Perfect Health--Revised and Updated: The Complete Mind Body Guide

One efficient and instant way to settle Vata is to sprinkle a special spice powder, called a Vata churna, over your plate at the table. An Internet source for churnas is on this page.

Ayurveda always recommends that almonds be skinned before they are eaten; standard advice is to soak a dozen whole almonds in water overnight, then peel and eat them in the morning to balance Vata. Since nuts and seeds are difficult to digest, Vatas need to eat them in small quantities,

Favor: Warm food, moderately heavy textures Added butter and fat Salt, sour, and sweet tastes Soothing and satisfying foods

Vata is balanced by salt, sour, and sweet. Pitta is balanced by bitter, sweet, and astringent. Kapha is balanced by pungent, bitter, and astringent.

In Ayurveda a balanced diet must contain all six rasas at every meal. The following dinner menu would be balanced:

Be pleasant and tolerant toward everyone. • Act on due reflection, not on impulse. • Refrain from anger or criticism, even when you feel it is justified (sattvic people do not point out others’ weaknesses “for their own good”). • Take time every day for play, humor, relaxation, and good company. • Wake with the sun in the morning, watch the sun set

The Ayurvedic sages say that mental ama is produced by: • Negative emotions—anger, fear, self-criticism, greed, resentment • Psychological stress—family problems, tensions at work, loss of money or job, divorce, death in the family • Lethargy, mental inertia • Unwholesome surroundings • Contact with other people’s negativity • Violent, crude, or sh

This is sattva and tamas in conflict, with rajas acting as the spur, urging you to choose.

As you can see, rajas poses the question, “How should I act in this situation?” Sattva favors the choice that is evolutionary, tamas the one that is stable.