Ayurveda & Fitness

Regular exercise is important for maintaining our overall health—our bodies were designed for movement, after all! Exercise can help us in a variety of ways, including:

• Balancing stress.
• Calming the mind.
• Boosting energy.
• Strengthening muscles and bones.

Each of these benefits can go a long way in supporting our overall health, yet many in our society don’t get as much exercise as they should. These days, many of us find ourselves leading sedentary lifestyles—working at desks, behind counters, or sitting for long periods of time.

Ayurveda’s Fitness Tips

In Ayurveda, fitness tips aren’t just about losing weight. Instead of a “one-size-fits-all” approach to weight and health, Ayurveda recognizes the unique beauty in all body types and looks at the health of the whole person. With this in mind, fitness is approached from the intention of promoting a healthy lifestyle. Since Ayurveda acknowledges that all of us are different, fitness tips might vary from person to person, but in general, the following tips are recommended for most people:

Work out at 50 percent capacity. Once you’ve broken a mild sweat, you can stop for the day. There is no need to push yourself to your breaking point.

Breathe through the nostrils. Breathing through the nostrils supports the oxygenation of your body and mind throughout your workout.

Exercise at the right time of day. The best time of the day for most is to exercise is between the hours of 6 and 10 in the morning or evening.

Ayurveda also recommends taking the doshas (vata, pitta, and kapha) into consideration while planning your fitness routine.

• A vata-balancing exercise routine should be gentle, stabilizing, and guard against over-exertion. Incorporating the earth element, groundedness, and fluidity will be helpful.
• Similarly, a pitta-balancing exercise routine should also avoid over-exertion (especially considering pitta’s competitive, driven nature), focusing instead on elements of balance and a relaxed effort.
• A kapha-balancing exercise routine should be more stimulating and present a fun challenge since kapha is the most stubborn of the doshas to balance.

To learn more, we recommend reading our main health guide on the topic, which has even more fitness tips to support the doshas via exercise.

Support Your Fitness Goals

This collection of articles is dedicated to teaching you about Ayurveda’s approach to fitness. There are a variety of ways to achieve fitness through the wisdom of Ayurveda. Yoga and meditation, for example, are incredibly supportive for the body, mind, and spirit. Many of these blogs will cover yoga lifestyle practices such as relaxing yoga poses and yoga sequences (such as moon salutation) to support your muscles, bones, joints, heart, and more.

Written by Ayurvedic yogis, practitioners, experts from the Ayurvedic community, and passionate members of our own writing staff, these blogs will help you gain a better understanding of Ayurveda’s unique perspective on fitness and exercise, and how you can use its ancient wisdom to achieve your fitness goals.

We hope these articles inspire you to create and fine-tune a fitness routine that best supports your needs, so that you can feel your very best with the power of Ayurveda.