How Knowing My Dosha Bodytype Has Helped My Life

About a year ago I started working wpitith an Ayurvedic Practitioner.  As I was training in Ayurveda myself, I wanted the practical experience of seeing what it was like to be treated Ayurvedically.  I also had some mild yet annoying symptoms that I thought were connected with food but was unsure of the exact nature of the problem and how to proceed.  In knowing my Prakriti Dosha or Constitutional Bodytype I was able to understand my symptoms in terms of my unique needs of my body system.  And from that understanding, I learned how to make changes in my diet and my life to not only ease the symptoms but to correct the underlying imbalance.

I admit that I am a person that likes to see the big picture.  I don’t just want something to work, I need to know why it works.  I think this understanding then helps me carry out the self-care action more effectively.  Because if I understand why something works, I am more likely to do it!

By learning what my constitutional nature is, so many pieces of my behavior and habits made sense in a whole new way.  Knowing my nature allowed me to quit fighting some of my inherent tendencies and instead focus on making those tendencies balanced.  Let me give you an example.

There are three Doshas or life-forces – Vata, Pitta, Kapha- and a person can be dominant in one, have two in close balance, or even be balanced among all three though this is less common.  Each life force has certain physical and mental characteristics.  I am what is called in Ayurveda a Pitta-Kapha.  Pitta is dominated by the fire element and has a lot to do with digestion not only of food but also of ideas.  As a result, Pittas tend to be good analyzers and processors as well as goal oriented.  That sums up a large part of my nature and is a part of myself I value.  But that fire energy that allows me to get so much done can also burn me out if unbalanced.  Knowing that this is a strong part of who I am, I can work with my fire energy and at the same time make sure I am allowing cooling down and quiet time so that I don’t over-do and wipe myself out.

My Kapha nature shows up more in my physical body.  In my case, I created an excess of this energy through my eating patterns over a period of some twenty plus years.  Because not only do our bodies have these life-forces but so do foods and even climates and weather.  For me, the beginning of an imbalance began when I became a vegetarian and started to eat more and more carbohydrates, specifically wheat oriented carbohydrates like pastas, crackers, and breads.  I also had a strong sweet tooth and ate baked goods which combined wheat, dairy and sugar all of which are Kaphic in energy. 

Over the course of many years I unconsciously filled my body with an excess of Kapha which led to symptomssuch as mucous in my sinuses and throat, a heaviness in my body which sometimes permeated over into my life, off and on high levels of fatigue, and bloating.   All of these are signs, I later learned, of excess Kapha.  At the time, I attributed the issue to a sensitivity to dairy.  While this was partly correct, I was only seeing a small piece of the picture and thus my attempts to reduce my symptoms by not eating dairy didn’t solve my problem.

Once I learned about the Doshas and identified my bodytype,I was able to see the whole big picture of how my eating habits had led to my symptoms and by reducing the foods which had more Kapha in them for a period of time, I have been able to get rid of the symptoms and rarely have issues unless I eat too much of certain foods.  No longer am I a helpless victim wondering why I have symptoms.  Now I am empowered to do what the causative factors are in my symptoms AND I know how to make better choices for myself!

And the real silver lining in all of this for meis that as I have eaten more for my bodytype, I no longer have food cravings – specifically sugar cravings.  Those foods which I initially struggled to stop eating because I knew they weren’t healthy for me and had in fact led to my current imbalance, I simply no longer desire.  No, this doesn’t mean I never eat wheat, dairy or sugar because I do.  But I am quite content with small amounts infrequently.  And it’s easy to not eat them – there is no effort.  And I like this effortless aspect in life!

Knowing more about myself and my needs helped me make conscious choices at a whole new level.  And those daily choices in alignment with my core, create a healthy, happy me.

Kapha Reducing Diet As A Gateway to Expand My Focus

I had my first Ayurvedic consultation this week.  I had a couple physical symptoms like excess mucous and erratic energy levels I wanted to explore, plus I wanted to weed out the root of my old eating disorder mental patterning. Although I stopped the excessive eating behavior many years ago, I felt like there was a mental strand that still remained sucking up energy and creating distractions.  And since I’m studying Ayurveda myself, I wanted to experience a treatment.

From my training, I knew that my physical symptoms were connected with having too much Kapha energy.  In Ayuveda, there are three constitutions or body types: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.  These energies exist in everything in life  - food, seasons, ourselves.  And while people have all three of these energies, there is usually one or two that are  dominant.  I am a Pitta-Kapha meaning I have the most Pitta energy followed close behind by Kapha.  That is my constitutional type.  However, I can get thrown off balance in any one of the three energies through external factors such as seasonal changes, activities I do, and especially through the foods I eat.  

The tastes associated with Kaphic foods are sweet, salty and sour.  And our American diet is full of these foods.  Part of my treatment was to do a Kapha Reducing Diet.  The aim is simple.  Avoid foods with the sweet, salty and sour Kaphic qualities and favor foods that have more astringent, pungent and bitter flavors.  I also am to do head and feet massages with a specific type of oil, take specially mixed herbs, burn sandlewood, and use a special mantra (sound) when my mind starts to slip into the space of it’s old mental patterning.

Initially I went right to the “to avoid” side on my list of foods and started to tap into the lack of all I needed to cut.  I was pleasantly surprised to feel less impacted by needing to have no wheat and dairy which I had once dreaded doing without.  My bigger hits came from needing to cull nuts, avocados, watermelon, cucumber, sweet potatoes and zucchini.  No, these foods aren’t inherently bad.  I’m just reducing them for a short period to bring back balance.  But still, doing without, especially the nuts and avocado felt like a blow.

Once I got over my initial resistance I was able to see how easy it can be to get locked into certain patterns…eating, thinking, attachment.  But that the focus could also be shifted.  Yes, there are things I will be eating less of for awhile, but there is also a whole lists of foods I can enjoy and explore deeper.   I also affirmed that for myself food is more than just nutrition.  It is a sensual experience and does have social and emotional components that are important.  There are times I need my food to nourish more than just my body.  And that’s OK.  But I can expand my definition of what those “comfort foods” are.  My comfort or treat foods used to always be heavy on the wheat, sugar and/or dairy.  Over time I still enjoyed some of those foods but in smaller amounts but also added in nuts and avocados.  I am now discovering the joy of millet baked with blueberries and strawberries with a dash of honey and cinnamon as a comfort food.

Instead of focusing on my lack, I have covered up the “avoid foods” and have highlighted the foods to favor.  I have stepped into the space of curious explorer to see what new taste sensations I can discover.  And I am finding the fast foods that work in a pinch (couscous with refried beans and nutritional yeast; 3 seed corn chips; frozen grapes).  It’s great to explore but that can take time so it’s really helpful to have some quick and satisfying recipes at my fingertips.

And this process has made me aware again of how much of life comes down to focus and attitude.  Yes, our thoughts and beliefs really do make all the difference.  But if my unfocused or unhealthily focused thoughts can bring me out of balance, then shifting them can help bring me back.  Which is why in Ayurvedic medicine most illness or imbalance is thought to be mental at the core root.