Atman or Brahman is GOD, the All, the Essence, the Eternal. Through Maya (the cosmic illusion) the Atman creates the 5 elements in which Jiva (the individual realm – human, animal, vegetal) and Prana (vital energy) are born and the dream start to become real.
Every individual is made of 5 elements (Ether, Air, Fire, Water, Earth) and when we refer to Doshas it’s better if we think about the elements that compose them
VATA (Ether – Air)
PITTA (Fire – Water)
KAPHA (Water – Earth)
Every human has this 3 qualities inside the body, but each body type has its own predominant element.
VATA Dosha:
Slender, small and dry. Vata people have difficulty in trust, weak will and little rooted in the world. His behaviour is cunning and loving. Often the Vata is afraid of dark, loneliness, great heights and close spaces. They are creative, mentally flexible and have a great immagination. It’s mandatory for Vata follow a structured daily routine.
Hot dishes, well coocked and hearty are very good for this kind of dosha. They should drink hot drinks (tea) every day because it calms the dosha and makes the mind clear, mostly in a stress situation. They must avoid ice and cold dishes especially in winter season.
A totally vegan diet is not recommended to Vata Dohas, they should eat eggs and milk sometimes. Try to avoid chilly spices, raw onion, garlic, apples and dry fruits.
They have feet and hands cold so they have to wear warm clothes.
The Vata people are very active, they cannot sit quitly for a long period of time. Too much physical and mental activity should be avoided because the air in the individual is overstimulated, therefore it may cause unbalance within like anxiety, nervousness, sleep disturbances, solitude, mood swings and constipation.
They love to travel around the world from city to city, they get bored very easily staying in the same place.
If a Vata individual stays warm, calm in stress situations, avoids raw and cold food as like as cold temperatures, keeps his own daily routine, eats warm food and practices yoga and meditation, the individual will stay always in balance.
PITTA Dosha:
The Pitta individual is noted by his performances, ambition, intelligence, productivity, creativity, enthusiasm and a lot of energy. Those people with unbalanced Pitta are perfectionists, always angry, intolerant and irritable.
They have a nice physique with good muscles, blonde or red hairs, freckles and bithmarks, green/grey eyes. They sweat a lot in the extremities.
These individuals have to pay attention how they behave because they can be offensive, they are prone to anger, intimidating, competitive, workaholic. Indeed, Pitta should try to carve out some time for create and meet friends. Pitta loves to stay in open spaces, instead Vata and Kapha love summer, Pitta loves cold places more. It’s important to avoid hot food. Pitta is the only dosha able to digest raw food, but it should eat them with moderation. They prefer cold aliments
like grape, mango, cucumber, coconut, watermelon, … Other then hot foods, also chilly, salty and acids foods are not indicated for this constitution.
Pitta loves to practice sport: running, hiking, swimming, cycling and other outdoor activities.
This individuals love to read before go to bed, they sleep deeply and are rarely awakened by noise. Order is very important to them, everything must be in place. They prefer prestigious jobs, a lot of them are doctors, lawyers, judges, politicians and engineers.
KAPHA Dosha:
Kapha people have a lot of resistence, they are very lovely, welcoming, peaceful, patients, calm, tolerant, compassionate and willing to forgive. In general their health conditions are very good. Very often they are monotonous during conversations, they eat slow and take a long time to make a decision. When Kapha is hurt emotionally, it is ready to forgive but not to forget, their long term memory is really excellent.
They have a relaxed approach to life and they expect everything to go right. Their body is well developed, strong muscles and heavy bones.
They fascinate with their smile and their dark and big eyes. They envision peace and stability. Their hairs are voluminous, thick, wavy and dark. Kapha people love deep and slow draining massages. They gain weight easily and often loose it with difficulty, if they skip a meal is not a big problem, if Pitta misses a meal he has trouble concentrating. They love sweet, salty and oily even if by eating them they gain weight easily. A light diet, with bitter taste, sour and chilly is for sure the best for Kapha. A vegan diet is perfect, even if the fruit should be eaten carefully.
These individuals find difficult waking up in the morning and love to sleep during the day, but they shouldn’t follow this impulse because sleep during the daylight increase Kapha. Their sleep is very long and they should sleep 7 hours only and wake up before 6am.
Kapha doesn’t love fitness to much, they prefer walking, swimming or go to the gym. They are good at making money and keeping them. As the full moon comes, Kapha intensifies. The winter season is consider the hardest for Kapha: heavy wheather, wet, cold. If Kapha is unbalanced, he tends to become sluggish, overweight and they can suffer from headaches. They become greedy, jealous, possessive, sluggish and in the worst cases fall in depression.
DOSHAS medical history
To analyze and identify the doshas in a individual we use our Indriyas (senses) from different levels.
- By appearance (sight) “roopa”: how the individual looks like (constitution)
- By palpation (touch) “sparsha”: what’s the Prakruti and Vikruti in the organism
- By voice (hearing) “shabda”: what’s the tone of voice (high, medium, low),
- By odor (smelling) “gandha”: we can identify the kind of individual by smell his own odor
* Sighting is associated to FIRE
* Touching is associated to AIR
* Hearing is associated to ETHER
* Smelling is associated to EARTH
* Tasting is associated to WATER
Different elements seats in the body
- Either (the space in every part; skull, mouth, ears)
- Air (bones, small instestine, large intestine, skin)
- Fire (stomach, liver, duodenum, eyes)
- Water (blood, lymph, other liquids)
- Earth (muscles, fat, joints)
Doshas & Gunas
Along with Doshas, the Gunas are the subtle elements of Doshas: “the Doshas of the mind”. They consitute the foundations of the ayurveda psychology.
They are divided in 3 parts: Sattva (out of activity), Rajas (activity +), Tamas (no activity – ).
In Sattva prevails the pure state, the association with God state, harmony, tranquillity, intelligence, peace, humility and intuition.
This habits reinforce Sattva: daily meditation, awareness, generosity, no violence, sincerity, control of senses and pleasure, body cleansing.
In Rajas prevailes the attachment of what is desiderable and indesiderable, passion, greed, angry, revenge; in Tamas prevailes inertia, lazyness, hate. Rajas is also the main force to reach goals.
This habits reinforce Rajas: continuous work, not regeneration, competition, constant comparison, thinking of material only, stimulant abuse.
In Tamas prevailes lazyness, obtuseness, inner resistance and ignorance. This Guna inhibits intelligence and reduces the human spiritual power, contrarily, a primitiv behaviour dominates.
To reach a Sattvic lifestyle is needed to focusing on your objects through Rajas.
- Maximize SATTVA
- Restrained RAJAS
- Minimise TAMAS
According to Ayurveda, we can identify the Gunas in an individual by watching his behaviour and asking more deep questions about his/her lifestyle.
