Do you know your Dosha type?
Ayurveda is one of the world’s oldest forms of holistic medicine and still widely used today. Combining physical, psychological, and spiritual health, Ayurveda focuses on whole-body healing and states that a person’s dosha, a type of bodily humor, determines their personality and health. Though Ayurveda translates to “the science of life”, proponents of Ayurveda claim that adopting dosha-specific health practices leads to balance and well-being.1 (Davidson)
Firstly, What Is a Dosha?
In Ayurvedic medicine) each of three energies is believed to circulate in the body and govern physiological activity, their differing proportions determining individual temperament and physical constitution and (when unbalanced) causing a disposition to particular physical and mental disorders.
Let's start at the beginning.
There are three doshas in Ayurveda—vata, pitta, and kapha. You have a unique combination of these three doshas that stays constant throughout your life and serves as a sort of blueprint for your health. Learning your unique dosha combination and understanding your constitution can reveal your natural inherent strengths, and illuminate your greatest challenges.
Want to find out what Dosha Type you are?
It’s simple and easy, you can do this short quiz here.
Why do I need to know what my Dosha type is?
By knowing yourself through your doshas, it can provide clues for what herbs & foods to eat and what things you can address when your energy gets out of whack. The more you know about what may cause certain reactions or tendencies to external factors, the easier it will be to balance them. 2 (“Dosha Quiz | Discover Your Ayurvedic Body Type”)
How can I manage my Dosha balance effectively in a busy world?
Simple breathing techniques are a great way to effectively manage your Dosha. Out of all the systems in the body, the breathing system is the one we can easily take control of and see immediate results in our mind-body state. Three main breathing techniques known as Pranayama techniques you can use are:
Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing) — This is a practice that helps balance and grounds the nervous system for excess Vata. A super efficient tool that can transform one's state from fear to ease.
Sitali (Cooling Breath) — This practice cools and calms the excess Pitta. Sitali Breath is great anytime you find yourself heated-up, wound-up or with a little acidity and indigestion.
Bhastrika (Bellows Breath) — This practice helps to stimulate, warm, and lift the excess Kapha. Bhastrika helps increase the graceful flow of vitality through the body's energy channels (Nadis).
It also helps to remove excess congestion in the lungs and brighten the mind.
To read more about each of these Pranayama (breathwork) techniques please read these articles here.
References:
Davidson, Katey. “What Are the Ayurveda Doshas? Vata, Kapha, and Pitta Explained.” Healthline, 5 August 2020, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vata-dosha-pitta-dosha-kapha-dosha. Accessed 14 February 2023.
“Dosha Quiz | Discover Your Ayurvedic Body Type.” Banyan Botanicals, https://www.banyanbotanicals.com/info/dosha-quiz/. Accessed 14 February 2023.