The Vata, Pitta, and Kapha are collectively known as the doshas of the body. They are basic fundamental concepts of the Ayurveda.
But What are they? They are basically the energetic forces of your body’s nature, body’s composition, function, and gives a better understanding of yourself.
To find out which dosha makes up your Body constitution and balanced state, take our Vata, Pitta, And Kapha Analysis (VPK quiz).
Vata, pitta, and kapha Prakriti are ideal to everybody i.e. the balance in the three doshas is must for a healthy body. Each of it has a specific role in your body.
When there are imbalanced they create a havoc in your life. To know how they shape your health, it is important for you to understand them in detail first.
Table of Contents
Vata, Pitta, and Kapha: The Three Energies of Nature
According to Ayurveda, there are three fundamental energies – Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.
Our body is a combination of these three energies. These are called as DOSHAS. Constitution of Doshas varies from one person to another. It shows the emotional and physical balances of a person.
So, do these energies have any real-life impact on you?
Yes, each Dosha has its essential functional roles in your body. Doshas are the energies that help you understand your body-mind-personality clearly.
If yes, how responsible are they for your well-being?
The elemental energies work this way:
When they are in stable condition, you enjoy a healthy lifestyle.
…AND….
When they are imbalanced, they cause illness.
Vata, Pitta, and kapha—all are crucial for our bodily functions. Hence, no Dosha is considered as better, superior or more potent from another because each Dosha has its unique purpose in our body. Thus, no comparison can be made.
And your body is nothing but a distinct composition of three doshas which is unique for everyone. Due to this reason every person shows different abilities, unmatched personality, and perception.
Now, we will explain what a DOSHA is and how it works at your mind-body level.
What Are Doshas and How do They Control your Body?
Doshas represent our energies. The three doshas—Vata, Pitta, and Kapha— are acquired from the five essential elements or PANCHA BHUTAS.
Doshas show the mind-body types of every individual. Also, it expresses the unique constitution of physical, emotional, and mental characteristics.
Constitution of each Doshas comes from the five essential elements.
Out of the three doshas, each one has some proportions of Pancha Bhutas & are constituted this way:
- Vata or Vayu is the energy of movement, blood circulation. Air and Ether represent Vata.
- Pitta is the energy of digestion. Fire and Water create Pitta. It promotes the transformation of food into energy.
- Kapha is the energy of stability, body structure, and lubrication. Water and earth constitute Kapha.
Vata, Pitta, and Kapha are present in every cell, tissue, and organ of your body. They regulate your mind-body function in equilibrium.
When they are in balance, they promote health. And When imbalanced, they are the cause of ailments.
As per Ayurveda, your health is all about maintaining a perfect balance among these. It is the balance between the three fundamental energies (vata, pitta, kapha) and mind-body-spirit in your body.
And, if you want to enjoy the aliveness to its fullest form, or if you wish to achieve a vibrant and joyful life—you need to identify your mind-body type. Knowing the this, you can adopt a lifestyle suitable to your unique mind-body nature.
Your body is the constitution of all three Doshas. The combination may be a mixture of one or more Doshas.
It means you may be a vata-pitta, pitta-kapha, or of any other bi-doshic combination. And, if your three doshas equally are equally balanced, you are tridoshic or “same doshic.”
Vata Dosha
Vata is the energy of motion or movement in our body. It governs both the mental and physio-biological activities of your body. The functions include heartbeat, circulation of blood, the breathing of air, blinking of eyes, etc.
Even it is in the control of your entire nervous system and processes their signaling. In fact, Vata controls all the motion, activity inside the body. It is the energy of your vital life-force.
Vata Dosha is super-intelligent. It even communicates between two cells and controls the prana. Vata works on a cosmic level.
Vata Dosha Characteristics
These qualities are manifested inside your body and make you the way you are. A quick description of the Vata dosha qualities is given below:
1. Vata Is Dry
By nature, the dosha is dry when it is present in balanced quantity its good for your body.But, when your Vata is in excess, you will have dry skin, dry lips, dry hair, dry bones, and often constipation.Not only this, even emotionally you may find yourself dry or emotionless at times.
2. Vata Is Light
Again by nature, Vata is light which helps you to maintain a standard body weight.However, when it becomes in excess you might be underweight, you might find difficult to sleep, your bones are light.On the emotional side, its imbalance makes you feel insecure.
3. Vata Is Cold
Vata dosha keeps your body cold.When present in your body in excess, you will have cold feet and hands. You will feel cold even when the weather is warm especially at night.
4. Vata Is Subtle
The subtle nature of Vata makes you introvert, creative, and fantasies a lot more than usual.
5. Vata Is Mobile
The mobile nature of Vata is actually good. It lets you do multiple tasks at a time.But, when it goes over the limit you will be nervous, have tremors, feel disturbed, fidgety, and anxious. In some people, the dosha might even take you to an extreme of emotions.
Pitta Dosha
Pitta is the energy of metabolism or digestion. It regulates the digestive system of your body, absorption of nutrients and transformation foods into energy. Pitta controls your body temperature.
In another way, Pitta is the composition of enzymes and amino acids – that play a significant role in the metabolism of foods.Pitta regulates your body temperature through the chemical transformation of food nutrients that promotes appetite and vitality.
Pitta Dosha Characteristics
It is important for you to know the qualities of Pitta. The qualities are expressed via your mental, physical, and psychological body makeup.
These qualities are manifested inside your body and make you the way you are. A quick description of the Pitta dosha qualities is given below:
1. Pitta Is Oily
By nature pitta is oily, so it gives you a soft skin.However, when it’s in excess you can get an oily skin which further might cause acne, pimples, clogged pores.
2. Pitta Is Sharp
The sharp nature gives you a great intellectual power and a great taste sense. But when in excess it gives you a sharp tongue too.
3. Pitta Is Hot
The hot nature of Pitta gives you a warm feeling, rosy complexion, warm body temperature, great metabolism, and a good appetite.When it is present in excess it can cause ulcers, heartburn, and a high temper.
4. Pitta Is Light
The light nature of pitta gives you a slender thin body.But, when in excess make you underweight.
5. Pitta Is Spreading
This quality can give you name and fame. It can make you influential in your community or neighborhood.
6. Pitta Is Liquidy
The liquid nature of pitta dosha can cause excessive sweating. When this quality is combined with hotness can give you a number of stomach issues.
Kapha Dosha
Kapha is the energy that gives structure to your body. It creates body tissues and works like the glue that holds your cells together.It controls the growth of your body. Kapha supplies fluid to our cells and bodily organs.
It lubricates your joints, prevents skin dryness—works as a moisturizer, helps in healing wounds, and boosts immunity. Kapha enhances the strength, vigor, and stability in your body.
Kapha Dosha Characteristics
It is important to know the qualities of Kapha for its better understanding.
Down below we have discussed the Kapha dosha characteristic in detail:
1. Kapha Is Cool
The cold quality of Kapha keeps your skin cool to touch. Your hand and feet will be cold and you might be probably sensitive to temperature.
Moreoff, it also makes you mentally calm, cool, and patient. When it becomes out of balance it can compromise your digestive strength and can even make you feel lonely and isolated.
2. Kapha Is Heavy
The heavy qualities of Kapha make you feel grounded, real, strong personality, and relatable.When this quality becomes in excess, it can lead to lethargicness, weight gain, heavy emotional feeling, and depression.
3. Kapha Is Oily
The oily nature of Kapha makes your skin soft, smooth, hydrated and is also responsible for the smooth movement of joints. It signifies that you are open to give love and take love.When in excess can make your hair and skin oily, cause excessive mucus, and make you feel manipulative.
4. Kapha Is Smooth
The smoothness of Kapha makes your skin, hair, and body soft and supple.It also supports the joint and, give you flexibility and graceful movement of joint. Moreover, it also gives a loving personality.
When in excess, the extra smoothness can cause water retention in your body and excessive adipose tissues deposition.
5. Kapha Is Stable
This quality provides a steadiness to your mind and body. It makes you naturally reactive. When is excess can cause inactivity and irritation?
6. Kapha Is Slow
The slow quality gives you purpose in life. It gives you the ability to pace yourself as per your intention and aim of life. It also allows you to be present, form connections, and give meaning to your life.
In excess, this quality can give you a big appetite, excessive slow movement, slow speech, dull behavior, boredom and resistant to change.
How To Discover Your ‘Dosha Body-Type’ or Prakriti?
Your body is a unique combination of these three fundamental energies. They have direct control over your mind and body function.
Though each of us carries all three doshas, mostly we dominate one or two—while the other one(s) stay less prominent.
This unique type of combination differs from one to another individual and is determined at the moment of conception. It is called your personal Ayurvedic constitution or PRAKRITI (nature).
Each Dosha is always working actively—inside your body. And their balance can be influenced by your eating habits, physical activity, and other factors.
So, an imbalance of one or more of these elements may lead to a disorder in your body.
Each Dosha imbalance expresses symptoms related to the qualities of that particular Dosha and are different from any signs of another two dosha imbalances.
Factors like poor diet, substandard lifestyle, less physical exercise and depression can also disturb Dosha balances.
So, if you learn how doshas increase or decrease, you can easily find why you fall ill and what preventive measures you can take, etc…
You can find your Prakriti and Vrikriti by using simple Dosha Analysis Application.
What Are the Factors that influence Your Natural Dosha balance?
Starting from your birth… throughout the life, your elementary body constitution remains the same.
It is your unique Prakriti. Yet, there are various factors frequently influence your Prakriti. They may be internal, external or environmental.
Apart from that, there are a couple of other factors triggers the imbalance in doshas.
Like, Doshas may fluctuate with a change in your surrounding environment. Also due to your diets, the climate, age and for many other reasons.
This fluctuation can affect your living, level of energy and mood or emotional state.So, for organic, healthy living, your body needs to sync with nature’s rhythm. Living out of which causes several complications.
Even the moment you are aware of the reasons for increase or decreases in Dosha, you can treat them before inviting any diseases.
How To Know When Your Doshas are ‘Out of Balance’?
Because the Doshas govern every physical entity of this universe…everything you do, eat affects the balance of your doshas inside your mind & body.
As I said, factors like your daily lifestyle, physical activities, change of climate, region and ongoing season—may increase or decrease one or more doshas in your mind-body organization. This imbalance is called as “Vikriti.”
Dosha imbalance usually is a state when a particular Dosha is increased in your body. But it is also possible that the decrease in Dosha makes it out of balance.
In fact, there is no specific reason that a Vata person will only develop Vata imbalances; he may suffer from other Dosha imbalances also.
But according to Ayurveda, here are some proven facts:
- If your body is Vata dominant, you are more vulnerable to vata imbalances.
- If you are a pitta dominating person, you are more prone to pitta imbalances.
- Same wayy, If you are a Kapha dominant person, you are more to Kapha imbalances
- And the same applies to other types of doshic bodies— bidoshic, tridoshic.
Final Talk
You should know your body constitution i.e. the placement of the three doshas in your body.
If all of them are normal than your Prakriti is absolutely fine and you are living a healthy life. But, if your body constitution is imbalanced, you should balance it out for your overall well-being.
An imbalance in any of the dosha or Vikriti is not good for your current and future health as it may cause mild to severe health complications.
You can bring the aggravated dosha into its natural state by adopting a better lifestyle, adjusting proper diets and suitable physical activities.
In the long run, prolonged fluctuations or increase in Dosha leads to severe ailments which probably you would never like to happen.
So, it is better to prevent an upcoming disease… as well as living a healthy life by balancing all your doshas.
