How to Cope With Summer if You're a Vata Dosha
How to Cope With Summer if You're a Vata Dosha
Why summer feels more like chaos than holiday for some women
What is Ayurveda?
Ayurveda is an ancient system of natural healing that originated in India thousands of years ago. It is based around the ideology that three main energies (doshas): Pitta, Vata and Kapha. If any of these energies fall out of balance, it affects our bodies, our moods, our sleep, and our relationships.
Most of us are a blend of all three, but one or two tend to dominate. And understanding yours can change how you relate to your body, your emotions and the world around you. The dominant one is the one that needs addressing as it teaches you what i needed to come back into harmony.
So what is Vata?
Vata is the energy of air and space. It governs movement, creativity, communication and the nervous system. Vata types tend to be quick-thinking, imaginative, sensitive and full of ideas. They feel things deeply and move through the world with a lightness that can be both their gift and their challenge.
You might be a Vata if...
• You are creative, intuitive and full of ideas
• You feel the cold easily and love warmth
• You can have a tendency to suffer from anxiety
• You thrive on connection but can feel overstimulated by too much
• You are sensitive — to environments, to energy, to change
If you recognise yourself in these qualities, then the summer fire may affect you more fiercely
Why summer can throw a Vata out of balance
A Vata likes to be social but also likes their own space. The long days paired with social commitments can lead to disrupted routines, all of which stimulate Vata energy, which is already prone to overstimulation.
What Vata imbalance can look like in summer
• Feeling scattered, forgetful or unable to finish projects
• Disrupted sleep — difficulty dropping off or waking in the night
• Digestive irregularity or bloating
• Sensitivity to noise, crowds or busy environments
Five things to do if you're a Vata navigating summer
1. Have a routine
Vata loves routine and consistency. The longer days and warm evenings lead to staying up later, eating at irregular times, saying yes to every social event. This can be overwhelming for the Vata's need for structure.
You don't need a rigid schedule. But anchoring your day with a few consistent rhythms — a regular wake time, a calm morning, meals at similar times — gives your nervous system something to come back to when everything else is unpredictable.
2. Cut out external noise
This might look like saying no to one social event you don't truly want to attend. Putting your phone down an hour before bed. Choosing quiet mornings before the day accelerates. Just cutting out one small external factor can have a huge effect for a VATA
3. Ground yourself
Grounding practices can help bring a Vata's scattered mind back down to Earth.
Warm oil self-massage — even five minutes before a shower — is one of the most powerful tools for Vata. Walking barefoot on grass. Eating warm, nourishing, grounding foods rather than cold salads and raw vegetables. Yoga that is slow and floor-based rather than fast and stimulating
4. Limit cold food and drink
This may seem counterproductive for the summer season, but cold food and drink actually aggravate Vata, even in summer. Iced drinks, raw salads and cold smoothies can leave a Vata feeling more unsettled and bloated rather than refreshed.
Warming, cooked foods — soups, stews, roasted vegetables, nourishing grains — are your friends year-round, but especially when Vata is running high. Add good fats: avocado, olive oil, ghee.
5. Get plenty of rest
Vata types often don't notice they are depleted until they are very depleted. The warning signs can be subtle, such as feeling a little more anxious, a little more scattered, sleeping less well — and easy to push through until suddenly it's much harder to recover.
