...Creating a Routine

I just read an interesting article from Yoga Journal about an ancient health science and its take on modern life. I've never been into labeling or categorizing people, but I found this article interesting. According to ancient Ayurvedic teachings, there are three metabolic types, or doshas, among which people's health and certain parts of their personality are divided. The first type is vata, which is associated with the air/wind element. The others are fire-ruled pitta and earthy kapha. Vata deals with movement, pitta mostly with ambition, and kapha with being stable. Everyone is a unique combination of these three and, as with everything dealing with energy (which is, really, everything), a balance must be struck. Imbalances among the three doshas lead to problems.

The most common imbalance in modern society, and my main one, is a problem with vata. Today's omnipresent movement of information, ease of travel and overall excess of stimuli make this dosha difficult to balance. The typical "vata dominant" person is a tall, skinny, fast-talking person with lots of pent-up nervous energy, because that's what a vata imbalance creates - that inner tension. An imbalance of the pitta, in my mind, results in an excess of ambition and a reckless need to achieve, excell, succeed - or even divide and conquer. A balanced pitta is a very motivated person, probably a born leader, but an imbalance can tip the scale. Kapha-dominant people may have issues with getting stuck in one place. When balanced they are solid and have a firm foundation in life (unlike imbalanced vatas), but with an imbalance, they become so rooted that they have trouble making any kind of change to their life.

For me, being "vata-deranged" means having issues developing a routine and getting bored. I could never work an office job to save my life. I have trouble paying attention in class after a while once I become used to the environment. A kapha would have no problems developing a routine - but a troubled kapha would have issues breaking it. Part of my problems come from the rootless nature of my summer. I move back and forth from house to house, sometimes staying in the city, sometimes going away, and every day is different. Which is great, but it would have been nice to keep the job I had early this summer. I have come to hate predictability - but everyone needs a little bit of stability in their lives, or else they will experience physical and emotional instability. That much is known to Everyman. I think this hatred sprouted from my disenchantment with my social life a little while back. It seemed like we always did the same things; it was always the same people acting the same way; and the same predictable problems kept coming up. And no one seemed to have that bit of leadership that was needed to push a plan into action. This summer I have gladly not encountered any problem of that kind. So that part is good. However, going to bed and waking up at odd times, eating at random, and having a mess of random things to do at all times has turned out not to be too healthy.

So I guess this is a call to all you other vatas out there - if you want to get rid of all that nervous energy by yourself, exercise, eat and sleep regularly. The routine won't kill you, as I am just starting to find out. Though this is just the beginning so we'll see how long it will be before I get bored...

more on this here: An Ancient Cure for Modern Life