Ayurveda Vata Body Type: Balance Your Vata Dosha with these Ayurveda Diet & Lifestyle Tips

Vata body type is characterized by the ever-changeable Vata energy.

This is the energy of movement and creativity. Vata is cooling, light and drying, representing the ether/space & air elements.

Before taking you to the specific Vata dosha diet, let’s first make sure that you are indeed a Vata dosha – based on your physical and temperamental characteristics.

Before taking you to the specific Vata dosha diet, let’s first make sure that you are indeed a Vata dosha – based on your physical and temperamental characteristics.

You’ll discover what aggravates your Vata dosha and how to correct any imbalance with practical lifestyle tips that you can apply immediately.

So let’s get down to it.

With a Vata body type you are generally thin, have a smaller frame and a slim body shape with a a flat chest (of the three body types you’re most likely to have an ectomorph body).

Your skin, nose, hands, and feet tend to be cold and dry, even rough. You have lively dark brown or dark green small eyes.

Your movements and speech are quick, and mentally you are restless and have lots of ideas. Lively, creative and enthusiastic, you are often fearful, anxious and insecure. Because you tend to be shy, less bold and with less will-power, you typically need more stimulation to become more determined and practical.

In your body, Vata energy is responsible for all physiological processes involving motion: motor & sensory functions, nerve impulses, thought processes (including creative thinking and enthusiasm), circulation, respiration, and elimination.

As you can imagine, any Vata imbalance impacts negatively these specific processes.

With a Vata body type your predominant senses are hearing & touch.

You like sweet, sour, & salty tastes, and hot drinks. You love change and thrive having new experiences, meeting new people. Also, you like humid, warm – even hot – weather – and you don’t perspire much.

Vata energy is predominant during life’s old age – as we get older, we naturally shrink and dry out.

In plants, Vata energy is found in the flowers and the leaves that reach farthest into the air. Vata periods of the day are between 6-10 A.M. & 6-10 P.M., and Vata season is from October through February, when it’s cold, dry, and windy.

A Balanced Vata Body Type…

…causes you to have a fun, vibrant, lively, and expressive personality. You have a clear and quick mind, an active walk and a fast speech, often unclear. With an abundance of creative energy and imagination, you are a prolific, idealistic artist.

Quick to respond, you grasp things as easily as you forget them, and you’re not a very good planner. Like the wind, for you money usually goes as easily as it comes.

You tend to be restless, doing more than one thing at a time, and you generally have a light, easily interrupted sleep.

When balanced, you are flexible, joyful, thoughtful, talkative, alert, sensitive, easily aroused and easily fatigued.

Compared with Pitta and Kapha doshas, you are less bold, will-powered, confident and tolerant.

An Imbalanced Vata Body Type…

…usually causes neurological disorders, especially the motor functions. For example:

• Too little Vata energy results in nerve loss, congestion, difficulty in breathing, constipation; also in mental confusion, forgetfulness, negligence, selfishness, lack of tact, and of concentration
  
• Too much Vata energy results in headaches, dry coughs, sore throat, earaches, high blood pressure, muscle spasms, lower back pain, dry & wrinkled skin, aching joints, abdominal gas, diarrhea, menstrual cramps, premature ejaculation, and a hyper immune system; also in interrupted sleep, restlessness, tendency to be spaced out and to do too much, fatigue, anxiety, worrying, irresponsibility, inability to make decisions, and difficulty in losing weight.

Vata Body Type gets Aggravated by…

…dry weather and the cold, windy autumn & winter seasons.

Your dosha is also aggravated by irregular routine & meals, staying up late, frantic multi-tasking, loud noise, travel (especially by airplane), air conditioning, excessive mental work, and not taking time to relax.

A Vata Imbalance is Pacified by…

… warmth and a more humid weather, a calm daily routine including relaxation techniques (deep breathing, meditation, and walking in nature), as well as going to bed early (10 PM), and waking up early (6 AM).

As a Vata dosha, you are balanced by calm, focused, and determined people, constructive thinking, and a positive attitude.

As a Vata dosha, you will benefit from relaxed, moderate workouts like hatha yoga, t’ai-chi, swimming, and walking in nature. Surround yourself with warm, gentle colors (beige, brown, yellow, and warm green), and use moisturizers every morning.

Massage your whole body with sweet, “warming” aromas (like jasmine, clove, rose, cinnamon, and orange) essential oils blended in sesame or almond oil, as this will go a long way toward soothing your emotions and your entire nervous system.

Also, if you live in a dry climate, a humidifier is very useful for reducing your Vata imbalance.

As a Vata body type you are naturally slender. However, as you age, you might gain weight. If this is your case check out the balancing Vata dosha diet.

Would you like to get a 28-day Ayurveda Pitta step-by-step plan PLUS 1 full year of delicious menus and Pitta-balancing meal plans? Then take a look at this Ayurvedic Balance 1-year program >>

If you’re like most people, you’re a combination of two doshas – a predominant and a secondary one. Either one can be out of balance and needs to be pacified for your optimum physical and emotional equilibrium, so you may want to check as well the Ayurveda Pitta Type or, Kapha Type.