Part 5 (2/2)

Engage in worry, fear, and excess mental activity.

Summary of Ways to Balance Vata People.

Live in a warm, moist, tranquil environment with a minimum of wind. Keep warm.

Live moderately and in a balanced, regular way in harmony with Earth cycles. Always be gentle to oneself. Avoid all physical, emotional, and mental excesses.

Eat warm and moist foods that have some oil content and do not stimulate gas (avoid beans). Avoid drinks and foods that have been chilled, frozen, or have ice cubes.

Eat foods that have sweet, salty, and sour tastes and are not light and dry (avoid dried or dehydrated food).

Get adequate sleep.

Meditate regularly to maintain a calm mind.

Try to make the environment as secure and safe as possible.

Kapha Dosha.

Images of Kapha Dosha People.

KAPHA CHARACTERISTICS ARE ALMOST OPPOSITE the characteristics of vatas. The symbolic animals are the elephant, bull, horse, sea turtle, or lion. Kapha dosha people have physical characteristics similar to that of most football linemen. Kaphas are the quiet, heroic work horses of the world who do their job without complaining. Kapha men and women are the quiet, family-oriented, homebody and homebuilder type people who are comfortable with the status quo. They tend to store and steward their energy in every aspect of their lives, whether it be body or money energy. They have pack rat tendencies in that they collect and hold onto everything, including possessions, money, the past, people, energy, words, and their weight. Kapha possesses many of the qualities of earth and water combined, such as we experience with mucus or mud. Kapha is inert, thick, heavy, sluggish, stable, viscous, sticky, cold, and slow-moving. A ”couch potato” is an image that fits a kapha who is in a kapha imbalance.

Physical Characteristics of Kapha People.

Weight is one place kaphas regularly tend to store energy. Kapha females and males have a difficult time losing weight. Females tend to gain weight in the lower part of their bodies, such as the hips and b.u.t.tocks. Kapha women tend toward water retention, especially premenstrually. The menstrual periods of kapha women are usually regular without excessive blood flow, and generally not too difficult.

Kaphas have heavy bone structures with wide shoulders and hips. Fingers and toes are usually short and squarish in relation to the rest of the body. The tendency to store energy is reflected in kapha's thickness and tendency to be heavy, to gain weight easily, and to store it most obviously in the hips and downward in the body. They are well-proportioned in terms of the relative sizes of body parts, and their joints are well-lubricated.

The skin of a kapha person is well-oiled, tans easily, and is smooth and thick. There may be a few freckles and an occasional mole. The skin may be cool but not cold, because kaphas usually have good circulation. Kaphas usually perspire moderately. Typical kapha hair is oily, slightly wavy, thick, and brown or dark brown. Nails are strong, large, and symmetrical, as are the teeth. The tongue of kaphas is rarely coated. A sweetish taste may be present in their mouths when they become unbalanced. Kapha eyes are often large and liquid, blue but also milk chocolate in color. Like their physical attributes, a typical kapha pulse is slow, full, rhythmic, and strong.

Exercise is very beneficial for kapha people. They tend to do poorly if they do not get sufficient or regular exercise. Paradoxically, they are not motivated to exercise until they actually begin to experience the sense of well-being regular exercise gives them. They often have good muscle tone and coordination and are the best able to endure vigorous exercise of the different dosha types.

In the realm of s.e.xual activity kaphas tend to have a lower s.e.x drive compared to the other doshas since they inherently like to conserve their energies; but, as with exercise, when they actually reap s.e.xual satisfaction this encourages them to engage in s.e.x more often because the experience was positive. Kaphas, as part of their homebuilding energy, are also very fertile.

The sleep of a kapha person is usually deep and long. They are the longest sleepers of the three doshas. They characteristically awake refreshed and alert. However, if they take naps during the day, they usually awake groggy and slow. Rarely do they have insomnia. Their dreams are usually calm and peaceful.

Food Needs of Kapha People.

The digestion in a kapha is slow and regular. Digestion is especially slowed if oily or fatty foods are ingested. Kaphas have a tendency to move their bowels one time per day. Their appet.i.tes are moderate, and they are the least thirsty of the three dosha types. Excess water may throw them into imbalance. My experience is that these people do better on less than the commonly recommended eight gla.s.ses of water per day. In my laboratory I'm able to test for optimal hydration. Often those with a kapha const.i.tution who drink six to eight gla.s.ses of water per day test as overhydrated. Because I eat primarily fruit and vegetables, if I, as a kapha-vata, drink more than four gla.s.ses of water per day I test as overhydrated. Excess fluid may precipitate a kapha imbalance, especially if it is a time of day when the kapha forces are strongest, such as 6 AM to 10 AM and 6 PM to 10 PM.

Kaphas are balanced by a diet that is light, warm, and dry. Oily, fatty, fried, salty, sweet, cold, and heavy foods create a kapha imbalance. The all-American diet of high fat and sugar content plus excess salt is the worst for kaphas. Fast foods are a disaster for them. Most dairy products are also unbalancing for a kapha const.i.tution. Raw foods with an abundance of bitter and astringent greens with some heating and pungent herbs const.i.tute the best type of diet because of kapha's tendency to gain weight and have slow digestion. The lighter kaphas eat at each meal, the easier their digestion and the better their health will be.

Psychophysiology of Kapha People.

The typical kapha personality is calm, quiet, steady, relaxed, and serious. They are the easy-going types who are the most unlikely to become upset by stress. Intellectually, they may at first be slow to comprehend, but once they grasp a concept they are able to work with it and hold on to it. In concert with their mental activity, they tend to speak slowly and carefully. They may be temperamentally disinclined to talk in that they do not initiate conversations easily unless they feel they have something of use to say. The voices of kapha people are often low and sonorous. There is a certain sweetness about kaphas in tone, voice, and manner.

Tolerance, calmness, forgiveness, and love are predominant kapha characteristics, as are righteousness, generosity, patience, humility, steadiness in relations.h.i.+ps, and stability of mind. There is a tendency to avoid confrontations. Kapha people often withdraw when confronted. There is a turtle quality about the social interaction of a kapha. Sweetness in their human interactions will lure them out of their sh.e.l.l.

Sometimes kaphas tend toward complacency and avoidance of change. They have a tendency toward inertia, as is typical of a tendency to store energy rather than expend it. But once the ball is rolling they can have strong emotions. They tend to procrastinate if they feel under pressure. Kaphas take a long time to make up their minds, but once committed to an action or a friends.h.i.+p, they are very loyal to the commitment. An imbalance of the kapha personality may manifest as pa.s.sivity, inertia, oversensitivity, possessiveness, or greed. Overattachment and greed are the two most common kapha imbalances.

Kapha types tend to experience their world and express themselves through their senses and emotions. They are linked to the material world. They tend to acc.u.mulate possessions. Their tendency to familiarity, long-term commitments, and the material world makes them be home- and family-centered in their desires and skills. A kapha mind retains information well, but kaphas are not particularly the theorizers of the world. They are good at settling down and running things once they are built, but they are not inventors of machines or explorers who discover new lands. Kaphas think in terms of stabilizing systems rather than creating systems. They are conciliators. This makes them good managers and bureaucrats. The tendency to resist change sometimes makes them inflexible. Kaphas are the solid citizens of the world who enjoy their lives and do not make too many waves unless they are pushed too far.

Spiritual Challenge of Kapha People.

A main spiritual task for a kapha is overcoming the tendency for inertia and complacency in a way that brings them into an active personal interaction established in the moment with people and the Divine. Kaphas may become stuck in the orthodoxy of a particular form of spiritual ritual or routine and lose the meaning and pa.s.sion for the Divine in the process. The key task is learning how to use their groundedness and their tendency for form to support and sustain an active, dynamic, expanding spiritual life that will transcend the form in order to keep them in communion with the Divine.

How to Recognize an Imbalance in the Kapha Dosha.

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