D is for Dosha

As always, a huge shout out to Ninja Minion Master Captain Alex and his army of ninja minions!  

My Theme: Yoga.  For those of you who don't know, I've been working on obtaining my yoga teacher's certification for the past year and am just a little over a month from graduating with my RYT200.  As such, I figure there's no better way to spend this month than teaching you folks some of what I've learned.

Today I'm talking a bit about the Doshas.  In ayurvedic medicine (no, you didn't miss that in A- it's way too large of a topic to cover in one tiny post) wellness comes from balance of the five elements in the body (the five elements being earth, air, fire, water and ether which I will talk about more tomorrow).  Each person has a sort-of home base when it comes to which element they feel most at home in and, subsequently, which element most predominates in their body. 

One's dosha not only suggests one's body type (like long and lean vs. short and squat) but also one's preferences for seasons of the year, times of the day, activity level, diet and a whole lot of other things (basically everything that makes a body unique).  There are tons of online quizzes that will tell you, based on answers to a short list of questions, what your dosha is.

There are three main doshas:

Vatta aligns with the elements of air and ether, the season winter and tends to be associated with a long, lean body type, fair skin and light hair.

Pitta aligns with the elements of fire and water, the season summer and tends to be associated with athletic, muscular body types, medium toned skin and red hair.

Kapha aligns with the elements of water and earth, the season autumn and tends to be associated with short, full body types, darker toned skin and dark hair.

Of these main three, there are combination subtypes like me, a kapha-pitta.  My home elements (i.e. the ones I am most drawn to/feel most comfortable in) are water and earth.  I have the thick, lustrous hair of most kaphas with the somewhat athletic build of most pittas (though I am prone to the weight problems most kaphas struggle with).  I'm certainly more on the kapha side of things personality-wise, but there's no denying I have some pretty strong pitta traits. 

Knowing one's dosha can be useful when it comes to describing one's ideal diet, type of environment, activity level, sleep cycles and a whole host of other bodily aspects because it has to do with the natural balance of one's body.  If you're interested I highly encourage you to investigate further.