A Guide to The Doshas
Before modern medicine recognized the power of genetic individuality, Ayurveda had already mapped out a personalized approach to health. Your dosha is not just a label – it’s an empowering guide to making choices that align with who you are. When you understand your unique blueprint, you no longer have to guess what’s right for you. Instead, you get a blueprint that supports your natural rhythms, leading to vitality, balance, and longevity.
What's a Dosha?
Doshas govern a personal blueprint for your health—a unique guide that helps you understand how to eat, move, and live in a way that brings out your best self. In Ayurveda, this blueprint is known as your dosha. Doshas are the biological compositions that make up every individual.
They govern physical, mental, and emotional characteristics like your genetic code. Just as no two people share the same genetic makeup, no two have the same doshic composition.
Understanding your dosha is key to creating a wellness plan that truly works for you.
Introducing The Doshas
Ayurveda recognizes three primary doshas: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Each of us has a unique combination of these energies that form our physical body. Each dosha has specific functions, qualities and effects. The time of day, the seasons and even our life cycles are all governed by doshas. Doshas create balance in the body and when out of balance, the doshas can create the defect or disease. We have all three doshas in us but we have them in unique combinations. This unique combination is what creates YOU and is the reason why Ayurveda is highly individualized.
Vata Dosha
RESPONSIBLE FOR:
The Energy of Movement
IN BALANCE
- Creative
- Flexible
- Adaptable
- Enthusiastic
- Artistic
- Energetic
- Thinks outside the box
OUT OF BALANCE
- Creative
- Flexible
- Adaptable
- Enthusiastic
- Artistic
- Energetic
- Thinks outside the box
Pitta Dosha
RESPONSIBLE FOR:
The Energy of Transformation
IN BALANCE
- Organized
- Joyful
- Persuasive
- Leader
- Courageous
- Athletic
- Often driven
OUT OF BALANCE
- Heartburn
- Hypertension
- Headaches
- Irritability
- Loose stools
- Inflammation
- Burn-out
Kapha Dosha
RESPONSIBLE FOR:
The Energy of Movement
IN BALANCE
- Stable
- Patient
- Loving
- Strong
- Having endurance
OUT OF BALANCE
- Weight gain
- Sluggish digestion
- Depression
- Greed
- Lethargy
- Brain fog
- Acne
- Allergies
- Congestion
- Water retention
Prakruti and Vikruti:
Understanding your Ayurveda constitution
To truly grasp how the doshas influence your health and well-being, it’s essential to distinguish between prakruti, your innate constitution, and vikruti, your current state of imbalance.
Prakruti is the unique equilibrium of the three doshas—Vata, Pitta, and Kapha—established at conception.
This foundational blueprint governs your physical structure, physiological tendencies, and even mental-emotional patterns. It determines characteristics such as bone density, metabolism, cognitive function, and susceptibility to certain health conditions. Importantly, prakruti represents a state of balance—free from symptoms, disharmony, or dysfunction.
Vikruti, on the other hand, reflects the deviations that have occurred since birth. It is the dynamic state of your doshas that is influenced by diet, lifestyle, environment, stress, and other external factors. When vikruti closely aligns with prakruti, the body and mind function optimally, with minimal symptoms or discomfort. However, the greater the divergence, the more pronounced the signs of imbalance, manifesting as symptoms, illness, or chronic disease.
Assessing your constitution—whether through a dosha questionnaire or an in-depth Ayurvedic consultation—requires looking at both your long-term patterns (prakruti) and your current experience (vikruti). This holistic view provides a clearer understanding of your natural constitution and the imbalances that may be present, allowing for more precise and personalized recommendations for restoring balance.
So, whats your Dosha?
Your constitution, or the amount of each dosha within you, is as unique as your fingerprints. Understanding how the doshas work within you is a lifelong journey of exploring cause and effect. Begin with our dosha questionnaire, and get to know more about how the doshas influence your mind, body, and emotions.
The Science of Balance and Imbalance
The Sanskrit word “dosha” translates to “that which is prone to imbalance.” This definition itself highlights why understanding the tendencies of the doshas is so crucial to maintaining health.
Each dosha—Vata, Pitta, and Kapha—has inherent qualities, and when one accumulates in excess, it disrupts physiological equilibrium, leading to symptoms and disease patterns that mirror its attributes. While any dosha can become imbalanced, your predominant dosha is the most susceptible to dysregulation.
For instance, if your prakruti (natural constitution) is predominantly Kapha, and you adopt habits that aggravate Kapha—such as consuming heavy, oily foods and leading a sedentary lifestyle—you may experience Kapha-related imbalances like weight gain, lethargy, depression, or metabolic disorders such as diabetes.
Ayurveda’s guiding principle for restoring balance is:
“Like increases like, and the opposite brings balance.”
This means that to correct an excess of a particular dosha, you apply opposing qualities:
Excess Vata
Dryness, Restlessness, Anxiety
Favor grounding, warm, and nourishing foods.
Excess Pitta
Heat, Acidity, Inflamation
Incorporate cooling, soothing, and calming practices.
Excess Kapha
Heaviness, Congestion, Sluggishness
Increase movement, lighten the diet, and stimulate circulation.
By recognizing the natural tendencies of each dosha—and your own predispositions to imbalance—you can make informed choices that proactively restore balance. For a deeper understanding, explore our programs, where you’ll learn how to personalize these principles for your unique constitution
Doshas & Personalized Medicine:
The Science Behind Your Blueprint
Modern science is now catching up with what Ayurveda has known for thousands of years:
that health is not one-size-fits-all.
Genetics & Doshas
Just as your genes dictate how your body processes nutrients or responds to stress, your dosha plays a role in your natural strengths and susceptibilities.
Circadian Medicine
The body’s internal clock, or circadian rhythm, aligns closely with Ayurveda’s daily routines for optimizing digestion, sleep, and energy.
Personalized Wellness
By knowing your dosha, you gain the tools to create a lifestyle that supports your unique physiology.
Getting started with Ayurveda
If you’re new to Ayurveda, the best place to start is by working with a trusted Ayurvedic practitioner who can help you understand your unique constitution, identify imbalances, and create a plan to restore harmony. Over time, you’ll develop the ability to tune in to the subtle signals of your body and mind, making adjustments at the earliest signs of imbalance—long before symptoms progress into illness or disease. This is the true freedom Ayurveda offers: the power to take charge of your well-being.
Your natural state is one of vitality, clarity, and balance—believe in that. When you learn to listen to your body’s wisdom, true health unfolds effortlessly.
Not sure where to begin? Take the Modern Dosha Quiz to discover what makes you uniquely you and gain insights into your natural tendencies.
You’ll receive a comprehensive dosha report featuring recipes, daily routines, and guidelines.
You’ll receive a comprehensive dosha report featuring recipes, daily routines, and guidelines.
You’ll receive a comprehensive dosha report featuring recipes, daily routines, and guidelines.