginger or mint tea throughout the day. A gentle signal to the digestive fire.
🪴Let the farmers market guide your plate. Ramps, scallions, radishes, mint. And if the spring alliums feel like slim pickings, this is also a good moment to lean into bitter and pungent tastes more broadly — arugula, dandelion greens, mustard greens, turnips, ginger, black pepper. These are exactly the flavors that help clear residual Kapha and gently wake up digestion.
🪴Move, but not excessively. A brisk walk, some stretching, anything that gets circulation going without depleting what the body is using to recalibrate. Momentum, not performance.
🪴Pay attention to your skin. Pitta is arriving and the skin is often the first place it shows up. Take it as information, not alarm.
A note about what comes next
We are still in the early part of May. The seam. Once we cross mid-May, Pitta begins to assert itself more clearly and the body’s needs shift with it. The foods that help are different. The practices that help are different. I will be writing about that in the next post.
For now: notice the seam. Notice what your body is doing. Eat lightly, eat what is growing around you.
The in-between is not a problem to solve. It is simply a season of its own.
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Namaste,
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