Thank you for joining me for this talk on Lifestyle Remedies for Pitta Dosha.
Pitta,
Fire and water is the transformative force in the body and mind.
Including the digestion of our food into bodily nutrients and the digestion of the mind's impressions.
Pitch's qualities,
Or gunas,
Are hot,
Sharp.
Light,
Liquid,
Mobile,
And oily.
If excess pitta accumulates and is not softened or released,
It can become stiff.
Hot and too tight in both mind and body.
The focus in our choice of remedies in general should be on qualities that are opposite to pitta,
Such as things that are cooling,
Nourishing,
Heavy,
And light.
Grounding,
Softening,
Dispersing,
And diffusing.
With stress or excess pitta building up,
The mind can be over-penetrating and sharp,
Showing up as hyper-focused and perfectionism.
Excess striving,
Competitiveness,
Lack of patience,
Irritability,
Anger,
And aggression are common imbalances in the mind for Pitta Dosha.
Emphasize lifestyle practices that are non-competitive,
Calming,
And stress reducing.
Take time to ground,
Relax,
And cultivate clarity and compassion instead of a critical,
Argumentative nature.
For Pitta Dosha,
It's helpful to cultivate an attitude of peace,
Restraint,
Moderation,
And contentment as we move through our daily lives.
Take breaks from excess ambition and striving,
And make time for relaxation and pleasure,
Exploring creative and artistic expression and practices that cultivate love and peacefulness.
Take walks by the water at night,
Bathed in the full moon's light.
Walk barefoot in the morning's dewy grass,
In flower gardens,
In cool breezes and shade.
And avoid excess sun and heat.
Emphasize non-competitive exercise,
Working out to about 60% of your capacity to bring on a sweat,
But not exhaust your energy.
Swim in cold water,
Take cooling showers,
And enjoy mild sweating to help release excess pitta.
You can work with cool fragrances like sandalwood,
Lavender,
Rose,
Inhaled in a diffuser,
Or applied with carrier oils.
Wear cool clothing with colors like blue,
Green,
And white.
Bring in gems and stones such as emerald,
Opal,
And jade.
In our yoga practice,
We can work with practices that keep our mind,
Body,
And energy cool,
Open,
Receptive,
And relaxed.
Asanas such as moon salutation,
Chandra namaskar.
As well as seated and reclining postures.
Help us ground,
Stabilize,
Calm,
And cool Pitta.
Forward bends and twists all help to expel excess heat,
Cool the blood and head,
Calm the heart.
Exhaling through the mouth helps to relieve excess heat and tension.
Nadi Shodhana,
Or alternate nostril breathing,
Helps calm,
Cool,
And soothe our mind and nervous system.
Consider working with meditations involving peace,
Loving kindness,
Forgiveness,
Compassion,
And positivity.
We can use nature sounds to diffuse our focus and divert attention from critical thoughts and frustrations.
Consider meditation practices to gentle and calming sounds such as birds,
Lakes,
Streams,
And waterfalls.
And disperse your intense focus with the movement of wind and rain.
Consider body work that is gentle,
Soothing,
And a little cool.
Gently stretching out tight.
Hot,
Contracted muscles.
Osteopathy and Thai Massage Therapy are excellent physical therapies for Pitta Dosha.
Use moderate amounts of cooling oils like coconut oil,
Olive oil,
Or jojoba oil.
Add rose,
Sea buckthorn,
Neem,
And sandalwood oils to aid red inflamed skin irritations or blotchiness to the skin.
When pitta accumulates in the digestive tract,
We can experience it as a high agni or digestive fire and metabolism,
Bringing excess appetite,
Lack of satiation,
Burning quickly through our food.
Stools can be loose,
Unformed,
And frequent.
Low blood sugar,
Or hypoglycemia,
The experience of being hangry,
Angry,
And hungry.
Is common.
The liver and gallbladder are also considered pitta organs and are vulnerable to pitta imbalances.
And so we want to take care of these potentially vulnerable areas when we think about pitta remedies for digestion.
In general,
We want to bring in foods that ground,
Nourish,
And fortify.
Cool,
Calm,
And soothe the fiery nature of Pitta Dosha.
And we want to choose remedies that moderate agni and encourage it back to a healthy flame.
Make sure you eat every three to four hours,
Even if a small snack.
No skipping meals,
Eat in a calm and celestial frame of mind.
Consume a whole foods diet and mostly foods that are sweet,
Bitter,
And astringent.
And include food that is cooling,
Heavy,
And moist.
Examples of this are brown rice bowls or grain bowls with dandelion greens or kale,
Carrots,
Avocado,
And fennel.
A protein of choice,
Fresh parsley or coriander,
And tahini dressing.
We want to bring in the sweet,
Bitter,
And astringent flavors to our meals through the combination of the ingredients that we bring in.
Adding a small amount of bitter lettuces is a personal favorite way to bring in the dreaded bitter flavor into our foods.
Consider soups and stews to hydrate,
Nourish,
And ground.
Meat or veggie broths bring easily absorbable nutrients in.
Root vegetables such as squash,
Beet,
And sweet potato contain an abundance of vitamin A and beta carotene to help heal mucous membranes damaged from excess heat and acidity in the digestive tract.
Sweet fruit juices such as mango or pomegranate and green juices with parsley and coriander are especially helpful in the heat of summer.
Avoid excess consumption of spicy,
Salty,
And sour foods,
Fermented or fried foods.
Cool spices like coriander,
Cumin,
And fennel are a favorite Ayurvedic combo for pitta digestion to calm an overactive agni or digestive fire.
The spices can be added to your food or made into a tea that you can drink after meals.
To make CCF or cumin,
Coriander,
And fennel tea.
Combine an equal part of each herb.
If using powder,
Use a mix of the powders and approximately a half to one teaspoon per two cups of water.
If you're using the seeds,
Use a half to one tablespoon of the mixture per two cups of water.
Dairy products like butter,
Ghee,
Fresh yogurt,
And soft cheeses are cooling,
Heavy,
And grounding.
Chia seeds,
Particularly when soaked in water,
Are a helpful hydrator.
When soaked,
Chia becomes a demulcent,
Soothing to irritated and inflamed mucous membranes of the gut and an excellent hydrator by slowly releasing absorbed water into the body.
Make a refreshing chia drink by adding two tablespoons of chia seeds to one liter of water.
Shake or stir well.
Feel free to add a splash of fresh or juice concentrate to suit your flavor.
Steep the chia water for 20 minutes before drinking and feel free to let the chia steep.
And sip or drink throughout the day.
Triphala,
The Ayurvedic herb formulation I spoke of in my discussion on Vata Dosha,
Is also excellent to combat the tendency to loose stools typical of Pitta Dosha,
Binding the stools back up beautifully.
There are many cooling remedies from the earth which can be mixed and matched and made into teas to hydrate,
Bring in minerals and earthy nourishments.
Consider burdock root and dandelion root and red clover leaves and flowers to cool the blood and liver.
Red raspberry leaf,
Nettle leaf,
And lemon balm are all cooling,
Nutritive,
And mineral-rich.
Peppermint helps us sweat and disperse the accumulated heat in our body.
Gotu Kola or Brahmi is a favorite Ayurvedic herb for Pitta,
Which helps cool the blood and bring calm,
Clarity,
And coolness to the mind.
It's helpful for everyone to work with pitta in the summer months when pitta's qualities accumulate in our environment.
To balance Pitta,
You don't need to do everything I've mentioned.
Where did you feel a charge of excitement or jolt of inner knowing and inspiration?
What feels intuitively right to adjust,
Modify,
Or bring in?
What feels realistic?
Where are the imbalances?
Start with one or two things and use observation of your experience to enhance your inner understanding.
This concludes my talk on Lifestyle Remedies for Pitta Dosha.
Join me for my next talk on Lifestyle Remedies for Kapha Dosha.
Wishing you peace and ease in your day.
Namaste.
