Ayurveda - Part 2

Vata

Vata literally means “to move” and is the energy of air and motion, so their bodies reflect this. Fast moving, dry, and gassy are the easiest ways to describe a vata person…but that’s also way too simplistic :)

Vata people are small framed and light, tending toward being underweight. They have dry skin and poor circulation, so their hands and feet are often cold. Cold, windy days are hard on vata bodies.

They don’t care too much about food, their appetite can come and go. They’re prone to digestive issues, especially gas, bloating, and constipation. The dryness of vata goes throughout the body, including the eyes, colon (constipation), hair, and skin.

Vata’s like to eat salads and raw veggies, but they’re the foods that can cause the most problems in their bodies. Oily cooked veggies bring the most balance, especially during the windy months of fall. This helps their digestive system absorb nutrients better as well (which is a struggle for a vata person).

They’re always in a rush and movement feels really good. They’re not good at sitting still and prefer constant activity. Running and vigorous activity is enjoyable, but they don’t have a lot of stamina and tire quickly. Travelling and adventure comes naturally to vata people.

They’re not very good sleepers and tend to sleep lightly and wake up easily. But, even with a small amount of sleep they tend to wake up with energy.

Vata-dominant people thrive in creative and spiritual fields. The “air/ether” quality of vata creates a strong spiritual connection (ether can be sometime considered to be spirit). They’re often clairvoyant. They have amazing imaginations and love coming up with new ideas. In balance they’re happy, joyful people.

You’ll always know what vata people have to say because they tend to be quite chatty and talk quickly. They’re easily excited and quick to act…even when things could use some pondering first.

They get easily bored and tend to move, change furniture, jobs, and love change. They also can feel unstable and ungrounded and have low willpower.

The emotion that drives vata energy is fear and out of balance vata’s tend to feel fearful, anxious, and can be worriers.

Vata out of Balance

The fast movement and frequent change that they love can overstimulate vata energy and cause imbalances.

Some symptoms of Vata Imbalance are:

Restless, hyperactive mind
Insomnia
PMS
Constipation
Gaseous distention
Weakness
Arthritis
Pneumonia
Excessive dry skin
Dry lips, hair, heels, eyes, etc
Nerve disorders like twitches and tics
Mental confusion
Palpitations
Breathlessness
Muscle tightness
Low back pain
Sciatica

Loud noises, drugs, sugar, caffeine, cold weather, windy weather, and cold foods can throw a vata person out of whack.

Grounding and slowing down is one of the best ways to find balance for a vata person, and you’ll see with the food lists that vata-balancing foods are slow growing, heavy, grounded foods, like root veggies.

Fall is a hard time for a vata person, the wind and cooler weather aggravates their symptoms. Happily, fall foods are some of the best balancers for a vata constitution…nature is amazing :)