What are the Doshas ?

The three doshas (tridosha)

The doshas refer to our biological energies; they can be recognised by their attributes.

If they are imbalanced, there are issues in the body.

They govern the physical and psychological functions of the body.

The three doshas are named like this: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, and are associated with the five elements.

VATA is associated with the elements air and ether (the principle of motion).

Light, mobile, and dry (air)

PITTA with Fire and Water (principle of heat, digestion)

Sharp, heat, spicy, liquid (sun)

KAPHA with Water and Earth (principle of sustenances)

liquid, cold, sticky, heavy, dense (moon)

In Ayurveda, we treat the dosha with herbs and therapies of an opposite nature to its qualities.

Heating and drying therapies are used for the Kapha constitution, which tends towards cold and dampness. Heating and moistening are used for Vata, which tends towards cold and dryness, and cooling and drying are used for Pitta, whose properties are hot and moist.

Like I explain in the article about the history of Ayurveda

People can have the same disease but with different constitutions of the body; therefore, it has to be treated differently.

Asthma, for example, may be due to deranged Kapha, excessive water in the lungs; deranged Vata, nervous hypersensitivity of the lungs; or deranged Pitta, an accumulation of damp heat in the lungs. The same treatment cannot work in every case. Merely knowing that a certain herb works on a certain disease may not reveal a definitive cure.

Action of Pitta

Pitta is hot, light, fluid, subtle, sharp, malodourous, soft, and clear. It governs heat, temperature, and all chemical reactions.

It will govern digestion, metabolism, and transformation in the body. As well as maintaining the body temperature, vision, and skin coloration, it governs intelligence, happiness, anger, hate, jealousy, bravery, and willpower.

When aggravated, it causes yellow discoloration of urine, faeces, eyes, and skin and may create hunger, thirst, burning sensations, and difficulty sleeping.

Action of Kapha

Kapha is cold, wet, heavy, slow, dull, static, smooth, dense, and cloudy. It maintains substance, weight, and coherence in the body.

In its normal state, Kapha is responsible for firmness and stability, maintenance of bodily fluids, lubrication of joints, moisturising of the skin, strength, immunity, emotions like attachment, and such positive emotions as calmness, peace, love, and forgiveness.

When aggravated, it produces loss of digestive power, accumulation of phlegm and mucus, exhaustion, a feeling of heaviness, pallor, cold sensations, looseness of limbs, difficulty breathing, coughing, and an excessive desire to sleep.

Action of Vata

Vata is dry, cold, light, mobile, subtle, hard, rough, changeable, and clear. It is the most powerful of the Doshas, being the life force itself and the strongest to create disease. It governs all movement and carries both Pitta and Kapha.

in its natural state, maintains energy of will, inhalation, exhalation, movement, the discharge of impulses, equilibrium of the tissues, and acuity of the senses.

When aggravated, it causes dryness, dark discolouration, desire for warmth, tremors, abdominal distention, constipation, loss of strength, anxiety, excretion of waste, insomnia, loss of sensory acuity, incoherency of speech, and fatigue.

Seat of Doshas

KAPHA: From the navel to the top of the head

PITTA: From the top of the abdomen to the bottom of the abdomen

VATA: From the bottom of the abdomen to the bottom of the pubis

Pictures from “The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic guide to herbal medicine”

Namaste