Less really is more for a vata girl like me

Recently while on my trip to Turkey, I found myself like every other tourist running about to see all the amazing places and architecture that Turkey is famous for, but at the same time, it was quite exhausting. Until I reached Kabak Valley where I literally spent 6 days laying at the beach for about 5-7hrs doing nothing!! It was incredible, I can barely sit through a movie, ha! Finally after moving around, I found stillness and my mind shut down. That’s when the inspiration flowed through…

I realized how much of a rush we Americans are all in, and how much of a rush I am in at times. Running around was the story of my life…It wasn’t until I found Ayurveda that it gave me the knowledge and understanding to know more about my self and my tendencies, and how to bring the balance into my life. And I’d love to share with you a major key component in my healing process, and why I allowed myself to just BE at the beach without feeling guilt….

A Y U R V E D A~ The Science of Living Life

Being such a classical Vata-type, and like most vata types we crave movement. Vata governs movement, nerve impulses, and is predominant in the elements air and ether. If you can only imagine what someone with this type of physiology would look like, it would look like me. Ha!

The point is, when one is out of balance, we crave the things that keep us out of balance. And once you learn why you’re attracted to certain behavioral patterns and personality traits, and even why our body does what it does. You can learn to counterbalance by bringing in the opposite qualities that which you want to calm or pacify.

In general, our societies these days are very vata deranged and you can see that in our lifestyle alone ( working too much, driving too much, over stimulation of senses, too much movement, depletion from fasting, exercising without nourishing, etc) I’m going to explain how to bring our vata ( business and rushing around) into balance:

Vata Qualities: earth and ether    * * * * * * * * * *  Counter-Balance by bringing in more: earth/water qualities:

*Movement                                                                      *Stillness

*Cold                                                                                 *Warmth

*light                                                                                 *Heaviness

*Subtle                                                                              *Gross/Earthiness

*Rough                                                                              *Soft or smooth

Being predominant in one of the dosas ( vata , pitta, kapha) we have tendencies towards being more out of balance with the dosa than if we did not have predominance in one of them. Being the vata girl that I am, I know that my tendency is to do too much and run myself dry till I disappear. Hence the resting on the beach, for me was a blessing. I needed to bring in the earth~healing~energy into my being. No guilt there in having to do nothing…

I was healed at the beach. I felt a sense of r e s t and p e a c e I hadn’t felt in a really long time. And my intention upon my return is to continue cultivating more peace and stillness in my life. Meaning doing less is more.

Try it, and see what happens! I think you’ll learn to enjoy it!

Jennyogini