 |
|
The 3 Doshas – Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, govern not only our own constitution, but everything else in the cosmos as well. So as per Ayurveda instead of winter, spring, summer, and fall, the year breaks into Vata season, which goes from late fall into early winter; Kapha season, from the coldest part of winter into spring; and Pitta season, which includes the hottest, longest days of the year—from late spring into early fall. |
|
Vata Season Leaf-scuttling winds mark the start of the Vata season, which Ayurveda characterizes as light, dry, rough, hard, mobile, irregular, cool, the very qualities we associate with late fall and early winter. The weather turns cold, winds blow, and the earth becomes dry, hard, rough maybe even a bit icy. Vata is the queen of change, so you’ll need to watch out for dry skin, irregular digestion, and the frenetic, unpredictable energy, which can easily leave you depleted, overwhelmed, and distracted by all the excitement. Here’s what you can do: Stay away from raw, cold foods. Take extra care to keep your internal fire (agni) kindled. Eat warm, moist foods—think stews, soups, and root veggies—and save the salads and cold snacks for summer. Warm up with hot drinks. Cozy up to a warm fire or snuggle up with a good book, a cup of chai or hot tea, and a warm blanket. Warm milk laced with ghee and honey is a perfect nighttime elixir. Stick to a routine. Make sure you schedule some alone time, restorative yoga, and meditation practices. Other daily ayurvedic practices (dinacharya)—including abyhanga, oiling the body with warming sesame oil—will help you stay steady and feel comforted. |
|
Kapha Season Kapha season extends from frigid winter days, when the ground freezes solid, to mud-luscious early spring, when the snow melts, the sap rises, and the first tentative shoots break through the ground. These conditions disturb Kapha Dosha’s heavy, dense, wet, gooey, stable, cool qualities. To pacify Kapha during the early part of this season: Switch up your diet. Turn to foods that are lighter, drier, pungent, and warming. As soon as they’re available, eat the first bounty of the season, like sprouts, berries, dandelion and other spring greens, which naturally support this time of cleansing and stick to three meals a day to avoid overindulging. Get moving. Do things that get you up and out of the house early. Get up before Kapha time (6 a.m. to 10 a.m.), and do some exercise like bike riding, walking, or other light aerobic activity before 10 a.m. This schedule will help you fend off seasonal weight gain. Commit to a routine. Daily use of your tongue scraper, neti pot, and nasya oil will help with seasonal allergies and keep Kapha from building. |
|
Pitta Season Nature builds heat all through Pitta season until, at the start of autumn, the leaves on the trees turn bright orange, yellow, and red as if they were living flames on each branch. These leaves are lighter in nature, only slightly moist, intense, hot, sharp, and focused on their goal of transformation, just like Pitta Dosha. We can enjoy the passion of the season without burning up by following this advice: Cool down. A daily sip or two of aloe vera juice will douse your internal heat. Summer’s bounty offers plenty of ways to keep cool, like cucumbers, mint, summer squash, zucchini, coconut juice, and mangoes. Avoid the heat of the day. Staying out of the sun during Pitta time (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) helps keep your mental and emotional energy from overheating. |
|
Seasonal Detox Did you know that your energy may be more easily disturbed during the weeks between the seasons? Consider doing a gentle detox to remove the buildup of elements from one season before moving into the next. |
| Disclaimer: All the information in this article has been researched from various sources as my personal study notes for future reference. |
Ayurveda Part 3/5 – Seasons
Ayurveda Part 2/5 – Diet
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Ayurveda has a unique approach to break down tastes scientifically. Each taste has its own therapeutic effects and changing impact on the body, from taste to entering the body to being absorbed. The six tastes or Rasas as per Ayurvedic diet are Sweet, Salty, Sour, Pungent, Astringent and Bitter. For a balanced diet, Ayurveda recommends getting all of these flavors in every meal and adjust the amounts of each to your personal constitution. Apart from feeling satisfied, this practice also ensures that all major food groups and nutrients are present in every meal. These tastes originate from the basic five elements as shown in the following table: |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Here are the effects of each of the tastes on body and mind along with their common sources: |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Vata Diet Warm, cooked, moist (oil and ghee) and nourishing meals. Avoid light, cold and rough foods. Need to eat 3-4 times a day. Snacking in between meals is fine. They have delicate digestion so anything that needs overnight soaking is bad for them. Eat root vegetables because they are grounded, it brings structure and stability. Melons, dry roasted nuts, beans, canola oil, coffee, alcohol, cold drinks, peas, cauliflower, cabbage, corn, mushroom, potatoes, lettuce, cucumber are bad for them. Sweet, sour and salty food is better. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Pitta Diet Hot chillies will make them imbalanced. Need to eat cooling thinks like yogurt, coconut water, coriander, green foods. Amla, chyawanprash and flaxseed oil capsule are good. Should not snack in between meals, eat breakfast within an hour of waking up, can eat cold and raw food, should not overindulge on food. Eat less oil and bland diet. Avoid caffeine and alcohol. If feel flushed after alcohol, avoid it. Avoid hot food, fried food, hot drinks, pungent spices, fermented food, garlic, onion, tomatoes, vinegar, pickle, yogurt. Fast once in 2 weeks. Suck on elaichi or long after food. Sweet, bitter and astringent foods are good. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Kapha Diet Light foods, bread, wheat products, dairy is good. Spicy food will make the body more efficient. Need to eat bitter food. Need to eat detoxifying food like greens, brussels, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, super fibrous food. Need to stay away from sweet. Need to fast once a week. Pungent, bitter and astringent foods are better. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disclaimer: All the information in this article has been researched from various sources as my personal study notes for future reference. |
Ayurveda Part 1/5 – Doshas
|
|
Ayurveda is a personalized approach to health. Knowing your body type allows you to make optimal choices about diet, exercise, supplements, and all other aspects of your lifestyle. From Ayurveda perspective, the whole universe is an interplay of energies of the five basic elements – earth, water, fire, air and ether. |
|
Earth is solid, heavy, dense, and foundational. It is present in the body as bones, nails, teeth, and the physical sheath of our being. Water is liquid, flowing, and dissolving. It is present in the body as blood, water, lymph and the energy sheath, consisting of breath and energy. Fire is energy, heat transformation, metabolism, and creation. It is present in the body in the digestive system and in regulation of the body temperature as well as the mental-emotional sheath, which consists of thoughts, emotions, and obsessions. Air is oxygen, breath, motion, and lightness. It is present throughout the body’s respiration process, the movement of nerve impulses and the wisdom sheath. Ether is space, all-pervasiveness, omniscience, expansiveness, and emptiness. It is present in the body as the space between cells, and the bliss sheath, consisting of universal intelligence and our true, innermost nature. |
| Ayurveda groups the five elements into three basic types of functioning principles called the three Doshas. A person’s constitution is defined in terms of the inherent balance of these three Doshas. It is the interplay of these Doshas that is responsible for both body type and personality. To know a person’s constitution is to know their tendencies. If a person knows their tendencies they can take the actions that keep their tendencies in check. A person, who knows that they have a tendency to feel cold, easily avoids becoming too cold by wearing more clothing or drinking warm beverages. To know your constitutional tendencies is to be empowered with the knowledge needed to create balance in your life. |
| Every living creature has all three Doshas within them. We cannot exist without a certain amount of each. Kapha provides each of us with tissues, Pitta provides metabolic action and Vata allows us to move and express ourselves. Our constitution is best defined in terms of the percentage of each energy. So truly speaking there are an infinite number of combinations and permutations with no two people being exactly the same. |
|
Vata Dosha, governed by air and ether, is the kinetic energy of the body that controls bodily functions associated with motion, including blood circulation, breathing, blinking, and heartbeat. Pitta Dosha, governed by fire, is the thermal energy of the body that controls the body’s metabolic systems, including digestion, absorption, nutrition, and body temperature. Kapha Dosha, governed by water and earth, is the potential energy of the body that controls growth in the body. It supplies water to all body parts, moisturizes the skin, and maintains the immune system. |
|
Vata Predominant Types Attributes: Creative; Quick to learn and grasp new knowledge, but also quick to forget; Slender; Tall and fast-walker; Tendency towards cold hands and feet, discomfort in cold climates; Excitable, lively, fun personality; Changeable moods; Irregular daily routine; High energy in short bursts; Tendency to tire easily and to overexert; Tendency to act on impulse; Often have racing, disjointed thoughts; Generally have dry skin and dry hair and don’t perspire much; Talk and eat fast; Change their minds often; Restless. In balance: Full of joy and enthusiasm, very intuitive, very spiritual, full of creativity and vitality. Out of balance: Respond to stress with fear, worry, and anxiety. Feel lonely, ungrounded and get depressed easily. Care: Should do things that bring peace, like yoga and meditation. Sesame oil massages are very soothing. Use mindfulness. Sleep more. They need a lot of love, pampering and care. Typical physical problems: Body aches, arthritis, nervous system gets affected Exercise: Need to reduce physical activities. Aroma: Vata aroma is vanilla, warm, sweet and heavy, any floral. |
|
Pitta Predominant Types Attributes: Medium physique, strong, well-built; Sharp mind, good concentration powers; Competitive, enjoy challenges; Passionate and romantic; Strong digestion, strong appetite, get irritated if they have to miss or wait for a meal; When under stress, Pittas become irritated and angry; Skin fair or reddish, often with freckles; sunburns easily; Uncomfortable in sun or hot weather, heat makes them very tired; Perspire a lot; Good public speakers; Generally good management and leadership ability, but can become authoritarian; Subject to temper tantrums, impatience, and anger; Super organized; Judgemental; Get angry very quickly and get pacified just as quickly; Love cooling colors; Love to be around people; Have big hearts. In balance: Orderly, focused, assertive, self-confident, and entrepreneurial at their best. They have clarity of mind and grasp things clearly. Lead to contentment and intelligence. Out of balance: Aggressive, demanding, pushy and impatient Typical physical problems: Rashes or inflammations of the skin, acne, boils, skin cancer, ulcers, heartburn, acid stomach, insomnia, dry or burning eyes. Care: Need to stay away from firy situations. Need to stay cool and use umbrella in hot weather. Need to look inside and become meditative. Need coconut oil full body massage. Pitta thrive outdoors so they dhould go out for a walk. Avoid bright and sharp lights. Relenquish the need to be always right. Meet people and show compassion. Get some time out for yourself. Need to do creative things. Spend time in nature near water. Don’t need that much sleep. Exercise: Need to do long breahting exercises, while holding the breath in. Need calm energy so hold every pose for 2-3 minutes. Aroma: Pitta aroma is sweet, floral, sandalwood etc. |
|
Kapha Predominant Types Attributes: They have the quality of earth, heaviness, inertia, so they don’t like to move around; Easygoing, relaxed, slow-paced; Affectionate and loving; Forgiving, compassionate, nonjudgmental nature; Stable and reliable; Faithful; Physically strong and with a sturdy, heavier build; Have the most energy of all constitutions, but it is steady and enduring; Slow speech, reflecting a deliberate thought process; Slower to learn, but outstanding long-term memory; Soft hair and skin; tendency to have large soft eyes and a low, soft voice; Tend toward being overweight; May also suffer from sluggish digestion; Prone to depression; More self-sufficient; Gentle, and essentially undemanding approach to life; Excellent health, good immune system; Very calm; Strive to maintain harmony and peace in their surroundings; Ca not easily be upset and can be a point of stability for others; Don’t like cold, damp weather; Have strongest stamina; Resistant to change; Tired in the morning; Crave sweets; Don’t use their energy; Stuck in the past. In balance: Full of love and patience. Out of balance: Tend to be possessive, hoarders and hold on to things. Too much heaviness gives rise to depression and lead to insecurity and envy. Typical physical problems: Colds and congestion, sinus headaches, respiratory problems including asthma, allergies, and atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). If you have sinus trouble, you have imbalanced Kapha. If your weight fluctuates a lot from morning to evening then you are Kapha. Care: They need to add activity and inspirational stuff in their life. They need energetic yoga. Their meditation needs to be more dynamic like walking meditation. They need visuals for meditation. Cold weather increases Kapha. Exercise: Need to exercise in the morning. Need to sweat. Aroma: Kapha aroma is cinnamon, eucalyptus, basil etc. Mantra: Please forgive me, I forgive you, I thank you, I love you. Repeat for each person you remember. |
|
So the first step is to find your most dominant Dosha and may be second dominant Dosha and then follow the general guidelines for it. There are many other things that affect these Doshas and I will talk about them in my future articles.
Disclaimer: All the information in this article has been researched from various sources as my personal study notes for future reference. |
Festivals Need Not Be Stressful
 |
|
When Lord Ram returned to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile and the kingdom started running smoothly again, the courtiers suggested to Ram that they should perform the famous Ashwamegh Yagya to bring some excitement back in the lives of the common people. The purpose of the Yagya was not to win over other kingdoms but to do something new, which will cheer up the people and give them something to look forward to. The moral of the story is that the celebrations are meant to break the monotony and bring some excitement back in our lives. But are they? |
| In the ancient times, the festivals, the vrats and the poojas gave women a break from their daily routine. Everyone at home helped in decorating the house, they prepared the best dishes from the purest ingredients, donned their best clothes and enjoyed the event with the whole family and even neighbors. All this participation, preparation and bonding filled the house with pure, happy, bubbly vibrations and created the ambience of real fun and frolic not only on the festival day but throughout the preparation period. |
| In today’s context, long working hours have left us no time to celebrate anything. Either we do it half-heartedly or we outsource all the arrangements. None of those give us the real happiness because in the first case we are too tired to spread any joy ourselves and in the second case the paid decorator, the paid caterer and the paid entertainer generate the vibrations of business rather than joy. So basically, the festivals have started to stress us out. |
| So what can we do? Well, the key is to remember that the process of planning and involving the whole family is more important than the actual celebration itself. Encourage kids to decorate and entertain creatively. Their contagious excitement will automatically generate the happy vibrations in your home. Second, keep it simple; don’t get into the comparison game. Third, celebrate only as many festivals as you comfortably can. No point in trying to celebrate each and every festival and feeling exhausted. |
| Let’s bring the magic of festivals back, the way it was meant to be. |
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
 |
|
I recently got an opportunity to listen to the audio book – The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I really liked it and for my own benefit I wrote down some notes. So here they are: |
|
Universe is tuned to your thoughts. You are the masterpiece of your life. Everything around you – people, things or events, you have attracted them yourself. We all do it by default.
Best way to attract something is to change our thoughts. We think about sixty thousand thoughts a day. So that looks like a lot of work but it’s not. There is an easy way and that is through our feelings. Thoughts cause feelings. We know the bad feeling from the good feeling. Bad feeling is bad frequency. Good feelings make you feel good. When you celebrate good feelings, that’s what you will attract. If you are feeling good, you are creating a future that is on a good path. If you live in worry and fear it is going to bring more of that in your life. You get what you are feeling. A little shift in the emotion can change your life completely. Feel healthy, feel prosperous and feel that love is surrounding you even if it is not there. The universe will correspond to the thoughts of your soul and manifest. Whatever you focus on and feel, that’s what you attract. Shift your awareness. It is really important that you feel good because then universe will give you more to feel good. If you are not feeling good, change that emotion by playing music, thinking of someone you love, smiling for no reason and you will start feeling good. That’s how you can deliberately create your life by using The Secret. You must have read the story of the Aladdin and the Lamp. Aladdin picks up the lamp, dusts it off and out pops the Genie. Genie always says, “Your wish is my command”. Apply it to you. Universe is the Genie, the God, the higher self. You are the Aladdin. |
The creative process of law of attraction:
The point is to generate the feeling that you have it right now and that will start the creative process. You got to pay attention to what you are attracted to because that will also be attracted to you. The universe likes speed. When there is an intuitive nudge, act fast. Don’t doubt it and don’t wait to understand the complete path. Start the journey by just knowing the first 200 feet. The next 200 feet will unfold next, and then the next 200 feet and you can slowly go along. How long will it take? Depends on how you are aligned to the universe. Universe does everything effortlessly. Small and big desires don’t matter. You provide the feeling and universe will respond. You can start with a small thing if you want but it really does not matter. |
How do you turn your life around?
Don’t worry about ‘How’. How is the domain of the universe. Universe reorganizes itself to fulfill your desires. Do it daily and feel exhilarated with the process. Never do it as a chore. Use law of attraction all the time. Imagination is the preview of what’s coming. When you have an inspired thought, trust it and act on it. |
|
How can I get more money? Believe that you have enough money and feel good about it. If you say you can’t afford it, that’s what you will get. If you want abundance, focus on abundance. Say, money comes easy. Don’t ask for money only. Ask for wealth. Ask for the inner joy first and then go for the outer things like money. Give some money to people in need. Do it happily. Feeling of sacrifice does not work because you don’t feel good about yourself. Spend like you have enough money. The vibration you send to the universe is that you have enough. So you attract even more. When you look at stuff you want to buy, say that you can afford it. This will make you secure about money and the universe will return the favor. Make sure actions are mirroring what you want. No contradictions. Act as if you already got it. |
|
Relationships Love yourself first. Attend to your joys first. Then you are a joy to be around. Then you are on a frequency that attracts people of the same frequency. If you feel bad about yourself you will attract more things and events that will make you feel bad. Treat yourself as you expect others to treat you. Then you will feel abundant. Fall in love with yourself. Have a healthy respect for yourself. We are always complaining about others but for relationships to work we need to focus on what we appreciate about them and that’s what you would get back. Turn a relationship around by writing down all the things you appreciate about them and read it every day. Many times you expect others to make you happy but that does not work. Only you can control your happiness. Love everything and everyone and the universe will send more things you love. Your actions shouldn’t contradict your desire. Focus on your qualities and universe will send more good things you like about you. Love and gratitude can dissolve any negativity in your life. |
|
Health Our body is the product of our thoughts. Medical science has proven how our thoughts affect our body. The placebo effect is one proof. Mind is the biggest factor in healing. Universe is an abundance of good health, healing, good wealth and good nature. If you open yourself to the universe you get that in your life. Stress is the main reason of all diseases. Illness is the manifestation of one’s negative thoughts. Stress is the worst thing when you have any illness. Immune system is supposed to heal the body if you are in good emotional state. Laughter can dissolve any disease. It is the best medicine. Healing through mind can work harmoniously with medicine. Tell the universe, “Thank you for my healing”. Watch a lot of comedy shows that make you laugh or smile. Our cells die and generate in our body all the time. If you really think about it, within a few years, you have a completely new body. So the illness can be removed with continuous positive thinking. If you have a disease and you are talking about it all the time, it attracts more illness. If you listen to others illness, you again attract more illness. If someone is talking about their illness, be empathetic, do whatever you can to help and change the subject. Don’t dwell on it for a long time. Happier thoughts lead to happier biochemistry and generate happier bodies. It dissolves illness. Our bodies are being regenerated continuously. Remove physiological stress and body will do what it is supposed to do. What you resist, you attract. Resistance is like saying I don’t want this and of course universe sends more of it back. Instead say what you want and the universe will send more of that. |
|
Secret to the world Anything you focus on, you create. If you are anti-war, be pro-peace. You cannot help the world by highlighting negative things. Instead focus on peace, education, food and love. Choose from the catalog of the universe. Don’t spend your energy on things that are not working. Praise and bless everything in life, even your enemies. Focus on what you want not what you don’t want. Stay informed but don’t be inundated by it. Energy flows where attention goes. It’s your job to celebrate the world. Universe offers everything to everyone. There is an unlimited supply. There is more than enough to go around. |
|
The secret to you You are energy. Everything is energy. Universe, galaxy, planet, individual, organs, cells, molecules and atoms, all are energy. There are a lot of physical levels but at the most basic level you are an energy field, which can probably illuminate the whole city for one week. Ask quantum physicist what creates the world. The reply is energy. What is energy? It is neither created nor destroyed. It always exists. Ask theologians what created the universe. Answer is god. What is god? It is always there. It cannot be created or destroyed. There is just one energy field. We are all connected. We are distracted by our body. That just holds your spirit. You are a source of energy, which is eternal. We are an infinite field of unlimited potential. Every great tradition has told you that you have infinite potential to create anything you want. Law of attraction is that you can begin to create feeling of harmony. You can break yourself free from social code, cultural things. But how? Quantum physics and secret teachings are exactly the same. You vibrate energy. Energy vibrates at a frequency. Different thoughts vibrate at different frequency and attract the same frequency. You are an energy magnate. Energy can never be created or destroyed. It can only change form. So you have been always there. You are eternal energy. We are the creators of the universe. There is no limit to the human potential. Every possibility already exists in the universe. Our mind just has to draw on it. Look around for needs waiting to be filled. Imagine fulfilling it. There is an unlimited supply of ideas to be tapped into. Everything in the universe is connected as one energy field. We are all one. That’s why your negative thoughts hurt you back because we are all one. We think of ourselves as separate. We think there is not enough for everyone so we compete. And we are competing against ourselves and we lose. Law of attraction is the law of supply. Whenever you receive anything, you attracted it because you were tuned in to that frequency. If you look back at your life and see unfortunate things, you attract more of that. Whatever you say after ‘I am not’ or ‘I am’ is what you get back from the universe. |
|
The secret to life Nobody told you the purpose of your life. So your purpose is what you say it is. Erase everything from the past that does not serve you and be grateful to a new beginning. You are the only one who can create a life you deserve. The primary aim is to experience joy. If isn’t fun, don’t do it. I want to constantly put myself in the state of joy and then I create the intention of what I want and that will manifest. You will attract joy because you are radiating joy. Enjoy life. It is a magnificent trip. Let go of all thoughts of limitations and we will experience the magnificence of the human kind. The secret is within you. The more you use it the more you draw it towards you. You are the creator of your destiny. You are the master of the universe. |