May 155 min read

Understanding Pitta Dosha: A Guide to Balancing Your Ayurvedic Body Type

Fire & Water

Predominant in the natural elements of Fire & Water, you are quick! Highly intelligent and probably competitive, you are not stopped from taking charge. You like for things to be detailed and interesting. Come on, really, you love a good challenge. You may even be someone who challenges the status quo. You’re far more comfortable forging your own path. When balanced, this can look like natural leadership skills, entrepreneurship or other athletic or creative endeavors. When out of balance, you have a tendency to burn out, taking on too much all at once and not listening to cues for rest. You may also jump too quickly to take action when a scenario requires patience. When this happens, you might become angry or irritable. It’s important to keep calm and cool, Pitta. Moderation is key, so you can sustain yourself through passion projects and keep fueling your creativity.

Qualities

Pitta is composed of Fire & Water elements. Fire & Water, when combined, form boiling water or steam. Think of the qualities of steam when imagining Pitta’s qualities. Pitta is hot, sharp, penetrating, slightly oily, light, spreading and liquid. In the body, Pitta is responsible for the energy of metabolism, conversion and transformation.

Finding Balance

Your main constitutional dosha, in this case Pitta, will usually be the predominant dosha to go out of balance. Different causative factors can cause other doshas to increase or decrease to an excess, but your constitutional dosha will likely be one to be affected more quickly.

In Ayurveda, the concept of similar/dissimilar is used to achieve balance, remedy illness and promote health. Put simply, like attracts like, and opposites balance.

Pitta is going to find balance through moderation. Balancing an active lifestyle with quality rest will be beneficial for long term vitality. Avoid things that are overstimulating in nature, such as alcohol, caffeine and stimulants in general. Pitta types can be prone to addiction or overconsumption Excessive strenuous exercise and working out in hot environments can lead to Pitta aggravation.

Mindful inquiry: “Is this (food, person, conversation, commitment, habit, place, etc) keeping me cool or burning me out?”

Pitta’s hot, sharp, light qualities can be balanced with a diet that is cooling or warm, slightly sweet and somewhat heavy.

6 Tastes

A balanced diet is one that contains all 6 tastes: bitter, pungent, astringent, sweet, sour and salty. When the 6 tastes are incorporated into a balanced meal, one feels satiated. Pitta predominant people can utilize different foods and spices to balance an overactive digestive fire (agni) and help remedy excess Pitta such as diarrhea, skin flare ups or smelly stools.

Pitta is increased by pungent, sour and salty tastes and pacified with bitter, astringent and sweet tastes. Digestive spices such as coriander, fennel, cilantro, cardamom, cinnamon, mint, saffron and turmeric can be used. Steamed or sautéed veggies with minimal oil will help combat the naturally oily nature of Pitta. Pittas could also incorporate some raw foods like salad greens for their bitter or astringent properties. Avoiding fermented, spicy and deep fried foods will lead to improved digestion if you are experiencing an excess of Pitta.

2. Digestion (Agni)

Ayurveda understands digestive health to be the primary influencer of health. If digestion is not working optimally, we are likely to experience imbalance. If digestion is working properly, we are likely to experience health!

How do you know if your digestion is impaired? There are a few key signs. A coating on the tongue in the mornings can indicate undigested food which builds up as toxic waste in the body and affects the body tissues. Low energy, brain fog, fatigue are also good indicators, as well as irritability, anger or sleeplessness. And of course, there’s poop. Noticing your waste habits is a very clear indicator of what’s going on in the gut. Hard, pebbly stools or constipation (no bowel movement or scanty bowel movement); diarrhea or loose, unformed stools; or smelly, mucousy, sticky stools are all signs of imbalance.

3. Daily Routines (Dinacharya)

A simple daily routine can have a tremendous impact on health. Your daily routine is like a touchstone of a ritual that you choose. When you do your daily routines, you are investing in your future health. Over time, these small actions can result in major shifts. Our routines don’t stay the same forever. As the seasons change, as should our routines. Some daily practices, no matter the season:

Wake up, tend to your natural urges first thing (bathroom).
Scrape your tongue with a copper or metal tongue scraper before you eat or drink anything. This removes the buildup of toxins and bacteria that has collected overnight and stimulates the digestive fire. Brush your teeth.
Drink a cup of warm water. This will gently kindle the digestive fire.
Abhyanga: self oil massage. Warm some coconut oil or other Pitta-pacifying massage oil. Try this one from Banyan Botanicals. The oil should be warm, not hot. You may want to use a double-boiler method or put your container of oil to sit in some warm water. Massage your whole body, head to ears to fingers to toes, with the warm oil. This is best done in the cool morning or evening hours. Then, take a warm steam shower or bath. Another massage beneficial for Pitta is to massage the soles of the feet and the head with Brahmi coconut oil before bed.
Exercise: Best done in the cool morning or evening hours. Exercises including water like swimming can be great for Pitta. In yoga, try moon salutations.
Breathing: Pranayama is helpful to direct the flow of energy through the body. Sheetali/Sheetakari pranayama is a cooling breath. You can find an instructional video here.
Meditation: Here is a calming meditation for you to try. This can be beneficial in the evening time, prior to sleep. Relaxing and calming from the day will encourage restfulness.
Gratitude: Give thanks for the day!

You may want to take on one or two of these at a time. Do not try to take on too much all at once when developing new routines. That can lead to burnout and have the opposite effect, actually increasing Pitta qualities. Be patient and kind with yourself.

Continued Support

Anahatea offers guided support on your journey of life! Ayurveda is, after all, the study (ayur) of life (veda). Guidance during any phase of this journey can be helpful. We are here to coach you through health, illness, transitions, addictions and difficult phases. An Ayurvedic lifestyle can be extremely helpful for all parts of the human experience. You will get to know yourself better than ever before, and become your own best healer.

Entry to Ayurveda

This is an 8-week program for those ready to start incorporating an Ayurvedic routine into their lives. We will start slowly, and you will begin to identify changes that are happening for you on physical, mental and emotional levels. The main focus for these 8 weeks will be on improving digestion, crafting a positive routine and weeding out those habits that are causing imbalances and illness.

Commitment: 2 months, $300/month

You will receive:

Initial Ayurvedic Consultation ($288 value)
Follow-Up Consultation ($144 value)
Deeper introduction into your Dosha
Ayurvedic diet and lifestyle recommendations tailored to your life and goals
Weekly recipes
Weekly progress calls to support your change
10% off of all Ayurvedic Body Therapies at Anahatea

Integrating Ayurveda

Once you have completed the Entry to Ayurveda 8 weeks, you will be eligible to join our Integrating Ayurveda program. Having already established a foundation of healthy routine and digestion, we will start incorporating more tools to support you on your journey. Together, we can work on improving a specific health concern, or if you have no specific concern we can go deeper into establishing immunity and vitality to support you through each season.

Commitment: 3 months, $250/month