How does my ayurvedic dosha affect my meditation?
Ayurveda means “science of life;” it’s a traditional Indian medicine system whose applications run far and wide. In Ayurveda, every person is treated as an individual. It is based on the principle that we are all made up of different proportions of the five elements: air, fire, water, earth and space. The proportions of these elements we have in us determine everything from predisposition to illness to skin type.
There are three doshas which are made up of these elements. Each dosha has certain characteristics based on the elements from which is it is made up. In brief:-
Vata: This dosha is made up of air and space. Vata people are always busy, with their heads in the clouds. They tend to get very stressed and worried about things.
Pitta: This dosha is made up of fire and water. Pitta people are very fiery and explosive with a naturally short temper.
Kapha: This dosha is made up of earth and water. Kapha people are very grounded and laid back; they don’t like change and are very chilled!
A good example of how to understand these is to think of what happens if you’re queuing in the supermarket and the cashier is being slow and maybe a little rude. A Vata person will be standing there tapping their foot, worried they’re going to miss a bus or phone call, or just plain worried about wasting all this precious time. A Pitta person will last a few minutes before getting really cross that the supermarket don’t just put more staff on, or train their staff properly, or just… do something to move this ridiculous queue! A Kapha person will probably take a deep breath, and use the time to reply to a text message on their phone, or perhaps just to look out the window and appreciate what a lovely day it is out there.
So how does this affect your meditation?
Well, a Kapha person is grounded in the earth. They are fairly chilled any way, so spending half an hour meditating will be fairly easy for them; they’ll find it pretty easy to switch off and quiet their mind. A Kapha person will take to meditation easily and naturally, with very little of that “I must remember to…” problem.
A Vata person on the other hand, is an airy personality. They’ll find it pretty hard to bring their head back down to earth and ground their thoughts. Vata people find it hard to switch off so meditation will be a real struggle for them. A Vata person will sit down to meditate and immediately remember everything they should have done today. They’ll go through their shopping list, worry they’re not doing it right, think they must just be a meditation moron.
A Pitta personality is like to wind themselves up, get up off their meditation and shout ‘to hell with it’!!!
Understanding these subtle differences can help you be more understanding with yourself if you’re struggling with your meditation.
You can download a quick quiz to find out your dosha HERE.
One very important point though: just because you find that you’re predominantly Vata; it doesn’t mean you can’t meditate, therefore your naught mind will let you off the hook. Oh no, it means that you need to take steps to go into your meditation calmly, or maybe earlier in the morning before the mind starts running. It also means that you need meditation even more than someone who is already naturally very grounded and calm!!!
Enjoy discovering your dosha!
Love
Anandi