Before moving into the deep, wide, rich and precious pool of Ayurveda, It is mandatory for all of us to know and understand our own body structure.
According to Ayurveda, our body is made up of 5 natural elements: Earth (Prithvi), Water (Jal), Fire(Agni), Air(Vaayu) and Sky(Aakash). It is important for our body to be balanced with these 5 elements. These are further explained as TRI-DOSHA because Ayurveda has described that body type can be Vata, Pitta or Kapha based on the above five elements.
A person is said to be NIROGI (Disease free) if Vata, Pitta & Kapha is balanced inside his body. However, if any dosh is imbalanced, the person suffers from various diseases.
After understanding our body structure, we must follow the specific diet so that Vat, Pitta, Kapha is balanced inside body. Let’s understand each dosh in detail to meet with our Body type.
VATA : Vata reflects the elements of Sky and Air. Sky is inactive and Air is active. Let’s understand the below 4 elements to understand Vata.
Motion: Vata is full of motion like Air. Vata forces our body and give motion to Pitta and Kapha. Any moving activity reflects Vata activity inside our body like breathing, talking, and nerve impulses, movements in the muscles and tissues, circulation, digestion, elimination, urination, menstruation. Like the wind provides movement and expression to the world, Vata individuals are expressive, active, and creative and have good ability to communicate.
Dryness: Air is usually dry likewise, dryness should be balanced inside our body, if it increases, it would lead to Itching and skin disease.
Cold: Air is cool. We need coolness to survive but excess cold may lead to non-working of fingers or toes. And if mind is cool, all our tasks work properly and smoothly.
Filtration: When Vata is excess in the body it leads to filtration of required fats or cholesterol in the body and the air starts dwelling inside the body which leads to fatness and swelling of the body.
When Vata is generally imbalanced these signs or diseases can be noticed: Stomach Pain,Anxiety, Dry skin, Constipation, Asthma, Arthritis, leg pain, paralysis, getting faint, Insomnia, Enzyma, Back Ache.
The main locations of Vata inside the body are colon, thighs, bones, joints, ears, skin, brain, and nerve tissues. And psychologically, vata governs creativity, flexibility, communication skills, and intelligence.
Pitta:
Pitta derives from the elements of Fire and Water which describes ‘to cook’. It is the energy of Digestion and metabolism in the body that functions through carrier substances such as hormones, organic acids, enzymes. Elements of Pitta are:
Burn: While cooking if the flame is not properly lit or balanced, the food may completely burn. Similarly, if Pitta is not proper it may burn our system of kidney, liver, uterus, small intestine. If we get little pale yellowish color by skin, burns on palm, feet- this means pitta is imbalanced inside our body. Also, urine, breathing and sweating increases in this state.
The qualities that reflect pitta are oily, sharp, hot, light, moving, liquid and acidic. Pitta individuals are strong, sharp mind, focused, uncomfortable in sun or hot weather, aggressive but self-confident, sometimes ego, anger and jealousy. Diseases which arise from Pitta are Unnecessary Wounds, Mouth Ulcer, Loose Motions, Cold, Pimples, pyorrhea, Piles, Migraine, Pneumonia, Jaundice, Malaria, Typhoid, Tumors, Nose bleeding, Less hemoglobin, TB, Cancer.
The main locations of Pitta are Small intestine, liver, pancreas, blood, eyes, and sweat. It manages all the process related to transformation and conversion throughout the mind and body.
Kapha: Kapha derives from the elements of Water and Earth which translates ‘stickiness’. It can also be compared to mud. Kapha manages the smooth functioning of all the parts. In other words, Kapha can be said as the essential cement, glue, and lubrication (oily substance which makes anything work smoothly) of the body. The qualities of Kapha are moist, cold, heavy, dull, soft, and sticky.
The main locations of Kapha in the body are chest, throat, lungs, head, lymph,( a colorless liquid containing white blood cells that cleans the inside of our body and helps to prevent infections from spreading), fatty tissues. Kapha moistens the food, gives bulk to our tissues, lubricates joints, stores energy and relates to cool bodily fluids such as water, lymph and mucous ( a thin layer producing the sticky substance to stop the parts of body from becoming dry.) When Kapha is imbalanced, it causes Vomiting, Throat Infection, Breathing issues, Obesity, over sleep, Asthma, Heart attack, Depression. Psychologically, Kapha manages emotions like love, patience, forgiveness, attachment, greed. However, people may procrastinate the things. Kapha affected people should not do much exercise however should regularly perform Yoga.
80% of the diseases are caused when Vata is imbalanced, therefore Vata is also known as ‘king of all doshas’. Gas, Constipation, Acidity, Arthritis, Digestion problem, Head ache, skin diseases, High BP, Insomnia, Heart disease, Kidney stone, Asthma, Parkinsons (long term disorder of the central nervous system) psoriasis (skin diseases). Vata issues are never to be avoided.
Ratio of diseases from Vata, Pitta, kapha is 3:2:1.
In one of the Old Hindi Ayurveda books by Dr. Chanchalmal Chordiya, he narrated that “Pair garam, Pet naram aur Sar Thanda to vaidya ko maaro danda.” Vaat means motions and motions begins from our feet hence feet should be little warm, Pitta means combination of Fire and water , means digestion hence our stomach should be soft inside, Kapha means earth and water which describes calm and peace, hence our mind should always remain calm. If these 3 doshas are completely balanced there is never ever any need of visiting Doctor.
Many of us may find our symptoms at the same time from 2 doshas. E.g. one may have Pimples (Pitta disorder) and Throat infection (Kapha disorder) at the same time. It may happen lot of times. However, we have various and most significant ‘SOOTRAS’ which means principals or rules in next post, if these sootras are properly followed , Vata, Pitta, Kapha would be balanced and one can be far away from any small or big diseases.