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AYURVEDA

Calming a Vata
Imbalance: You
Can Heal Body and
Mind with These 8
Tips

By Elizabeth Herman | Updated :

November 27, 2020

You can learn about the causes, symptoms,

and effects of vata imbalances, and use
these 8 tips for balancing your own health,
the Ayurvedic way!

Do you feel balanced in your daily life? We

usually associate balance with health.
Humans need balance in diet, in work and
play, and in the powerful, natural elements
that make up our own being. But
Americans are redefining what it means to
have balance in their lives.

The five natural elements (fire, water,

earth, air, and space) form and support life.
You notice them every day in your own
home. Ayurveda offers ways to balance
them.

What is vata dosha ?

This ancient science identified 3 biological
energies (doshas) that derive from the
elements. They govern all physical and
mental processes. They provide us with
individual blueprints for health and
fulfillment. For health, you need to care for
and balance doshas, known in Sanskrit as
vata, pitta, and kapha.

They all have different characteristics. They

govern different areas essential to the
mind-body complex. For instance, vata
dosha governs movement. In the body,
movement includes breathing, elimination
of wastes, and blood flow. In the mind, it
includes the movement of thoughts,
images, memories, and ideas, to name a
few.

All of the types of movement that vata

impacts are crucial to our health. But in
this high-tech society, vata (the airy, dry,
mobile dosha) can often be most
vulnerable to going out of whack.

What is vata
imbalance?
The mental, emotional, and physical plane
contains all of the qualities of vata all the
time. But imbalances make them overly
dominant. So too many dry, cool, light,
rough, mobile, subtle, and airy qualities can
provoke symptoms. These include anxiety,
restlessness, insomnia, spacing out, and
uncontrolled proliferation of thoughts. A
vata imbalance affects the nervous system.
It affects the ability of the digestive system
to remove waste from the body. It also
impacts the workings of pitta dosha and
kapha dosha.

You can learn to prevent excess vata and

come out of such imbalances. First, you
must become familiar with the causes,
symptoms, effects, and remedies of them:

Causes
Ayurveda’s belief that "like increases like"
forms the basis of how doshic imbalances
work. Whatever qualities you bring into
your life will increase the dosha that has
them.

In vata’s case, these are dry, light, cool,

rough, subtle, and mobile qualities.
Continuing to expose yourself to vata
qualities will increase vata dosha within
you. It will impact your mind, body, and
emotions.

• Dry and cold weather conditions can

increase your vata.
• Pungent, bitter, dry, and cold food can
aggravate vata imbalance.
• Dry emotions (such as hidden venom,
unforgiveness, absence of love or
affection, repressed anger) and cold
behavior can add to your vata.
Symptoms of vata imbalance

You may have a vata type constitution. An

Ayurvedic doctor can tell you if you do. If
so, you'll start to feel the following
symptoms soon upon the onset of a vata
imbalance.

Physical:

• Constipation
• Gas formation or distension in the
abdomen
• Dehydration
• Rough, dry skin
• General body pain and aching
• Astringent taste lingering in the mouth
• Weakness, fatigue, & low vitality
• Sleep disturbance or insomnia
• Tremors and twitches
• Dizziness or spacing out
• Sensitivity to cold and wanting warmth
Behavioral:

• Irrationality, anxiety, nervousness,

agitation, & impatience
• Desire to run away
• Confusion, fearfulness & shakiness
• Feeling ungrounded
• Excessive movement and/or speech
Effects of vata imbalance

As the symptoms settle in, they become

harder to change. Mild or severe vata
imbalance can cause the following effects:

• Weakening muscles
• Joint pains and stiffness
• Headache
• Retention
• Constipation
• Weight loss
• Cramps
• Convulsions, tremors, paralytic attacks
• Colic
• Dryness, scaling
• Phobias
Tips for balancing vata

When you start to notice any of the above

symptoms and effects, you can start to
adjust your eating. You can make other
choices to take on other qualities that will
cure your vata imbalance.

Here are 8 quick tips for reducing your vata

to get back in balance:

1. Eat naturally sweet, salty, and sour

foods. Avoid junk food, excessive salt,
and processed sugars.
2. Follow a fixed routine and avoid too
many different, frenetic activities.
Bedtime, waking time, mealtime, and
exercise time should be the same every
day.
3. You should practice yoga postures at a
slow, steady pace.
4. The following yoga poses and one
pranayama will help.

• Vajrasana (Adamantine Pose).

• Marjariasana (Cat Stretch).

• Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation).

• Virabhadrasna (Warrior Pose).

• Vriksasana (Tree Pose).

• Purn Pavanmukt asana (wind relieving

pose).

• Shavasana (corpse pose).

• Ujjayi breathing (Victory Breath).

5. Stay warm, calm, and relaxed. Indulge in
hot baths, warm sesame oil massages,
steam and heat treatments, and
soothing music.
6. Learn how different foods will affect
your constitution. Avoid frozen, cooling,
and dried foods, but eat warming, rich,
oily foods, only in moderation.
7. Meditate on a consistent schedule, for
stability and calmness of mind.
8. Ayurvedic herbs ashwagandha and
shatavari will help balance vata, as will
turmeric. They’re available online
through Sri Sri Tattva.​

Don't give up if you find that problems

persist after working with the above
remedies. Panchakarma (an immersive
program of therapy) can reverse the root
of vata imbalance.

You can find out more about ayurvedic

treatments. Check out the Shankara
Ayurvedic Spa in Boone, NC, or the Sri Sri
Ayurveda Hospital in India. You can have
better health and balance through a
holistic, individualized plan.

You may also be interested in learning SKY

Breath Meditation for balancing your
whole life. Click below to join a free
introductory session, Beyond Breath, at
your convenience.

This content is not intended to be a

substitute for professional medical advice,
diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the
advice of your physician or other qualified
health providers with any questions you
may have regarding a medical condition.

Elizabeth Herman is a long time meditator,

a trained yoga teacher, and a PhD in
English, with concentrations in Rhetoric
and Composition, and Literature. She
offers writing support to clients, teaches
locally, and volunteers for a better world.

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