November 9th - Vata, Pita, Kapha ... What Am I?

For this second course, we've been studying Ayurveda as well as yoga. Ayurveda is the ancient Indian medical science – a sister science to yoga - and another that Patanjali was one of the first to document over 5,000 years ago. So for the first half of the course, Rajiv has been introducing Indian philosophy and the basics of Ayurveda to us – it's been fascinating and thankfully we're staying high level so I think I'm getting it ... For the second half, we've had an Ayurvedic Dr. here who has taken us a level deeper (I'm trying to keep it simple, but it's incredibly complicated ... learn a little, think I understand, learn more and get really confused ... apparently an essential part of learning ... and in which case, I'm on the path to great learning ...)

So what is it? My simplification – at an incredibly crude level – there are three 'types' which describe personality, traits, body type etc. and everyone is composed of elements of all three but will have one or two of the types be dominant. The very basic definitions – Vata: cold, light and airy; Pita: hot, firy and medium; and Kapha: cold, heavy and solid. And then the challenge is to be in balance with your individual mix of the three types – with what you eat being a key contributor to finding that balance – and being in balance, helping to prevent disease. There is a lot of the science that is resonating with me ... such as how, when disease is present, it attacks the weakest parts of the body and that is where symptoms come up – but they can be quite distinct from the disease ... so when diagnosing, the trick is to identify the underlying disease to be able to 'turn that facet off' of what ever is creating the disease versus simply treating the symptom.

The Dr. is also doing personal consultations with each of us – mine was today and it was fascinating ... he read my pulse for a long time ... so long, I half wondered if he could find it ... then intuitively he knew where my weak points were (thought I'd had an accident in my lower back). And then the diagnosis ... Vata followed by Kapha – I was surprised as I had expected Kapha Vata – others weren't surprised at all ... In many ways they are most opposite – airy, quick, lite versus slow, steady, solid – but it actually helps explain some of my dichotomies (of which I have a number ...). What really helped was understanding the link between the two types combined with the impact of food. I am in balance as Vata, but it is easy for me to go out of balance (which makes sense) and when that happens it is my Kapha being aggravated (I think ...). So he kept saying I needed to be careful with what I eat – the advantage of Vata Kapha is I can eat pretty much anything – but it is how moderately I eat it ... and my relationship with food can be summarized well by the expression, “when I'm good, I'm very good but when I'm bad, I'm just awful ... :-) The yoga and exercise are also critical (which I also know) – his rule, yoga/exercise in the morning, or I'm not allowed lunch ... and I know that when I eat well and exercise I feel good – and doing the one encourages the other. When I'm not feeling as well – or in balance – then my bad eating habits come out, I lose energy in exercise and the spiral starts to tilt down. There is also a link with the types and the seasons ... also something I've experienced – I often naturally do well in the fall (when Vata dominates) and it's easier for me to be out of balance in the winter (when Kapha dominates) ... For me, the question will be this winter and how I'm able to get through it – I already knew this was going to be my test and hopefully now I have a few more tools to help me successfully go through it. The links that I knew intuitively are now more concrete, which somehow makes it more tangible and manageable. I feel much more confident.

And then when we would get confused, the Dr. and Rajiv would come back to their net, net ... eat when you're hungry, drink when you're thirsty and sleep when you're tired – and of course, when they say this, the food is healthy and the drink is water ... :-)