Sorry-- couldn't help it. Friday was my Ayurvedic consultation. Kind of awesome. It really lived up to my expectations. You should have a consultation, too. Get yourself in balance. Not that you're not already tooootally in balance.
If you're curious as to my dosha, hold on to your hat, I'm a Pitta!!! Isn't that wild? Not, pure Pitta, of course. Still, I never would have guessed. Apparently I've been suppressing my fire, which is why I didn't realize I'm a Pitta.
The elements associated with the dosha Pitta are fire and water. Pitta is, among other things, strong and ambitious and competitive and organized and intellectual. Where I think of myself as just sort of train wreck-y. Yeah, Pitta is also highly critical.
I could go on and on about what it means to be a woman with those characteristics-- the way they're not supported culturally and how, if you have those characteristics, you may be encouraged to subvert them in favor of traits that are more acceptably feminine. But you already know and, anyway, you can imagine everything I'd tell you.
The awesome thing about Ayurveda is it's really not about good or bad. It's a non-judgemental way to understand yourself. So it fits perfectly with yoga and, in my humble opinion, Svaroopa yoga in particular, which is utterly supportive and restorative.
I took away lots of suggestions from my consultation for restoring my authentic balance. A lot of the suggestions are diet-centered, as you'd expect from Ayurveda. But some of them are exercise and lifestyle, too.
Here's what my Ayurvedic consultant has written about diet as it relates to Ayurveda:
Ayurveda is not about being perfect, neurotic, picky… simply know the basic ideals and do the best you can. Ayurveda embraces food and nature, and encourages that you open your heart and mind to the food in front of you!
Balanced eating, from the Ayurvedic perspective has three basic considerations:
1.WHAT
2.WHEN
3.HOW
What you eat is ideally seasonal foods, emphasizing the foods that are most balancing for your constitution and utilizing all 6 tastes.
When you eat is ideally no more than three meals a day, eaten at equal intervals, with your mid-day meal being the largest and enjoyed around noon, when the sun is high in the sky.
How you eat is ideally not too fast nor too slow. Sit in a clean and pleasant environment, chew well, engage in a relaxed mood, enjoying the company of others and light conversation, if any. Avoid anger, television, working, standing, walking, driving or excessive laughing while eating.
So there I was, in a cafe in Austin Texas with my warm and toasty peanut butter and jelly, a few french fries and two lovely friends. I enjoyed it with some natural lemonade, knowing that the citrus would serve as a digestive. Then I washed it down with a little bit of hot tea… the hot water helps to cleanse the system of excess fats and hard-to-digest food particles.
Later I went for a nice long walk to build up my agni (digestive fire) once again and metabolism.
And the next day, it was back to slightly more “perfect” Ayurveda.
And really, if your appetite is there, and it is meal time, and your agni is strong, it is better to handle the WHEN over the WHAT. From the Ayurvedic perspective, if your digestive fire is balanced, you can eat anything and digest it well, the wisdom of your body will know how to absorb the nutrients and discard the rest. The day before I had peanut butter and french fries for lunch, I had walked 10 miles, taking a break from the car… so I knew my digestion was strong!
One of my teachers in Ayurveda school, Dr. Aparna Bapat, spoke of a poor family she befriended in India. They often subsisted on chillies and chapatis (flat bread), and occasionally some left-over vegetables… but they worked hard, enjoyed life, and their bodies knew how to appropriately metabolize the simple and seemingly “imperfect” food they ate.
Here’s to the “When” & the “How” of eating, and learning to sometimes let go of the “What”!
Doesn't that just feel right? Balance and acceptance. I mean, what a relief.
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