From a workshop led by Susan Hopkinson - 1 February 2009
Medicine and philosophy need not be separated. Ayurveda teaches that each person is unique, and is born with a body that has unique characteristics and idiosyncrasies. Every constitution is different, and therefore what works for one person is different to what will work for another.
From birth, we begin to modify our bodies according to what we eat, the medicines we take, the climate and seasons, where we live, and a variety of other factors such as environmental hazards, stress due to personal circumstances and relationships, as well as cosmic factors like the cycles of the moon.
There is no fixed formula for eating nor minimum daily requirements. Ayurveda is not concerned with calories and vitamins, but rather the digestibility of food. Ayurveda, like many other traditional medicines, maintains that most disease stems from problems in the digestive system. It divides digestion into three stages: the stomach, the small intestine, and the large intestine.
Food that is assimilated in the stomach is used very quickly for the building of fluids, blood and lymph. Food assimilated in the small intestine affects mainly muscles and fat. That which is assimilated in the colon is used to regenerate the skin, bones, hair, nerve sheaths, reproductive fluids, and the brain.
All proper maintenance requires good digestion and assimilation, otherwise worn out tissues wonʼt be regenerated (i.e., replaced by healthy, new tissues).
Vata is quick, cold and dry by nature. It governs motion, breathing, circulation, elimination and the flow of nerve impulses to and from the brain.
Pitta is hot and precise by nature. It governs digestion and metabolism and the processing of food, air and water, throughout the body.
Kapha is solid and steady by nature. It governs structure and fluid balance and forms muscle, fat bone and sinew.
We all have a certain amount of Vata, Pitta and Kapha in our constitution and while all three of them are active, one or two usually dominate.
VATA: When in balance:
vibrant, cheerful, lively, enthusiastic, clear and alert mind, flexible, exhilarated, imaginative, sensitive, talkative, quick to respond.
When out of balance:
restless, unsettled, light interrupted sleep, tendency to over-exert, fatigued, constipated, anxious, worried, underweight
Vata is aggravated by:
irregular routine, staying up late, irregular meals, cold, dry weather, excessive mental work, too much bitter, astringent or pungent food, traveling, injury
PITTA: When in balance:
warm, loving, contented, enjoys challenges, strong digestion, lustrous complexion, good concentration, articulate and precise speech, courageous, bold, sharp wit, intellectual
When out of balance:
demanding, perfectionist, tendency towards frustration, anger, tendency towards skin rashes, irritable and impatient, prematurely grey hair, or early hair loss
Pitta is aggravated by:
excessive heat or exposure to the sun, alcohol, smoking, time pressure, deadlines, excessive activity, too much spicy, sour or salty food, skipping meals
KAPHA: When in balance:
affectionate, compassionate, forgiving, emotionally steady, relaxed, slow, methodical, good memory, good stamina, stability, natural resistance to sickness
When out of balance:
complacent, dull, oily skin, allergies, slow digestion, lethargic, possessive, over-attached, tendency to oversleep, overweight
Kapha is aggravated by:
excessive rest and oversleeping, overeating, insufficient exercise, too little variety in life, heavy, unctuous foods, too much sweet, sour or salty food, cold, wet weather
General tips for creating balance
Ayurveda emphasizes the importance of good digestion for health and maintains that how and when you eat is as important as what you eat.
- Eat in a settled environment when you are calm and relaxed. Savour your food: always sit down to eat, and avoid TV, radio and reading. Let your attention be on the food.
- Be silent while chewing.
- Be regular in your meal times.
- Enjoy a light nourishing breakfast and eat your main meal in the middle of the day when the digestive fire is at its strongest. Eat lightly in the evening at least 2 hours before bedtime (ideally four hours before).
- Minimize ice-cold food and drink.
- It is best to consume fruit (or fruit juice) separately from other foods.
- Eat moderately: avoid overeating and do not skip meals. Eat only when you are hungry and leave about 25% of your stomach empty as this will aid digestion.
- Wait approximately 4 hours between meals to allow adequate time to digest. This might be less between small meals and more between big meals. Do not eat until the previous meal has been digested.
- Avoid sour foods (yoghurt, soft and hard cheese, buttermilk) in the evening.
- Walk for 10-15 minutes after meals.
- Exercise without strain daily. Leave 30 minutes after exercise before eating and do not exercise energetically for 1-2 hours after a main meal
In Ayurveda there are six tastes or
rasas - sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. Taste is an important guide to achieving balance, and it gives clues as to the pharmacology of food. Generally, all meals should include at least a small amount of each taste.
Examples of foods naturally comprising the six tastes (rasas):
Sweet: Sugar, milk, bread, rice, wheat, pasta
Sour: Yoghurt, cheese, sour fruits, tomato
Salty: Seaweed, salt
Pungent: Spicy foods, cumin, ginger, peppers
Bitter: Green leafy vegetables
Astringent: Beans, lentils, pomegranate, some apples
Dosha-specific recommendations
To balance (decrease) Vata eat foods that are sweet, sour, salty, heavy, oily and hot. Pungent, bitter, astringent, light, dry and cold foods aggravate (increase) Vata.
To balance Pitta, eat foods that are sweet, bitter, astringent, cold, heavy and dry. Pungent, sour, salty, hot, light and oily foods aggravate (increase) Pitta.
To balance Kapha eat foods that are pungent, bitter, astringent, light, dry and hot. Sweet, sour, salty, heavy, oily and cold foods aggravate (increase) Kapha.
Vata diet
Dairy products : All dairy products pacify Vata. Do not take milk with a full meal. Cheese should be soft and fresh, and ideally made from raw milk.
Fruits : Favour sweet, heavy fruits, such as avocados, grapes, cherries, peaches, melons, berries, plums, bananas, sweet oranges, pineapples, mangoes and papayas. Avoid or reduce dry light fruits such as apples, pears, pomegranates, cranberries and dried fruits. Dried fruit can be taken first soaked in hot water. Dates are best taken with ghee (clarified butter).
Sweeteners: All sweeteners are good for Vata (but not in excess).
Beans: Avoid all beans except for tofu, (soybean curd) and mung dal (split mung beans).
Nuts: All nuts are good.
Grains : Rice and wheat are very good; reduce barley, corn, millet, buckwheat, rye, and oats.
Oils: All oils pacify Vata.
Spices : Cardamom, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, salt, cloves, mustard seed, and small quantities of black pepper pacify Vata.
Vegetables : Beets, carrots, asparagus, cucumber, and sweet potatoes are good, but they should be cooked and not raw. The following vegetables are alright in moderate quantities, if cooked and especially cooked with ghee (clarified butter) and Vata reducing spices: peas, green leafy vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, courgettes and spinach (small quantity). It is best to avoid sprouts and cabbage.
Pitta diet
Dairy products : Ghee (clarified butter), milk, cream, and cream cheese, are good. Avoid salty butter and sour milk, e.g. yoghurt, aged cheeses.
Fruits: Sweet and astringent fruits are good e.g. grapes, pomegranates, bananas, avocados, mangoes. Avoid sour fruit, e.g. most citrus (a little lemon is alright).
Sweeteners : White or semi-refined sugars are good. Avoid molasses and brown sugar. Honey can be taken in small quantities.
Beans: Mung dal and soybean are good.
Nuts: Avoid all nuts except coconut.
Grains: Wheat, rice, barley, and oats are good. Avoid millet, corn, buckwheat, and rye.
Oils: Ghee is best for pacifying Pitta.
Spices : Coriander, cumin, ginger (small quantities), turmeric, saffron, fennel, cinnamon, cardamom. Avoid black pepper, mustard seed, cloves, and chillies.
Vegetables : Asparagus, courgettes, cauliflowers, broccoli, cabbage, green beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas and peppers are good. Reduce beets & carrots and avoid tomatoes.
Kapha diet
Avoid large quantities of food, especially at night.
Dairy products: Avoid aged cheese. Avoid or reduce other cheeses and yoghurt. Low-fat milk is better. Always boil milk before you drink it, and take it warm. Do not take milk with meal or with sour or salty foods. You may add one or two pinches of turmeric or ginger to whole milk before boiling.
Fruits: Favour lighter fruits such as apples and pears. Reduce heavy or sour fruits such as oranges, bananas, pineapples, figs, dates, avocados, coconut, and melon.
Sweeteners: Honey is good (not heated above 40C - see below). Avoid sugar products.
Beans: All beans are fine except tofu (soya bean curd).
Nuts: Avoid all nuts.
Grains: Most grains are fine, especially barley and millet. Restrict use of wheat, rice and oats.
Oils: Reduce or avoid all oils. A small amount of ghee (½-1 teaspoons/day) is fine.
Spices: All spices are good but restrict the use of salt.
Vegetables: All are fine, except tomatoes, cucumber, sweet potatoes and courgettes
Special advice
Milk: It is not recommended to take milk with a meal made up of mixed tastes especially salty and sour foods. It can be taken with sweet foods including grains. Milk is easier to digest after being boiled with spices such as ginger, black pepper, turmeric, and saffron.
Honey: Do not heat honey above body temperature (max. 40 degrees Celcius). Doing so decreases the benefits of honey and causes it to have a negative impact on health (it becomes a refined sugar).
Food best avoided: Minimize heavy foods (e.g. meats, especially red meat, fish, eggs, aged cheese), refrigerated and ice-cold foods and drinks (they depress digestion), raw vegetables (easier to digest when cooked) and alcohol.
Tea and coffee: Minimize tea and coffee consumption. The negative effects of both can be reduced by adding a little cardamom powder.
GMOs: It is strongly recommended that you avoid food that has been produced using genetically modified ingredients. Genetic modification of food disrupts the intelligence of the food and is very likely to produce subtle negative effects in the long-term.
Organic agriculture: Organic food is strongly recommended. It is more nutritious, more humane, less toxic, better for the environment, and has more sattva-balancing quality than industrially farmed food.
Food preparation
- Eat freshly-prepared food. Avoid leftovers, pre-cooked and fast food.
- Food is more easily digested if warm and well-cooked. Although cooked food has fewer nutrients than raw food, you are able to assimilate the nutrients better via cooked food.
- Food should look good and taste delicious.
- Food prepared by a happy, settled cook in a pleasant environment will provide the greatest nourishment!
Detoxifying Spice Mixture
* 1 part turmeric
* 2 parts ground cumin
* 3 parts ground coriander
* 4 parts ground fennel
Mix these spices together in bulk and store in a jar. When you are cooking a meal, place a small amount of ghee in a frying pan and heat on medium. Add detoxifying spice mixture, measuring out one teaspoon of spice mixture per serving of vegetables. Sauté spices until the aroma is released (but be careful not to burn). Add steamed vegetables, mix lightly and sauté together for one minute; or you can sauté the spice mixture in ghee and drizzle on vegetables or grains. Add salt and black pepper to taste.
Churna is a blend of herbs and spices which are designed to balance each dosha. You can mix them in advance to keep on hand, or just choose from the list of ingredients and add some or all of them to what you are cooking. It is helpful to use these churnas in their corresponding season, to improve dosha balance. All of them promote good digestion and assimilation of nutrients.
Vata Churna: Sesame, cumin, ginger, asafoetida (hing), coriander, fennel, cardamom, turmeric, red chili, garlic, cinnamon, nutmeg. It is warming and calming.
Pitta Churna: Coriander, star anis, saffron, nutmeg, cumin, mustard seed, grated coconut, sesame, fennel, cardamom. It is soothing, cooling, and reduces acidity. Can be used in hot weather to reduce body heat, impatience and irritability.
Kapha Churna: Fenugreek, cumin, coriander, mustard, ginger, garlic, fennel, hing, nutmeg, cardamom, turmeric, clove, red chili, cinnamon, dill, black pepper, aniseed. Helps digest heavier foods like proteins, starches and root vegetables, reduces mucous and gas and regulates digestion.
Aromatherapy
Aromas are also used in Ayurveda to achieve balance. Essential oils can be used in massage, inhalations or diffused to scent a room. Fresh flowers, herbs and spices, incense, and anything other aromas (not synthetic!) can bring great psychological and physical benefits.
Vata is balanced with a mixture of warm, sweet and sour aromas like basil, orange, rose, geranium, clove, and other spices.
Pitta is balanced by a mixture of sweet, cool aromas like sandalwood, rose, mint, cinnamon and jasmine.
Kapha is like Vata, and is balanced by a mixture of warm aromas, but with spicier overtones, like juniper, eucalyptus, camphor, clove and marjoram.
- by Patricia Mercier - **** This is an excellent book to start with, as it gives an overview of nearly all aspects of the Chakras. Not much depth, but useful for quick reference, and take the word "definitive guide" with a grain of salt...
- by Caroline Myss - ***** Recorded workshops - A really useful look at how to understand the chakras and apply that to your life - very practical as a guide for personal transformation - tough love!
- by Caroline Myss - ***** Another great series of talks, this time adding a lot of information about Archetypes into the mix.
, by Cyndi Dale - **** This book gives a great overview of all the major energy systems and traditions, with a section on the chakras.
- by Ambika Wauters - **** A really good look at the symbolism and meaning of the chakras on many levels, making it a good basic reference guide.
- by Ambika Wauters - *** A useful in-depth look at how the different archetypal energies are reflected in the chakras.
- by Anodea Judith - **** Workbook and CD are provided in this practical kit for working with issues in your own life through the chakras.
- by Anodea Judith - ***1/2 An audiobook read by the author explaining her understanding of the chakras through 30 years of working with them.
- by Anodea Judith - *** Somewhat more esoteric that the rest, but worthwhile.
- by Anodea Judith - *** Interesting look at the psychology behind the chakras.
- by Anodea Judith and Selene Vega - *** Theory and practical exercises for personal transformation.
- by Harish Johari - **** Provides the traditional Hindu understanding of the chakras, somewhat esoteric - not for casual interest!
- by Alan Finger -**** A good way to integrate the concept of the chakras into a hatha yoga practice, by a lovely teacher.
- by Peter Kelder - **** I recommend book two as it covers the same basic info about the Five Tibetan Rites as book one, plus it has good advice on breathing and health issues.
- by Christopher Kilham - **** A good guide to the Five Tibetan Rites with an explanation of the chakras and how they are affected by the sequence.