Healthy Steps Towards Balancing the Doshas in Ayurveda

Balance has always been the answer to living a successful life. It is important to have everything in the right proportion. Any sort of excess or scarcity can prove to be dangerous. The same goes with our doshas, which, if not present in the right balance, can cause serious health problems, both temporary and permanent.

The three doshas – Vata, Pitta and Kapha – have a natural balance in the body, usually with one dosha being the dominating one. The dominating dosha reveals the traits and composition of your body and your mind. When this natural balance gets disturbed, so do your body and your mind. Therefore, it is a must to keep a check on your dosha balance, to remain healthy both physically and mentally.

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What are the Steps for Balancing the Doshas?

To balance the doshas, you must eat right. By right, we mean according to your dosha and its characteristics. Every body and mind is different, and therefore, it has different requirements. It has different strengths and weaknesses, and to increase the strength and overcome the weaknesses of your dosha, the answer is simple: You need to feed and treat your body, mind, and dosha with the appropriate things.

It is important to acknowledge your dosha. Which dosha dominates you and reflects your body and mind? Each dosha – Vata, Pitta and Kapha – have different characteristics and react differently to various food items and lifestyles. You should be able to understand what works for your dosha, according to its characteristics, strengths and weaknesses.

Balancing the Vata Dosha

The Vata dosha, where the air and ether elements are found, is considered to be the most important dosha amongst the three, as it governs all the movements in the body and mind, from blood flow, elimination of wastes, control of thoughts, to even breathing! Because of this, a balanced Vata leads to proper eliminations, good sleep, and as a result, beautiful skin. These are the dominated qualities of people under this dosha (and well balanced). They are also light-built, sensitive, creative and energetic, and warm. Warm, humid weather suits them the best.

To balance the Vata, you should eat warm, oily, cooked and heavy food and reduce the consumption of light, cold and raw food. You could favor tastes like sweet, sour and salty and avoid too much bitter, astringent and pungent tasting food. You can also drink additional Vata products like Vata tea.

Other lifestyle choices you can make is to use Vata aroma oils on the body and in at home, sleep early, take enough rest, have a regular routine that you follow daily, regular and daily elimination, and avoid any stimulants such as drugs (medical or non-medical) and alcohol. Whenever you have a choice, keep yourself in warm environments, even if it’s cold and windy outside.

Balancing the Pitta Dosha

This dosha possesses the fire and water elements, and therefore is the regulator of all heat, metabolism and transformation that occur in the body and mind. It controls food digestion, adjusts our sensory perceptions, helps making decisions between what’s right and wrong – it helps regulate the digestive agnis of the body! Pitta-dominated beings are very efficient and hard working. Keeping a well balanced Pitta leads to a balanced state of mind and healthy hair, but when the dosha is imbalanced it has the extreme contrary effect.

To balance the Pitta dosha, you must consume what pushes the effect if its positive traits. Eat cool, dry and heavy food that favors the sweet, bitter and astringent tastes, while reducing salty, sour or pungent tastes and light, warm and oily food. Eat your meals at regular intervals and timings, and never skip or delay lunch! Drinking Pitta tea and adding Pitta ingredients in food also helps.

Living in cold climates suits this body and mind the most, so keep your room cool. Just like hot food, avoid hot temperatures, like going out in the sun. Fans and air conditions actually help you more than you know. Besides that, massage cooling Pitta aromatherapy oil, or other cooling oils such as coconut. Moderation is a keyword for you, so do not strain your body and mind, and make time for some leisure activities (mind food).

Balancing the Kapha Dosha

The Kapha-dominated dosha represents water and earth. Therefore, if you possess this dosha as your dominant one, you are usually stable, reliable, easy, friendly. This dosha controls structure and lubrication that our body and mind possesses, from weight, growth and formation of tissues, nutritive fluids, to the lubrication of joints and lungs. Having a sturdy and heavy built has its strengths, but also has downfalls. Such people are prone to obesity, asthma and other respiratory problems, as well as mental states such as depression, due to their body and mind constitution. Therefore, it is important that they get what they require. Balanced Kapha beings have a correct body weight, no congestion issues, and thus more energy.

To balance the Kapha, you must eat accordingly. Have a rich diet of fresh vegetables, legumes and fruits, preferably those with bitter, pungent or astringent tastes and of dry, warm and light nature. Reduce intake of heavy, cold and oily food with sweetness, sourness and saltiness. In addition, indulge in Kapha teas and Kapha supplements in your meals for maximum results.

To further trigger the balance of Kapha, keep a check on your sleep timings. Sleep early and rise early. This dosha requires daily exercise that needs to be vigorous and effective, thanks to its traits. Warm and dry weather suits you the most, as catching cold quickly and regularly is another weakness of Kapha dosha, so keep yourself away from cold and damp environments. Don’t forget to experience new things to keep your boy and mind active.

There are so many things you need to keep in mind and can use to balance doshas. For all three doshas, a balanced diet along with a balanced lifestyle is vital! Daily exercise, peaceful surroundings, and stress-free regime are among the most important, and are applicable to all three doshas.