Feeling lazy and low on energy? You may have a kapha dosha imbalance
Staying cozy under a blanket will help
‘Tis the season to be merry but everyone knows one unseasonal grinch who is mopey, lazy and reclusive, hibernating into a black hole until the last drop of frost melts. Think of those days when you feel a miasma of brain fog descend like the smog. Time to glug some eggnog and fix your kapha dosha imbalance.
As per Ayurveda, there are three body types or doshas, each with a unique set of physical and emotional characteristics — a creative vata, a competitive pitta or an intellectual kapha.
“Kaliyuga or modern life is a complete mismatch of what your body and mind need in order to remain healthy, given the lifestyle we are living,” says Dr Abhijit Jinde, Director at Sukhayu Ayurveda, Pune and consultant with Foodhall’s organic, stone-ground spice brand, Arqa Ayurveda.
Ayurveda is a logical science which helps people incorporate small and major, if needed, lifestyle and dietary principles. The kapha personality types, a congruence of earth and water elements, are lovable and radiate inner peace, until the dosha gets derailed, transforming them into food-scarfing, lethargic lumps.
Identifying a kapha dosha imbalance
The characteristics of the kapha dosha are sluggishness, immobility, heaviness, coldness, oiliness, stickiness, stability, and any increase or decrease will lead to an imbalance.
“Excessive increase of kapha will manifest as weight gain, repeated cold and cough with phlegm, loss of appetite, poor digestion, water retention, diabetes, formation of tumors and cysts,” says Jinde.
While a decrease of kapha will manifest as weakness, early degeneration, cracking in the joints, poor immunity, decrease in vitality and vigour. For a proper analysis, he recommends a prakruti examination by a qualified Ayurveda physician.
“According to Ayurveda, experience teaches us what is healthy and unhealthy, but with our fast lives and need to satisfy our sensory organs, we tend to make the same mistakes again and again, till we create imbalances and are afflicted with disease,” he says.
“We are not listening to our body as we are too busy, not observing the changes happening around us in different seasons.”
Feeling hungry during the winters, a poor appetite during the summers, Delhi bellies during the rainy season, an increase in hair fall and hyper acidity during autumn are some common seasonal changes in our body.
“If we eat healthy, no medicine will be required to treat the disease, and if the food is wrong, even the best medicines will be useless,” he says.
Fixing a kapha dosha imbalance
1. Time to move it, move it: avoid a sedentary lifestyle and incorporating daily exercise in to your routine.
2. Rub-a-dub in the tub: when you bathe, scrub down your body, if possible, take a steam bath, and steer clear of cold water while bathing.
3. Eyes wide open: scrap the daytime snooze and late mornings sleeping in to balance a kapha dosha out of whack.
4. Stay hydrated: drink copious amounts of warm water during the day.
5. Keep your toes warm: stay warm and cozy during cold weather
6. Drink a lot of herbal infusions: herbal infusions from the Arqa Ayurveda such as neem, katuki, bilva (bael), triple tulsi, ashwagandha and moringa are quick, and easy to drink. Simply infuse hot water with the herb of choice, as part of your morning or night-time routine.
Tridoshic remedies, using a class of specific herbs known as ‘Rasayan,’ which balances all the three doshas, such as ashwagandha, giloy, awala, haritaki, yashtimadhu, bramhi, shahtavari, anantamul and turmeric can be had in the form of tea or a powder dissolved in milk or water.
7. Avoid overeating and emotional eating: Eat Kapha pacifying foods such as okra, spinach, cherries, peppers, berries, etc in a peaceful environment.
8. An emotional detox: Use this time for a little mental spring cleaning. Focus on detachment and spend time introspecting and focusing on the present.