vata

Maybe you’ve heard yoga is great for your body, mind, and spirit, but you can’t get into it. Maybe you’ve been doing yoga for years, but you don’t feel as connected to your practice as you used to.

Some of us commit to a particular yoga style and never look back, but if you’re still looking for that perfect asana practice, or you want to mix things up in your current practice, you might find the remedy through the discovery of your dosha.

Sleep is one of the basic necessities of the body. Happiness, nourishment, strength, knowledge, life – all of these depend upon sleep. If sleep is disrupted long enough, it can lead to a lack of balance in the body, manifesting itself in several areas of one’s life, such as unhappiness, dietary misalignment, mental fog, and manifestation or  aggravation of various physical ailments. Ayurveda emphasizes the importance of sleep for total balance, but has different recommendations based on the dominant dosha.

What's Your Dosha?

Ayurveda is the ancient Indian science of health and philosophy that came about the same time as the Vedic texts, around 1500 BCE. The Rishis, or “seers”, who compiled the Vedas were known for their deep contemplative practices; they looked into their inner world to make observations and connections about living in accordance with the laws of nature. Ayurveda then became a means of preventative health and achieving overall wellbeing; therefore it encompasses all aspects of being—body, mind and spirit.

According to the philosophy of Ayurveda, anxiety is the manifestation of an imbalance in the body that originates in the mind, causing psychological changes similar to the body’s inherent response to stress. The core belief is that the body has an inherent wisdom and is able to  return the body, mind and spirit to a healthy, balanced state. It is truly amazing when we think about how immensely resilient our bodies are, despite the difficulties we often tend to impose upon them.

Ayurveda is one of the most ancient scientific approaches to holistic healing in human history. As one of the first collected systems of medicinal practice, the roots of Ayurveda can be found in Tibetan, Traditional Chinese, and Early Greek medicine. Originating in India between five and six thousand years ago, Ayurveda is a holistic form of medicine fundamentally based upon the laws of nature to treat the body, mind and spirit.