A Dabble in Ayurveda, The Dosha’s & TCM
Ayurveda is a 10,000 year old ancient system of medicine that originated in India. It focuses on creating harmony and balance within the body, as well as the mind AND spirit.
Ayur literally means “meaning of life” and longevity. While Veda, means knowledge and Science. Put it all together and there you have it.
Not having any desire for consuming a lot of spice myself, I was never originally excited about exploring the facets of Ayurveda, BUT the details involving our senses actually makes this a rather interesting concept.
There are 6 tastes in Ayurveda. Sweet, sour, astringent, bitter, pungent and salty. Each carries healing properties that can be used to combat imbalance in the body.
This concept of taste actually carries properties that can be used in part with healing, in the form of herbs and spices. Like traditional Chinese Medicine that has also been around for thousands of years, it views the human body with similar lenses.
The 2 common reasons why our organs and bodies become diseased or out of balance includes moisture, and heat. Now that is a whole other blog, but bear with me as the connection is flawless.
The reason why herbs and spices carry such medicinal qualities is because they have the ability to warm, nourish, cool and calm the body. So naturally, we have an issue and a solution. When you are out of balance and let's say, you carry a lot of dampness… the solution here with spice would be to heat the body because heat will dry. This can be diagnosed through tongue assessment as the tongue is the map of the body and carries many clues about how your body may be working. When you do carry too much dampness in the body, you may experience issues with yeast, poor digestive fire, dysmenorrhea, and other endocrine conditions.
The fascinating concepts in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) can overlap with Ayurveda. When someone sees a TCM practitioner for “dampness” they would treat that through diet and herbs along with acupuncture to balance the body. CHI energy, also called life force energy, can easily get depleted through weakness of the kidneys and too much damp in the body as well.
As we learn about our Health and how to improve and maintain a healthy lifestyle .. there are some concepts that they do not align with the typical “healthy” North American diet… Such as cold drinks, raw food and smoothies. If you carry dampness in your body, it is said to believe you will feed the damp condition, therefore making the issue worse.
There just might be something to this long standing health perspective.. do you eat a lot of salads, smoothies or other things in the name of health but still suffer from issues?
The first time I saw a TCM practitioner she said.. “NO RAW”.. “NO COLD “DRINKS”.. along with Acupuncture, her teachings actually stayed with me as she pulled me out of a lot of unhealthy symptoms I battled with, and I will forever be thankful for her knowledge.
Ayurveda and TCM are very seasonal in their diets and a big part of their medicinal philosophies. Ayurveda practices are based on the foundation of the 5 primal elements that are considered the building blocks of the universe, all of life, and the WHOLE human. The 5 elements are Earth, water, fire, air, space or ether… As someone who practices Astrology, it is very interesting to engage with a new kind of element, yet it makes so much sense.
Our tendency to accumulate different elements results in what is called Dosha’s.
Each being tied to a pair of elements with its functions and properties, your Dosha would be the element you most accumulate, giving you characteristics of 1 of the following 3:
· Vata - Dosha of Air and Space Elements
· Pitta - Dosha of the Fire and Water Elements
· Kapha - Dosha of Water and Earth Elements
Your Dosha is relevant as we each accumulate a dominant Dosha, which is responsible for our imbalances as we become deprived of the other 2.
When I first took a quiz in my course to learn what my dominant Dosha was, I was intrigued to understand why my body sort of, works like it does. We all have different body types. We have all seen the common representation of the pear vs apple shape vs hourglass. BUT the difference here is it's not just about where you may carry weight in your body and how it works, it’s the overall being, including the mind.
In Ayurveda, we naturally renew elements in ourselves every day. We drink water and then use that to sweat or urinate. We breath in air to use it and then breath it out. We are constantly in a cycle of bringing new elements into our bodies, while at the same time releasing old elements. When the cycle is unbalanced, so becomes our body, which can lead to disease.
Factors that influence your doshas include your age, environment, the seasons, and your diet. The elements are also associated with your chakras and can be impacted the same way. Energy systems become disrupted, as a result of being human, and this unconscious disruption can impact our energetic flow which again can also lead to health issues.
This brings me to what I know and believe in when it comes to living our healthiest life and how to navigate illness in a world where we are being sold to only treat the symptoms. We are energetic beings. Our body communicates to our thoughts and everything we do, think, eat and feel. Optimal health is very much multi-faceted..
VATA DOSHA Highlights.
A Vata person will have long limbs, fingers and toes. They carry a very active mind and have a harder time gaining weight. Their skin and hair tend to be rough and lack moisture. They tend to run cold and dislike cold temperatures. They tend to have dry gums and eyes; their eyes appear small and are usually lighter in colour.
Vata doshas snack more and like to multitask and are prone to food allergies.
Vata Symptoms Include:
Migraines
Eye problems
Anxiety
Constipation
Dehydration
Easily distracted
PITTA DOSHA Highlights
Pitta types are hot, sharp, mobile oily, medium sized with defined muscle tone. Their skin is warm and soft. Their colouring is fair, blond, red, light brown with brighter eyes like green and blue.
Pitta people have good teeth and like to eat regularly, at set times. They prefer a variety of foods and are able to focus on their meals. They have tendencies to get hangry and are often thirsty. They are busy, ambitious people with high energy.
Pitta Symptoms Include:
Loose bowels
Stomach problems
Inflammation
Burnout
Skin conditions
KAPHA DOSHA Highlights
With the primary element of water, the animal characteristics is the elephant. They have a large muscular frame and heavier body weight. The skin is oilier and thicker and will feel cool. Their skin is paler, and their hair is dark and wavy. They are prone to hair thinning.
They have strong teeth and gums and large dark eyes. Kapha people enjoy their food and eat anything. They rarely have food allergies and food habits include slow steady eating. They are easy going and precise.
Kapha Symptoms Include:
Dehydration
Slower digestions
Excess mucus
Fatigue
Sore throat
Now I think it's worth doing an actual test to determine your dosha before assuming. When I did my course, I did a solid questionnaire from my instructor that scored highest with kapha. Kapha is a winter element.. its slow and cold. To pull in more balance from other doshas it would require doing practices similar to the workings of the other doshas. Kaphas need to put great effort into being more active like a pitta, and less appetite like Vata to pull out of the slow kapha energy. Pitta dominant people would require more kapha energy to slow them down and create more harmony and balance internally. A lot of people think they thrive off keeping busy, but their body often craves for them to slow down. That slower pace comes from the kapha dosha.
Life energy, or PRANA in Ayurveda, changes through the day and even seasons.
It contains 3 parts that also have a relationship with the doshas:
Soma - Essence of Earth and water - Kapha
Agni - Essence of fire and little water - Pitta
Marut - Essence of air and ether - Vata
Additionally, there are 72 thousand identified channels of Prana circulating around and through the body called Nadia. They essentially bathe the entire body in a constantly renewal of Prana to keep it fresh and vital.
Nature is always communicating with us by offering the energy of the elements at a particular time of day. Similar to Chinese medicine and Chi (life force energy), certain foods at certain times is said to support these elements in our bodies. This is also referred to as the doshic clock.
Once you learn your dominant dosha you can see how it relates to any health concerns in your life. I know first-hand, when trying to live a healthy lifestyle it can be easy to fall off track, become stressful and take a long time to see results. We are just not programmed the same way and interestingly enough. This perspective shows us that high impact work outs or strict dieting can actually throw you off balance. Which makes sense… If adrenals and nervous systems are already stressed and we add in physical stress, it doesn’t align with the balance we require, thus causing more harm than good. Moving our body is crucial for good cardiovascular health, lymphatic movement and mental clarity to say the least. But we are not one size fits all, humans. Our needs have a deep individual quality that can naturally change with age, lifestyle and even the seasons.
When we start to see our bodies for how they work individually and not how we think they should work, it gives us a deeper sense of insight as too what our needs actually are.
In closing, finding out what your prominent Dosha is and seeing how that relates to your life may surprise you as you learn how in tune, or not, you are with your body type. After all, life is all about ..BALANCE.
If learning about your dosha is of interest to you.. please let me know and we can incorporate it into your holistic health consult!
Our bodies crave what the elements are giving us. So next cold day, make yourself a warm herbal tea or nourishing soup. Tune into how your body feels after nourishing it based on the weather. Meditate on how your body feels when you feel your best. What do you do? what do you eat?
Nourishing your body will always nourish your soul and create the inner balance, that will thank you.