Happy and healthy with ayurveda, page 2/2
Ayurveda is more than just warm oil treatments
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Ways to calm the vata dosha
- Establish a regulated day and night rhythm
- Take small rests during the day
- Go to bed before 10:00 p.m. and sleep at least seven or eight hours
- Eat well seasoned, warm and fortifying food, especially milk products
- Spoil yourself with oil massages
How to recognize an elevated pitta dosha
The pitta dosha becomes elevated through negative emotions, such as anger, fury, hate, jealousy, envy, professional stress, sport, saunas and sun bathing, in addition to night shifts and working near fire, furnaces and chemicals. Sour, salty, spicy and hot food, as well as the consumption of alcohol and cigarettes participate in elevating the pitta dosha, which is expressed by the body through a desire for cold air, an aversion to heat, increased sweating, oily skin, frequent bouts of hunger and thirst, indigestion, diarrhoea, rashes, lip herpes, fever, greying or loss of hair, a burning sensation when urinating, infections and yellowing of eyes, skin, stool and urine.
Ways to calm the pitta dosha
- Do not work too long and go to bed before 22:30 pm
- Do not eat more than four times a day
- Eat mostly sweet, cool, bitter food and drink cool drinks but not cold ones from the refrigerator or freezer
- Avoid heat, saunas and sun bathing
- Do not exhaust yourself by playing too many sports; go swimming instead of running, and this in the morning or evening.
How to recognize an elevated kapha dosha
The kapha dosha becomes elevated when their is a lack of movement, too much sleep, cravings and a high alcohol consumption, as well as sad, gloomy and nostalgic thoughts, damp, cold weather, rain and working in damp and cold environments. The kapha dosha is also elevated by sweet, sour and salty, cold, heavy, damp and oily foods. An elevated kapha dosha is expressed in the body by fatigue, lack of drive, lethargy, a feeling of physical heaviness, weight gain or being overweight, a general paleness, slow movements, lack of appetite, slow digestion, nausea, vomiting, swollen limbs, mucous build up, such as colds, bronchitis, sinusitis, as well as asthma, hardening of the arteries and fatty degeneration of the organs and tissue.
Ways to calm the kapha dosha
- Be sure to exercise regularly and stay active
- Eat warm, dry, spicy, bitter or sour foods. Do not drink a lot, and when you do drink something, make sure it is hot, never cold.
- Do not sleep during the day or after meals
- Sleep no more than six or seven hours a night
- Rub yourself with sunflower or mustard seed oil and work up a sweat afterwards
