Vata Balancing 101

CALM • RESTORE • HYDRATE

Autumn asks you to be honest: Are you truly balanced? 
Does the windy season have you feeling more like a tornado than a cool gentle breeze?

photo: Third Eye Visionaries

If you said, "tornado." You aren’t alone.
If we’re not careful, the season of crisp air and rapid change might leave us all feeling restless, fatigued, or simply dried up. But calming excess vata is just a few simple adjustments away.

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What is ​vata?

According to the principles of Ayurveda, Vata is the combined elements of air and space. Vata is the catalyst of movement—like the winds that blow the leaves from the trees, the activity of our minds, and the life force energy that breathes our bodies into animation.

Vata inspires creative flow, new ideas, and spontaneity. When imbalanced, vata exhibits signs and symptoms of anxiety and overwhelm—qualities that can billow like a hurricane and carry you up and away into a storm of stress. Insomnia and constipation are common symptoms of excess vata.

Vata is increased during the months of Autumn. 
Yoga and Ayurveda offer practical solutions to balance your body and mind all season long.

Look to the elements:

• FIRE to warm you,
• WATER for hydration,
• EARTH to keep you grounded.  ​​

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Action Steps for Ayurvedic Wellness

• Begin each day with the morning ritual: neti, nasya, oil pulling, and lemon water.
• Fuel up with a restorative breakfast, but make lunch your largest meal of the day.
• Favor dense, grounding, cooked foods: grains, root veggies, and soups.
• Avoid processed food, pungent spices, and stimulants like caffeine.
• Favor the vata-balancing flavors: sweet, sour, and salty.
• Practice restorative yoga practices and calming, balancing pranayama.
• Get outside and enjoy the changing weather patterns. ​
• Unplug and take a tech break one day per week, including New Moon days. ​
• Eat an early dinner (before the sun goes down.)
• It is important to get to bed before 10:00 p.m. to help prevent restless sleep patterns.
• Establish a Ratricharya (an evening ritual) of calming and restorative self-care: Bath + Abhyanga.

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Slow down and turn inward.
Establish a routine. 
Eat cooked, nourishing meals. 
Create sacred boundaries for your time and energy.

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Commit to your whole-body wellness this season.
Establish an abhyanga practice as a nurturing nightly ritual. Massage your entire body with heated oils that are known to balance vata, like shea butter or sesame oil. Diffuse calming essential oils like sandalwood and lavender. For relaxation and hydration use Soul Artist Living mellow butter which contains a seasonal blend of whipped organic shea butter and calming essential oils, as well as ashwagandha, and vitamins A and E. 

Drink warm teas and eat cooked, oily, and grounding meals like baked root vegetables with ghee, soups, and whole grains. Enjoy warming mild spices like cinnamon, ginger, and clove. Focus on tastes that are naturally sweet, sour, salty, and in season.

Align with the rhythms of nature. Commit to maintaining a consistent bedtime (before 10 p.m.) Wake by 6:00 a.m. to a nurturing morning yoga and meditation practice. Include deep breathing exercises to soothe your nervous system and keep you feeling easy-breezy all day.

Take time to eat, work, exercise, meditate and rest *consistently* every day.

YOGA + AYURVEDA Workbook
​Āyurveda is a system of wellness deeply rooted in nature.
It recognizes that humanity is created from, exists within, and eventually returns to the elements.

Āyurveda is a Vedic science that has been practiced for thousands of years for the sake of holistic wellness. The system of Āyurveda recognizes that the key to good health is balance at all levels of being. It employs mindful dietary considerations, yoga āsana (postures), prānāyāma (breathing practices), herbs, and meditation for optimal health.
It seeks to cleanse the body of toxins and eliminate excess inflammation.

Ayurveda views everything as comprised of the pancha mahābhūtas (five basic elements): earth, water, fire, air and space. These are the building blocks for the qualities of your mind, body, and environment.

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