Vata Dosha: Signs, Diet and Daily Routine

Vata is one of the three doshas of ayurveda, the principle of movement. Everything in the body that moves belongs to it in ayurveda: breathing, circulation, the workings of the nervous system, the movement of food through the gut, speech, thought, childbirth. The name comes from a Sanskrit root meaning “to move” or “to blow”.

We have written about the three doshas as a whole separately, in The three doshas: vata, pitta, kapha. Here we look at vata in detail: how to recognize it, what throws it off balance and what brings it back.

One important point first. The doshas are a model of traditional medicine, not a concept of modern physiology. No lab test will show your vata. What follows is how the classical texts describe it and how an ayurvedic doctor works with it.

A portrait of the vata constitution from the classical descriptions and textbooks:

• Build. Slim, with visible bones and joints; weight comes and goes easily.
• Skin and hair. Dry, thin skin, cool to the touch; dry hair, often curly.
• Digestion. Irregular: a big appetite one day, none the next. A tendency to bloating.
• Sleep. Light and broken; thoughts get in the way of falling asleep.
• Movement and speech. Quick and light; lots of gesturing.
• Mind. Picks up new things fast and forgets them just as fast. Good at starting, harder at finishing.
• Under pressure. Anxiety and restlessness come first, rather than irritation or apathy.

Pure types are rare: most people show two doshas. How your inborn constitution differs from your current state is explained in Prakriti and vikriti.

According to the Charaka Samhita and the textbooks, vata is increased by everything dry, cold, light and mobile:

• Food. Dry and cold food, raw vegetables, unsoaked dried fruit, fizzy drinks, eating on the run and irregular meals.
• Rhythm. Too little sleep, late nights, getting up at different times, juggling many tasks at once.
• Travel. Flights, crossing time zones, long bumpy journeys — the classic example of “vata aggravated by movement”.
• Weather. Wind, cold, dry air.
• Mind. Anxiety, fear, overload of news and conversation.

The most common example discussed on our courses: someone flies a lot, eats on the run and sleeps five hours a night. A month later they come in with dryness, bloating, insomnia and anxiety — and that is described as aggravated vata.

The general principle: warm, moist, oily, cooked, and at the same times every day. Of ayurveda’s six tastes, vata is balanced by sweet, sour and salty; bitter, pungent and astringent increase it.

What is usually advised for aggravated vata:

• warm cooked food instead of raw and cold;
• enough oil or ghee on your plate;
• warming spices — ginger, cumin, fennel, asafoetida;
• warm drinks through the day;
• regularity: three meals at roughly the same times.

What to avoid: cold food straight from the fridge, dry snacks without a drink, too many raw salads, coffee on an empty stomach, skipped lunches.

Why irregularity hits vata in particular is explained by the idea of the digestive fire — see Agni and ama. The general rules of eating by dosha are covered in The ayurvedic diet. An individual diet is prescribed by a doctor after an examination: it can’t be put together from a text on the internet.

In a clinic, treatments with warm oil are prescribed for vata conditions more often than any others — by the same rule of opposites:

• Abhyanga — a full-body massage with warm oil; for vata this is the main treatment.
• Shirodhara — a thin stream of warm oil on the forehead; traditionally chosen for light sleep and restlessness.
• Oil on the feet and head — a short daily practice that the texts single out for dryness, fatigue and poor sleep.
• Pizhichil — pouring generous amounts of warm oil over the body, a clinic-level treatment.

Treatments are prescribed by a doctor after an examination, taking contraindications into account. Oil treatments are not given during a fever or acute infection, with indigestion or nausea, on damaged skin, and in pregnancy only as prescribed by a doctor.

This article does not replace a consultation. You can’t determine your own constitution from a description of signs, let alone prescribe yourself treatment: similar complaints — dryness, insomnia, bloating — occur in conditions that have nothing to do with ayurveda and need an ordinary doctor.

Medication prescribed by a doctor is not stopped for ayurvedic reasons.

If you’d like a first idea of your constitution, the dosha test takes a few minutes. It shows how you see yourself rather than a diagnosis, but it is a handy place to start the conversation.