Kapha Dosha
Kapha dosha is composed of the elements of water and earth. It has the qualities of being heavy, slow, cold, oily, dense, and static. This means that Kapha people want to engage in activities that are warming, stimulating, lightening, and enlivening.
Do’s For KAPHA
- Get up and get moving. Perform vigorous exercise daily. This helps to keep Kapha from being so slow and heavy.
- Wake up early. Plan to rise with the sun. The energy at that time of day is lighter and it will make it easier to get up.
- Eat light and healthy foods favoring the pungent, bitter, and astringent tastes. These are the tastes that balance Kapha.
- Spend time outdoors. The air is lighter and more invigorating than indoor air.
Spend time with friends and family on a regular basis. This helps to enliven your mood and stimulate your mind. - Give off your time and energy. Consider engaging in volunteer work. It warms the heart to help others.
Perform garshana (dry brush massage) daily. This helps encourage lymph flow. - Regularly clean out your closets and give things you don’t use away. This helps to lighten up your home.
Engage in a more vigorous yoga practice, hot yoga is for you. Hot yoga helps you to liquefy some of that stored Kapha in the body and it keeps you warm.
Don’ts For kapha
- Take naps. This just encourages feelings of heaviness and sedation.
- Sleep past sunrise. The energy starts to get heavier from sunrise until about 10 am. This makes is much harder to get up.
- Spend too much time in front of the television. When you are watching television (or spending time on the computer) you are usually stagnant.
- Have dessert after every meal. This encourages weight gain, making you heavier.
- Eat when you aren’t really hungry. This also encourages weight gain.
- Eat oily or fatty foods. Kapha has an inherently oily quality already. It doesn’t need more.
Overeat. - Devote all of your yoga time to yin and restorative classes. They make feel good but they are also likely to put you to sleep. You need to move more.