To correctly understand the basic principles of the Vedic system of treatment, you first need to know what doshas are. The fundamental concepts of Ayurveda are based on the definition of prakriti, in other words, the constitution of the human body. How the body reacts to painful changes, what its weak points And strengths. By determining your prakriti using a dosha test, you will find out what rhythm of life and type of nutrition suits you, what you should be careful of when taking care of your health, and what diseases you should protect yourself from.
A kind of personality type that is determined by general characteristics physiology, such as skin type, hair, digestive characteristics, emotional state, gait and so on.
Vata, Pitta, Kapha or Prakriti Itself?
There are three types in total: Vata, Pita, Kapha. Each of them corresponds to its own element - Wind, Fire, Water. These are not just metaphors taken from ancient teaching, - Ayurvedic medicine thus names the key substances or processes in each type of body constitution.
For example, a person with prominent Vata dosha is endowed with a fast metabolism and an “airy” physique. For Pita, the main role in establishing balance in the body is played by a strong digestive fire; such people also usually have a “hot” disposition. Kapha is slowness, smoothness, stability, excess moisture. There is also the so-called Sama-prakriti, in which there is not one or two predominant doshas - they are all in relative balance. From birth, every person has his own prakriti.
Why dosha test is needed?
In a healthy body, all three doshas are in dynamic interaction, and their ratio can change throughout life under the influence of both external and internal factors. But as soon as the balance is sharply disturbed, the body begins to resist this, which often becomes the cause of the onset of disease-causing processes. Therefore, it is very important to know about the real needs and characteristics of your body in order to understand which lifestyle is best suited for you. Ayurvedic medicine gives general recommendations for each type of prakriti, observing which you can return your body to its natural balance. There are also tips for when one of the doshas unnaturally begins to predominate in your body under the influence of the external environment.
You can take the dosha test twice, answering questions about the characteristics of your physiology in childhood and now. If the results differ sharply, this is sure sign that something in your lifestyle does not meet the needs of the body and requires changes. But, in order to more accurately assess your condition, prevent the development possible diseases and receive specific recommendations for improving your health, you need to take the opportunity to undergo professional Ayurvedic diagnostics at the Amrita center. The specialist will be able in the best possible way assess the functioning of your body in order to further help you become healthier and more effective in your life.
Components of the human body. To identify the energy that governs your physical and mental functions, you can take a special dosha test.
The test will take approximately 15 minutes to complete.
How to get through?
In total, the dosha determination test consists of 192 questions, each of which has 5 answer options - you choose 1, which most accurately describes you. Based on the results of the test, your Prakriti Dosha (body constitution) will be determined according to Ayurveda.
Why go through?
Taking a closer look at our surroundings, we will notice the characteristics of people we know: one is more prone to physical illnesses, another shows excessive aggression, and the third is completely apathetic.
Such conditions are explained by the disharmony of the doshas in the body, which are constantly in motion and strive for ideal balance. However, ideal is the opposite of development, so one of the properties always prevails, while the other two are constantly changing.
Using an online dosha test in Ayurveda, you can determine a person’s leading dosha and identify his tendency to certain manifestations of physical or mental disorders. That is why in questions there are both internal and external characteristics person, for example:
physique;
shape of the nose and eyes;
skin type and condition;
what does the body smell like?
dental condition;
weather influence;
manner of communication;
how a person copes with problems;
degree of endurance and much more.
It is important to correctly determine the dosha and the level of imbalance. This will help prevent many diseases and suggest a suitable diet and lifestyle. Using these tips, you can create your own path to purchasing on your own or with the help of a mentor. healthy body, calm spirit and harmony with the surrounding world.
Passage rules
Before taking a dosha test online, find a comfortable place where you can listen to yourself and not be distracted by extraneous stimuli.
When answering questions, you must follow some rules:
take your time, read each question and answer carefully;
Take your time and think about your answer. It is not necessary that every word in the answer will suit you - but there should be a majority of them;
answers must be honest. Choose the option that describes you, not the one that you see as “ideal”;
If you find it difficult to accurately rate yourself, ask a close friend or relative to help you take the test.
Do not forget that doshas tend to change their balance throughout a person’s life, so it is recommended to check your energy balance once every three months and adjust your lifestyle in accordance with the results obtained.
How to interpret the results
After answering all the questions, you will receive the test results in the form of numbers, one for each indicator: Vata, Pitta and Kapha levels. The indicator whose number will be significantly higher is your leading dosha.
Sometimes two or three doshas are dominant - in this case, the person belongs to a rare species of people with an improved level of harmony of internal and external properties:
if there are two leading types, then the body constitution will be called with a hyphen, the dosha that has higher rate;
if the numbers between all doshas fluctuate between 1-2 units, then the type of constitution will be called Sama-dosha.
Let us clarify that each person is unique, and the vata pitta kapha dosha test helps to approximately determine this balance, which causes a set of mental disturbances or physical health different. But having learned your leading property, you can influence the disturbing “lagging” dosha with the help of Ayurvedic advice and improve your condition. Now you know how to determine your dosha.
Today, as I promised a week ago, I’m posting tests with comments on how to determine your individual balance of doshas.
For those who like it quick and interactive - here are a few links for fairly broad tests. The only thing I’ll remind you is that in some places they will determine not the innate balance, prakriti, but what you have on your at the moment- vikriti.
Naturally, any answer can actually combine several options. For example, your hair may well have characteristics in between the two doshas.
I’ll start, perhaps, not even with the test itself, but with a description of general trends. In Ayurveda, it is believed that our appearance, our physiology, and our psyche are a certain balance of energies. As a rule, all these structures (external, internal, physiological) are not separated, they are perceived as a single whole. This partly makes sense - I think everyone knows about psychosomatics. But sometimes it’s important to understand exactly where your imbalance is. Agree, treating apathy (excess kapha in the psyche) with cucumbers (reduce kapha, but in digestion) or temperature (excess pitta in the body) with walks under the moon (reduce pitta in the psyche) obviously will not work =) In application to style, we have already encountered this - there is an external reality (type of lines), there is an internal reality (style - persona). It is always possible to combine them into a single whole (there will be a personal style), but this does not mean that they are always the same, and may not be too close at first glance.
So, let's get down to business. I’ll probably start writing about doshas with appearance. It is this that is most often paid attention to in tests, and it is with it that there is quite a lot of confusion. If you especially look at the pictures that illustrate the “typical representative”, it becomes quite sad. The closest picture I found to the original source is this:
Our appearance includes several parameters - height, bone structure, physique, coloring, facial features, hair structure, general geometry bodies. You can probably highlight something else if you want =) but this is quite enough for us.
So, height.
Vata is a movement, and often from one extreme to another. Usually the height of the vata is either clearly less than average, or clearly above average (moreover, usually in combination with fine bones, the result is either clearly small and almost childish look, or elongation).
Pitta in this regard is not particularly remarkable - growth is around average.
Kapha is also in the mid range.
Bone structure.
The cotton wool is light - the bone structure is thin, therefore, quite sharp, the joints stick out at any weight (that is, when the “dramatic bone structure” in line theory is clearly visible). The cotton wool is also sharp - which gives sharpness to the shapes; they are not smooth.
Kapha is heavy and also smooth. Therefore, the bone structure is often wide and smoothed (like the natural type along the lines and romance). Here, by the way, I’ll say right away that Kapha can be different, just like other types. There is kapha when the earth element clearly predominates (this is associatively just natural in perception, it is more often represented as a heavy bone structure, stable, strong, slow and productive), and there is kapha when the water element predominates (this is associatively romantic - there is less of it and less often they imagine that it is in vain. Smooth, round, abundant, caring)
Pitta is again just average. This does not mean that this is necessarily a balanced type in line theory. It’s just that neither the smoothness nor the sharpness are very noticeable.
Physique.
And here there is a lot of things that throw people off their innate balance and onto acquired data. Body type is often confused with weight, which is not true. The weight of any type, in general, should be within normal limits and balance. If a person is overweight, this does not mean that he is kapha, it means that kapha is imbalanced.
The roots grow from there, that there is simply a tendency that Vata quickly digests everything (both food and information), but absorbs it superficially and little, while Pitta digests everything quite quickly and assimilates “purposefully”. And kapha digests everything slowly, but extracts even the smallest things. Hence, the conclusion seems to be that if you feed kapha and vata equally, then kapha will receive more nutrients from there, but due to this there may be an excess. Vata has a corresponding deficiency.
In fact, balanced vata is thin-boned, small or, on the contrary, tall, gains fat poorly, muscles are unexpressed, thin. Pitta is average, muscles can be quite pronounced, either “athletic” type or balanced. Kapha can be stable and wide, it can be round and smooth, in men the muscles are quite dense (imagine a natural-type man along the lines), in women this can probably also be the case if the earth element predominates, or, more often, there is a clear feminine roundness of shape . Not overweight again, namely the bends.
Color
It’s more complicated here, since Ayurveda was originally designed for residents of India, but general trend There is. It will be even easier for you and me, dear readers - we know about undertones =)
Vata is air + space, and also cold. The most common colors of cotton wool are gray (silver) and bluish. These could be, for example, gray eyes, gray - brown eyes. Gray-black hair, grayish skin, bluish lips, etc. The general associative impression of exterior colors is cool air or uncertainty. It is believed that Vata has a grayish or bluish undertone to the skin.
Pitta is lava and comes in shades of gold, orange and red. Colors with warm undertones. The general impression of exterior colors is warmth or activity. Skin undertone is reddish.
Kapha is a meadow with a lake, calming shades of blue-green, milky light, richly dark. In the original, a typical Indian kapha is “wheatish complexion”. For Indians, it is considered lightish, with a light yellow undertone. With hair and eyes - they are either clearly light or clearly dark, but without extremes, rich, peaceful colors.
Hair texture.
The cotton wool is dry, light, crispy, in motion. Vata hair is therefore often dry, with zigzag curls and thin hair.
Pitta is oily, hot, penetrating. That’s why her hair is straight (straight lines are penetrating), medium density, it is believed that due to overheating and imbalance, hair turns gray early or falls out.
Kapha is dense, abundant and smooth. That's why her hair is thick, greasy, and wavy.
General body geometry.
Vata in motion - general impression from her - broken lines and sharpness.
Pitta is purposefully active - the overall geometry is a balance of sharpness and roundness.
Kapha is smooth and fluid - the overall geometry is either the stability of a rock or the softness of roundness.
Physiology.
This includes all processes that depend on internal organs.
Endurance and activity.
Vata is active but light. Therefore, there is usually an excess of activity, but it cannot maintain it for long. Prone to excessive energy consumption.
Pitta is active and goal-oriented. Activity is normal, the distribution of forces also more or less corresponds to activity.
Kapha is stable and fluid. There is not much activity, but there is a lot of accumulated strength. Tends to accumulate energy.
Digestion and appetite
Vata has an irregular pattern - sometimes it wants to eat and drink, sometimes it doesn’t want to. Something like this: today I eat a lot, tomorrow I don’t eat at all, but I feel fine. Most food “slips through”, hence they are less likely to be overweight, but they are more likely to receive less nutrients.
Pitta has good and active digestion. The resulting energy is spent on purposeful activity. Feels hunger and thirst well, and experiences discomfort if there is a lack of nutrition.
Kapha has good, but slow digestion - it will get everything from food to the smallest detail. therefore theoretically needs small quantity food (but if there is a lot of kapha “in the head” - there is a craving for sensory pleasures, so he may eat a lot because it’s tasty, and not because he needs to, hence the chances of gaining excess weight). If a meal is missed, it can spend quite a long time without much discomfort.
Vata sleeps restlessly and intermittently, gets up quite easily. He may well not get enough sleep (due to excessive energy consumption).
Pitta sleeps at an average rate of 8 hours.
Kapha sleeps deeply, “like a groundhog,” and for a long time, 10 hours a day in good condition, i.e. Without “sleep debt,” it’s hard to get up in the morning. (This indicator is taken into account when you have slept. If you go to bed at 3 and try to get up at 7, it will be difficult for anyone).
Vata is light, ringing, sometimes with extremes. The voice is often high-pitched, sonorous, or perceived as such
Pitta is medium - the voice is medium in pitch.
Kapha is heavy and abundant - the voice is “thick”, perceived as low or sensual.
Sex
Vata has sex “in the head” - more imagination than real action. Most likely the trend is towards games and variety. Since attention is unstable, it is easy to switch sexual desire.
Pitta is purposeful in everything. therefore, if Pitta wants sex, Pitta will have sex =) intensity of experiences, passion.
Kapha has sensual pleasures and tenderness. kK sensual pleasures Kapha, in general, is always ready, although it will not go into active capture. Sex is more tenderness and pleasure, and not the adventure of Vata and not the fire of passion of Pitta.
Tendency to disease.
This will most likely show you the dosha that most often goes out of balance. But, as I wrote earlier, she is not always your leader, this must be remembered.
Vata is everything associated with dryness, excessive mobility or excessive energy consumption. Dry skin, brittle hair and nails, fatigue, gas, constipation, joint pain, lack of weight, etc.
Pitta is everything associated with excess heat, acids and light.
Allergies and dermatitis, photophobia, eye problems, sunburn, heartburn, inflammation, gastritis, ulcer, diarrhea, acute pain.
Kapha is everything related to stagnation and fluids.
Swelling, excess weight, colds, cough, sputum, all mucous and lymphatic disorders.
Psychology
And this is already yours inner world, what is “in your head” and everything that depends on it.
Lifestyle.
Vata - disorderly - active. There is no clear goal, but there is a lot of variety. She usually does not follow a daily routine, she is very spontaneous. Unstable attention, but quick switching from one to another. Most often he does not delve into the details of something. Although there may be people who delve into unnecessary details out of curiosity, in any case, they don’t get stuck on the little things. Most often he does not complete projects. Any resources are overused, so more often than not there is no money.
Pitta is purposeful. Activity is selective, aimed at a goal or benefit. There is a certain schedule, although it is flexible. There is no stuckness or much unpredictability. He brings projects to completion because goal and impact are important. He goes into details as they are useful. Where it is important for the result to delve into it, it will delve into it; where details are not needed, it will not. Any resources are spent for specific purposes, including money.
Kapha - calm - measured. There is not much activity, but there is a lot of immersion in something. The daily routine is formed by itself - by habit. It's hard to try something new. Holds attention for a long time, delves into details well, and can get stuck on them. He brings projects to completion, albeit slowly, but not so much because of the outcome, but because of the process itself, the difficulty of switching and good concentration. He accumulates any resources. Money too.
Memory and information processing.
Vata - grasps new things well and quickly, but does not keep it in mind for long.
Pitta - grasps things quite quickly, keeps in mind what he thinks will be useful.
Kapha is slow to assimilate, but keeps in mind for a long time.
Emotionality
Vata in balance - creativity, easy-going, variability, light pleasant emotions.
Vata in imbalance - fearfulness, uncertainty, uncertainty, superficiality.
The Stress Response: Fear and Flight
Pitta in balance - determination, confidence, activity, intense pleasant emotions
Pitta in imbalance - anger, jealousy, short temper, criticality
Reaction to stress: aggression and attack
Kapha in balance - balance, harmony, caring, deep pleasant emotions.
kapha in imbalance - attachment, stuckness, stagnation, pedantry
Reaction to stress: stupor, playing dead =)
Favorite activity:
Vata is what gives light emotions and variety - entertainment, a change of scenery.
Pitta is what gives results - sports activity and training to improve yourself =)
Kapha - sensory pleasures - that which pampers the 5 senses - be it cooking, design or hiking and sitting by the fire.
Accordingly, representatives of the three doshas will perform the same work for different reasons. This important point. Because they often try to divide professions according to doshas, but professions are multifaceted.
For example, stylist =)
Vata in balance will creatively select different options for a person, offer him 135 options of what can be done with him, and a bunch of systems. The client may remain at a loss as to where to stop, but he will clearly not experience a lack of information =)
Vata in an imbalance will offer a vague or impractical option, without going into details, say “I’m an artist, that’s how I see it” and run to another client.
Pitta in balance will look at what exactly the client wants from her, set a goal for herself, from the options she sees, choose the one that best suits the goal, and will collect detailed information it is to him that the client will receive a ready-made, well-developed result.
pitta in an imbalance will decide for itself where to direct the client, will purposefully impose it on him, and if he is indignant that it does not suit him, he will bark that “I am a stylist, I should know better.”
Kapha in balance will be aesthetic and while working will enjoy the harmony of color and lines, will try to convey to the client how beautiful he is, due to which the work may take longer.
Kapha in an imbalance can stubbornly prove to you that “all women should wear a dress” (stuck) and sincerely wonder why you don’t agree, it suits you =)
Sight
Vata's is excited - surprised, "waiting for a miracle."
Pitta has piercing
kapha - calmly serene.
Speech
Vata has a fast pace, the volume is sometimes higher and sometimes lower than necessary, switchability, conversations about exchanging information, loves to talk.
Pitta has an average pace, persuasiveness, clarity, wide emotional range, conversations with some purpose.
In kapha - slow pace, conversations are either laconic, or, on the contrary, “from the creation of the world” with attention to detail.
Relationships with people.
Vata usually has many acquaintances; deep and long relationships are rare. What people like about vata is that it’s not boring and they don’t like the fact that you can’t rely on it.
Pitta has friends with similar interests - one goes to a cafe, another goes to fitness, another goes to courses, etc. What is called friendship. What people like about her is that she is able to provide real and the help you need, I don’t like hot temper.
Kapha has friends - soul mates. soulmates. Deep Relationships With limited quantity people. People like her caring and calmness, but don’t like her stubbornness.
In my example:
I think I already wrote that I am Kapha-Pitta. Kapha and Pitta are approximately equally divided at about 40 percent, Vata about 20, which still makes it noticeable from time to time. All three are mixed in appearance - kapha is a little more, but pitta and vata make a fairly significant contribution. Physiology is dominated by kapha. In psychology, pitta is in the lead, but vata and kapha are clearly in the wings.
If it is descriptive - the appearance combines roundness and protruding bones, there is some angularity, but not conspicuous, there are no extremes, the color is grayish-golden, the skin is dense, from normal to oily, the hair texture is medium, wavy, the muscles are thin on the arms, dense on the feet, medium bending nails. Physiology - mainly internal kapha processes - voice for kapha, which I don’t notice in myself, I only track it on video and voice recordings =) . Sleep is kapha, endurance is regulated by pitta - there is always activity, purposeful. Sexuality of vata and kapha, more often kapha, but vata is in strong hold. in psychology - focus on the result of pitta, with positive qualities- revision, completion, search for an optimal solution, and with negative ones too - the desire to argue, criticality. All three are emotionally manifested - from Vata, switchability and the ability to collect large flows of information, from Pitta, an understanding of where I am moving and practical activities, from kapha tenderness and moral support in relation to loved ones. Vata causes periods of excessive energy consumption and uncertainty. From pitta - a reaction to stress - attack or irritation. Kapha was not noted in the negative. The daily routine of pitta - vata - in general, there is a similarity, it is regulated by goals, but it happens that it is not there at all. Favorite activities are regulated by all three doshas. from kapha - sensory pleasures, there is actually a lot of this. from pitta - knowledge with some purpose. I process a lot of information thanks to my psychotype, but usually not out of pure curiosity. Vata is a little less pronounced - there are activities out of pure curiosity, but still I try to tie them to some internal purposes=) The pace of speech is average, understandable, the emotional coloring is from pitta. The gaze is piercing most often. relationships with pitta-kapha people. With a close circle - kaphas (close, deep trusting, non-aggressive), with a more distant circle - pittas (more pressure, friendly, based on interests).
Despite the fact that any person has all three doshas, from the outside it’s really the leading ones that catch the eye =) Good luck in identifying, next time I’ll tell you directly about clothes for different types =)
How to determine body constitution
(Dosha test)
Doshas in Ayurveda
In Ayurveda, all people are divided into 5 main types, which depend on the dominant element in the constitution. The elements of Ether and Earth are considered passive because the former is inert and the latter is solid base for everything that exists. Dynamic and active elements include Fire, Air and Water. The theory of the three doshas is based on these 3 elements.
Vata dosha embodies Ether and Air, Kapha is represented by Earth and Water, and Pitta is represented by Water and Fire.
The concept of three doshas in Ayurveda is fundamental. In European medicine there is a theory that human nature can be determined by the dominance of blood, bile or mucus. However, this theory is only part of the numerous Ayurvedic knowledge.
The proportions of the doshas are determined at conception and depend on nutrition, genetic characteristics, lifestyle and psychological state parents. A balanced constitution, when all doshas are in harmony, is rarely observed. If a person is lucky, he will be endowed with excellent health. Most people are born with one or two dominant doshas. They need to adjust their diet and lifestyle to achieve good health.
Each person is endowed with prakriti of one of the 7 combinations of Pitta, Vata and Kapha (P, V, K, PK, VK, VP, Samadosha).
Vikriti and Prakriti
The combination of doshas, which is established before birth and is unique, is called prakriti. It remains unchanged throughout life. An exception may be situations when there are gene changes. However, there is a so-called constitution of the present - vikriti. It characterizes the state of the body at the moment. If health is ideal, then vikriti and prakriti coincide. However, in most cases there is a significant difference between them due to dietary habits, emotional background, lifestyle, age, exposure external factors etc. This difference can be determined by an Ayurvedic doctor after a thorough examination of the person. Having learned the difference between vikriti and prakriti, the doctor can draw up a detailed health program.
If you know your constitution type, you can determine exactly what steps need to be taken on the path to health. An Ayurvedic doctor can help with this. However, if you do not have this opportunity, you can take a constitution test.
A dosha is a specific combination of energies that creates your unique physical, emotional and mental being. This is an information drawing that controls your body, emotions and mind.
In my opinion, the more we know about ourselves and our body, the better. We will easily forgive ourselves for character flaws, be more relaxed about the nuances of our figure, that is, it is easier to accept yourself, and also know how to cope with your ailments and gain harmony, youth and our main components - beauty and radiance!
Therefore, Ayurveda for us in this case is simply best friend. But here I’m frankly not a pro, although I can easily determine the leading dosha and constitutions of other people by eye, but I’m not an Ayurveda specialist, so I’ll give the floor to the author of the book and Ayurveda doctor, Katie Silcox.
In addition, I am often asked how to determine a dosha, so I found for you not only a very accurate and competent description of all doshas, but also a wonderful questionnaire!
