Doshas

A few years ago, a friend of mine started talking about "the doshas."  It sounded a bit like a personality test you'd find in a magazine... so naturally I was into it.  :)

Your dosha, or mind-body composition, is determined when you're conceived.  It's your unique mixture of the five elements (ether, air, fire, water, earth).  Everyone has a different ratio of these elements in their composition.  The three doshas are:

Vata (air and ether), the energy of movement

Pitta (fire and water), the energy of transformation

Kapha (water and earth), the energy of construction

Your dosha will be a unique ratio of all three of these.  Usually with one or two as the leading dosha.
For example, I am a pitta-vata.  That doesn't mean that I don't have kapha, it just means that pitta and vata are more prevalent.

Your natural state is called your Prakruti.  However, environment, diet, stress, habits (i.e. LIFE) can cause us to go out of balance and enter a state of dis-ease.  These periods of imbalance are your Vikruti.  Luckily, knowing your dosha can help bring you back into a state of ease and balance quickly.

If you'd like to know more about your dosha, you can take a quick test at Banyan Botanicals, HeyMonicaB, or the Chopra Center.  These are all great resources to learn more about the doshas in general, and how you can return to your Prakruti.

What I love most about ayurveda and the doshas is that everyone is unique.  Modern health and nutrition advice is often very generalized.  They make broad statements and apply is to everyone.  But the doshas tell us that what is good for one may not be good for another.  A cold salad might be just what a pitta needs on a hot summer afternoon, but it will probably give a Vata gas and bloating.  There's a one-size-fits-all attitude in nutrition these days that really bothers me.  Ayurveda sees the individuality of health and wellness.  I like that.

There is a wonderful introduction to Ayurveda on the Bodhi Yoga website as well.  It's a short video where Syl Carson, founder of Bodhi Yoga, talks about the doshas and why they're important.