What's Your Dosha? Ayurveda Can Cure What Ails You

Despite being the world’s oldest holistic healing system—predating even Chinese medicine—Ayurveda is only now gaining traction on this side of the globe. Hailing from Ind

Follow the day's natural cycles.

We’ve talked about how Ayurveda can relate to sleep: The tradition says that the hours of the day are divided

Eat for your dosha.

People who have more Pittas tend to collect heat in the body (and have a strong aversion to being too hot); Vata tends toward cold dryness; and Kapha’s towards sluggishness. As such, each dosha needs a

Change with the seasons.

Long before the local food movement got its wings, Ayurveda was telling us to eat with the season. Here’s why: The seasons too are dominated by doshas. If fall is cool and airy like the Vata dosha

Know what throws your dosha off. 

Life is always getting in the way of balance, and it’s useful to know what can push you and your dosha over the edge. For instance, frequent traveling will likely aggravate the alre

Balance yourself with yoga and meditation.

Ayurveda uses yoga and meditation as balancing tools as well. So Pittas, who may have a tendency towards trying to control things, are encouraged to do postures that focus on surrende

Massage yourself!

Ayurveda also encourages abhyanga, a form of self-massage. We explain how to do it in our book, and ideally it becomes a daily morning ritual before showering. In short, it’s a soothing oil rubd

Seek out an ayurvedic doctor.

If you’re interested in going deeper with Ayurveda, you could go to Kerala, India, or you can seek out a practitioner in your area. Depending where you live this may take a little work. A few