What are Doshas in Ayurveda

The term dosha is one of the basic concepts in alternative medicine such as traditional Indian Ayurveda . It is based on the principles of simplicity and naturalness and on the concept of five primary elements.

What is it?

All the knowledge of this ancient Indian medicine is based on the foundation - the concept of five primary elements. Since in their original form they are practically impossible to meet in this world, therefore, to a greater extent they are found in the form of various combinations, giving different qualities and having a different nature of influence. Therefore, the creators of the Ayurveda doctrine proposed the concept of doshas, which makes it possible to consider and describe these combinations.

According to this teaching, doshas in Ayurveda: vata pitta kapha, represent three main fundamental life forces, grouped from five primary elements and manifested in the human body. At the same time, all five elements are present in each of them, but only two of them predominate in quantity:

• the union of fire and water is called pitta dosha (“bile”);
• the interweaving of earth and water is called kapha dosha (“mucus”);
• a mixture of air and ether is called vata dosha (“wind”). Each of these three doshas has its own composition, name and is responsible for performing certain functions in the body: the peculiarity of physique, the state of physical and psycho-emotional health.
• Pitta-dosha is responsible for metabolic processes - digestion, metabolism.
• Kapha-dosha maintains the balance of fluid in the body and structural components - muscles, bones, tendons.
• Vata-dosha controls motor processes - the movement of blood, air, nerve impulses in the body. At the same time, they are responsible not only for physiological processes, but also form the psycho-emotional component of a person, called “psychotypes” in Western psychology. For example, people with a predominance of:
• pitta-dosha are prone to angry outbursts;
• kapha-dosha are prone to inert behavior;
• vata-dosha have a subtle receptive mental constitution.
  Physical and psycho-emotional state are closely related. The emergence of any disagreements leads to an imbalance of vital forces and entails the development of health problems.
  Also, the predominance of a particular dosha type will determine his way of thinking, life, possible diseases, preferences in food, clothing.

How it is determined

According to this ancient Indian teaching, all three types of doshas are present in a person and ideally should be present in him in equal proportions. Such a person will be healthy and live a long life. But there are practically no such people in the world, and this means that in each person some dosha predominates. In order to determine the predominant type in Ayurvedic medicine, a special dosha test is used.

After passing it, it is calculated which type of people in Ayurveda you belong to, which dosha predominates and how to improve their balance, for example, to cure a disease. Using special methods of unconventional medicine, the amount of the predominant life force in a person is corrected. At the same time, such a principle is used

• not suppression of the predominant one, but, on the contrary, strengthening the missing ones. Knowledge of the qualities of existing main doshas and maintaining them in your body in the necessary balance is the key to a healthy human body, according to the oldest type of alternative medicine Ayurveda.