Tips For Balancing Vata

• Eat three warm, nourishing meals each day.
• Favor foods that are warm, heavy, oily, sweet, sour and salty.
• Minimize foods that are spicy, bitter or astringent.
• Minimize foods that are cold, dry and light.
• Pay attention to fluids: avoid cold or iced drinks, sip warm water at regular intervals, avoid alcoholic beverages, coffee and black tea.
• Ayurveda discusses three doshas or mind/body operators to keep ion balance for optimum health. Vata is the lead dosha and governs all movement in the body.
• Experience the benefits of a warm sesame oil massage before your morning shower or bath.
• Keep warm: avoid cold, windy or chilly environments; take long warm baths and showers.
• Try to keep your environment humid.
• Favor calm, quiet environments. Avoid mental strain, overstimulation, loud music, and long hours of TV in the evening.
• Develop regular habits such as eating and going to sleep at the same times each day.
• Enjoy light, humorous entertainment.
• Make your surroundings light and bright.
• Regular daily elimination is important.

Tips For Balancing Pitta

• Favor foods that are bitter, sweet, astringent, cool, heavy and liquid.
• Reduce foods that are excessively spicy, salty, sour, hot, or deep-fried.
• Try to avoid skipping meals.
• The key to remember when balancing Pitta is moderation.
• Avoid hot baths and overexposure to the sun.
• Pay attention to leisure and rest: do not overwork.
• Keep inside temperatures on the cool side.
• Avoid or minimize stressful deadline-oriented activities.
• Seek out pleasing natural environments (sunsets, lakes) and the tonic of laughter.
• Late evening strolls, when the air is relatively cool, and swimming can help soothe a Pitta-aggravated mind and emotions.
• Decrease stimulants: avoid alcohol, coffee and tea.
• Avoid watching violent, shocking or controversial entertainment.
• Cool milk, blended with a couple of dates, before bedtime can help balance Pitta.
• Maintain regular mealtimes; try and eat lunch close to noon.
• Use cooling oil for massage, such as coconut.

Tips For Balancing Kapha

• Favor foods that are light, dry, warm, pungent, astringent and bitter.
• Reduce foods that are sweet, sour, salty, heavy, cold and oily.
• Do not overeat but do not skip meals either.
• Kapha types are steady and slow, so the key to balance is activity and variety.
• Exercise regularly preferably every day.
• Avoid excessive rest and oversleeping.
• Enjoy the benefits of a dry massage with a loofah sponge or raw silk gloves to stimulate the circulation.
• Enjoy variety in life, and seek the stimulation of new sights, sounds, and people.
• Stimulate the digestion by eating a little fresh ginger before meals.
• Stay warm in cold, damp weather.
• Early to bed and early to rise can help balance rest and activity.
• Raw honey is the one sweetener that is beneficial for Kaphas, but in moderation not more than two tablespoon per day.

Tips For Quality Digestion

• Savor your meals don’t work, drive, read or watch televisions while you’re eating.
• Eat in a settled atmosphere. A calm environment and focusing on the food aid the body in absorbing nutrients.
• Eat your main meal at midday, and eat lighter at night. Your digestive fire is strongest at midday.
• Always sit down to eat eating on the go can hamper digestion.
• Avoid ice-cold drinks or foods. They decrease the digestive fire.
• Eat at approximately the same times each day.
• Don’t eat too quickly, take the time to enjoy each mouthful of food.
• Eat to about three-quarters of your capacity.
• Take a few minutes to sit quietly after eating.
• Don’t drink a lot of fluids with a meal. It’s fine to sip water or juice.
• Favor fresh foods and avoid left-overs which can disrupt digestion.
• Avoid taking a meal until the previous meal has been digested. Allow approximately three to six hours between meals.
• A bit of fresh ginger before a full meal will help stimulate the digestive fire.
• Milk should not be taken with full meals, especially with salty or sour tastes.
• Avoid yogurt, cheese, cultured buttermilk and cottage cheese at night.
• Eat only when you are hungry when the stomach is empty.
• Do not eat when you are stressed digestion and assimilation are negatively impacted by stress.
• Maintain regular meal times.
• A happy, positive frame of mind at meal times will help you get the maximum benefit from your food.
• Chewing fennel seeds after a meal helps digestion and freshens the breath.
• Do not interrupt your meals for phone-calls or other work-related activities.

Tips For Better Sleep

• Place thin packets of aromatic, relaxing herb / flower potpourri in your pillows.
• Do not bring work-related material into the bedroom.
• Wear comfortable clothing to bed cotton is recommended.
• The bedroom should ideally be dark or very dimly lit.
• Keep your bedroom clean and orderly to limit disorderly thought.
• Calming or settling activities as bedtime draws near help prepare the mind and body for rest.
• Drink a cup of warm milk before bed.
• Use calming aroma therapy oils to help you feel more settled.
• Go to bed before 10 p.m. during the drowsy Kapha time of night.
• Listen to soothing music before bed such as Maharishi Gandharva-Veda melodies.
• Poppy Seed Chutney is a natural sleep aid.
• Avoid arguments or intense entertainment right before bed.
• Have your last meal about three hours before you go to bed.
• Eat light at dinner and minimize hot spicy foods.
• Wash your face, hands and feet just before bed.
• A warm 20-minute bath an hour before bed can help you relax. Infuse bath water with relaxing aroma oils for added benefit.

Tips For Stress Management

• Practicing Transcendental Meditation is an effective way to manage stress.
• Walnuts, almonds, coconut, and sweet juicy, seasonal fruit such as pears, apples (cooked if possible), milk, lassi, Ghee, and fresh cheeses such as panir or ricotta are natural stress-busters.
• Practice pranayam-breathing exercises to help balance the mind, body and emotions.

Mental Stress

• Manage mental activity try not to overuse or misuse the mind.
• Favor Vata-balancing foods, such as sweet, sour, and salty tastes and warm, unctuous and heavy foods.
• Favor warm milk, Ghee and other light dairy products.
• Diffusing a relaxing aroma oil can help calm you before bed.
• Perform a full-body warm oil massage everyday.

Physical Stress

• Follow a Vata-Kapha pacifying diet.
• Perform the full-body warm oil self-massage everyday.
• Exercise regularly in moderation.

Tips For Immunity

• Avoid extreme temperatures, hot or cold.
• Eat a balanced, nutritious diet with lots of fresh vegetables and fruits.
• Cook with moderate amounts of spices like turmeric, ginger, black pepper, cumin and coriander.
• Avoid ice-cold foods and beverages.
• Eat three regular meals everyday.

Enhanced Brain Power

• Eat foods as close to their natural state as possible processed, canned and refined foods are low on chetana natural intelligence.
• Include healthy proteins in your diet legumes, lentils, beans and grains.
• Include several helpings of fresh fruit and vegetables in your diet.
• Don’t cut fat entirely out of your diet, fat performs essential functions in the body.
• The brain is especially susceptible to damage by free radicals, so harness the power of antioxidants.
• Try diffusing the essential oil of rosemary, peppermint and lemon to help enhance mental clarity and alertness.
• The essential oils of basil helps dispel mental fatigue and aids focus.
• Stress impacts mental performance practice relaxation techniques to manage stress levels.
• An adequate among of good quality sleep is essential for peak mental performance.
• Keep your brain constantly challenged to keep it working well.
• The daily warm oil self-massage helps enhance mental alertness.
• Cracked black pepper in your diet can help the free flow of oxygen to the brain and help you stay focused yet calm.

Balance periods of intense mental activity with short periods of rest.

Tips For Balancing Stomach Acid

• Reduce your intake of dry, spicy and salty foods.
• Drink a little cool milk, but not with meals. Eat sweet, juicy fruits, such as plums and pears.
• Get proper rest. Try to go to bed before 10 p.m. when digestion becomes active again.
• Eat promptly when you’re hungry.
• Don’t skip meals.

Tips For Healthier Joints

• Cook with moderate amounts of ginger, turmeric and black pepper.
• Cut down on raw foods such as salads.
• Regular daily elimination is important.
• Avoid or reduce bananas, yogurt, eggplant and bell peppers.
• Avoid or minimize intake of cold, heavy foods that are hard to digest.
• Do regular exercise in moderation-overdoing exercise can strain joints.
• Perform the warm oil full-body self-massage everyday to improve circulation.
• Pay special attention to the joints during the massage.

Tips For Detoxification

• Get extra rest during detoxification.
• Go to bed before 10 p.m. to aid the body in purification.
• Eat wholesome, nutritious, easily digestible foods such as vegetable soups and well-cooked mungdahl.
• Increase the amount of fiber and bioflavonoids in your diet eat plenty of cooked, leafy green vegetables and fruits.

Tips For Massage

• Use more massage oil on the soles of your feet and the palms of your hands to enhance circulation to the peripheries.
• A full-body warm oil daily self-massage helps balance the body, mind and emotions.
• A brisk daily dry massage with a raw silk glove can help break down cellulite deposits over time by enhancing circulation.
• Enrich your massage oil with extracts of herbs for added benefit.
• Sweet juicy fruits are excellent for cleansing and repairing the body.
• Drink plenty of plain warm water to help flush toxins from the body.
• Spring is the ideal time for a full-fledged internal cleansing program.
• Regular, daily bowel movements are important. Psyllium seed husk can aid regularity.
• Essential-oil-infused massage oils provide the dual benefit of massage therapy and aroma therapy.
• Wait 5 -10 minutes after you apply the oil and before you shower for better absorption.
• Massaging the lower arms, hands, lower legs and feet with a light massage oil can help relax you before bed.
• A warm oil scalp massage, once or twice a week, stimulates the scalp and helps balance the mind.

Balanced Weight Control

• Reduce cold, heavy, oily, sweet, sour and salty foods.
• Include all six ayurvedic tastes (sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent) in at least one meal each day, to help balance unnatural cravings.
• Avoid heavy meals and leftovers which are hard to digest.
• Exercise daily. Vary the intensity and amount according to your age, weight and overall health.
• Avoid fasting or other sudden changes in your diet.
• Savor your meals. Don’t divide your attention by reading, working or watching TV.
• Avoid cold drinks and food. Cool is okay.
• Favor light, nutritious foods. Fill up on sweet, juicy fruits and vegetables.
• Cook with fennel, cumin and turmeric.
• Don’t fast or skip meals.
• Add barely and mung bean soup to your diet.
• At meals, only eat until you are about ¾ full.

Ayurvedic Hair Care

• Cook with “hair-friendly” spices such as cumin, fenugreek, turmeric and black pepper.
• Stay away from harsh chemical-based topical hair products; they can cause long-term damage to the health and luster of your hair.
• Never attack wet tangled hair with a brush, use a wide-toothed comb instead to gently untangle hair.
• A warm oil massage twice a week will help stimulate the scalp; leave oil on for at least an hour or two, then shampoo it out.
• Use healthy fats to cook with Ghee and olive oil, for example.
• Try and dry your hair naturally as far as possible, then brush into place; excessive blow-drying can cause hair to split and become brittle.
• Botanical-based topical products shampoos, conditioners, and hair-oils can help
• nourish your hair as well as clean and condition it.
• Add dairy products such as milk fresh yogurt and fresh cheese to your diet.
• Avoid processed, refined or canned foods and foods with artificial preservatives or colors .
• Ayurveda considers such foods stripped of their ” intelligence” and, therefore, not useful.
• Manage day-to-day stress with relaxation techniques; prolonged stress is injurious to hair health and color.
• Include plenty of green leafy vegetables and sweet juicy fruits in your diet.
• Fresh coconut is excellent for hair sprinkle fresh grated coconut over salads, fruit or cooked rice.

Tips For Exercise

• The key is to stay within your comfort zone stop or slow down when you start breathing hard, breathing through your mouth, or you feel you are straining.
• Balance and mind-body coordination are key to experiencing the zone of peak performance.
• Only exercise to 50% of your body’s capacity.
• It is best not to exercise on a completely empty stomach some juice, milk or light fruit will help.
• Ayurveda recommends yogasanas yoga postures and pranayam breathing exercises.
• A brisk walk is beneficial for everyone. It calms nervous Vata energy, relaxes Pitta and stimulates Kapha.
• Give your full attention to the process of exercising. Do not divide your attention by watching TV or listening to music while you are working out.
• If you are a Vata type, light and thin, you need less exercise than Pitta and Kapha types.
• Low impact sports are best: dance aerobics, gymnastics, yoga and walking.
• If you are a Pitta type with a medium build, a moderate amount of exercise is good.
• Sports that help you stay cool are best: swimming, surfing, skiing and ice-skating.
• If you are a Kapha type with a large build you need regular, vigorous exercise. Sports that require stamina and physical endurance are best: aerobics, cycling, running, weight-lifting and football.