I have designed this little star for anyone who needs a visual. It really helped me ‘see’ everything as a whole. It gives you an overview of how the Elements, Doshas, Tastes, Senses and Qualities sit together and relate to each other. Life is built on opposites in order to maintain balance.
HOW TO READ THE STAR OF AYURVEDA
This may all seem quite complicated in the beginning but it’s actually a more simple – some might say poetic – way of looking at life and, more importantly, it makes sense.
The star shows:
1 The role specific Doshas play in the body (Movement, Structure or Transformation).
2 The Qualities of each Dosha (such as dry, rough, sticky, heavy, liquid, sharp – see here for more on this).
3 The five Elements that make up each Dosha (Space, Earth, Water, Fire, Air).
4 The Senses of those Elements (hearing, smell, taste, sight, touch).
5 The Tastes (astringent, sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter – see here for more on this).
6 The Qualities of each Taste (such as dry, heavy, light, hot, cold, etc).
Using this visual we can see that the Qualities, Senses and Tastes that govern Pitta are orange, therefore everything that is not orange (the Qualities, Senses and Tastes of Vata and Kapha) are opposites, which can balance Pitta. Since the five Elements are unequally weighted between the three Doshas you will see that there is some crossover in Qualities, Senses and Tastes. Therefore, to balance Pitta we require a little of what it already is (Fire Element, salty Taste, liquid, sharp and hot Qualities), a medium amount of what it is partially made of (Water Element, pungent and sour Tastes, and light oily Qualities), and a lot of what it is not (Air, Space and Earth Elements, bitter, astringent and sweet Tastes, and cold, dry, heavy, rough, mobile, subtle, clear, hard, sticky, heavy, dull, static, smooth, dense, large and soft Qualities). See the box below for another example.
I AM PITTA
The Qualities of Pitta are liquid, sharp, hot and a bit oily
The Elements that govern Pitta are predominantly Fire with some Water
The Senses that govern Pitta are sight and taste
The Tastes that govern Pitta are pungent, salty and sour
TO BALANCE PITTA I NEED TO
Look for Qualities of cool, dry, rough, mobile, subtle, clear, hard, sticky, heavy, dull, static, smooth, dense, large, soft
Find calm in Air, Space and Earth Elements, which stimulate touch, hearing and smell
Seek out bitter, astringent and sweet Tastes, which hold opposite Qualities of dry, light and cool
Limit lifestyle choices and foods that have Pitta properties