Most of us feel stress on a daily basis and it’s no surprise that it negatively impacts our mental and physical health.
Some level of stress, eustress, is good for you as it helps you to stay safe and accomplish tasks. But how exactly does chronic stress affect your health? And what is the role of the doshas in this? Read on for the Ayurvedic perspective on stress and simple ways that you can balance yourself.
As is the macro, so is the micro.
This core principal of Ayurveda states that each individual represents a microcosm of the larger world around us. And thus, the stress we feel internally is a representation of the external chaos and vice versa. Plainly, your environment has a large effect on your mental peace.
When we ignore our bodies’ natural rhythms, multitasking, consuming media, artificial lights and artificial foods, we fall out of balance. When we become so disconnected from nature, our bodies struggle to maintain homeostasis. This internal turmoil shows affects our mood, sleep, digestion and immunity.
The Doshas
Your stress response can tell you about your doshas. It may be reflective of your birth constitution (prakriti) or current imbalances (vikriti)
Vata’s primary response is anxiety, worry and fear. The air element can easily become ungrounded, losing touch with reality and their creative minds jump to worse-case or what-if scenarios
Pitta’s primary response is anger, frustration and impatience. Lack of control can be triggering to pitta’s hot temper.
Kapha’s primary response is depression, lack of energy and withdrawal. They may suppress their emotions and numb with food, substances or tv.
It is not uncommon to experience each of these at different times in your life, but you likely have a predominant or knee-jerk stress response. Which is most you?
Ojas
Ojas keeps all living beings nourished and refreshed.
There can be no life without Ojas.
- Charaka Samhita
Oh-jas is the pure essence of all bodily tissues - your vitality and immunity. It is the superfine product of your digestion. It is the subtle essence of kapha dosha - juicy and sweet. A person with good Ojas is cheerful, optimistic, fertile and rarely gets sick. That pregnancy glow or how you feel around ovulation - radiant and empowered, can be attributed to ojas.
Ojas can be weakened by diet, lifestyle, old emotions and chronic stress. When this vitality and immunity is weakened, or burnt-out, it leads to exhaustion, like no amount of sleep refreshes you. Reproductive function is often affected and in some cases, low ojas, leads to auto-immune illnesses.
To protect your Ojas, follow a sattvic diet full of natural, fresh foods and avoid salty, sour, spicy and processed foods and alcohol. A balanced lifestyle with time for JOY and practices like yoga, meditation and rest can preserve ojas. Limit hard work, stress, "burn out", inadequate sleep, too much sex, drugs and tobacco.
It’s important to cleanse and release old emotions before rebuilding Ojas. Those with low digestive fire cannot properly process ojas building foods, resulting in ama or toxins in the body. When your agni is lit, try these Ojas bites.
How to Balance
When we understand our stress response and the doshas that are behind it, we can better manage our experience. The best way to balance your stress is to remove the root cause. Since quitting your job might be unrealistic, here are some Ayurvedic strategies to balance your stress by dosha.
Vata is the air and space elements and prone to anxiety, worry and fear. To balance, connect with the heavy, supportive and grounding earth and water elements. Try earthing or grounding by walking barefoot on the earth, take warm, soft and soupy foods with healthy fats. Get plenty of rest.
Pitta is the fire and water elements and manifests as anger, frustration and impatience when stressed. To balance, apply cooling, and grounding techniques like *savasana*. Take time off from work and busy schedules for activities that bring you joy.
Kapha is the earth and water elements and shows up as depression, lack of energy and withdrawal. To balance, incorporate stimulating activities like exercise and fresh air. Enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables, and lighter foods with spices.
When life gets hard, remember that there are always tools available to you. I hope this information helps you feel empowered to manage your stress in a healthy way.
If you try these tips, please tag me on social @saraswati.ayurveda so I can cheer you on!
Want to learn more about your doshas and how I could support you? Schedule a free call to get started.
