Know Your Dosha Type: Living Like a Vata

Aligning your lifestyle with your dosha is the key to balancing energy and enhancing your natural glow. Ayurveda believes our bodies are governed by three doshas or energies that define your physical, mental & emotional characteristics. Are you a dominant Vata dosha? Discover Ayurvedic meditation, movement, and diet recommendations to live in harmony with your Vata characteristics.Start your Ayurvedic journey today by embracing practices tailored to your Vata dosha for good health and well-being.

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Meditation for Vata

As a Vata, you might love the idea of meditation but struggle to stay still in one place, both physically and mentally. Your mind is like the clouds, ever-changing, so first and foremost, you’ll need something to hold your focus in place.

Seek out a teacher or class. 

One-to-one instruction from a teacher will give you a strong focus and with that, rather than going it alone, you will thrive.

Adopt a humming mantra. 

As a dosha governed by sound, Vatas are best suited to forms of meditation with a mantra. Introduce ‘Oms’ to a Vedic or Transcendental Meditation practice, or a slow, gentle or even silent hum in the mind to centre your attention.

Movement for Vata

Vatas love to move. Restless twiddling, tapping and fidgeting are likely your daily habits, yet building a regular exercise practice presents an entirely new challenge.

Light, swift and fast-paced, Vatas thrive on short bursts of energy. Endurance isn’t usually where your strengths lie, so why not work with this, rather than against it? Allow yourself the freedom to relinquish the long-distance runs and bench-press gym sessions, instead opting for something livelier. 

Indulge in Track sports

Running, sprinting, hurdling, jumping – anything that requires explosive bursts of energy is tailor-made for Vata. Squash, badminton and table tennis, too. 

Ballet or gymnastics. 

Gymnastic forms of yoga also suit graceful, poised and agile Vata perfectly. 

Trampolining

A form of movement with the bonus of helping stimulate the lymphatic system, boosting immune health.

Gentle jogging. 

Resisting the urge to pick up the pace, move mindfully, breathe deeply and become aware of your movement and surroundings. 

Yin yoga. 

Try a slow, restorative yoga practice to soothe your mind and body. 

Eating like a Vata

Vatas are characterised by coldness, so their diet is focused on boosting warmth. Chilling your system will only cause or accentuate an imbalance, so use these three simple tips as your guide to nurture digestive harmony and holistic health.

1. Eat at regular intervals. 

As much as possible, create a calm and relaxed atmosphere to sit down and eat in – avoid skipping meals and standing, walking or working whilst eating. 

2. Prioritise a warming diet. 

Opt for highly nourishing warm and cooked foods.  Avoid cold, raw foods like salads. Instead, work with sour, salty and sweet flavours.

3. Help from herbs and spices. 

You’ll really benefit from herbs and spices with warming and sweetening properties. Use herbs, and spices like caraway, cardamom, cloves, cumin, ginger, mustard seeds, nutmeg and fennel seeds freely in your cooking.

Skincare & Haircare For Vata Dosha

Since vata is composed of air and ether, those dominant with Vata doshas can often experience dryness on both skin and hair that can often lead to dull skin or dry and brittle hair. 

While Kama Ayurveda products are tridoshic, we recommend

Kama Ayurveda’s award-winning Kumkumadi Facial Oil, an authentic Ayurvedic facial oil with the goodness of Saffron & other botanicals that nourishes, brightens & even tones skin. It is also clinically proven to brighten & illuminate skin and delay signs of ageing.

Adding a deep conditioning, reparative hair mask like Bringadi Intensive Repair Post-Wash Hair Mask repairs hair fibre and prevents hair breakage. Use it weekly for best results.

Finally, abhyanga or body massage is essential to enhance blood circulation and encourage lymphatic drainage. Sugandhadi Body Treatment Oil can relieve skin dryness and flakiness, and also strengthen the muscles and bones. 

Related articles:

• https://www.kamaayurveda.com/uk/en_GB/the-yoga-class-pitta-flow
• https://www.kamaayurveda.com/uk/en_GB/the-yoga-class-kapha-flow
• https://www.kamaayurveda.com/uk/en_GB/the-yoga-class-vata-flow