Ayurveda Mini Series Part 3: How Your Dosha Contribute to Your Success Vata, Pitta, Kapha | Ep. 61

Hi everyone. If you're feeling overwhelmed, burned out, and if you're looking for a solution that helps you to heal in a way that is also energizing and confidence building, you're in the right place. This series is all about achieving optimal wellness by merging your self-fulfillment with your career. You know, there's something more. You're curious, motivated, driven. You're seeking momentum in your personal life and in your career. Yeah. Our last conversation, we talked about exploring the importance of being in integrity and authenticity with our minds, values, and community. I'm a metaphor person, so I thought of a metaphor for you for this. Just like a pianist, a piano player, right, must possess the mental skill, the functional piano instrument, and the heart of the music in order to play a beautiful concerto. All 3 have to be in total alignment or integrity in these areas to allow your visions and kind of your passions to manifest. And today we're going to continue exploring Ayurveda's tried and true solutions to help you achieve optimal wellness and fulfillment in your personal and professional life. Today, you are going to learn 4 key things. They are, number 1, what does balance mean according to Ayurveda? Number 2 is, what is a dosha and how are each of the 3 doshas different? By the way, you're going to get a quiz on this, so stay tuned. You're gonna have to figure out some characters and what their doshas are. It's really fun. Number 3 is how to assess your own dosha. And hint, by the way, we have a self-assessment quiz that is by far the best and most accurate one I've ever seen, especially as it pertains to career-oriented people. So take that. And the last thing you're going to learn is you're going to get a sneak peek into a few pro tips for balancing your doshas. But of course, we have so much of that in detail in the mini course, and the link for the mini course is in the bio. So welcome. I'm Dr. Nicole Cain. I'm the host of the Get Your Life Back podcast and drnicolecain.com. And my mission is to help you to demystify the messages from your mind and body so that you can learn to identify and implement solutions that catapult you into such a state that it obliges wonderment. And my particular passion is helping people around the world conquer anxiety. And I am so lucky today. Again, I am being joined by Hadlee of Happy Healthy Hadlee, and Hadlee is a health and lifestyle coach. She helps people feel better in their bodies, have more energy, cultivate a better relationship with food, become less stressed and more joyful in their day-to-day lives. And she has an online program called Healthy, Happy, Healthy Habits, where she combines the concepts of behavioral science, habits for optimal health, and group dynamics to help you, her client, make lasting influential changes in their lives. Oh, and by the way, if you didn't know, we actually created a mini course together, Hadlee and I, which will help you to create clarity around what success is for you and how to achieve success with your doshas, your mind-body constitution. And that is called Your Ayurvedic Dosha: The Key to Your Success. And if you haven't checked it out already, please do. And so Hadlee, I'm so glad that you're here. Thank you for being here. I've been looking forward to this conversation in particular.

Oh my gosh, thank you so much for having me. I have been too. I've been like secretly, this might be my favorite one. Thank you. Talking about, talking about all the doshas and getting into balance with them and, and also talking about them in a slightly different way. If you, if you've ever heard of the doshas, heard about Ayurveda, you might have learned about them in a slightly different way than what we're going to talk about here. So Get excited for that. Um, and yeah, let's get started. I'm super pumped.

So I was wondering if you could start us out. We talked in a previous conversation about what Ayurveda is, but in case this is the first episode someone's jumped in on, do you mind just refreshing our memories?

Absolutely. So Ayurveda is an ancient Indian health science, essentially, uh, and A lot of times people will describe it as the sister science to yoga. Essentially, in Sanskrit, which is the language that ancient Ayurvedic practitioners used, it's been around for 5,000 years, actually over 5,000 years. That's when it was written down. It's been around for a very, very long time. They— Ayurveda in their language means the science of life, or it could also mean the sacred knowledge of life or longevity. So ayu means life or longevity, veda means science or sacred knowledge. So it's really this beautiful, this really beautiful thing. A lot of Sanskrit words are not easily translated into English. There's a lot more behind them. And so It's kind of like how Latin kind of encompasses more than a lot of the languages that come from Latin. Anyways, I just get really geeked out about, about the etymology and about all of the things to do with Ayurveda. But essentially, it's a holistic tradition and a way of living that teaches us how to have a human body, really is what it's about. And so, you know, It's all about getting into rhythm with our nature and what our bodies really need us to do, want us to do. You know, it's not about quick fixes, it's not about diets, it's not about herbs, though we do love herbs and we have, we have a module on herbs in our mini course. But it's not a quick fix thing, it's really about being an active participant in your health. And, you know, it's really— it's a huge system, but essentially the purpose of Ayurveda is to become healthy. And the definition of health, which we've talked about before, is the state of being in which body, mind, soul, and senses are in blissful equilibrium. So if you want to learn more about like That, just that alone, we've— we go into that a lot more on previous podcasts, so you can go back and listen to those. But I wanted to talk today about— we wanted to talk today about the doshas. So, you know, you may have heard of the doshas, or you may not, and that's totally fine too. We're gonna— we're gonna kind of break them down today. So essentially Doshas are mind-body constitutions. They are the manifestation of 5 different elements that the ancient Ayurvedic practitioners really identified. Those 5 elements, we're going to start with the elements and then we're going to talk about how those elements play into the doshas. I find that that's actually the easiest way to understand them rather than trying to just memorize like oh, this is my dosha and that means this thing about me. If we can think about it in terms of what the elements are, then we can actually think about how those things might show up in our bodies, how they might show up in our minds, our emotions, all of that good stuff. And you'll get what I mean in a minute. So the 5 elements are ether, which is kind of like, you can think of it as space. So there's ether and air, which you can think of as more wind. So those are slightly different. Space is more like Space with the absence of wind, and then there's wind. And then the third one is fire. And the fourth one is water. The fifth one is earth. So also, as I'm explaining these, I've kind of put them in order from the most subtle to the most tangible. So space is essentially nothingness, right? It's like if you think of outer space, It's like there's— it's like nothing. And then air is a little bit more tangible. We can feel air, right? We can feel it on our skin. We can feel wind across our body. And then you have fire. Can definitely feel that, but it's not a solid. And then there's water. That becomes more and more tangible, but it still slips through our fingers. And then there's earth. And that, we can pick that up. We can throw it around. That's like the most tangible thing. So that'll be helpful to know going forward. You know, it's the most subtle to the most tangible. So the manifestation of these 5 elements through our doshas kind of gives rise to our differences. And, you know, different substances and different behaviors can include more and less of certain doshas. So we have doshas in our own constitutions, in our own bodies, in our own minds, but there are also, you know, external things that hold these qualities as well. You don't need to know a ton about that, but just know that it's not like just a naming system. It's not, it's not just a like fun quiz. There's more to it than that. So, so we've got these 5 elements, and now we'll explain what the doshas are in terms of the elements. So we've got vata. Vata is, is ether, space, and air. or wind. So, so we'll say space and wind. That's vata. You can think of it as— well, we'll go into the qualities of it. That— so just remember that vata is, is ether and air. Think of people with a lot of air and space in their constitution, in their bodies, or in their minds, and we'll go into more of that. Pitta is mostly fire With a little bit of water as well. They have a little bit of oiliness. And so, so that's pitta. And then you have kapha, and kapha is water and earth. So that's obviously the most dense, right? Water and earth, you put that together, you get mud. So you can kind of think of it that way. So those are, those are the, the outlines of each thing, and we're gonna dive into what the heck that means for all of us.

So to recap, we have— so the doshas are kind of describing this mind-body constitution, and there are 5 elements that come into play. And each of the 3 doshas are— these elements are kind of manifesting or contributing to the dosha. So as opposed to starting with the dosha and trying to understand it, If we understand these elements, the air, fire, water, and earth, and what they mean and how they manifest, it can actually explain what's happening in our bodies with more clarity.

Exactly. Yeah. So we can think of it more as like, this is how my— this is how these elements are showing up in my body, rather than memorizing what the doshas are and what they mean. Right. So yeah, so and and all of us are this is this is an important piece of it. All of us are born with a unique constitution that is made up of all three of the doshas or all five of the elements. So we all have all of these things in us, but we have different like you can think of it kind of like a pie. So we have different sizes of slices of pie in there. So you know if you have You might have a lot of kapha in your constitution, and that's the that's the water and earth one. And so that would be the biggest slice of pie in the in the pie. And then you might have a secondary dosha of pitta perhaps, and that would be the second biggest slice of pie. And then you'd have the smallest slice of pie would be vata. And so that's gonna you know the sizes of pie is gonna they're all gonna change for for everyone and um. And you can get out of balance with any of them too. And that's really what I like to focus on with people is instead of thinking about like, what is my constitution, like, you know, and optimizing for that, it is helpful to know how we might get out of balance the, like, the most easily. And when we have a big piece of the pie, that's what— that's the one that's the easiest to get out of balance for us. But It's more helpful to simply know when we are out of balance, which ones we're out of balance in. And so thinking about it more in terms of like, oh, I'm in— I'm experiencing an imbalance in this dosha, here's how I can actually get it back into balance, rather than thinking of it as like, I am a kapha or I am a pitta. That's not necessarily that helpful to think of it in terms of like a personality, or like, this is what I am kind of thing.

So interesting to me that there are 5 elements in Ayurveda. And my training is in naturopathic medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. And in traditional Chinese medicine, we have 5 element theory, where they break it down into fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. And it's kind of interesting that there are 5 of them similar to Ayurveda, and it would be kind of cool at some point to have a conversation with somebody who's an expert from both to kind of explore the similarities and the overlap and how these different schools of thought all these years ago came to their conclusions in interesting parallel ways. You know, we have both earth, we have water, we have fire in all of them. Yeah. And so it would be pretty, pretty neat to explore that in more detail. But I just love when, when I see parallels through different regions of the world coming up with similar things.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And actually, traditional Chinese medicine, there's a lot of influence from Ayurveda with traditional Chinese medicine. And because Ayurveda is so, so old, it has influenced a lot of what we know today in different traditional medicines and stuff. Because sometimes we like to think of ancient times, people being kind of like in their own separate bubbles, but really there was more interaction than we sometimes tend to think there was. So yeah, there's a huge influence from Ayurveda. And I think that that would be such a fun conversation to have to kind of go into the different nuances and stuff, 'cause I don't know that much about— Traditional Chinese medicine. I know that they have the metal and the wood, and those are the different ones, but I would love to talk about the different similarities. Like, that would be so fun. So stay tuned.

Stay tuned, we'll make it happen. Yeah, Hadlee and I thought it would be really fun to quiz you at the beginning of this conversation, and so we came up with 3 avatars, and they're based on real people, of course. information has been changed to protect their, their privacy. But what I want you to do as you're listening to this conversation is to think about each of the individuals and hypothesize about maybe what dosha they're imbalanced into and why you think that. And then after that, Hadlee is going to teach us all about the doshas, and then we will come back and we'll tell you at the end. who was which dosha. Does that sound good?

Amazing. I'm so excited for this. This was, this was all Dr. Caine's idea. I love this idea.

I love self-assessment. So

yes, we're

going to start with, we're going to call him Phil, and you're going to decide, listeners, which dosha Phil might represent. And so Phil is energized, creative and scattered, and he craves highly stimulating environments like busy restaurants or concert venues. But the problem is, is they always make him more frazzled, restless, anxious, scattered, forgetful. And Phil is the CEO of a large company, and one of the ways that he has to stay on track is to cover his office with Post-it notes physically. He complains of gas and bloating and dry skin. So make a note, make a mental note, write it down. What dosha imbalance do you think Phil aligns with? So that's the first one.

And if you can't remember the actual dosha names, what— which elements, which elements do you think kind of relate to that? So again, the elements are space, wind, fire, water, earth. So think of that.

Amazing. And then we have the next story. And so we have Tina, and Tina is feeling really stuck and other people are worried because Tina has been unmotivated to do things that she loves to do. She's been more lethargic. Her focus is around resting and doing nothing because she feels so tired and exhausted. She's just sleeping in and napping, and she unwinds by drinking alcohol, smoking weed, and she's craving sweet, salty snacks late at night. So make a mental note, what dosha might Tina be in? If you can't remember the name of the doshas, don't worry. Hadlee just reminded us of those elements. And so what sticks out for you for Tina? And then the last one is Megan, and Megan tends to work really hard. She describes herself as Type A and will push herself towards burnout. In order to achieve a goal she's set for herself. And she puts rest on the back burner. She craves things that are stimulating and keep her going, like caffeine, vinegary foods, spicy foods. And she struggles with acne, eczema, and heartburn. So what do you think— what imbalance do you think Megan might be in? And what elements really stick out for you when you hear her story? And so once you've written that down, made a mental note, let's dive in. Hadlee is going to teach us all about these imbalances.

Amazing. So do you want me to— we'll tell it at the end. We'll tell them what— okay, great. Sounds

good. Let's make them wait. Yeah.

I love it. I love it. So you have to stay tuned until the end to know which ones they are. Amazing. Okay, so Which one should we start with? You can choose.

I would like to learn about the successful kapha for 200, please.

Amazing. Okay, so, and the descriptions that we gave you guys are the, the ways that these doshas are out of balance. So we're now going to talk about how we can get these ones in balance and like what the actual superpowers are, how these things actually can be can be a really great thing for us to have in our lives. And so let's talk a little bit about the superpowers of kapha first. Remember, kapha is water and earth. So again, when you put those 2 things together, you get mud. Mud. Yes. So this can be imbalancing, absolutely. It can, you know, We can feel stuck in the mud, right? But we can also feel really great. Have you ever had a mud mask? Like, that's awesome, right? It's so nourishing and feels so good. And so kapha, kapha tends to be more laid back, relaxed, thoughtful, and, you know, And actually, I'll ask you, you know, what do you think— and this goes for all of you as well as you, Dr. Kane— what, what kinds of things might come up for someone who has a lot of water and earth in their personality? So we'll talk about like personality, kind of more mental and emotional, and then we'll talk about physical as well. But what would come up? Well, how do you feel like someone would present with, you know, a lot of water and earth in their constitution?

Um, I'm not sure if this is what you're going for, but I'm kind of imagining like they're a little bit more slow and thoughtful.

Yes. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm imagining kind of throwing a glob of mud at the wall and watching it just slowly slide down the wall.

I love that. Yeah, so, so they're really, really thoughtful. And they tend to be like, kind of like the tortoise and the hare, the tortoise, where they— yes, it's a lot, it's a slower pace, but they have a lot of follow-through. So I like to think of it as endurance. You know, if you think about, if you think about like long-distance swimmers, those are kapha, like they have a lot of kapha in their constitution. Um, or really long— any long-distance athlete tends to have more kapha in their constitution because they have that endurance piece. Sometimes it's harder for kaphas to get going, but once they do, then they can keep going. So I have a lot of kapha in my constitution, and I always like to give the example that it's hard for me to get going on a hike, but then once we're like nearing the top, my husband who doesn't really have a lot of kapha, he like loves to hike and he's like always like raring to go right at the start. And then by the time we get to the top, I'm like, this is awesome. I have so much energy now from moving my body. And he's like, oh my gosh, I'm so depleted. And so a lot of times kapha will get more energy from moving more. So, so it's a really interesting, uh, thing for, for kapha, kapha constitutions, and then also for if you have an imbalance of kapha, moving is, is a huge thing for that. So, uh, okay.

Creating your— I was thinking about creating your dream team is you want to have a kapha on your dream team because they're going to help you carry a project through to the end.

Exactly. Yes. Yeah. So like if you have someone who tends to be like the idea person, they tend to be more vata, and we'll talk about that later, but they don't have as much of the follow-through, right? Uh, and, you know, and that's overgeneralizing. Sometimes people have the ideas and the follow-through, but, uh, but the kapha piece of it is the follow-through piece. Um, and so, so that's a, that's a really great quality of kapha. And And so then I want to ask you what you think might show up physically for kapha. So when you think about the water and earth piece, what would a kapha who's in balance— so not thinking about like an imbalance quite yet, but someone who has a lot of kapha in their constitution— we'll think about that first.

I'm thinking of solid, steady, That like their body constitution, their body frame is they probably tend to be like a more solid build.

Yes, totally. Yeah, yeah. They basically— kaphas are like the cuddly, soft, you know, they have a bigger frame, like their, their bone structure tends to be bigger. And, you know, when they're in balance, they tend to have more mass, right, than the other constitutions. Um, so, you know, when they are— and that is when they are in balance. Obviously, of course, when they are out of balance, they can tend to have more mass than is appropriate for their bodies also. Um, and that's the tendency, is to gain weight, right? When we, when we're out of balance with kapha, the tendency is more more to gain weight physically, um, but also, you know, emotionally and mentally and all that kind of thing. The imbalance part of it is to feel kind of stuck, is to feel more heavy, and that doesn't have to be physically. They— you can also feel heavy in like mind and emotions, right? Um, depression is a kapha imbalance, is a kapha symptom. Um, And, you know, motivation, lack of motivation is another one. Another one that is interesting is being stubborn. So if you think about mud, really like being stuck in your ways is a big thing with kapha too. So, you know, not being able to kind of change direction and go with the flow as much. And so So those are all kapha things when kapha tends to be out of balance. And so we can talk a little bit about— well, let's talk a little bit about what kinds of— we'll do a little bite-sized piece of what kinds of solutions we might have for kapha, for getting kapha back into balance. We go way deeper, like way, way deeper into this in the mini course, so definitely check that out. But making, you know, some, some small dietary changes can make a big impact for kapha imbalances, um, as well as exercise. Movement is huge, and movement is really, really helpful for getting back into balance. Uh, I want to say that I work with people on their relationship with food, and usually that makes a bigger impact on kaphas than just giving them a list of like, here, eat this, not that, right? Working on their relationship with food and with their own emotions can be really helpful. Emotional eating is a really big thing for kaphas and using food as comfort. And so when we can get to more of the root of that, that's going to be helpful because a lot of times kaphas know what foods are kind of their kryptonite, but that doesn't mean that they're just like, oh, I'm just not going to eat those things, right? So that's a big piece of what I do with people is their actual relationship with food. So I just want to make a note of that, that we're not just saying, just eat these things. There's a lot of emotion involved. But eating more vegetables, lean proteins, and not eating right before bed are all really helpful. Kaphas really love their sleep. They tend to not have a ton of issue with falling asleep or staying asleep, which is an amazing quality because if you've ever had a vata imbalance or even a pitta imbalance, you know that like not having your sleep is just the worst thing ever. And so the, the issue with kapha is not necessarily getting to sleep or falling asleep, but sometimes oversleeping. And what that can look like is like sleeping in really late or taking long naps in the middle of the day. And so while I never want to tell someone like sleep less, getting to sleep at a certain time, like at an earlier time, can be really helpful. And, you know, having a consistent sleep and then wake time is really helpful for getting that routine established. And then like I said, daily exercise is so, so, so huge for kapha. And if you are like, oh my gosh, I totally resonate with kapha and I don't wanna move every day, that's totally fair. The craving tends to be for— when we're out of balance, we tend to crave things that are going to get us more out of balance. Unfortunately, it is the reality of being out of balance. And so just know that building up to toward more exercise is really helpful. Not like trying to run, you know, 10 miles or even 1 mile if you don't run at all, but building up to more and more exercise can be really helpful. And walking is huge for this too. So that's kind of the gist on kapha.

So I'm going to recap some of the 4. We're going to do— I'm going to do this because this is fun. So superpower, slip, fall, solution. And so we'll call this the S's. So coffee superpower, you're laid back, relaxed, and thoughtful, and you take your time, but you're a real good finisher. Slip falls is that you may be a little stubborn, you may be fatigued, it may be harder for you to motivate yourself to get going. And you may rather snack and rest and recuperate than to seek activity. And so solution is to make small changes, especially including momentum and moving, whether it's like resisting the urge to sleep and have a nap and to go for a walk instead of a nap, and then just get your nighttime sleep schedule in. And again, self-assessment. If you don't know what your imbalance is, take the quiz.

I will also say sometimes people think that they have a kapha imbalance when really they are just overworking themselves and that's why they're tired. Yeah. And so if that's the case for you, don't keep pushing yourself. Um, this was the case for me. I have a, um, so I have a lot of kapha in my constitution, but my primary dosha is pitta, and that is more where I tend to have my imbalances. Uh, and so I had such a bad pitta imbalance that I was— had like this dysmorphia, essentially, of body dysmorphia, and also just thinking, oh, I just need to push myself harder. Um, and so we'll talk about how pitta does that. But if you are, you know, there's a difference between feeling really exhausted and depleted and feeling lethargic because we're not moving enough. What I would say for that is looking at your past, you know, the past few weeks or the past, you know, period of time and seeing like what has that looked like. And that can a lot of times inform us on, you know, am I just like working, working way too hard and that's why I'm feeling really depleted? Am I not getting enough sleep? All of that kind of thing. Or is it really like I'm resting a ton and that's why I feel fatigued? So that can be helpful for sure.

Another thing that you've said in the past that I think is really valuable is that these states of imbalance are shiftable. And so maybe you're in a season of your life right now where you are burned out and you're exhausted and you need to rest and rebuild, but maybe in your past you you just didn't have the momentum. And so you're an object that's not in motion will not achieve motion. And so, you know, it's— I think that your wisdom in, okay, you may be tired right now, but let's gather more data to really be sure. That's one of the things that I love the most about the work that you do is that you're very holistic in your approach instead of just saying, looks like a nail, so I'm going to whack it with a hammer. Yeah. It's like, well, let's get the whole picture. And actually all y'all been talking about this quiz and Hadlee actually made the quiz. She has many years of experience. And when she and I were talking about this, I asked her if she had a self-assessment quiz that she recommended. And she's like, you know what? I can do better. And she made one. And so just to brag on you just a little bit, it's absolutely incredible. And I think that that quiz, working with someone one-on-one like you is the best, but that quiz I think is also a great starting point to look just beyond the fatigue of kapha. To see like, do you have any of those other symptoms, um, that might lean towards kapha? Or actually, nah babe, it looks like you're in a total pitta-vata burnout and it looks like kapha, but you're actually burned out.

Totally. And, and I will say that actually kapha is the least likely to be out of balance. Uh, it's also the hardest one to get back into balance. It's the hardest one to get out of balance and that's the hardest one to get back into balance. And that's because it's so tangible, right? These water and earth are harder to move than fire and air and space, right? So, uh, because they are like a heavier quality, it's harder to get them out of balance. And then it's harder to, once you're out of balance, to get them back into balance. But it's definitely possible. It's for sure possible to get them back into balance. Um, and a lot of times we, when we have an imbalance or like when we get burnt out, then it will show up like kapha, but it's not. We need to first balance the pitta and the vata. And so then, yeah, definitely working with people, with, with a practitioner or a coach or, you know, someone who can kind of talk to you or ask you more questions about what you're experiencing can be really helpful, or doing some self-assessment. work as well and learning more about this. And you can do that in our mini course too. You can learn more about it there. So yeah. Awesome. All right. So next, what's, what's next? Which one, vata or pitta? I'm

feeling the vata because I feel like these 2 often get mistaken because they're the more chilly ones.

Yeah, yeah, totally.

Let's clear up some vata. So the Successful Vata for 400. I love that I'm I'm just like pulling out Jeopardy for no real reason today. I don't know why it's fun.

I'm here for it. I love it. Amazing. So let's talk about superpowers first. So Vata, when Vata is in balance, the proper the the properties, the tendencies of Vata of having Vata in our constitutions are more energy. We tend to be a lot more energetic, vivacious, enthusiastic, really good at coming up with ideas. You know, it's kind of like I think of it as like the energy of just kind of like, like we're here, we're there, we're everywhere. You know, space is just super vast. space and air, space and wind are the vata elements. And so like space is vast and then wind is just blowing it all around. And so that's what I think of when I think of vata. And there are some amazing qualities of this that, you know, creativity, someone who's, a lot of times people who have a lot of vata in their constitution have a lot of, are super artistic, are really, really good at, you know, that creativity aspect, very imaginative, and also just like infectiously happy, adventurous, you know, they tend to just like love doing stuff. They tend to, they tend to, yeah, just want to do new things all the time. However, wanting to do new things all the time can also get them out of balance, right? And so the Slip falls. So we've got our superpowers, our slip falls, and our solutions. Slip falls are that vatas tend to, when they try to do too many things, which they usually try to do, especially when we've got a vata imbalance, it's, they might get really, really excited about starting this new thing, but then like I said, they don't have the follow-through as much. Sometimes people have, you know, have some more follow-through. They have like a secondary kapha constitution. But, uh, you know, if you, if you have a vata imbalance, you might find that you tend to start a lot of things and not follow through with them. So, uh, when vata is really high, you might find it difficult to concentrate. You might feel You might like feel kind of jumbled. Oh, another thing is that you might also learn things really quickly, but then forget things really quickly. Whereas like kapha, it takes a little longer for kapha to learn things, but then they're like, they're, you know how like an elephant never forgets? It's kind of like that. It's like they've got the, that wherewithal, They're gonna, they're gonna remember for a long time. And vatas might forget things if they, if they have that tendency. So they might—

Space.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's like, oh, just like gone out of the mind. Um, so, so yeah, so things might feel really scattered. Uh, you know, you might be in a nervous system A sympathetic nervous system response most of the time. Uh, you know, you might be easily distracted, you might struggle to stay on task, you might— ADD, ADHD are vata imbalances, as well as anxiety. So those are huge for anxiety. Um, is kind of the hallmark of vata in the mind. And then in the body, how do you feel like that might show up in the body?

So we were talking about the elements for vata are especially air and space.

Yes.

And so I imagine that if I pump myself full of air, that I would be, I would be gassy and bloated and burpy. And I also imagine that things would come into my mind and then I would just lose them and they would float away. So maybe feeling like physically like I can't grab— I guess maybe this is logic psychologically, but you know, the brain, I struggle with controlling my brain and making it focus.

Totally. Yeah. And so like physically that we've got the gas, the bloating, Constipation also. So yeah, vata, there's a lot of things going on in our digestion. And so if you have a lot of those things, gas, bloating, constipation, then that's likely a vata imbalance. The other thing about vata is that this is the easiest one to go out of balance. So you might not have a lot of vata in your constitution, but you might, like, it's likely actually that you have a vata imbalance. And that is just because the nature of our, the world that we're living in and like the internet is a vata thing. It's like, you know, we're talking, but we're thousands of miles away right now. And so we're talking through space, through the ethers, right? And so, and everything moves really fast on the internet and, you know, even on our phones or social media, in movies. Movies, like things are moving faster and faster in movies and in TV shows than they ever have before because we have less and less of an attention span because we have more and more of a vata imbalance, right? So, and that's okay. Vata is the easiest one to get out of balance and it's also the easiest one to get back into balance. So that's the good news. However, a lot of times we have to keep getting it back into balance because it tends to get out of balance so easily. So doing things for grounding is really the biggest thing for vata. So that's physically doing things that are going to be more, well, eating foods that are gonna be more grounding, having more like oily foods. Oh, this is another thing that we didn't really talk about is the dryness of vata. So when you think of, air and especially wind. When there's a lot of wind, that dries things out, right? And so our skin can get really dry. If you tend to have like really, really dry skin, also cold, like you can tend to be really cold. And so that's where the, that's where the confusion with vata and kapha can come in. Kapha tends to be really cold, but more cold and wet, whereas vata tends to be cold, but cold and dry. So, and then pitta we'll talk about in a second, that's the one that has the fire in the constitution, so that's warm. But the other 2, those 2, these 2 are cold. So, um, with kapha, you might have more, you might have like cold and clammy hands, um, whereas like vata, you might have cold and like really dry hands, uh, and that's, you know, just an indication. Of the, of the imbalance. The other thing with kapha is you might have a lot of mucus in your body, in your physiology. You might have, you know, be blowing your nose all the time, or you might get bronchitis a lot. I used to get bronchitis like all the time, and that's a, that's a kapha thing. So anything that's like kind of going on in your lungs and in your sinuses usually has, has a bit of kapha, you know, involved in there. So, and then vata is going to be more dry, so you might have dry sinuses. You might, you know, you might feel like your nose is all stuffed up because it's so dry, actually, and then your body is overcompensating with some mucus to try to, to try to protect your, your sinuses, right? So all of these things interact together, but those, those are kind of the vata imbalances, and the way that we can get vata back into balance is thinking of the opposite qualities. So if we've got dryness, if we've got coldness— coldness, is that a word? If we've got, if we've got, you know, restlessness, all of these things, we want to think of the opposite qualities. So we want to think of adding more oiliness, hydration, things that are going to be more, uh, the opposite of dry, which is wet or oily or unctuous. I like to think of it as kind of like an unctuousness. Um, so, you know, eating things that, that have more oil in them that are more like soupy, stewy, that kind of thing is great. Um, and lifestyle is really the biggest thing here. So if we're having a lot of restlessness, if we're going around to all these different things, having a set structure is really, really helpful. And a lot of times vatas will be very, very, um, resistant to wanting to put in structure because they're like, but I love doing all the things, and that's what they crave. However, I always say that structure creates freedom because when we have some structure, we can, we can kind of think of it as Okay, I, I have some time to do the things that I really want to do, and I have these like bookends. So if you've ever had a day where you literally have nothing to do the whole day, and you're like, I'm gonna get all of this stuff done, it's gonna be amazing, and then at the end of the day you're like, I literally didn't get anything done, what just happened? That's what happens when we don't have any structure. And so getting on that, getting on like a Habit routine is so helpful. It's helpful for everyone, but it's especially helpful when you've got a vata imbalance going on. So, you know, having a consistent bedtime routine, having consistent eating times, having consistent, you know, work times, that's all really helpful. And you don't have to make it so like rigid, but just having some like checkpoints throughout your day can be really, really helpful for keeping that all consistent. Awesome. All right. So—

And so you're saying maybe like less Post-its and more structure?

Yeah. Maybe.

Okay.

Got it. Yes. Yes. So creating systems is huge, especially since there's like a tendency to forget things. And so when we try to keep things in our mind all the time, it's going to be a lot— it's going to be a lot harder to be able to follow through on anything, right? Because we forget it. And so if we can have the systems and structure put into place, that's going to be really helpful. But if we're trying to put a dream team together, you know, we want to have the vata because the vata is like, what if we did this? What if we did this? And gets out of the box on things. And we need that in basically everything, in like any business or project or endeavor. We need someone who's coming up with ideas and getting excited about them and all of that good stuff. So, yeah.

So successful vata superpower is that enthusiastic vivacity bursting with ideas. But the slipfall could be that it can look like this typical picture of ADD or ADHD, where there's all this wind in this ether and it's hard to focus on ideas or hold onto them or see them through. And it can create this forgetfulness. And so solutions may involve or embody creating structure, creating routine, and almost noticing what you're craving and then shifting to the opposite. And so if you're craving a lot of stimuli, is maybe do something that's more quiet and meditative. I was sort of envisioning like a great vata might be like Sitting in a hot tub, drinking a hot tea where you're just like hanging in like the warm, wet hot tub. So you're moisturizing the dryness, you're heating up the coldness, and you're sitting still in place to slow down that chaos.

Totally. And then follow the hot tub with a, like with rubbing oil all over your body because that's super Grounding. Like, uh, and sometimes we can get dried out with, um, with water. And so if we add the oil, then like baths are amazing for vatas. And then when we can add the oil on top of that, then you're, then you're really set to go.

That sounds amazing.

Yes. Whereas like, I actually don't like baths. that much because I have a lot of pitta and I don't like being in a hot, like submerged in hot water for very long. So yeah, I always think like, oh, it'll be so nice, it'll be like such a lovely experience, and then I like, I'm like, I'm so hot, I need to get out of here.

And I love it while I'm in the water, but the minute I have to get out and I get cool, then I'm like Nope. So it's not even worth getting wet for me, but that's, you know, something you gotta work on is transitioning from warm toasty bathtub to warm toasty blanket.

Yes. Yes. And if you, if you do the oil after the bath, it kind of like traps the heat in. So that's really nice. Yeah.

And in the mini course, Hadlee actually teaches us which oil will work best. And so go check it out because there are different kinds of oils. And so she gives us a hack on which oil works best. So

yes,

the last dosha is pitta. Tell us all about pitta. All

right. So pitta, the superpowers of pitta is, you know, someone who has a lot of pitta in their constitution, who is in balance, not is not, not imbalanced, but is in balance, tends to be super, super passionate. Ambitious, driven, you know, um, very sharp, like intellectually sharpness kind of comes forth in other areas that tend to not be the superpower. But, you know, when, uh, when a pitta is in balance, they have, you know, they've achieved this level of, of success. And it can look different for everyone. Obviously, we're talking about how success can show up differently for all of us. But pitta personalities really thrive with a lot of organization, routine, they set up systems a lot of the times. And, and so you can kind of think of like the classic Type A personality. And right, we've got some amazing qualities about the Type A personality. And we've got some qualities that aren't as helpful for us, right? It's not that they are you know, necessarily like bad or wrong. And we don't feel as good when we're doing it, right? And so a lot of times, actually, I'll ask you, what do you feel like a person who has, who is in balance with pitta, what might they have in their physical body? What they, what might they like appear like, you know, what, what's going on for them? I think they've got fire.

I'm thinking of someone who seems like really athletic and strong in a positive way. Um, you know, somebody who is like— I go to Orangetheory and I do HIIT training, and so I'm thinking of like, I call them all beast mode, all these humans that are like super strong. They're able to do the power days. Like, so there's like endurance days, I'm thinking kapha, and then there's these power days where they're just like, I've got this, and I could lift the heavy weights. And maybe I'm thinking like CrossFit, like they got the endurance to do something powerful. Medium builds, they have that kind of energy. They don't have the endurance of kapha, but they, they might have more endurance than if they weren't in a pitta.

Totally. Yeah. And so, so when pitta is imbalanced, they tend to have more muscle than the other constitutions, whereas the So if we think of like the muscle to fat to bone ratio, and no judgment on any of them, we're breaking out of that paradigm. Pitta just tends to have more muscle in that ratio. Vata tends to have less muscle and less fat, more bone, right? Just a smaller ratio of the fat and muscle. And so if you think of air and ether, right? the most subtle, it's the least heavy. And then kapha tends to have the most fat ratio, right? So fat to muscle and bone ratio. And that's when they're in balance, like that's just how they are. And so pitta tends to, yeah, have that muscular medium build. Yeah, it tends to like— the stereotype of a pitta would be like, yeah, like you said, like a classic Like super muscular person in the gym, essentially. Whereas like vata is going to be— they're either going to be like really tall and thin, kind of like the— and we've fetishized all of these bodies in different points in our history, right? But they tend to be the tall and thin, or they can also just be really, really, really tiny. like short and small as well. So either one is, is vata. And then whereas kapha again tends to have that more, the stronger, the more bone-like density. So that's kind of how they appear physically. So when you, when you think of pitta, think about fire. And what's going to happen when pitta is out of balance with— let's think just, let's think physically first, and then we'll go into like emotionally and mentally.

I'm thinking, okay, fire in the gut. So I'm thinking like heartburn. I'm thinking stomach ulcers. When we think of like fire in the skin, I'm imagining acne and eczema and skin rashes. When I think about Fire in the mood and the mind, I'm thinking like irritability, passion, but frustration, maybe even mania and bipolar disorder. And I'm also thinking about insomnia, difficulty sleeping, because everything is just so amplified and burning. Actually, when I was having insomnia, my body was physically— I was having somatic symptoms of being on fire, which Now in retrospect feels very pitta.

Yeah, absolutely. And so that's a really good point. When we have insomnia for pitta, it tends to be because we're thinking of all of the things that we have to do. Whereas when we have insomnia for vata— and insomnia is an imbalance for both of them— but insomnia for vata tends to be our mind is just like all over the place. So with pitta, it's like I have to do this, this, this, and this, whereas Vata, it's like, oh, there's this going on in my mind, and there's also this, and there's this, and there's this, and there's this, and like it's all just like all over the place. So it's slightly different. And also, we tend— there's a tendency for anxiety, but more tending toward like a need to control everything. That's more pitta. Whereas anxiety for vata is like there's just so much happening all the time that it feels like, you know, I can't get a hold on anything. And for pitta, it's like they're so hyper-focused and they're really anxious about, you know, what's gonna happen or what people are thinking or, you know, all of those different things. And they're hyper-focused, they're so hyper-focused that that's causing anxiety. So it looks slightly different for both of them. Another thing that you might think of for a pitta imbalance things that are like, like neuroticism, more things that are like OCD, things like that, because it's trying to control our environment. And that's all fire. So just intensity. The intensity is huge. Also inflammation, any inflammation in the body. You can think of inflammation as just fire, right? It's just fire in the body. It shows up as red on our skin, or it shows up in our body as you know, this like burning sensation, right? So that's all pitta stuff. Pitta tends to be the easiest one to kind of think of just because it's like, yeah, I can imagine fire anywhere, you know, and that's kind of what's going on. Um, so let's talk about getting pitta back into balance. Burnout is huge for pitta. Literally the term burnout is referring to fire. Uh, and so moderation, Is huge for pitta. And it— if you have a lot of pitta, if you're resonating with all of this, which again, take the quiz, but if you're resonating with all of this and you're like, oh my gosh, I don't want moderation, I like to do everything like super intensely or just not do it at all. It's like all or nothing is a huge thing for pitta. I used to have that a ton. That's a huge thing that I work on with my clients. Um, it's actually the first thing that work on is like breaking out of the all-or-nothing mentality in like all areas. Um, and so, so the tendency is to just like go really intensely or to not do anything at all. And instead we want to have this more, uh, softness essentially. So a lot of the— you can even tell when I was talking about pitta, I was like talking faster and my voice was louder, and now I'm like talking with a calmer voice. I'm hearing this in myself. And so we want the opposite qualities. When we think of fire, when we think of that intensity, sharpness, pittas also tend to learn things really fast, but they can also forget things, um, not as easily as vata, but more easily than kapha. So we want to have that cooling, soothing qualities in our lives. So we want to, you know, physically, if we think about, you know, different foods and things like that, things that are literally cool, like colder, are really helpful, especially if it's summer and it's— and we've got a lot of heat going on in the season. Um, whereas like if it's like the dead of winter, we maybe don't want to be eating like You know, ice cubes. Um, but we, we might want to eat things that are, um, that are like cooling but not necessarily cold. So what that means is things that are more like, um, there are, there are spices and things like that that are more cooling. We go way deeper into that in the mini course. So definitely check that out. But, um, but so eating things that are cooling, especially in the summer, you know, having like cucumbers, watermelon, things with a lot of water in them, that's going to be awesome too. Because if you think about fire, what's gonna, what's gonna quell fire? If you get, if you put a bunch of like, if you put a bunch of air into fire, it's gonna make it bigger. Right, it's gonna, it's gonna like make it go, go everywhere if there's wind, and it's gonna make it get even bigger. But if you put water on it, that's how it's gonna actually like calm down. So we need that water. And so what that can look like is more hydration. Uh, it just needs, you know, if you have a pitta imbalance, you need so much water to flush things out. And to flush things out of your liver. There tends to be like liver issues with pitta. So, so all of that is kind of the qualities. What that actually looks like in our day-to-day lives is again food, but also doing things like yin yoga. So, and that's essentially like you're staying in a pose for a really long time and allowing yourself to rest in it. or doing things like restorative yoga. A lot of times when people have a huge pitta imbalance, they tend to think of like those kinds of things as pointless. And they're like, why would I do that? That doesn't— that's not productive. And I used to have that. You know, it was like shavasana at the end of a yoga class was like, oh, come on. Like, we're really doing this for this long? I actually knew someone who would leave the yoga class before shavasana started because she was like so in her pitta. And this is all just a recipe for burnout, right? And so doing things that are gonna be more soothing, calming, all of that stuff is huge. And environment is also key. So doing things to cool yourself off, especially when it's hot out, taking, you know, Doing a cold plunge. And pittas can benefit from a cold plunge any time of year, honestly. Like, if you've got a lot of heat going on in your body, cold plunges are great. They're great for a lot of people, not just people with a lot of pitta. But, um, but yeah, so, so really just calming the fire is what that looks like.

So our pitta, just like quick before S's Of successful Pitta, you have the superpowers of passion and drive and learning quickly and shifting easily and be— having that kind of strength. But this could be a recipe for burnout, easily stressed, impatient, aggravated, digestive symptoms, skin. We talked about that. And then leaning into the opposite as a solution. So if you're fiery, lean into water, literally taking a plunge. If you're really hot and burny, maybe some cooling foods, things that are less spicy, things that are less warming. And then of course, the self-assessment is if you know what state of imbalance feels like for you, which one it is, it gives you tools right away to make changes that can work. to help you be successful personally and professionally. And so we've talked about the 3 doshas, we've talked about the elements. And I was wondering if we could go back to our friends from the beginning of our conversation.

Yes.

And see who— what they— what's going on with them. And so we started with Phil, right? So you guys remember Phil? Energized, scattered, Frazzled, Post-it notes everywhere, gas, bloating, dry skin. So I'm hearing a lot of air, right? So the gas and the bloating. I'm hearing restless, scattered, forgetful. So I'm kind of seeing like a lot of space, ether, things are just like floating off. And so what do you guys think?

Dun-da-dun! It's Vata!

Vata! So if you were thinking Vata. You were right. You're right. So Phil is in a state of Vata, and oftentimes busy CEOs can enter a state of Vata. And so Phil needs to take a course so that he knows what to do to get back on track, to be more healthy physically, emotionally, and to be more successful in his career. And so then we have the beautiful, brilliant Tina. Remember Tina was stuck. Tina was exhausted. Tina didn't have the energy to do the things that she loved to do. Her friends came and were expressing concern because she just didn't care. She's just like in a state of muck and she's craving sweet, salty cannabis alcohol. And so what are you guys thinking? What are you thinking with Tina? The elements. And so I'm thinking, okay, she sounds heavy. She's like literally like stuck to the ground, right? So she's heavy. So we talked about mud, that combination of earth and water, right?

Totally.

So she's kind of mud.

Yeah. So that one is kapha. So she's got, she's got the kapha. And so now she can kind of look at, okay, these are the ways that I'm out of balance. Or maybe her friends can also like look at the ways that she's out of balance. A lot of times when we have a kapha imbalance, there's a lack of like wanting to do anything about it, which can be really hard, right? And so sometimes we need to reach out to the support of friends, maybe get some accountability with it too. And of course, you know, take responsibility as well. But leaning on support of friends is really, really, really helpful, or a coach or a, you know, someone who can help you with, with it is really helpful for all of them for sure. But for kapha to kind of get out of the mud, it's like having someone help you get out of like quicksand, right? So that's kind of kapha.

And then we had Megan. Megan was pushing herself to burnout. She craves stimulants like caffeine, vinegar. She's craving spicy things. And I think that Kind of helps lean us towards which imbalance. She's got the hot acne. She's got the hot eczema. She's got the hot heartburn. What is Megan's imbalance?

Dun dun dun! We've got fire going on, so we've got pitta. Yes. Yep. So awesome. And pitta pitta tends to. One other thing that I forgot to mention that's really, really helpful for pitta is play. Not trying to be productive all the time, allowing yourself to indulge in pleasure. We talked about the 4 aims of life, right? A lot of times that kama, that pleasure or that enjoyment, is the one that pittas are like not paying any attention to. And so they can incorporate more of that into their lives as well.

And today you gave us really good glimpses into what can help to correct these imbalances, to help people actually achieve better health, better integrity with their mind, their body, their spirit. And in the mini course is, as we were doing, in all transparency, as we were doing these conversations and recording these conversations, like, oh my gosh, there's just so much more information. And that's why we created the mini courses, that Hadlee's brain is so jam-packed full of such life-changing information is that we had to put it in a mini course. And so we recorded it, made it available for you. And so that course will go deeper into diet. It'll go deeper into lifestyle. I mean, we talk about the kapha diet. We talk about a vata diet. We talk about a pitta diet. We talk about lifestyles. You can kind of build your own life to help you go back into balance. We teach on herbs and in Ayurveda, a mainstay is the marriage between the diet, the lifestyle, and the herbs. They can all work really synergistically. And we talk about herbs for each imbalance, each dominant kind of situation, but we also talk about this thing, they're called tridoshic. And so when in doubt, these herbs can actually be really helpful for most people. And we give you recipes, we give you blends, we give you ideas on how to implement it. But I mean, there's so much information. I don't even know how to begin telling you sufficiently how it's been life-changing for me. I use this information with my clients. And so if this conversation, if these conversations have been at all interesting or inspiring or helpful for you, let us know, leave us a comment on the video or send us a message or share the course with a friend and tell them about it so that we can know that this is helpful, valuable information for you. And we can keep putting out content that will help you to live the life you were put here on the earth to live.

Yes, yes. And also included in the mini course is like behavior strategies as well for actually implementing these things as well. So it's not just like, here you go, here, do this. But the last module in there is some different like behavior change strategies. So definitely, definitely check that out. It is like, it's so fun. We just love talking about this stuff together and So you will find that, uh, you will find our joy in there. We've loved creating it for you. So definitely, definitely check it out.

And it's been such an honor to be on this journey with you and your health. And of course, to get to have an excuse to partner with Hadlee. And so for everyone who's listening to this, you made it this far. Thank you so much for asking the question is, How is my Ayurvedic dosha the key to my success? How is achieving true health in my mind, body, and spirit and getting in integrity as a whole person helping me to show up in the world in a way that is in my highest wonderment, right? And so just thank you for allowing us to be a part of that. We really honor you and we're grateful for you.

Yes, thank you all so much. And And definitely, definitely reach out to us if you ever want to chat about these things. If you ever want help with any of them, it's, it's our, our life's passion to help people with, with all of these things. So definitely reach out. Definitely check out the quiz if you haven't already. I hope that you have. But check out the quiz and then check out the mini course as well. Thank you so much, everyone.

Thank you.

Bye.