Watch water boiling in a pot. What makes it start boiling at a particular moment? On the face of it, it is the intensity of the flame underneath. But think a little more deeply, and you will come up with many other factors: the altitude at which the kitchen is located, the width of the pot, whether or not the pot is covered with a lid, the initial temperature of the water, and so on.
Similarly, scores of factors determine how your doshas behave at any given point. That is why it is unwise to try to analyze your doshas using simplistic charts; they’re too complex for that.
Consider the diverse forces that play upon your doshas moment by moment:
• the events of your day
• the recent events in your life
• your current lifestyle: diet, sleep patterns, work routine
• the time of day
• the season of the year
• your age
The result: you cannot look on a chart and immediately say, “My sleep is disturbed so I need to reduce my vata dosha.” The thing to do is to find out which factors have come together to disturb your sleep. Is it that you have been napping in the afternoons? Are you bogged down by work? Has there been a conflict in your family life? Is your room heater set to an uncomfortable temperature? Or is it that you’ve just turned sixty, when sleep is known to become erratic? Is it just vata, or is it a combination of doshas at fault here?
Admittedly, discovering this multitude of dosha-manipulating factors can leave you somewhat bemused, like the centipede in this rhyme:
The centipede was happy, quite
until a frog in fun
said, “Pray, which leg comes after which?”
which raised her mind to such a pitch
she lay distracted in a ditch
considering how to run.
Don’t worry! Your dilemma is going to be nowhere as vexing as that of the centipede. The factors that affect your doshas are quite easy to understand because, like everything else in Ayurveda, the doshas are based on common sense and practical logic. In fact, after reading this chapter, you will have a good idea of what makes the quality and impact of your doshas fluctuate.
Let me begin with a somewhat surprising statement: Your dosha type is really two dosha types, one you are born with and another that changes constantly. Your original dosha makeup was decided the moment you were conceived. You were born with it, and it will remain constant throughout your life. In Sanskrit, your basic dosha type is called your prakriti, or nature.
However, season, time, and circumstance constantly act upon and change this original combination of energies, and this ever-in-flux dosha makeup is what vaidyas call vikriti, or distortion.
The difference between prakriti and vikriti is exactly like that between climate and weather. The “climate,” or prakriti, of your being consists of the constant factors: your bone structure, food preferences, and emotional makeup, to name a few.
But the vikriti, or “weather,” of your personality changes all the time, affecting such daily rhythms as appetite, moods, and energy levels. Although the meaning of vikriti — distortion — might lead you to believe otherwise, life would be all wrong without vikriti; imagine feeling equally hungry, happy, lethargic, or enthusiastic all the time!
In real life, your prakriti and vikriti both affect what you do and how you feel at any given time. For example, if you were born with a strong vata dosha, you tend to feel the cold more than others. This affects the choices you make in daily life. On a cold day, you’ll want to stay indoors and treat yourself to warm soup while your pitta friend is out skiing.
Different dosha types seek different ways to balance themselves. A tired pitta finds relief in a cool shower. Vata people benefit greatly from a moisturizing massage. An easy-paced walk can restore sagging kapha spirits. Thus, whatever your preferred idea of relaxation, you are essentially seeking to come closer to your original dosha makeup, or prakriti. This is a very happy state to be in, for Ayurvedic healers know that living in harmony with your innate qualities is the key to living a happy, healthy life.
This dosha-friendly approach to living helps in a much broader sense, too. For example, a person whose basic dosha type is kapha would enjoy and excel at a relatively low-stress job, while vata would love a creative environment and pitta would thrive in a dynamic one.
Obviously, then, setting out to “balance your doshas” does not mean striving for equal amounts of vata, pitta, and kapha in your life; that can almost never be. Life is so fluid that dosha balancing just means trying to get your vikriti as close as possible to your original dosha type, or prakriti. Once you understand the doshas more fully, this will be easy to achieve.
Would you ever imagine 2:00 A.M. as being governed by a dosha? How about February being a certain dosha type? The ancient sages who wrote Ayurvedic texts imagined just that. Because they saw humans and the cosmos as an integrated whole, they ascribed the same dosha attributes to nature and its cycles.
Early in the morning, the sky is bewitchingly beautiful and all of nature is beginning to fill up with fresh energy. By afternoon, energy levels peak and appetite is sharp. In the evening we head home from work, while the birds fly back to their nests. Then comes the night, with its balm of restful sleep. These natural rhythms echo the qualities of the three doshas — one restless, another intense, and the third calm. In accordance with these rhythms, Ayurvedic philosophy divides the twenty-four-hour day into distinct dosha zones:
• Vata Time: 2:00 to 6:00 A.M. and 2:00 to 6:00 P.M. The early hours of the morning and evening are ideal for active and creative work. That is why Ayurvedic practitioners recommend rising in “vata time.” If you sleep late, you will feel dull and groggy because you have stepped into the next zone, which is “kapha time.”
• Kapha Time: 6:00 to 10:00 A.M. and 6:00 to 10:00 P.M. Both of these are periods when your activity levels are either slowly increasing or slowly winding down. Therefore, rising after 6:00 A.M. or not going to bed between 6:00 and 10:00 P.M. can cause disturbed sleep.
• Pitta Time: 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. and 10:00 P.M. to 2:00 A.M. Fiery pitta governs the productive hours from midmorning to the middle of the day, and again late in the night when the digestive system is busy processing and assimilating dinner.
One way you can use this information is to tell whether your dosha imbalance is related to the time of day. For example, if you find it difficult to stay awake in the mornings without three cups of coffee, it could be because you have been rising late — during the lethargic kapha time. Try waking up an hour earlier, and your mornings will be filled with verve.
Just as the doshas shift duties during a single day, they also govern the rhythm of the seasons. Here’s the Seasonal Dosha Chart:
Vata season: mid-October to mid-February
Kapha season: mid-February to mid-June
Pitta season: mid-June to mid-October
Here are some tips that will help you through the seasons. They will also balance your doshas in general. That is, the tips for cooling pitta in summer are beneficial to pitta year-round, and similarly for vata and kapha.
The humid, intense heat of summer makes it pitta season. At this time of the year, the heat can make us more prone to irritability and temper outbursts. This is when pitta-related skin and digestion problems (acne, heat rashes, acidity, heartburn) flare up, too. Even kapha-vata types can suffer from heat rashes, dry skin, and excessive thirst in summer. Once you understand this summer-pitta link, it becomes both important and easy to find ways to beat the heat.
1. Eat as many sweet, ripe, juicy fruits as you can between July and October: apples, pears, melons, and mangoes. Their cooling nectar keeps the body hydrated and happy.
2. Get more vegetables such as broccoli, cucumber, zucchini, and carrots in your diet; they are considered to have cooling properties, too.
3. Use spices such as mint, fennel, and coriander, which also have cooling properties. In the summer season, they’re your best friends. Mustard seeds and ginger, on the other hand, have a heating effect on the metabolism — which is not desirable at this time.
4. Try to avoid such foods as yogurt, cayenne pepper, and sour cream while summer lasts. A heat-distraught pitta does not enjoy sour, salty, and very spicy foods — especially at this time of the year.
5. Resist the urge to ice your drinks. Though, in general, liquid, lukewarm, or cool foods are more comforting in summer than hot, dry ones, the frigidity of ice douses digestive fire.
6. Take a swim, go ice skating, or stroll in the moonlight. Pick cooling exercises like these to keep pitta from flaring up.
In winter, the air is dry and cool — both qualities of vata. Though many of us dread the winter months for the fat they pile up around our waists, Ayurvedic healers see winter as an excellent time to nourish the body and build immunity through wholesome food and a healthy routine.
1. Eat foods that please the vata dosha: sweet, warm, lubricating foods cooked in easy-to-digest oils such as olive oil or ghee (clarified butter).
2. Cook with spices like cumin, ginger, and turmeric at this time. They support digestion and boost immunity.
3. Combat the dryness of these vata months by regularly massaging and moisturizing your skin and drinking warm water (if you are a pitta type, room-temperature water is fine).
4. Include plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet.
5. Take a warm bath or shower every winter morning; this is especially energizing because it opens the pores, removing toxins. Preceded by an herbalized oil massage, its benefits increase manifold.
In spring, ice thaws, blossoms unfold, and spirits soar. At the same time, accumulated toxins of winter start to liquefy naturally, too. With a little help from you, this flushing out of impurities can be even more efficient.
1. Eat light, nongreasy foods that detoxify the body, thus appeasing the kapha dosha that rules this season.
2. Include increased servings of whole grains and cooked leafy greens in your diet.
3. Maintain a good skin routine: cleanse, tone, and moisturize morning and evening, and exfoliate twice a week to remove dead cells and open pores. (See chapter 10 for specific recommendations.)
4. Regulate your bowel habits. If you have been irregular, now is the time to pay special attention to this aspect of your day. Remember, spring is detox season. Drink warm water before you attempt a bowel movement. Don’t worry if regularity does not return within a day or even a week. Give it time, but don’t give up.
The three doshas are also programmed to govern the different phases of your life in turns.
• Kapha rules infancy and childhood — the formative years.
• Pitta governs adulthood through middle age — the productive years.
• Vata increases with old age — the years when sleep becomes lighter and erratic, the skin loses moisture, and the joints stiffen.
What makes the doshas slightly more complex is that each of them has five deputies called subdoshas. Each subdosha, according to Ayurvedic practice, has a specific location and a specific set of duties. (You can think of them as state governments.) At first glance, the sheer number of the subdoshas and their unfamiliar names can seem confusing, but to a vaidya the subdoshas are invaluable. When a dosha misbehaves, the vaidya can go deeper and tell exactly which aspect of that dosha is disturbed and how it can be brought back on track.
Here is a list of the subdoshas and their jurisdictions. You do not need to memorize them; I’m enumerating them just to show you that they are less complex than they first seem, but at the same time vital to Ayurvedic healing:
Prana means “life force.” That is why you could call the prana vata the chief subdosha among all fifteen. Located in the head, heart, chest, and sense organs, prana vata governs vision, hearing, smell, taste, creative thinking, reasoning, and enthusiasm.
Udana means “upward moving.” Hence, udana vata is responsible for quality of voice, memory, and movement of thought. A speech defect would indicate a weakened udana vata.
Samana means “balancing” or “equalizing.” This subdosha resides in the middle region of the body, including the navel, stomach, and small intestine. Therefore, its function is to fan the fires of digestion or assist the agni of pitta in the digestive process.
Apana means “downward moving.” The apana vata sits in the nether regions and regulates the flow of waste, ejaculate, and menstrual fluid.
Vyana (vi-ana) means the “diffusive” or “pervasive.” Vi is a prefix meaning “apart” or “to separate.” Though this subdosha is indeed present all over the body, its primary seat is the heart. Blood flow, heart rhythm, perspiration, the sense of touch — all these are vyana vata responsibilities.
Alochaka means “critic” — the fire that can “criticize,” or in another sense, “perceive” visually. This subdosha is located in the eyes and governs vision. In youth, the alochaka pitta is generally strong. Toward old age, it becomes weakened, causing all sorts of problems ranging from eye strain to cataracts.
A close meaning of the word bhrajaka is “to diffuse” — or “spread.” This is the subdosha that lends radiance to your skin. On the other hand, a disturbed bhrajaka pitta could lead to allergies, rashes, and skin inflammation.
Sadhaka means the fire that helps us recognize the truth or reality, from the root sadh, meaning “to accomplish” or “to realize.” Fortunate is the person whose sadhaka pitta is balanced, for this heart-based subdosha metabolizes thought and feeling. Thus, key areas of your life, such as desire, drive, decisiveness, and spirituality, are under the care of the sadhaka pitta.
Pachaka comes from the root word pachan, or “digestion.” How well you digest, assimilate, and metabolize the food you eat depends on how balanced your pachaka pitta is.
Ranjaka means “that which colors.” Your biggest organ — the liver — is governed by this subdosha. So are the spleen and stomach. Therefore, the rich red color of your blood and its healthy and toxin-free flow are functions of ranjaka pitta.
The word tarpaka is derived from tripti, which means “contentment.” Thus, tarpaka kapha means the form of water that gives contentment. This subdosha nourishes the nose, mouth, eyes, and brain. It is responsible for good lubrication of the nostrils, eyes, and cerebrospinal column. As an extension of these responsibilities, tarpaka kapha also influences emotional well-being.
Bodh means “awareness,” therefore bodhaka kapha means the form of water that helps us perceive taste — the first stage of digestion. Bodhaka kapha is the subdosha that helps us discriminate the strong and subtle flavors that our taste buds encounter. A “metallic” taste in the mouth is a typical symptom of a weakened bodhaka kapha.
Kledaka kapha means the form of water that moistens. Lubrication is an important part of the digestive process. Without the enzymes and juices that go to work on food, there would be no digestion at all. Kledaka kapha makes sure these juices are in rich supply.
Avalamb means “support.” Therefore, avalambaka kapha means the form of water that gives support. Indeed, all other subdoshas depend on the support of avalambaka kapha for moisture. The very plasma inside a cell is made of this subdosha, which also protects the heart, strengthens the muscles, and looks after the health of the lungs.
Sleshaka comes from the root word slish, which means to be moist or sticky. Stiff, creaky joints are often the result of a disturbed sleshaka kapha. This subdosha is located in the joints as the synovial fluid and is responsible for holding them together and promoting ease of movement.
Again, the above list of subdoshas was just to introduce you to them. When you are new to Ayurveda, you need only concern yourself chiefly with the three parent doshas:
• Vata, which governs movement
• Pitta, which rules metabolism, and
• Kapha, which looks after structure and frame
If there were an “ideal quantity guide to the doshas” — that is, something like thirty units each of vata, pitta, and kapha for perfect health — we would have by now found a way to tell exactly how many units short or in excess we were. But not only are the doshas not quantifiable, they are also invisible. Therefore, trying to tell which one of them is acting up can be tricky.
However, there are clues. One major generalization vaidyas have been able to make is that most disease stems from a disorder in one particular dosha. Can you guess which one it is?
The logical answer, of course, is vata, which combines the restless and volatile energies of air and ether. Therefore, people whose vata dosha is dominant from birth are prone to suffer many more health problems than the other two dosha types. Restlessness, anxiety, poor digestion, fatigue, aches, and pains — a disturbed vata can produce a plethora of symptoms.
On the other hand, this knowledge poses the danger of misdiagnosis. Let’s say you have stiff joints. While excess vata can indeed cause joint stiffness, it is kapha that is responsible for joint lubrication — and your condition could mean that your kapha dosha is weak. Now, if you jumped to the conclusion that your problem is vata related, some of your vata-balancing measures could actually worsen the kapha disorder, making those joints even stiffer.
There’s more. Often, two doshas will go out of control at the same time or close upon each other’s heels. If you are unable to sleep because you are deeply angry with someone, both your vata and your pitta are not in equilibrium. And a disease like asthma takes root when all three doshas are out of balance.
In Western medicine, you are as healthy as your last clinical exam. That is, as long as your cholesterol levels and blood pressure are normal, your X ray is clear, and your heartbeat is regular, you are considered to be in good health. The standard checkup does not measure or assess the quality of your mental and emotional health. That is why the exam is called a “physical” — and, of course, there is no such thing as an annual “mental.”
But because Ayurveda is equally concerned with the health of body and mind, its healers have studied the dosha-mind connection in great detail.
Take depression. First of all, the triggers of depression in all three dosha types are very different. Secondly, each dosha type experiences depression differently. Vatas tend to get depressed as a result of excess strain, fear, shock, grief, or addiction. Pittas are likely to suffer depression when they drive themselves too hard, harbor resentment or anger toward someone, expect too much from others and fail to get it, or become fussy perfectionists. Kaphas, who are normally calm and unruffled, can go into deep depression if their relationships are not fulfilling enough. Kapha is by nature possessive, and can become clingy and dependent if unbalanced. Also, kapha cannot easily accept change, so major changes in people and things make a kapha type of person feel forlorn and pessimistic.
As you can see, taming the doshas by trying to tabulate their whims is not a great idea. They are too complex for that. But at the same time, the whole idea in Ayurveda is to help oneself. So what does one do?
Plenty! There are three things you can do — and understand — at this point:
1. Go to a vaidya who, through training in pulse diagnosis, will make an accurate assessment of your dosha type and your imbalances. Keeping all the varied factors in mind — your personality, the environment, the seasons — the vaidya will give you the gist of his findings. This will not only point out the specific areas that need attention, but will also give you practical solutions to get your systems back into harmony.
2. Call upon your invaluable intuitive powers to guide you toward balance. It’s easy; nature is helping you do it anyway. When it is cold, you switch on the heater. If it is summer, you feel more thirsty and drink more liquids. All you have to do is obey nature more often. If you are hungry, put work on hold and eat. If you are stressed, don’t get angry — get refreshed.
3. There is such a thing as a single recipe for perfect balance without worrying about the intricacies. What’s more, it is something you will love doing. Whatever the circumstances or season, you can please all your doshas by doing just one simple thing: follow a nature-friendly routine.
What is a “nature-friendly” routine? It’s a routine that imitates both nature’s daily rhythm and its seasonal rhythm: day-night, spring-summer-fall-winter, birth-and-death. The ancient sages who studied Ayurveda saw in that rhythm something more than a pattern; they found in it the key to human happiness.
We shall unlock the best of those happy secrets in the next chapter.