Staying Balanced during Fall/Vata Season
Let’s take a look at the three Ayurvedic doshas and the Vata dosha in particular as Fall is Vata season which means that those with a Vata constitution are more susceptible to imbalances within the body-mind.
What are the Ayurvedic doshas?
There are three different body-mind types/constitutions/doshas that every human comes into the world with. And each dosha has specific and necessary functions that sustain us throughout our lives.
Vata (wind element/cool in nature) is responsible for movement and guides the flow of matter and information. It creates order within every part and aspect of us. It organizes the activity of the nervous system and carries nourishment around our bodies, in and out of our cells, and through our entire body-minds. Vata is responsible for chewing our food, swallowing, and peristalsis. So, the movement of our food from our mouths, to our stomachs, and through our digestive tracts (peristalsis).
On a more subtle level, vata corresponds to our minds and emotions. It’s also associated with circulation, the respiratory tract, organs of elimination and our bones and sexual organs.
When vata gets out of balance, these are the areas and aspects of our body-minds that will develop symptoms or even disease. So vata imbalance is linked with disorders that are related to the overactivity of the nervous system, including emotional fear and a rapid heart beat; too much air or dryness, which can show up in the joints, the bowels, and it can include things like mental spaciness.
To avoid issues in any of these areas we want to make sure that vata doesn’t become over-stimulated, which can happen more easily during the Fall/Vata season.
Kapha (earth element/cool in nature) is in charge of building the structure of our bodies. Tissues, bone, strength, and lubrication. Kapha supports strength and cohesiveness on every level of our being. It provides us with a firm foundation.
Kapha’s specifically connected with fluid and mucus production; it’s most active in our stomachs, lungs, lymph system, mouth, and joints.
When it’s out of balance, it affects the body’s ability to effectively process fluids. So Kapha imbalance is at the root of water retention, heaviness, lethargy, and any kind of congestion within the body-mind.
Pitta (fire element/warm in nature) is like a go-between for Vata & Kapha. It conducts the transformation of energy and heat production; it metabolizes our food into activity; it keeps you “hot on the trail”, one-pointed focus on a thought, relationship or career goal.
Pitta is in charge of digestion, the digestive enzymes that convert food into energy, with our hormonal systems, heart, blood, liver, intestines, spleen, eyes, and skin. It’s the body’s “cooking system”. Any inflammatory conditions with excess “heat” at the root like skin eruptions, peptic ulcers, emotional irritation, or a “hot temper” can be traced back to a Pitta dosha imbalance.
Everyone has all three doshas in varying combinations that are active to varying degrees at all times. But each of us has a predominance of one or two doshas. Some people have an equal balance of all three doshas, but that’s rare. Ayurveda recognizes seven different constitutional/psychophysiological body-mind types and each of us will naturally fit one of them:
Vata
Pitta
Kapha
Vata-Pitta or Pitta-Vata
Pitta-Kapha or Kapha-Pitta
Vata-Kapha or Kapha-Vata
Our constitutional body-mind type shows us what our individual nature is supposed to be. This constitutional type is also known as one’s prakriti (pruh-krih-tee), which is observable at birth and tends to stay with us through life unless an imbalance occurs in childhood or adulthood due to our lifestyle choices. So, for example, a vata predominant individual who’s naturally thin, can end up with unhealthy weight gain due to lifestyle choices which pushed them into a Kapha imbalance. A Kapha person can become unnaturally (by the standard’s of their unique body-type) thin due to illness, lack of nourishment, or extreme dieting.
Parents with more than one child will often note that one baby/child can seem quite different from their sibling(s). We can look at these differences through the lens of Ayurveda…
Vata-dominant babies can startle quite easily, have irregular bowel movements, and are extra sensitive to wet diapers, noise, or a cold draft. They’re quicker to laugh and cry, and are more interactive with others. They sleep less and wake up more easily than Pitta or Kapha babies (sorry mom and dad!).
Kapha-dominant babies tend to be heavier babies. They put on weight more easily, tend to be more reserved, to have regular bowel movements, they’re not particularly sensitive, they cry less, sleep longer and often through the night (who’s praying for a Kapha baby?!). That was joke… all of the doshas are beautiful and needed. They all have their “pros and cons”
Pitta babies have big appetites, they tend to focus intently on objects, they’re sensitive to the sun and light in general, they can be more irritable, are more easily frustrated especially when they’re hungry (always have healthy snacks on hand!), and they tend to get things like diaper rashes and/or eczema.
Imagine a world where parents have an understanding of their own innate constitutional tendencies and those of their children. A Pitta-dominant parent would likely have more patience for their Vata-dominant child’s tendency to feel anxious. A Vata-dominant parent might have more patience for their slower moving and slower thinking Kapha-dominant child. And a Kapha-dominant parent would better understand their Vata-child’s irregular sleep patterns and their Pitta-child’s tendency to get frustrated more easily. When a child’s imbalanced, these parents would know what to do to bring their child’s body-mind back into balance using practical lifestyle tools.
We can also view the doshas through the lens of Western research…
Cardiologist and internist Caroline Thomas and psychiatrist Barbara Betz tracked the physical and mental health of 1,000 John Hopkins Medical School students for thirty years to find connections between personality traits and health issues over the long term. They divided the students into three “temperament” categories from the start. Try to guess which category was Vata, Pitta, or Kapha:
First group: The alphas were “cautious, steady, self-reliant, slow to adapt, and non-adventurous.”
Second group: The betas were “lively, spontaneous, clever, and flexible.”
Third group: The gammas “tended toward extremes—sometimes they were overly cautious, other times heedless and tyrannical”
The researches concluded that temperament may be the essential contributor to illness and that temperament “is the underlying core of the self.”
In terms of doshas, it’s likely that the first group was Kapha, the second balanced vata, and the third pitta with some of the participants expressing an imbalance.
The bottom line is this… whichever dosha we’ve got, balance is key. Because when the dosha’s balanced we will express happiness and health in body, mind, and emotions.
Okay, getting back to Fall season and the Vata dosha. What comes to mind when we think of Fall season? Other than pumpkin spiced lattes. We think of leaves drying up and falling from trees. Cool breezes and wind. Shorter days and longer nights. It’s a very vata season, right? I love the fall and winter seasons! I come alive in the fall. But I am a Vata-Pitta living in Southern California where the weather is quite temperate. However, as a Vata, when the Santa Susanna winds kick in and persist for days on end, I kind of start to lose my marbles. My mind can scatter like the leaves blowing across our yard. If I’m not careful, my skin gets super dry, not unlike the crispy leaves that have settled on the ground. And I don’t want to be a crispy lady.
I also become extra hungry, voracious really, for knowledge during this time. This is a positive thing in general, but again, I must watch out for exhausting myself mentally.
As a menopausal, Vata woman? Forget it! I have to be sure duper extra on top of my lifestyle habits. Why? Because while Fall season is Vata season, menopause season is also the Vata season of life for everyone. So every woman can experience more Vata related issues in their later years, but for Vata-dominant women these issues can be more problematic. Much more on this topic to come, but let’s just say that I have to stay on top of my lifestyle habits or else.
When we think about the Ayurvedic approach to balancing our doshas, we can think in terms of opposites. Vata is associated with the wind element, it can become de-stabilized or ungrounded. Kapha is associated with the earth element, it’s all about a strong, grounded foundation. So, we can use things that have the Kapha quality to balance our body-minds. To stabilize us and keep us feeling grounded. Vata is also cool in nature. So, we can use things that have Pitta, the fire element, for their warming qualities to, for example, maintain strong digestive fire (Agni).
The following tips & tricks are very Kapha and/or Pitta in nature, they can serve to prevent or reverse vata imbalances.
Tips & tricks for staying balanced:
Choose seasonal foods like root vegetables, squashes, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes and so on. These foods help to ground us physically, mentally, and emotionally
Enjoy soups, stews, congee, kitchari as they’re deeply nourishing, hydrating, very easy on digestion
Gluten-free oat meal and porridges of all kinds are excellent as hearty grains in general are wonderful during the Fall season
Organic dairy products are great if you can tolerate them
Nuts and seeds are excellent
Legumes are a staple in our home during Fall
And spices are excellent! They support digestion, they contain additional nutrients and antioxidants, and they make our meals extra delicious
If you eat meat and/or eggs, Vata season is a great season for them
I rarely eat anything cold or raw. Remember, Vata is cool in nature. Cold/raw foods and cold drinks can push the cold too far. They can weaken digestion and throw our bodies off balance. If you must consume cold and/or raw, please consider keeping it to a real minimum during this season as cold/raw can really exacerbate Vata Dosha. Consider drinking a warm CCF tea (Cumin, Coriander, Fennel Seed) with a slice of ginger root or a ginger root tea to support Agni (digestive fire) which supports digestion
Make sure you’re getting healthy fats in every day. I love ghee (clarified butter) especially for cooking as it has a very high smoke point. Organic toasted sesame oil’s great during the fall/winter seasons because it has a warming nature (watch out for this one if you have a Pitta (too much heat in your system) imbalance. High-quality olive oil is excellent. I pull back a bit on coconut oil as it’s cooling in nature, I use it more during the summer months.
Abhyanga (self-massage) with oil. Untoasted sesame oil is great during Fall/Vata season. I use an Ayurvedic herbalized oil that I get from a wonderful brand called Athreya Herbs. They have all things Ayurveda. I cannot say enough positive things about self-massage before showering. I’ve been practicing abhyanga for around fifteen years and I believe it’s one of the main reasons that my skin looks and feels so healthy at 52 years old and menopausal. It’s never too early (or too late) to start, ladies.
Warm water
Herbal teas are hydrating and they can contain vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants
Cover your head, neck, and upper chest especially when it’s windy and/or cold outside
Watch your screen time and “the news” both can exacerbate Vata
Rub oil on your feet at night before bed. it’s very soothing and grounding. I apply while I’m in bed and then put socks on my feet. I started this practice about a decade ago and wow! Improved my sleep so much! Plus it just feels good.
***CCF Tea is very easy to prepare. Get organic and whole seeds of Cumin, Coriander, and Fennel. Equal parts of each seed. For example, one teaspoon of each seed. Or one quarter cup of each seed if you want to prep a larger batch to store for future use. Simmer 1 tsp of mixture to 8 ounces of water for 5-10 minutes. Strain and serve.