Living Well

with Ayurveda
with Dr. Siva Mohan

How to Use Your Commune Course Workbook

Welcome! Our mission at Commune is to bring well-being to a billion people — so that we

can collectively live healthier, happier lives as a society. Thank you for being a part of this
movement toward wellness.

This course workbook is designed for you to get the most out of each day’s lessons and
provides visual aids to help you understand the core concepts and terminology covered in
this course. Print the pages, and write notes in the margins. Make this workbook yours.

Technical Note: You can write in this workbook digitally! Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat
or the free Adobe Reader to type your answers directly into the document. You can also
print the workbook or write in your own journal. Please email any questions to
support@onecommune.com.
 DAY ONE: Living Well with Ayurveda
What, How & Why
An Introduction to Ayurveda & The 3 Doshas
You are the most skilled, knowledgeable and wise authority on YOU. It’s time to check in
and learn how to listen to your body’s unique needs. Dr. Siva is your guide on this 10-day
journey to understand how to listen to the feedback you’re getting from your body through
the lens of Ayurveda, the traditional Indian system of healing.

This course will help you become more self-aware, self-knowing, and equipped to address
common signs and symptoms of imbalance, from sluggish digestion and fatigue to
persistent inflammation and discomfort.

What’s beautiful about Ayurveda is that while it is a natural healing system, Ayurveda is also
a way of life. It’s a lifestyle—a set of principles and practices—you can learn and welcome
into your day-to-day life as you deepen your understanding of it and experience firsthand
its benefits. We are so glad you’re here!

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 1

 Qualities of VPK Chart
“If the quality is there, the dosha is there.” ~Siva

Dosha Vata Pitta Kapha

dry hot heavy
light sharp slow
cold light cool

Traditional subtle
clear
oily
pungent
oily
damp

Qualities
mobile sour smooth
dispersing astringent spreading soft
bitter static
viscous
sweet

scattered intense dense

irregular critical regular
hard discerning thick
ungrounded pure grounded
effusive passionate calm
flaky penetrating unchanging
restless transformative still
unsubstantial processing substantial
animating to-the-point dull
fresh digesting full
floating analyzing cluttered

Additional invigorating
empty
strategizing
working
unprocessed
slimy

Adjectives ethereal
open
illuminating
catabolic
held
absorptive
vast fluid buffering
crunchy flowing nourishing
unpredictable bright fertile
unexpected glowing sturdy
vibrant tart solid
depleted spicy protective
crisp acidic maternal
enthusiastic tangy moist
ephemeral stinging foggy
transparent burning clouded
unstable producing unclear
fast evaluating nurturing

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 2

Further Understanding
Remember, the energetic composition (VPK) of anything can be understood by sensing its
qualities. So, when you note these qualities in anything, you are sensing the presence of
vata, pitta, and kapha.

⇀ Notice there are some words that may seem more “good” or “bad” because we are
conditioned to categorize the world this way. For example, depleted may seem like a
“bad” aspect of vata, and sweet may seem like a “good” aspect of kapha. In reality,
the designation is in our minds, and relative to the beholder.

⇀ What may be intense to me, for example, may not seem intense to you. This could
be the case if I had a sensitive (more vata) nature/current state, or if you had a more
accepting (more kapha) nature/current state.

⇀ What we perceive differently underscores our unique nature, or constitution.

⇀ Each dosha has its beneficial qualities, which are augmented when we are in
balance in that dosha. Similarly, each dosha has its detrimental qualities, which we
see when we have imbalance. We’ll explore this concept further in Modules 4 and 5,
while looking at your current state and defining imbalance.

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 3

 ⚬⚬⚬

DAY TWO: Living Well with Ayurveda

The Role Your
Feelings Play
The signs and symptoms of imbalance
What’s beautiful about Ayurveda is that while it is a natural healing system, Ayurveda is also
a way of life. It’s a lifestyle—a set of principles and practices—you can learn and welcome
into your day-to-day life as you deepen your understanding of it and experience firsthand
its benefits.

A key component of feeling your best is, well, feeling your feelings. We don’t need
anything to be able to know how something feels. It’s innate. We just need to feel. So,
today, you’ll first learn the concept of “current state” in order to fully understand the
influence and impact feelings have on your well-being, as well as how the information of
feelings can be used to recognize and address imbalance.

Current State
This is the answer to “Where am I at?”
Your present energetic state. Your imbalances.
Where your tissues are at

+ Where my feelings are at

+ Where my mind is at

--------------------------------------

= the signs & symptoms I feel

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 4

Answer the following questions in the space provided or in your journal.

(1) What emotions have I been feeling lately?

(2) What are adjectives I would use to describe my mindstate lately?

⚬⚬⚬

Doshas & The Symptoms of Excess

An imbalance in a particular dosha will express itself differently and uniquely. The chart
below illustrates the qualities of the dosha energies, as well as what may occur if they
become imbalanced.

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 5

 ⚬⚬⚬

Current State Mind & Emotions Self Assessment

Identify common signs & symptoms of imbalance in your mind & emotions.

In modern life, we’ve turned off a lot of our feeling and sensing skills in favor of our
analytical and cognitive abilities. Like anything in the body, if you don’t use it, “you lose it.”

So, let’s start with a self assessment of your mind and emotions, before we look at your
body. Remember to answer from your current state. That is, how you are feeling TODAY.
Refer to the chart below, then answer the following clarifying questions.

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 6

What, if any, signs of Vata excess am I currently experiencing today?

________________________________________________________________________________________.

What, if any, signs of Pitta excess am I currently experiencing today?

________________________________________________________________________________________.

What, if any, signs of Kapha excess am I currently experiencing today?

________________________________________________________________________________________.

Current State Physical Body Self Assessment

Identify common signs & symptoms of imbalance in your physical body.

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 7

What, if any, signs of Vata excess am I currently experiencing today?

________________________________________________________________________________________.

What, if any, signs of Pitta excess am I currently experiencing today?

________________________________________________________________________________________.

What, if any, signs of Kapha excess am I currently experiencing today?

________________________________________________________________________________________.

Great! This is a perfect first step. Well done.

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 8

 ⚬⚬⚬

Being sensitive is healing.

When you practice feeling—when you make it a habit to check in with yourself and
observe—you will build sensitivity.

The natural response we have to how overstimulating our lives are is to not feel. We
habituate to signs and symptoms. Because we’re unsure and overwhelmed, we hand over
our power to assess and respond to what we are experiencing. Often, we don’t want that
responsibility.

Luckily, we were made to sense energy. Once we reclaim this skill, we can’t help but feel
everything more, which helps us become more aware. That’s a good thing. The more
sensitive you become to where you are at, the more adept you become at choosing what
feels good— in all parts of you.

Let’s put this all together now for a more in-depth look at your
current state, the doshas, and symptoms of imbalance.

Vata, Pitta, Kapha: Common signs & symptoms of imbalance.

So far, you’ve learned about each dosha, signs of excess, and how excess expresses in your
mind, emotions, and body. The chart below lists out common symptoms across tissue
systems. It’s not all-inclusive; rather, it’s focused on symptoms and signs that you can feel
on your own - i.e., without labs or professional diagnostic measures.

Note: The following self assessment does not replace the expertise of a practitioner. It is
simply a great place to begin learning how to tune in to your body.

Consider this an intimate invitation to listen to the great wisdom within you.

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 9

Tips for a More Accurate Self Assessment
— Focus on the now. The now is a bit ambiguous because it really means your feeling
of “now.” For some of us, this could be the last few days. Others of us will feel like
we’ve been in a similar place for the last few years. Don’t get caught up on the time
distinction. Rather, simply note what feels most present in your tissues right now.

— You may have multiple symptoms in the same part of the body. More signs and
symptoms means a greater degree of the dosha present. So noting how many of the
symptoms you have is valuable.

— You can have features in more than one column. Be sure to circle, underline, or
highlight all that apply.

EXERCISE: Look through the following chart and make a note of any symptoms and signs
you are currently experiencing. Circle, underline, or highlight each one.

Then, tally up the number of symptoms you noted in (1) each of the areas of the
psychospiritual, or non-physical, body (Emotional Body and Mind sections), and (2) each of
the areas of the physical body (Digestion to Reproduction). There is space provided in the
chart for your tallies.

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 10

 Category Vata Signs Pitta Signs Kapha Signs
deficiency, inflammation, infection, accumulation, stagnation,
irregularity, heat congestion, growth
degeneration

overwhelm irritable sad

anxiety & worry impatient want to be alone
Emotional hypersensitive short-tempered psych. baggage
extreme emotion angry holding on to grudges
Body
internal conflict jealous depression
cycling emotions resentful
crying

reactive intense unmotivated

trouble sleeping focus on problems unclear
indecision activated to solve dull
restlessness overworking stubborn
difficulty focusing pressured unmotivated
difficulty to-do list mania
Mind tough a.m. wakeup
completing overanalyzing
racing thoughts (self) critical
impulsive choices impatient
addictive righteous
tendencies

Nonphysical __________ __________ __________

Subtotal

gas, gurgling, hyperacidity sluggish digestion

bloating increased appetite poor a.m. appetite
belching > 2 BMs/day low physical hunger
cramping, spasm loose stools
Digestion mucus in stool
constipation
narrow stools nauseous in a.m.
dry, small stools
mouth sores heavy after eating
straining
low appetite

low immunity feeling hot not

allergies flushed face, ears temperature-sensitive
Immunity & food sensitivities headaches- tension elevated blood sugar
Blood cold hands and
gout
swollen feet/ hands
feet
herpes outbreaks
feeling cold

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 11

 headaches - Inflammation
vasospasm tendency

dry, flaky red undertone smooth

discolored, dull inflamed oily
Skin blackheads red acne whiteheads
dry, itchy skin rash or hive prone deep acne
dry cuticles cysts

dry, cracked lips sinus infection congestion

dry sinus bloody nose/ mucus a.m. phlegm
Sinuses & membranes respiratory allergies post nasal drip
Respiration runny nose clogged ears
dry throat headaches - sinus
dry, itchy eyes pressure

trouble sleeping spend a lot of time in slow responses

Nerves & dark circles under “get-it-done” mode over sleepy
Adrenals eyes weight gain

pain inflamed muscles and swollen ankles

Muscles, stiff creaky joints joints swollen, cool joints
worse in a.m. worse after use joint pain with rain
Joints &
tremor slow movement
Mobility unsteadiness in
movement

Kidneys & urinary frequency frequent urinary tract Bladder/kidney stones

Urination infections Cloudy urine

extreme sexual frequent yeast slow to rise libido,

frequencies and infections with sluggish orgasm
practices burning excessive discharge
after time, no yeast infections with
libido less symptoms
Sexuality &
dry tissues STDs
Reproduction irregular menses heavy menses
uterine cramping dark, clotted menses
fibroids, polyps
ovarian cysts
enlarged prostate

Physical
__________ __________ __________
subtotal

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 12

A Quick Note On Using This Feedback
Sometimes your non-physical assessment and physical assessment will reveal similar
feedback. That makes sense, considering all parts of yourself are affected by the energetics
of your life.

Other times, you will feel signs and symptoms of imbalance in one dosha pattern in your
physical body, while you’re feeling signs and symptoms of another dosha pattern in your
mind state and your emotions. Know that this is also common, because the ways that you
take in energy and interact with your energy will be varied. Really, every permutation is
possible. Use the example in today’s lesson as just that—an example.

A KIND + LOVING REMINDER

What is healthy, or energetically beneficial, for you, is always changing because you are
always changing. Your current goal is to simply observe the signs and imbalances revealed
by the assessment you took today. You are doing great.

⚬⚬⚬

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 13

 DAY THREE: Living Well with Ayurveda
Patterns of
Imbalance
A clear way to focus your healing shifts
Now that you have felt what your bodies and emotions are revealing to you, it’s time to
think about what the signs and symptoms reveal about your patterns.

While we don’t want to belabor a retrospective analysis, it’s helpful to take a look at the
patterns of our imbalances. As imbalances show up when we have too much of certain
energy, knowing how and where this energy is coming from allows us to target our healing
shifts.

This is your motivation and focus for today: To get clear and informed before you solve.
So, as you think about patterns and draw correlations, remember you are still in the phase
of assessing. As you draw out the patterns, you’ll naturally also step into tailoring your
response.

The 5 Key Elements of Imbalance

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 14

When we look at imbalance, we look at five key elements:

● Frequency - How often does it occur? Is frequency increasing/decreasing?

● Intensity - How severe does it feel? Is it increasing/decreasing?
● Duration - How long does it last? Is it chronic/episodic?
● Associations - What makes it worse or better?
● Qualities - Which qualities are in excess?

Vata, Pitta, Kapha (VPK) in Your Life

Let’s look at four key areas of your life.

Can you start to identify the qualities of VPK in each of these areas?

WORK (includes home-making)

Consider the pace, movement, people, workspace, and the work itself.

FOOD
Consider the tastes, textures, and your experience of cooking and eating.

RELATIONSHIPS
Pick one to start, a major one. Choose the person you spend the most time with.
Consider both the qualities of the person, as well as of the relationship, since you’re
absorbing both.

ROUTINE
Think about the flow of your day, your sleep-wake cycles, the pace, the movement,
and the rhythm.

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 15

A Note Before You Continue
In the next self assessment, you are going to identify the doshas present in four major
aspects of your life: work, routine, a main relationship, and food. But first for the purposes
of this course, here’s what you need to know: Focus on the qualities of the experience in
your life NOW. This way, you can see which doshas are predominant in these aspects of
your life at present.

⇀ Naturally, as humans, we are biased. That’s okay. Bias is irrelevant because it’s
honored as the natural state of things. That we each experience uniquely is a central
tenet we’ll explore in Module 3. All that matters is how you experience the
energetics of the various aspects of your life.

Out at a restaurant for a meal with a friend, I may bring in more vata than my
companion. I felt stimulation, movement, overwhelm, and frenetic energy. My friend
felt relaxed, nurtured by the food and my company, and well taken care of by the
restaurant staff. Irrespective of what my friend experiences, the energetic input for
me was vata because the qualities I felt were all vata qualities. For my friend, it was a
more kaphic energetic input because all of the qualities of her experience were
kaphic.

⇀ Consider how your experience of each of these areas of your life feels; not what you
think it is, or want it to be. For example, our experience of food can feel irregular,
changing, extreme, and overwhelming even though from the outside looking in, we
may seem to be “health conscious” eaters.

⇀ It’s also perfectly normal to have a varied experience. A relationship can feel
nurturing and grounding as well as inconsistent and depleting. When you have the
qualities of more than one dosha present, you have more than one dosha present.
It’s just that simple.

⇀ The next step is to get a sense of which qualities/doshas are present a greater
percentage of the time in that experience, as this will reveal which dosha is
predominant in that energetic input for you. If the relationship is more often
nurturing and grounding (kapha), than inconsistent and depleting (vata), then kapha
is the predominant energy in my relationship.

⇀ This is for you and only you. There is no “should” here, and no judgment. Well, it’s
natural to judge what you find, but try to replace that with the perspective that you
are here for a reason, and it’s for your health, emotional well-being, and spiritual growth.

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 16

Exercise: Identify Energetic Patterns in Your Life
Most people never really look at the big picture of how their lives are affecting them. When
we do, it can be upsetting. So, be kind to yourself. Give yourself some credit for showing up
with courage and curiosity. How amazing it is to be able to describe everything happening
in your life, in your body, and in your emotions with the same language, the same
categorization system! Use the following grid to identify the energetic patterns in your life.
Write your answers in the space provided.

Qualities /
Input Adjectives Dosha
Work

Routine

Relationship

Food

Let’s now summarize your findings.

Fill in the following blanks with V, P, K, or some combination, based on the qualities and
adjectives you described in the four core areas of your life.

I have a predominance of ___________________ dosha coming into my life from food;

____________________________ dosha coming into my life from work; ____________________________
dosha coming into my life from routine; and ____________________________ dosha coming into
my life from a major relationship.

My life is revealing mostly signs of ____________________ inputs; mostly signs of

____________________ imbalance, and significant signs of ___________________ imbalance. These
inputs contribute to my ______________________________ symptoms.

A KIND + LOVING REMINDER

Ayurveda keeps things simple, which is a good thing. All you need to consider is what you
are bringing in when you choose healing qualities. Imbalances arise when you have too
much of a quality, not too little. The information you learned today can put you on a path
to feeling more capable and confident in noticing and addressing patterns of imbalance. Do
not use this information to judge, criticize, or condemn yourself. Give yourself grace.

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 17

 ⚬⚬⚬
DAY FOUR: Living Well with Ayurveda
The Healing Qualities
of the Three Doshas
How to balance and restore your health
Now that you know your current state and have an idea of how you got here, let’s progress
to identify what you need to feel better. By understanding the qualities present in your
patterns, you can use this information to help you choose which qualities will restore
health and functionality. Today, you’ll begin to design your response to what you’ve
assessed so far.

“Healthy” is a function of your Current State.

EXERCISE: Let’s look at the qualities and information your body is sharing with you, in order
to understand what healthy is for you and the actions you can take. Answer the following
prompts in the space provided.

Step 1: Prioritize what you are solving for.

Which signs/symptoms cause me the greatest concern or suffering?

Which imbalances have been around the longest?

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 18

Which imbalances are the greatest?

Step 2: See where your best starting place is.

What inputs are direct or significant?

What are the easiest ways to bring in healing qualities?

Are my wellness basics in place?

REMEMBER: You want to work with your Current State. To assess where you are at, right
now. By doing so, you can then respond and determine what you need.

Your body is sensing and responding, whether you are aware or not. Once you do
start to become aware of what it’s sensing and how it’s responding, you’ll
organically choose healing qualities and shift choices towards balance.

⚬⚬⚬

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 19

 DAY FIVE: Living Well with Ayurveda
A Shift in Your
Choices
Prioritize micro-choices for the biggest impact
Before even hearing about Ayurveda, you’ve made choices as a result of listening to your
body. Maybe you took a sick day or canceled plans in order to rest. Or, more simply, you
reached for a glass of water when your body said it was thirsty.

Every time you listen to and honor your body’s needs and signals, your body gives you a
“thumbs up” in the most profound way - you feel good.

Because there are infinite ways to bring in qualities, there are infinite options for healing
changes.

Every choice can be healing.

Examples of choices that can shift us into balance:

● Anti-inflammatory foods
● Restorative Yoga
● Herbs to cool blood, flush out heat, and tonify liver
● Avoid confrontation, sun, intensity
● Less productive time, more relaxing supports

EXERCISE: Look back at your self assessment results and any dosha excess you may be
experiencing in your current state. Do any ideas come to mind on how to begin to shift into
balance? Write your ideas for micro-choices below in the space provided.

A KIND + LOVING REMINDER: Some choices will be more direct or potent in balancing, but
all choices to bring in healing qualities have a beneficial effect. In this way, every choice you
make has the opportunity to be healing or imbalancing.

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 20

 ⚬⚬⚬

DAY SIX: Living Well with Ayurveda

Digestion & Eating
Appetite patterns and digestive symptoms
It’s common in our culture to put so much emphasis on what we're eating as either the
cause of our problems or the solution. However, Ayurveda takes a different approach.
Ayurveda prioritizes the relationship you have with your body’s innate wisdom. Today,
you’ll learn how to let your body guide you into what you should be eating, how you should
be eating, and, as a result, how you can improve your experience of nutrition and digestion.

Let’s start by looking at the appetite patterns, digestive symptoms, and bowel movements of
each dosha.

——————

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when you purchase Living Well with Ayurveda
or join Commune Membership.
Learn more at onecommune.com/ayurveda

Living Well with Ayurveda Workbook // Siva Mohan 21