Lifestyle and diet play important role is balancing doshas Fortunately, essential oils can help create changes in lifestyle and can be added to the diet. This chapter is intended as a quick reference guide to assist in your day to day living.
Reducing Vata
Consume warm foods and drinks, unctuous (oily) food, foods with predominately sweet, sour and salty tastes. Oil your body every day with sesame and essential oils. It is best not to eat alone. Best colors for meditation are yellow, orange, red. Avoid dark colours. Best stones are jade, peridot. Best metal is gold. Avoid cold wind, dampness, excess travel, television, radio, movies, excess talking and thinking. Practice yoga that is calming and grounding. Exercise should be non-vigorous and non-exhaustive, walking or swimming.
Use bulk and tonic laxatives like flax seed and psyllium. Avoid diet and fasting, dry foods, cold foods and drinks and foods having predominantly pungent, bitter or astringent tastes. Meals should be small but frequent. It is important to go to bed before 10 p.m. If prone to insomnia, drink teas at night that are calming and soothing. Vata types do better in warm, moist climates. When they live in a cold climate, it is important to protect the head, neck and chest, and keep warm. Use routines to ground, calm and stabilize your life.
Reducing Pitta
Cool foods and drinks are best; foods with predominately sweet, bitter and astringent tastes. Avoid food with pungent, sour and salty tastes. Have flowers around the house. Bathe in moonlight. Take walks in the cool air. At night, massage your scalp with coconut oil. Competitive team sports, which promote cooperation are ideal; also activities like hiking which are vigorous and not ego-producing. The best stones, to be carried on the right side of the body, are sapphire, aquamarine, azurite. Take flower baths. Do regular liver flushes; juice of 1 lemon, 1 tbs. olive oil, 1 small diced apple or other fruit, blend and drink instead of breakfast (Vata and Kapha may add ginger, garlic and cayenne). Follow diet and avoid restricted foods whenever possible. For meditation colours, use blue and green. Best metal to use on the body is silver. Avoid excessive sauna, hot tub or sunbathing. Seek out what gives you joy.
Reducing Kapha
Fast once a week for twenty-four hours. Foods with pungent, bitter and astringent tastes are best. Avoid or reduce sweet, sour and salty foods. No breakfast before 10 a.m., light meal in the evening. Frequent physical and mental exercise; sexual intercourse, minimum sleep. Best colours are yellow, brown and red. Best stones are yellow topaz, coral and diamond. Best metals to use on the body are copper or iron. Take regular baths and saunas to promote sweating.
