Stop Exercising Wrong! Exercise for Your Dosha-
I have an inspiring story and goodies about exercise for your dosha. This afternoon I felt super sluggish and just wanted to sleep. Being 8.5 months pregnant I suppose that’s not too odd. But the thing is, I wasn’t just tired, I was kinda…lifeless (I know my body enough to tell the difference). I took a 20 minute snooze and then decided to combat the sluggies by moving my body.
I did a nice 30 minute session of ballet legs, push-ups, tricep dips and booty exercises. I got in a great sweat and ended feeling awesome!
We are not meant to sit for hours on end in front of a computer or tv – it’s just not natural! We are little beings of nature, we need to move, sweat, and tone our bodies. It’s great for keeping disease and sickness away (immunity booster) and it tones all the tissues of the body. Food and exercise are the building blocks that keep us healthy. So if we’re only doing one of those things right, we are only half way.
That said, I know it can be frustrating when you know you need to do some sort of exercise, but you’re not sure exactly what is best for you. But that’s what I’m here for! Let’s figure out how you should exercise for your dosha!
Since Ayurveda is individualized, each dosha does better with certain exercises. If the word dosha is foreign to you, definitely take the dosha quiz. That will help determine what makes you tick.
Vatas, you need to slow down. Slooooooooooow dooooooowwwwwn. Okay, even slower. Because vata is so wiggly, windy, scattered, and variable, they need to stay steady, grounded, and intentional.
I always like to think that if vata has both feet on the ground, that’s a pretty good exercise for vata (unless balancing in tree pose or warrior 3). Seriously, the more vata can stay still and move with intention the better.
Vatas need a nice balance of strength and flexibility. Great options are:
Anything too cardio intensive will increase the already swift motion in their mind-body and will stiffen muscles and joints. Again, the key for vatas is to sloooooow dooowwwwnnn.
Pittas, you need to cool down and de-stress. The thing about pittas is that they are naturally muscular and pretty good athletes, so they actually seek out physical activity. They really like the physicality of exercise, so a pitta doesn’t need a whole lot of motivation to get moving. However, they need to stay cool and stay away from anything too competitive, stressful, or too hot.
Speaking of stress, stress can take away from pitta’s motivation to exercise. If a pitta person is stressed at work, they will put exercise lowest on their priority list because they have to achieve, achieve, achieve at their jobs first. This is not balance.
Pittas will do best with a combo of cardio (they love to sweat), like:
Cool air and cool water will make pitta feel like they’ve had an awesome workout but will not overheat them. Pittas should NOT exercise in the sun or do bikram yoga!
Kaphas, you need to move and sweat. Kaphas are the most sluggish of the three doshas. Getting a move on will help them feel alive and energized!
Kaphas tend to be lazy, so they can easily get in a rut, and stay there. It’s not easy to get a kapha to move, but by putting on some good music and grabbing a good buddy, kapha will feel happy and full of gusto!
You’ve probably guessed, but cardio is best for kapha. Cardio can range from:
They need to move because they tend to be heavy in both body and mind. Moving the physical body will help lighten both of these.
Kaphas should not lift heavy weights, they are already very strong and don’t need denser muscle tissue. Nor will they stick to a regimen if it makes them too sore/uncomfortable. Even some yoga is too slow for them. The hardest part for kapha is to stick with it, but this is exactly what they need.
Kaphas, even if you do 20 minutes a day of power walking in your neighborhood, that is awesome! Just do that. You will feel fantastic in no time! But please, get moving!
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