Balancing Your Dosha: Diet

I tailored my diet to specific foods with respect to the Pitta dosha, eating more cool, sweet, and juicy foods and less acidic, sour, spicy, salty, and oily foods. The list below are the food items that I focused on before and during the experiment.

Protein

Eggs, chicken, tilapia, salmon,

Shrimp, and some beef

Grains

Eliminated wheat or at least reduced intake by 70 %.

Added more rice.

Vegetables

Broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, lettuce, mushroom, squash, zucchini, salads

Fruits

Apples (copious amounts) banana, dates, coconut, grapes, and melons

Nuts & Seeds

Pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Dairy

Unsalted butter,milk, soft cheeses

I am going to add buttermilk, sweet lassi, and ghee.

Herbs & Spices

Turmeric, small amount of pepper

I am going to add cumin, dill, fennel, lemongrass, and mint.

Beverages

Water, lemon water, hot lemon water, fruit juices (Odwalla)

Results

I have had less heartburn and acid reflux. A more conscious approach to food selection prompted more consistency in my eating habits as well, which appears to maintain my energy level(s) during the course of a day. In addition, I have actually lost weight by being more conscious of the foods I consume. I will continue with my dietary changes, and will expand foods as listed above.

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Balancing Your Dosha: Hygiene

I focused my attention to doing a daily mouth rinse with sesame oil, and using a scraper on the surface of my tongue.

Results

The daily mouth rinse with sesame oil gave my mouth and gums a “full” feeling, which was quite a different feeling than just using water or a mouth rinse. Nothing else to report after two weeks time.

Scraping the tongue twice daily appeared to minimize unpleasant taste or mouth odor. The color of my tongue seems to be a bit pinker as a result of the daily regimen. The color of the mucous that I scrape from my tongue appears to have lessened over the course of two weeks. The color and consistency of the mucous has remained about the same, which is a dull pasty white, however it appears more pronounced at the beginning of the day.

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Balancing Your Dosha: Sleep

Typically, I would go to bed each night between 1:00am and 2:00am. I purposely began going to bed no later than 10:30 each night. The results follow.

Results

As a result of going to bed earlier each day during this last two weeks, I have found that I am more rested in the morning. My dreams have become even more interesting, sometimes long and convoluted with respect to the subject matter. Although I found it difficult to make this change, I adapted fairly quickly.  I will probably continue with this earlier sleep time as my energy level appears more consistent, particularly during the morning hours.

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Balancing Your Dosha: Conclusion

I would have to conclude that my Ayurvedic experiment has convinced me that the changes I’ve made have been beneficial with respect to my overall health. I plan on continuing the study of Ayurveda in order to maintain and expand upon what I have learned and implemented.

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Self care = self love

Including Ayurveda in its Yoga Teacher Training is one of the things that sets Axis apart from other YTT programs. As exemplified below, students experiment with using Ayurvedic principles to balance their dosha. The application of these principles is where the real teaching begins. This student used Ayurveda to treat PTSD symptoms.

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Self care = self love: Background

To be totally honest, I came into Ayurveda mildly skeptical.  I grew up in a family of scientist who believe only in western medicine and ideals.  This has worked for them, but I have always struggled to maintain my health both mentally and physically.

Recently (well… 7 months ago which still feels very recent) I was diagnosed with PTSD and have been trying to put myself back together ever since.  I can’t remember a time when I actually felt good and happy within myself.  Something was always out of balance.

The concept of balance in everything within Ayurveda really resonated with me and when the vata dosha was taught, I identified with all of it, especially the out of balance part.  So for my experiment I wanted to try to pacify my extremely excessive vata and see if it helped with my PTSD symptoms of difficulty sleeping, anxiety and depression.

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Self care = self love: Inquiry

Will a self-care routine for Vata ease some of my PTSD symptoms?

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Self care = self love: Hypothesis

I believe that a self-care routine can take the edge off of some of my anxiety and help me sleep better.

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Self care = self love: Method

Due to my medical constraints (medications, etc), I opted for a low intensity experiment.  I decided to add drinking warm milk with nutmeg before bed and a daily external oleation routine.  Near the end of the experiment I took up trying meditation with a mantra.

1 – a half hour before I intended to go to bed I would warm up my milk, turn off all electronics and read or just sit with it for a while, then get ready for bed.

2 – right before bed, I would oil my feet with sesame oil and sleep with that on (with socks, of course)

3 – every day before my shower I practiced an external oleation with sesame oil all over my body.  Since the time is there for me right now, I tried to really make this a treat and not to just slather the oil on, but to really enjoy it.

4 – Attempt at meditation with the gayatri mantra  (ongoing)

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Self care = self love: Results

Overall, I would say that the self-care treatments that I started to use were effective in calming my mind and helping me sleep.  My skin is in better condition now as well!  As for my PTSD symptoms, I think that the routine of all of it really helped me the most.  I would finish all electronic things for the day and then read for a half hour with my warm milk.  I’d oil my feet before bed and this usually helped me sleep fairly well.  I have a long way to go, but I think these techniques will remain in my daily care routine.

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