Meditation and Your Dosha
Use silent meditation to balance the doshas and bring yourself back into a calm and centered state.
Kapha
Use silent meditation to balance the doshas and bring yourself back into a calm and centered state.
Try this meditation to clear your mind and welcome fresh energy.
Familiarizing ourselves with the dominant doshas of the season and acknowledging what feels in (and out) of balance in our own constitution allows us to choose activities, foods, and even meditations that can support us through changes in seasons and in our personal lives.For example, in the spring the dominant dosha is Kapha. Because Kapha is associated with the elements...
Because the three doshas describe the nature, or Prakriti, of each individual, they help to make your life choices more conscious—this applies very powerfully in making your communication skills better. Many psychologists would affirm that it takes emotional intelligence (EQ) to get a feeling for any situation where two or more people are speaking, yet Ayurveda anticipated this notion by...
Traveling endows us with the clear, light, mobile qualities of Vata, and can provide insights and open our eyes to a perspective we may have been missing. Vacations inspire us with new beauties of the world, cultures, and nature, and remove us from the redundance of our day-to-day energy bubble and life routine.Whether you are embarking on a romantic getaway,...
Keep your Kapha at bay this spring with these Ayurvedic herbs.
As we move from the cold blue winter into the warm and sunny summer, it is the time to transform with nature. The spring equinox marks the start of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere while it is the start of the autumn season in the Southern Hemisphere. Spring: The Kapha Season Spring is a time of transformation. Elements...
In Ayurveda, creating energy in the body is a function of agni, or our digestive fire. This includes the digestion of food into nourishment, as well as the digestion of our daily life experiences into nourishing thoughts and emotions.
Our prakruti, or nature, doesn’t change. It’s like our unique fingerprint, or DNA. Our individual proportions of the doshas are what makes us unique. However, since we have all three of the doshas within our constitution, any of them can accumulate and get out of balance, which is our vikruti.
It’s that time again, when we are collectively dreaming about a new year and all the fascinating possibilities it could bring. Intention setting around the start of a year is a powerful tradition that actually dates back to ancient Babylon (~2000 BC). In those days intentions were most likely about pleasing the Gods. Presently, there is still a spiritual thread...
Ayurveda is a complete wellness approach that extends much farther than a healthy body. Once you understand your dosha, or mind-body type, and the constitutions of your loved one, Ayurveda can improve your relationship in unique ways.Compatibility in RelationshipsIn any relationship the first issue that Ayurveda can help with is compatibility. The doshas give you a good idea about the...
If you’re feeling a little unmotivated, lethargic, dull, or have put on some extra weight, have sluggish digestion, or can’t get out of bed, there’s a likelihood that this is an expression of excess Kapha in your mind-body physiology. This is fairly common this time of year due to the heavy energy that has accumulated over the winter and early...
Every month, Dr. Suhas will answer questions from our followers about men’s health and wellness. If you have general questions for him, please send us an email to askdrsuhas@chopra.com, and your question may be the one he answers next month.This month, Dr. Suhas answers questions around seasonal blues.Question 1: What Is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)?Dr. Suhas: SAD is a mood...
Every month, Dr, Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer will be answering questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness, please send us an email to askdrsheila@chopra.com, and your question may be the one she answers next month.There were several questions that came in this month regarding lung health. Certainly, lung health is...
Every month, Dr. Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer answers questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness. This month sha answers questions around meditation and preventing boils, abscesses, and cysts.
If you have a predominance of the Kapha dosha in your mind-body constitution, you possess many wonderful qualities that arise from the combination of the earth and water elements that comprise Kapha. While sometimes Kapha types are teased for being “too slow” or set in their ways, when they’re in balance, Kaphas are extraordinarily kind, accepting, and strong.Discover your dosha...
Every month, Dr. Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer answers questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness, please send us an email to askdrsheila@chopra.com, and your question may be the one she answers next month. You can also submit questions during her Instagram Lives that take place every Wednesday at noon (PST)...
An Ayurvedic approach to depression takes into account mental, spiritual, and physical aspects of health and well-being. Ayurveda has three subsets of depression.
From an integrative Ayurvedic perspective, your natural state is one of balance. This is exemplified by movement and circulation in the body or ojas. When there’s a lack of movement and circulation, it creates ama or congestion, inflammation, and, ultimately, allows in disease such as COVID-19.Particularly in the face of COVID-19, a highly contagious and severe virus, Ayurveda can empower...
In fact, today it’s more important than ever before to keep our immune systems in balance! This is where my Six Taste Bowl comes in, from my book Eat Feel Fresh: A Contemporary Plant-Based Ayurvedic Cookbook.When you consume a meal that contains the Ayurvedic six tastes, you are nourished from a cellular level. Each taste corresponds with different qualities, as...
Spring is the season of rebirth, renewal, and fresh beginnings, and the ideal time for clearing out the old and making way for the new. As the buds stretch toward the light, you have the capacity to grow in new ways each time spring comes around. According to Ayurveda, spring is a Kapha season, comprised predominantly of the water and...
Have you sent this text to your best friend recently? “I just don’t feel like doing anything. I don’t want to deal with it. I’m so exhausted!” Or have you been feeling unhinged and ungrounded—like you’re juggling dozens of balls in the air? “I am so busy. I just can’t get everything done. I feel like I’m running on empty!”...
Uncover the 6 tastes: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. Learn which foods fall into these categories and how they effect your doshas.
We all need some Kapha dosha in our constitution. It provides stability, strength, and structure to the body and grounding energy to the mind. When in balance, Kapha types have sturdy builds, good stamina, regular digestion, and a tranquil personality. Even-tempered, patient, and kind, Kapha types power through the stresses of everyday life with ease and grace.Excess Kapha dosha can...
Learn the physical and emotional characteristics of the Kapha dosha, how you can balance it, and what the proper Ayurvedic diet is.
According to Ayurveda, spending time in nature helps heal the body and mind. The ancient Ayurvedic medical texts provide a long list of outdoor sensory experiences that promote well-being and balance the doshas. Here are a few as they relate to each dosha.Balance Vata: The Earth Beneath Your FeetIf you’re feeling ungrounded and your mind is racing—clear signs of excessive...
Finding balance is one of the greatest challenges in an ever-changing world. And keeping yourself balanced is difficult enough before you add children to the mix. They too have their own doshas and their own daily imbalances, and it can be tricky to figure out what to do to help create harmony for them.The good news is that children tend...
In Ayurveda, health is much more than the absence of disease; it is the dynamic integration of the body, mind, spirit, and environment. Herbal medicine offers a gentle approach to enhance this integration and correct subtle imbalances. For Kaphas, herbal remedies can be especially helpful for promoting detoxification and renewal. Not a Kapha? Herbs to Balance Your Vata Herbs to...
As the cold and wetness of winter settle in, in the Northern Hemisphere we are moving from Vata season to Kapha season. In harsh winter climates, the effects are obvious, but even in more temperate climates, you can still notice the subtler changes that come with winter. With any shift in season, there are steps you can take to stay...
Doshas are the three energies that define every person's makeup. Knowing your dosha can help you live a healthier, more balanced life.Discover your dosha type here.In Ayurveda, the five elements that are found in all living things—ether, air, fire, water, and earth—are the building blocks of life. While this foundation unites all humans, the manifestation of those elements through the...
Routines can help keep your body and mind in a balanced and peaceful state. Try these easy-to-follow daily routines to stay energized.
Kaphas are calm, steady, and reliable when their dosha is balanced, but as soon as they fall off kilter, Kaphas can slow down to the point of inactivity. This means they can be sluggish, have a hard time motivating themselves, and can struggle with weight gain, allergies, and even depression.Aromatherapy is one way Kaphas can reinvigorate their dosha and get...
As a Kapha type, you’re blessed with great physical strength and steady energy. Because of this, you can excel at physical activities that require endurance, such as long-distance running, rowing, cycling, and hiking. You also have well-lubricated joints and are the least likely of the three dosha types to get injured.Frequent vigorous exercise is particularly important for Kapha types, who...
Each dosha expresses balance and imbalance in different ways. Kaphas tend to be calm and relaxed when balanced but will lean toward lethargic and apathetic when out of balance. One of the important goals of Ayurveda is being able to tune into yourself and become aware of the signs that you are getting out of balance so that you can...
Do you love the long nights of winter, or do you dread the early sunsets? Our mindset has quite a lot to do with how much we enjoy this time of year, and trading resistance for gratitude can change everything about how we experience it. It is colder, darker, and wetter in winter, and that can be seen as a...
The foundation of Ayurveda is that you can use your five senses as tools in order to experience healing and return to your most natural state of balance in mind and body. Your daily routine as it relates to the five senses—sound, sight, smell, taste, and touch—can all influence the way you feel and make a notable impact on your...
Your child is unique. Your child is incredibly special in ways no one else but you will ever know. There is, indeed, not one single person in the world like your child! That being said, if you have an interest in learning how to better understand your child, and help nurture their well-being, you may wish to investigate the Ayurvedic...
Have you ever wondered why the latest diets seem to work for everyone but you? Or have you observed two people handle the exact same situation with completely different emotional responses? Viewing the world through an Ayurvedic lens can shed light on why certain diets, experiences, and environments bring health and happiness to one person but do little for another.Discover...
Kapha balancing recipes to stay healthy and balanced this spring.
You can modify this recipe for your dosha by substituting other grains for the rice. See suggestions below. 1 cup basmati rice, (or other grain) uncooked* (sweet) 2 cups water ½ teaspoon salt, if desired (salty) ½ teaspoon nutmeg (pungent, bitter) 1 teaspoon cinnamon (pungent, sweet) ½ teaspoon clove (pungent, bitter) 1 cup vanilla soy milk (can substitute regular milk...
You can modify this recipe for your dosha by following the suggestions below.Ingredients: 3 cups bite-size vegetables, such as carrots (sweet), zucchini (sweet, astringent), yellow squash (sweet, astringent), potatoes (sweet, astringent), and leeks (pungent, sweet), kale or other dark leafy greens (bitter) 1 tablespoon ghee (sweet) 3 cups cooked barley (sweet) 1 cup fresh or frozen corn (sweet, astringent) 12...
This is a quick, delicious salad that takes only twenty minutes to prepare. The dressing suggestions and modifications to balance your dosha are below.Discover your dosha type here.Ingredients 2 pounds washed and stemmed spinach (bitter, astringent) ¼ cup sliced radishes (pungent) ½ cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (sweet, sour) ½ cup dried cranberries or currants (sweet, sour, astringent) 1 cup honey-glazed...
On National Booch Day (also known as National Kombucha Day), stay balanced with these kombucha flavors for each dosha. Discover your dosha type here.Creating a healthy body requires a wide variety of foods. Ayurveda gives us many tips for getting the variety we need. Ayurveda describes the Six Tastes of life-sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent-which all support our...
Although hummus now has a significant place in the western snack and appetizer world, it has been a staple of Middle Eastern cuisine for centuries. Hummus (or hommus) means chickpea in Arabic and can be found in recipes as far back as the 13th century. As meat was often hard to come by, the hearty bean dish has many variations...
Whether you’re cooking for a special friend, entertaining family, or treating that special someone to a romantic meal, these dishes are guaranteed to make an impression. Hint: Serve them with fresh organic salad or start with a light soup.Amaranth Crepes With Saffron SaucePitta and Kaphasaffron-amamrnth-asparagus.jpgCrepes are thin pancakes from France. Made with amaranth, a tiny seed related to spinach, these...
Nutrition and diet are great tools to help you keep your doshas in balance. Since the Kapha dosha is heavy, oily, and cold, it’s important to favor foods that are light, dry, and warm. Foods with pungent, bitter, and astringent tastes are most beneficial for pacifying Kapha. This delicious recipe is filled with ingredients, flavors, and spices that help balance...
Try this yoga practice to invigorate and inspire your mind and body
Practice this yoga sequence to stimulate digestion as we transition into springtime.
Yoga is an extraordinary practice for entering the state of body-centered restful awareness. It awakens grace and restores your sense of balance and wholeness. To reap the greatest benefits, it’s important to personalize your practice for your unique mind-body constitution, or dosha.In Ayurveda, the building blocks of life are comprised of five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether. The...
Our dosha expresses itself in how we think, speak, and write. With compassionate attention, we can elevate into inspiring communication that brightens moods and enhances connections.
You’ve probably noticed that during the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, people have been responding differently to their abrupt life changes. Since we all are very unique in our mind-body types, we will absolutely have varying responses to what is happening around us, and may need to focus on different practices to stay healthy—in addition to the typical preventive practices that...
Articles
A Meditation for Inspiration and Clarity
Try this meditation to clear your mind and welcome fresh energy.
Meditation to Create Balance for the Doshas
Familiarizing ourselves with the dominant doshas of the season and acknowledging what feels in (and out) of balance in our own constitution allows us to choose activities, foods, and even...
Communicate Consciously with the Doshas
Because the three doshas describe the nature, or Prakriti, of each individual, they help to make your life choices more conscious—this applies very powerfully in making your communication skills better....
15 Ayurvedic Travel Hacks for Balanced Vacationing
Traveling endows us with the clear, light, mobile qualities of Vata, and can provide insights and open our eyes to a perspective we may have been missing. Vacations inspire us...
Ayurvedic Herbal Remedies for Springtime
Keep your Kapha at bay this spring with these Ayurvedic herbs.
8 Ways to Nourish Mind, Body, and Spirit During Seasonal Transitions
As we move from the cold blue winter into the warm and sunny summer, it is the time to transform with nature. The spring equinox marks the start of the...
7 Ways to Boost Your Energy with Ayurveda
In Ayurveda, creating energy in the body is a function of agni, or our digestive fire. This includes the digestion of food into nourishment, as well as the digestion of...
Ask Dr. Sheila: Understanding Vikruti, Your Current State of Health or Imbalance
Our prakruti, or nature, doesn’t change. It’s like our unique fingerprint, or DNA. Our individual proportions of the doshas are what makes us unique. However, since we have all three...
Dosha Dreaming: Intention Setting According to Your Dosha
It’s that time again, when we are collectively dreaming about a new year and all the fascinating possibilities it could bring. Intention setting around the start of a year is...
How Ayurveda Helps Relationships
Ayurveda is a complete wellness approach that extends much farther than a healthy body. Once you understand your dosha, or mind-body type, and the constitutions of your loved one, Ayurveda...
Ask Dr. Sheila: How to Balance Kapha
If you’re feeling a little unmotivated, lethargic, dull, or have put on some extra weight, have sluggish digestion, or can’t get out of bed, there’s a likelihood that this is...
Ask Dr. Suhas: How Can Ayurveda Help Beat the Winter Blues?
Every month, Dr. Suhas will answer questions from our followers about men’s health and wellness. If you have general questions for him, please send us an email to askdrsuhas@chopra.com, and...
Ask Dr. Sheila: How Can I Improve My Lung Health?
Every month, Dr, Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer will be answering questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness, please send us...
Ask Dr. Sheila: Do Certain Doshas Do Better with Different Styles of Meditation?
Every month, Dr. Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer answers questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness. This month sha answers questions...
Kind-Hearted Kaphas! Why It’s Great to Be a Kapha
If you have a predominance of the Kapha dosha in your mind-body constitution, you possess many wonderful qualities that arise from the combination of the earth and water elements that...
Ask Dr. Sheila: Does My Dominant Dosha Change?
Every month, Dr. Sheila, Chopra’s Chief Medical Officer answers questions from our followers. If you have a general question for her around health and wellness, please send us an email...
Ayurvedic Approach to Dealing with Depression
An Ayurvedic approach to depression takes into account mental, spiritual, and physical aspects of health and well-being. Ayurveda has three subsets of depression.
3 Tips to Balance Kapha Amid COVID-19
From an integrative Ayurvedic perspective, your natural state is one of balance. This is exemplified by movement and circulation in the body or ojas. When there’s a lack of movement...
Building a Six-Taste Bowl with Sahara Rose
In fact, today it’s more important than ever before to keep our immune systems in balance! This is where my Six Taste Bowl comes in, from my book Eat Feel...
Kapha Season: Clear Yourself Inside and Out
Spring is the season of rebirth, renewal, and fresh beginnings, and the ideal time for clearing out the old and making way for the new. As the buds stretch toward...
Kriyas for Kapha: Poses to Get You Off the Couch
Have you sent this text to your best friend recently? “I just don’t feel like doing anything. I don’t want to deal with it. I’m so exhausted!” Or have you...
The 6 Tastes of Ayurveda
Uncover the 6 tastes: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. Learn which foods fall into these categories and how they effect your doshas.
5 Ayurvedic Spa Treatments to Energize Kapha
We all need some Kapha dosha in our constitution. It provides stability, strength, and structure to the body and grounding energy to the mind. When in balance, Kapha types have...
Understanding Kapha: How to Stay Healthy and Energized
Learn the physical and emotional characteristics of the Kapha dosha, how you can balance it, and what the proper Ayurvedic diet is.
How to Balance Your Dosha in Nature
According to Ayurveda, spending time in nature helps heal the body and mind. The ancient Ayurvedic medical texts provide a long list of outdoor sensory experiences that promote well-being and...
Keeping Your Children Healthy: Doshas for Kids
Finding balance is one of the greatest challenges in an ever-changing world. And keeping yourself balanced is difficult enough before you add children to the mix. They too have their...
Light and Aromatic Herbs to Balance Your Kapha Dosha
In Ayurveda, health is much more than the absence of disease; it is the dynamic integration of the body, mind, spirit, and environment. Herbal medicine offers a gentle approach to...
Healthy Habits for Kapha Season
As the cold and wetness of winter settle in, in the Northern Hemisphere we are moving from Vata season to Kapha season. In harsh winter climates, the effects are obvious,...
What Is a Dosha?
Doshas are the three energies that define every person's makeup. Knowing your dosha can help you live a healthier, more balanced life.Discover your dosha type here.In Ayurveda, the five elements...
Get Energized: A Daily Balancing Routine for Kapha
Routines can help keep your body and mind in a balanced and peaceful state. Try these easy-to-follow daily routines to stay energized.
Using Aromatherapy to Balance Your Kapha
Kaphas are calm, steady, and reliable when their dosha is balanced, but as soon as they fall off kilter, Kaphas can slow down to the point of inactivity. This means...
Energize Your Life: Exercise Tips for Kapha
As a Kapha type, you’re blessed with great physical strength and steady energy. Because of this, you can excel at physical activities that require endurance, such as long-distance running, rowing,...
Kapha Self-Care: Seek Stimulation and Movement
Each dosha expresses balance and imbalance in different ways. Kaphas tend to be calm and relaxed when balanced but will lean toward lethargic and apathetic when out of balance. One...
Four Mindful Practices to Lighten Dark Winter Days
Do you love the long nights of winter, or do you dread the early sunsets? Our mindset has quite a lot to do with how much we enjoy this time...
How to Use Music as a Tool to Balance Your Dosha
The foundation of Ayurveda is that you can use your five senses as tools in order to experience healing and return to your most natural state of balance in mind...
Why It Is Important to Know Your Child’s Dosha
Your child is unique. Your child is incredibly special in ways no one else but you will ever know. There is, indeed, not one single person in the world like...
Ayurveda Doshas: The Benefit of Knowing Your Unique Dosha
Have you ever wondered why the latest diets seem to work for everyone but you? Or have you observed two people handle the exact same situation with completely different emotional...
Detoxifying Spring Recipes
Kapha balancing recipes to stay healthy and balanced this spring.
Breakfast Rice Cereal
You can modify this recipe for your dosha by substituting other grains for the rice. See suggestions below. 1 cup basmati rice, (or other grain) uncooked* (sweet) 2 cups water...
Vegetable Barley Casserole
You can modify this recipe for your dosha by following the suggestions below.Ingredients: 3 cups bite-size vegetables, such as carrots (sweet), zucchini (sweet, astringent), yellow squash (sweet, astringent), potatoes (sweet,...
Spinach Greens with Gorgonzola
This is a quick, delicious salad that takes only twenty minutes to prepare. The dressing suggestions and modifications to balance your dosha are below.Discover your dosha type here.Ingredients 2 pounds...
Stay Balanced with these Kombucha Flavors for Each Dosha
On National Booch Day (also known as National Kombucha Day), stay balanced with these kombucha flavors for each dosha. Discover your dosha type here.Creating a healthy body requires a wide...
Celebrate National Hummus Day with These Three Recipes
Although hummus now has a significant place in the western snack and appetizer world, it has been a staple of Middle Eastern cuisine for centuries. Hummus (or hommus) means chickpea...
The Vedic Chef: 3 Gourmet, Vegan, Ayurvedic Dinner Dishes
Whether you’re cooking for a special friend, entertaining family, or treating that special someone to a romantic meal, these dishes are guaranteed to make an impression. Hint: Serve them with...
What’s Cookin’? Kapha-Friendly Nutty Broccoli Soup Recipe
Nutrition and diet are great tools to help you keep your doshas in balance. Since the Kapha dosha is heavy, oily, and cold, it’s important to favor foods that are...
A Yoga Practice to Clear Your Mind and Boost Your Energy
Try this yoga practice to invigorate and inspire your mind and body
Kapha Balancing Sequence for Optimal Digestion
Practice this yoga sequence to stimulate digestion as we transition into springtime.
Designing a Yoga Routine for Your Dosha
Yoga is an extraordinary practice for entering the state of body-centered restful awareness. It awakens grace and restores your sense of balance and wholeness. To reap the greatest benefits, it’s...
Elevate Your Communication According to Your Dosha
Our dosha expresses itself in how we think, speak, and write. With compassionate attention, we can elevate into inspiring communication that brightens moods and enhances connections.
Balancing Your Dosha During COVID-19
You’ve probably noticed that during the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, people have been responding differently to their abrupt life changes. Since we all are very unique in our mind-body types,...