Ayurveda: Do You Resonate With the Kapha Dosha?

The Earth Mind

The Earth is the tension needed to allow Water and Earth to combine. This dosha in Ayurveda is known as “Kapha”. You do have the other doshas Fire (Pitta) and Wind (Vata) 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 make the force of the Earth: Earth and Water. Earth and Water are heavy, cold, soft, lubricating, sweet, stable, immunity enhancing, and slippery. Envision a boulder covered in a bit of moss sitting in a cool forest. The boulder is a constant and if you were to walk by it every single day, you would not notice that it is changing in any way. If you were to lean against the boulder you would find it to be cool and grounding at the same time. It’s solid unmoving presence is calming and nurturing.

You probably exhibit the following characteristics in your personality:

The Earth in all minds, regardless of the predominant force, is what gives a person stability, compassion and love. Combine that with a predominance of Earth (Kapha) and you have a person who is grounded, nurturing and stable. When I think of my Earth friends, I think of the people that I go to when I simply want a shoulder to cry on or someone to make me feel at home. The Earth is the nurturer in all of us.
Because of your stable mental state, you are prone to being very laid back. You take things in stride and don’t obsess or worry very much. In fact, you can be a little too laid back and don’t effectively deal with your situations. Many Earth types will shut down or seclude if life gets a little too stressful. You may even seclude on occasion when you feel you simply can’t deal with what life is handing out.
You may appear stubborn to others. It takes a very long time to come to decisions. You simply do things in your own time and take the time to absorb information and choose. The Earth tends to do everything a bit slower including reading, but has amazing long-term memory.
You probably love all things that are of family and that have a story. You are the person in the family that creates the photo albums and hangs onto report cards, old records and your grandmother’s recipes. You remember history and love to share all the memories of childhood and family vacations. You are very attached to your family, and will adopt anyone into your family including your friends and co-workers. You like taking care of them and showering them with love and affection.
You are focused and love routine. The Earth enjoys doing the same things each day. You are a person who loves to have a 9-to-5 job that is stable and predictable. You are a long-term employee. You are attached to your employer and co-workers. You may choose to stay in a job that you have grown out of due to the feeling that the Company needs you. In fact, you love that your desk has been in the same spot for many years and would be unsettled if it were to move. You get attached to objects and may accumulate clutter at work and at home.
You are fabulous at finishing projects and following through. You take great pride in your work, your dedication and your loyalty. Your friends, family and co-workers know that they can depend on you.
You are caring. You love to take care of others and give abundantly of yourself. You must be cautious to not give all of yourself away. The Earth has incredible stamina and will suffer greatly through situations even though they may not be benefiting from them anymore. The deep sense of caring and obligation can be overwhelming to the point that life decisions cannot be effectively made.

The Earth Body

The Earth body is more of an endomorphic body. You may have shorter arms and legs; a larger frame and mass. Your arms and legs tend to accumulate more fat. Your bones are larger and heavier. Your muscles are larger. You are prone to excess weight and weight gain. It is imperative that you have invigorating daily movement or the weight will not stay off. If you cease your daily movement you can easily lose conditioning that you have worked so hard to achieve.

While you are not a “cold” person, your skin tends to be cool to the touch. It may even feel moist. You probably suffer in cooler weather and should take precautions to stay snuggly warm.
You are a cuddly, soft person. Your skin is soft, you hair is soft and your body stays soft and pliable. You have very good flexibility with loose joints. The Earth types are easy to identify if you simply touch their smooth, pore less and utterly soft skin.
You may be prone to excessive mucus and bloating. The caution for The Earth is to drink when thirsty, but not to drink excessively or you will suffer from bloat.
You are sweet. Sweet is one of the six tastes of Ayurveda. We will learn much about this a bit later during the Cleanse. Just know for now that our average American diet contains a lot of this taste. Pasta, breads, meat, dairy, fruits and of course sweets. You have a lot of this taste in your constitution so you really shouldn’t eat so much of it.
The Earth is very stable meaning it is slow to change. It probably takes you awhile to get going in the morning. If you fall into an energy slump, it may take awhile to turn that around as well. The good news is that this stability translates into forward momentum once you do get going. An Earth body committed to a movement practice will get into a good routine and stick to it.
When a person having an Earth body moves, it is slow, steady and graceful. Dancing is one of the most positive activities for an Earth body.
The stability of your system also means that you have a strong immune system. You probably don’t get sick very often. The caution is that you are so stable that you push yourself even when you are feeling run-down or even sick. The Earth body needs to rest when it is feeling run-down.
Your digestion tends to be reasonably good and you can skip meals with no problem. Your digestive disorder tends to be that your digestion can become sluggish and it may take time to eliminate. You must stoke the digestive fire with spicy and cooked food.

Some famous Kapha bodies include Marilyn Monroe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Queen Latifah, Beyonce, Oprah Winfrey and Kate Winslet. Famous men include Antonio Banderas, Shaquille O’Neal, Tom Hanks and Dan Rather.