Where Medical Expertise Meets Therapeutic Touch And Holistic Care

July Newsletter

Every year when July hits, I find myself humming that classic Nat King Cole song about rolling out those "lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer." (click that link and listen along if you want a quick dose of nostalgia!).

Those of us who grew up loving that track, imagined an easy, carefree season. But honestly? From a purely physiological standpoint, July is anything but lazy.

It is the real heart month.

We always think of February as heart month—mostly because of Valentine’s Day and all the official awareness campaigns. But summer is when your cardiovascular system bears the absolute brunt of the calendar.

Summer is beautiful, but this intense heat is just incredibly draining. In Ayurveda, this isn't a new concept. Ancient texts have historically validated this for thousands of years, widely categorizing summer as peak Pitta season because the external world is completely dominated by heat, intensity, and the fire element.

When that seasonal fire builds up, it leaves us physically overheated and, if we're being honest, emotionally a bit short-fused.

When Pitta boils over: physical and emotional flare-ups

What a lot of people don’t realize is how much of this seasonal burden falls straight on your cardiovascular system. In fact, classical Ayurvedic medicine notes that heart health relies heavily on something called Sadhaka Pitta. This is a specific sub-dosha of fire that literally lives in the heart. It serves as the seat of our emotions, governing the heart-mind connection and helping us physically "digest" our daily life experiences while translating thoughts into wisdom and inner contentment.

Because the golden rule of Ayurveda is that "like increases like," the blazing temperatures and long, intense days of July can easily provoke an absolute overflow of internal Pitta. Physically, that excess heat manifests as cardiovascular strain, inflammation, and elevated blood pressure. Emotionally, when the fire of Sadhaka Pitta flares up in the chest, it triggers irritability, waves of quick frustration, and critical judgment.

Heart / Pitta Symptoms and Solutions

Think about how heavy and sluggish your legs feel on a humid afternoon. That’s hard physiology matching up with ancient wisdom. When external temperatures spike, your blood vessels dilate to push blood toward your skin to cool you down. It is a massive internal strain. Your heart rate actually jumps by about 10 beats per minute for every single degree Celsius your internal body temperature rises.

Combine that extra workload with gravity, and fluid easily pools in your lower limbs—a classic case of seasonal venous insufficiency. Data shows that 56.6% of people with chronic venous issues see their lower-leg swelling get significantly worse in warmer weather. Your veins are forced to work double-time against gravity just to pump blood back up. Believe it or not, raising your core temperature by just 1.5°C can nearly double the blood flow required by the heart muscle itself.

While February gets all the marketing, July is when your heart is doing the heavy lifting. That’s why lately, I’ve been focusing my own self-care—and what I share with my patients—on actively lifting that weight off the heart.

To share some summer inspiration from my Ayurvedic kitchen, I'm featuring the recipe for Gluten-free, Ayurveda-inspired pancakes topped with Pitta balancing strawberry, mango, and red grape compote with rose powder.

You want to lean into Pitta-pacifying recipes that cool things down from the inside out. What that really boils down to is a simple shift: swapping out heavy spice, salt, and sour foods for things with sweet, bitter, and astringent profiles. Think crisp cucumbers, leafy greens, sweet juices, ripe fruits, and fresh herbs like mint and cilantro. These foods act like a cooling flush for your internal system, calming the blood and easing the pressure on your circulation. 

If you want to figure out exactly which foods and beverages are best for your unique system and your current dosha imbalance, you can learn more about my Ayurvedic Lifestyle consultations right here

Then, there is the hands-on work in my practice.

When patients come in feeling heavy, bloated, and swollen from the heat, my absolute go-to is Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD). This specialized, feather-light massage does something incredible for summer sluggishness. It gently coaxes that stagnant fluid out of your tissue and recirculates it back into the bloodstream.

By clearing out the traffic jams in your legs, MLD instantly takes the burden off your heart, giving your cardiovascular system a massive break.



At the same time, targeted bodywork is the ultimate tool to down-regulate a fried nervous system. When we use soothing, intentional massage techniques, we flip the switch from "fight or flight" to "rest and digest." This shift immediately cools down that sharp Pitta intensity, lowers your heart rate, and lets your entire body reset.

Summer shouldn't feel like a heavy, exhausting climb. By cooling our plates, moving mindfully, and using therapies like MLD to keep our fluids moving, we can give our hearts the breathing room they need to actually enjoy the season.

Here are a few special ways we can work together this season:

New Chair Massage Clinic

What stops you from reaching out? Time? Money? Interest? I have a remedy for each. Come enjoy a 15 or 30-minute chair massage by appointment right here in the beauty of Open Flow’s retreat setting.

Go here on my site to learn more and reserve your session today!

8-Week Summer Yoga Class (Starts 10 A. M. July 11th)



Free yourself from daily responsibilities. This is your dedicated time to unburden habits of mind and body. If you are saying, "Oh, I’m not a yoga person," that is just an excuse!

All bodies and levels will benefit from this class. 

Click the video below to learn more or the sign-up here button to register now! 

PO Box 456

Lincoln, MA 01773

781-738-1920