Root To Rise – 5 Tips For Spring Transition

By Marie Rodriguez, ND

Did winter hit you so much harder than in years past?

This winter have you felt an unfamiliar and pervasive heaviness/lack of motivation – symptoms of depression that were more pervasive than SAD?

Here are five tips to support us in having a smooth transition:

1) Rebalance

What does your work/life/self-care rhythm look like?

How connected do you feel to your body? Spring is a big transition and not everyone springs forth effortlessly, a portion of the population can feel anxious or depressed. Consider getting some bodywork or massage in March and April to support your body in opening to the Spring season.

2) Release

It’s time to remove a layer of winter ‘gunk’ – consider a GI reset (and a good declutter of your closet at the same time!)

Commit to a week or two of clean eating:

Eliminate the trifecta of gluten, dairy, and sugar
Start your day with lemon in warm water to support your liver
Hydrate (adding in electrolytes to support)
Fiber – 2 Tbsp of ground flax daily is a great way to promote regularity

If you feel a force has been driving you to eat carbs this winter, or you tend to suffer from seasonal allergies, inflammation signs, you may consider a more focused GI reset (check out the DIY Cleanse under the ‘For You’ tab on my website).

3) Reconnect

Spring carries the energy of the wood element. It’s an upward and outward extroverted energy that propels buds and shoots to emerge from the deep winter slumber.

What drives you, what are your dreams and passions? Take time to attune to the extroverted energy of spring, with the intention of reconnecting to your path. Spend more time outside to connect to nature in your locale with intentionality. How many different species of birds and trees do you see, what is blooming? Aligning in this way enables us to live with more flow versus ‘force.’

4) Rest

The time change can be exhausting for those who continue to burn the candle at both ends even in the dead of winter. If you didn’t put enough fuel back into the tank during the darker months, then your adrenals could be feeling it now. Commit to a minimum of 5 earlier nights in a row, lights out by 10 pm at the latest and get out of bed 7-8 hours later. Add in legs over a chair for 12 minutes before bed to nourish your parasympathetic nervous system for quality restorative sleep.

5) Root

Take a week to unplug from technology for 12 hours a day. (Yes, 12 hours!) Even consider a tech free day/weekend sometime. You’ll be surprised at how this creates the space and ease – all the better for acclimating to the seasonal transition.