It is important when it comes to health to stay in balance. Many imbalances are due to what is known in Ayurveda as the dosha imbalances. In Ayurveda, there are 5 elements within the body, ether (space), air, fire, water, and earth. These elements combine to create doshas.
Vata= Ether + Air
Pitta= Fire + Water
Kapha= Earth + Water
Each individual has a unique dosha makeup, similar to how we look at genetic makeup in Western medicine. Diet and lifestyle changes should be based on an individual’s dosha or elemental composition.
You can take a dosha quiz here to determine your dosha. Then review the list below for easy tips on how to keep your dosha in balance.
Vata is the air and ether (space) elements. Below are 3 tips to bring Vata people or Vata imbalances back into balance.
Making sure you have a warm, cozy place to curl up and relax will do wonders for your vata. Whether it is a warm bed, a hot bath, or a steam room, ensuring that your body is warm and comfortable will help to naturally correct vata imbalances. Treat yourself to massages with warm oils and stones. Surround yourself with warm colors, soothing music, and sweet aromas.
Pay close attention to what you eat—food is vital in creating vata imbalances as well as resolving them. Flavors that are sweet, sour, or salty work well to restore balance. Drinking ginger tea and making sure your body is getting the right amount of healthy fats and oils can help fix imbalances, as can serving food warm. Avoid foods that are cold, frozen, or dried. Small beans should be chosen over large beans, which tend to cause gas. Other gas producing foods should also be avoided. Be cautious around flavors that are bitter or pungent.
Meditation calms the mind, eases stress, and helps build a relationship with your inner self. Practicing meditation, in addition to eating well and staying warm and comfortable, is a central way to correct vata imbalances. Engaging in light exercises that promote balance and flexibility is another way. Yoga, walks, short hikes, and dancing are a few examples of activities that promote a healthy balanced vata.
Pay close attention to what you eat. Food and digestion create pitta imbalances and are vital to resolving them. You still want to eat warm, cooked meals but incorporate cooling foods and herbs (e.g., ghee, coconut water, coconut oil, lime, cucumber, coriander, fennel, and cardamon) into your diet. Avoid foods that are hot, spicy, friend, sour, salty, pungent, or fermented. Nightshades (tomatoes, white potatoes, peppers, eggplant) should be avoided. Flavors that are sweet, astringent, and bitter work well to restore balance. Drinking CCF tea (cumin, coriander, fennel) and making sure your body is getting the right amount of healthy fats and oils can also help fix imbalances.
Meditation calms the mind, eases stress, and helps build a relationship with your inner self. Practicing meditation, in addition to eating well and staying cool and comfortable, is central to correcting pitta imbalances.
Engaging in light exercise that promotes balance and flexibility is another way to help your pitta. Yoga, self-massage, walks, short hikes, reducing workloads, and avoiding conflict are a few examples of activities that promote a healthy pitta balance.
Making sure you have a cool place to relax will do wonders, especially during the summer when that pitta dosha can become more aggravated. Whether it’s relaxing in the shade, taking a break from work, or drinking coconut water, ensuring that your body is cool and comfortable will help to naturally correct pitta imbalances.
Try self-massages with cooling oils like coconut and stones and surrounding yourself with cool colors, calming music, and soothing aromas.
Kapha is the earth and water element. These three simple tips will help bring your Kapha body back into balance and come into rhythm with nature.
Making sure you have a warm and dry place is important for kapha. Staying active physically and staying active mentally through stimulating activities like reading and games, will help to naturally correct kapha imbalances. Treat yourself to massages with warm oils. Surround yourself with warm colors, upbeat music, invigorating aromas, and good company.
Your diet is vital in creating imbalances as well as resolving them. Flavors that are pungent, bitter, and astringent work well to restore balance. These foods are things like bitter melon, gourd, turmeric, fenugreek, apples, pomegranate, quinoa, tofu, beans, and lentils. Drinking ginger tea and making sure your body is getting the right amount of healthy fats and oils can help fix imbalances, as can serving food warm. Avoid foods that are cold, frozen, or moist. Almost any bean is okay for kapha. Be cautious around flavors that are sweet, sour, or salty.
Meditation calms the mind, eases stress, and helps build a relationship with your inner self. In addition to eating well and staying warm and active, it is a central way to correct kapha imbalances. Engaging in vigorous exercises that promote energy and stamina is another way. Vigorous yoga, hiking, jogging, biking, dancing, and martial arts are a few examples of activities that promote a healthy balanced kapha.
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