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Ayurveda (eye-your-VAY-duh), an ancient holistic system of medicine from India, encourages maintaining your health by balancing the three energies of the body known as Doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. It emphasizes a whole person approach—mind, body, and soul. Ayurveda looks at all aspects of our lives, not just our bodies. It considers the physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, environmental, and social factors that affect us. It looks at everything that is happening in your world to find out what might be throwing you off balance.

According to Ayurveda, you are made up of a combination of the three types of Doshas that govern the body. The three Doshas are made up of the five fundamental universal elements, which also constitute your physiological make-up: space, air, earth, fire, and water. Together, the Doshas conduct all the activities that occur within us. The combination of the three Doshas that you are born with is called your Prakriti—or original constitution. Most people have two Doshas that are equally dominant, with the third one less dominant. For a rare few, they have nearly equal proportions of the three Doshas or just one very dominant Dosha as their Prakriti.

Whatever your combination, your Doshic make-up is unique to you. Because your Prakriti is made up of the three Doshas, the key is to know what your Dosha is. Once you know what Doshas are dominant in you, you’ll know what your balanced state should be. You’ll know when your body goes out of balance and know how to bring it back to balance. Overall well-being and good health depends on keeping your Doshas balanced. That doesn’t mean they need to be equal, unless you were born with equal Doshas; it means that you need to maintain your original Doshic make-up (Prakriti) through life as much as possible to maintain good health. An imbalance among the Doshas causes a state of disease or illness. That's why restoring balance is the central theme of the Ayurvedic approach to health. Since our Doshas are made up of the five elements, we can use the opposite elements to bring us back to balance.

Take the ‘Your Dosha Count’ quiz and find out whether you are Vata, Pitta, Kapha or any combination of the three. Once you know, you can help keep your body, mind, and soul balanced and healthy.



BY: NEERA CHAUDHARY/ PUBLISHED: SEPTEMBER 2010 ISSUE