Ayurveda: Do You Resonate With Vata Dosha?

The Wind Mind

The Wind is the tension created when the elements Space and Air combine. This dosha in Ayurveda is known as “Vata”. You do have the other doshas of Fire (Pitta) and Earth (Kapha) in your mind; however, their expression is not your first response.

To understand how your mind behaves, you only have to think of the elements that combine to create Vata; Space and Air. Space and Air are dry, rough, cool, light, penetrating, moving, broad, unlimited and unbounded. Think of a cool autumn breeze. The breeze blows every which way and suddenly stops. It is unpredictable and may just as suddenly start moving again. There is no rhythm or routine to the movement. The breeze brings with it a sense of excitement and change.

You probably exhibit the following characteristics in your personality:

We all have Wind in our minds. It is the activity of thinking. Combine that with a predominance of Wind (Vata) and you have a person who does a lot of thinking. Even in a balanced state, your mind tends to go and go and jump from thought to thought. This can be wonderful because The Wind mind is very enthusiastic, lively, energetic and creative. This can be troublesome as you may find that your sleep is interrupted even when you are totally living in balance. You dream a lot of vivid dreams. You are intuitive.
Because of your active mental state, you are prone to anxiety and worry. You may find that you worry about absolutely everyone and every possible situation including much about life that is completely out of your control. The lesson for The Wind is to surrender to outcome and stay in the present moment.
You probably love all things new. You are familiar with the top ten books on the bestseller list, you know the latest headline news and you are signed up for a class in the latest trending fad. You know a lot of people and have a large circle of friends. You have excellent short-term memory. You love to shop and spend and pick up lots of small little treats for self and friends. It is a challenge to save money.
You can be easily distracted. In fact, you may be reading all ten books on the bestseller list at the same time. You may find it hard to finish any one of them and you may not retain the story very well. While you are familiar with the latest headline news, you may not exactly understand the history or geography of the world’s events. You are a big-picture person. You tend to jump from job to job, so while you are a jack-of-all trades, you may not be a master of any one. Your circle of acquaintances is wide, but you may have few close friends. You can appear aloof and you may struggle to listen to others.
Your imagination and creativity make you an entertaining person. In fact, The Wind is usually the life of the party. Quick-witted and able to outthink most others, you generate laughter and excitement. You are the person that picks others up. In fact, your strong intuition knows when others are a bit down and you are always quick to lend a smile, hug or laugh to shift the energies of others.
You are fabulous at finding creative solutions to problems. In fact, you would thrive working in a job where you initiate creative solutions. You don’t necessarily want to be in charge of others, but you do like to have freedom of movement and freedom in how you spend your time. You lack follow-through and finishing projects may difficult. Surround yourself with people who can take your fabulous ideas and see them to fruition.
You are very sensitive. Others may not realize how deep your feelings truly run and you may find that you are easily hurt. You hate making mistakes and worry that what you do is never good enough. Sometimes you feel scattered. You will find that you need long periods of rest and silence each day to soothe your nerves and nourish your sensitive heart.

The Wind Body

The Wind body is more of an ectomorphic body. You are tall or short with a slender build. You do not exhibit strong muscle development. You have good flexibility. You tend to have low levels of fat and low body temperature that should be monitored. Yoga and gymnastics are wonderful for you because of your light frame.

You tend to be a cold person and may even wear sweaters in the summertime. You suffer in the cold and wind and should take precautions to always dress warm and cover your throat, face and head.
You have dry skin, nails and hair. You are probably prone to flakey skin especially around the nose and mouth. Your nails may be brittle and peel or flake. Sesame Oil is your best friend. Use it morning and night rubbing it into your nail beds and soaking your hair weekly overnight.
You have a delicate digestive system that suffers from dryness. You may find that you are sensitive to foods and do not have a strong appetite. You skip meals and do not notice that you are hungry. You snack on and crave salty crunchy foods. You may suffer from constipation one day, be regular the next day and loose the day after. Your digestion is unpredictable. Routine eating of warm and nourishing foods is key to your digestive health.
When a person having a Wind body moves, it is quick and unpredictable. You may have a hard time sitting still and find that you talk with your hands and are quite animated. You work in bursts of energy and find that you burn out quickly and must rest.
The instability of your system also means that you have very unpredictable immunity. You probably get sick often picking up every little bacteria or virus that comes your way. This is due in part to the dryness in your body, but also do to your lack of routine that impairs your digestion. Never forget that the strength of your digestion is directly linked to your ability to fight disease.

Some famous Wind bodies include Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Keira Knightley, Gwyneth Paltrow, Adrien Brody, Orlando Bloom and Jim Carrey.