Intrigued by Ayurveda

Image via healingwaysresearch.blogspot.com

This past weekend I once again spent (almost) every waking moment in Advanced Teacher Training at TS. Of course, as always, my brain was filled with loads of amazing, interesting, and inspiring information all weekend--much of which I still need time to process, but, in our session on Ayurveda, the "sister science to yoga," I was completely enamored, and now, I believe, completely hooked.

My first real introduction to Ayurveda was during my first Teacher Training training in 2009, and I remember being extremely interested then, too. But, as often happens in life, I got busy, forgot about the importance of understanding my constitution (and the constitution of others, and of the season, and the time of day, etc.), and it simply dropped to the back of my mind. But yesterday, my interest was reignited and I've decided to start working on learning how to eat and live according to my dosha. No idea what I'm talking about? Here are the basics (my own summary from the workshop that I attended with the amazing Anne Thiel yesterday):

• Ayurveda is concerned with the physical aspects of our bodies/life. It basically says that when you are in optimal health and optimal balance, you can enjoy your life to the fullest and give the most back to the world (again, extremely paraphrased and it's a lot more than that!).
• In order to find your way to your optimal state of health, you must be aware of your mind-body type (or dosha).
  
• There are three doshas; Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, and we all have a bit of all 3 in us, but typically one or two doshas will be predominant.
• In living ayurvedically (don't think that's a word...), we are trying to stay in balance--that is, return to our genetic dosha (or constitution) and remain there. However, life can often knock us off balance, in which case we will have a dosha imbalance and will need to balance that out before returning to our normal routine.
• I know, it sounds kind of confusing, but it's actually really amazing. There's tons to be learned online, through Ayurveda books and texts, and if you get really interested, you could take a workshop on it (highly recommend one with Anne!) or visit an Ayurveda Consultant to learn more about how to reach your optimal health.

The things that I love about Ayurveda? It recognizes that each person is naturally inclined to do certain things or to act a certain way--to talk fast, to crave salty foods, to need more sleep than others, to move a bit more slowly, to breathe more or less deeply--and that this is okay! It teaches us that you shouldn't resist your natural constitution, but should instead embrace it and learn to live in a way that keeps this constitution in balance so that you don't embody the negative traits of your dosha, but instead embody the positive ones.

Here's are two helpful charts that break down the doshas a bit (neither is as detailed as I'd like them to be, but they're a good basic intro)...the following one gives a few generic mind-body basics about each dosha:

Chart via heymonicab.com

And this one talks more about the physical attributes of the various doshas:

Chart via spicejourney.ca

Pretty interesting, huh? Since I'm fairly new to Ayurveda, I can't go on about it too much, but do want to say that if you have any interest in learning more about your dosha, it's crazy interesting. I loved learning more about my constitution (no wonder I usually overbook myself---it's part of my dosha to expend more energy than I conserve!), and felt that it was really nice to know that I'm genetically predisposed to do some of the things that I do--but also to know that I act the way that I do sometimes because my dosha is out of balance, not because I'm crazy :) And no, it's not an excuse for negative behaviors, but rather, teaches us how to make changes so that we can keep some of these behaviors or feelings in check.

Another fun part of learning about the doshas is that you learn more about the people in your life. You recognize the possible doshas for some of your friends or family, your significant other, your coworkers, etc., and can begin to understand a bit more about how and why they function the way that they do. It's like the Myers-Briggs, only  ancient-Indian and yoga-style (AND with diet and lifestyle prescriptions that go along with it!). Very cool.

Looking for a good survey/questionnaire that will help you determine your dosha? Click here to check out the "Body Type Quiz" on LifeSpa.com. I found this one very helpful.

I'll keep you updated as I begin to live and eat in accordance with my dosha...

Namaste!
Mary Catherine