Understanding Your Pitta-Kapha Constitution

 

According to Ayurveda, your constitution is established at conception, cemented at birth, and remains constant over the course of your lifetime. It influences your physiology, your physique, your likes and dislikes, your tendencies and habits, your mental and emotional character, as well as your vulnerabilities toward imbalance and disease. It is defined by the particular combination of vata, pitta, and kapha that you were born with, and it represents your body’s natural state of equilibrium. Because your constitution serves as your blueprint for optimal health, understanding it—with the help of curiosity and self-awareness—can be truly enlightening. Our intention here is to introduce you to your constitution and to give you some of the tools necessary to court a deeper understanding over time.

It’s important to know that each of us has all three doshas in our constitutions: vata, pitta, and kapha. But the ratio between them—the specific quantitative and qualitative relationship between the three—is entirely unique to you. That said, as a pitta-kapha type, your constitution is predominated by pitta and kapha, and you probably have a lot in common with other pitta-kapha types who share that same core distinction.

What Ayurveda Knows About You

While there is undoubtedly no one quite like you out there, it is remarkable how accurate Ayurveda can be in predicting who we are—based simply on the broad strokes of our constitutions. As you read through this introduction, and start to piece together the ways in which pitta and kapha have shaped your constitution, you will probably begin to see your particular strengths and vulnerabilities more clearly. And as your understanding of your constitution expands, your capacity to use these insights to your advantage will also improve. Below are a number of traits that you can likely attribute to your constitution.

Physical Characteristics

Please keep in mind that distinguishing physical characteristics should always be considered within the context of your ethnicity. For example, traits like eye color, skin color, or hair type are assessed in comparison to others with a similar heritage.

You probably have a well-proportioned and moderately-sized skeletal frame, with a sturdy bone structure and build. Your musculature may be either lean or well-developed, but with a little effort, you can almost certainly build muscle relatively easily. Your weight might be steady or tend to fluctuate a bit, but you may naturally carry a few extra pounds most of the time. Your face is a blend of kapha’s characteristic roundness with pitta’s sharp features and overall heart-shape. Your eyes are likely medium or large in size, bright and captivating, and your gaze is probably both piercing and compassionate. Your skin is relatively fair, slightly oily, and may have some reddish undertones. Your hair is soft, and may be straight or wavy. Your body temperature tends to feel relatively neutral to you, but you almost certainly prefer a drier climate to a humid one.

Personality: Mental and Emotional Tendencies

You are generally intelligent and discerning—with good concentration and memory, articulate speech, and a mind that is as clever and insightful as it is calm and steady. You are probably ambitious, hard-working, and dependable—especially when you are able to stay active without giving too much authority to your iron will. You tend to love learning and have a natural capacity for problem solving. These traits—combined with your grounded nature, impressive stamina, and love for competition—make you all the more likely to succeed in the world. When it comes to wealth, you probably have the capacity to make and save money with ease, though you may also be tempted to spend your savings on luxuries. You are highly principled, wise, and are probably a natural leader. On the other hand, when you are being overly perfectionistic, you can become highly critical of both yourself and others.

Digestion

You very likely have a reliable appetite and a passion for food. You may consider yourself a foodie with a refined sense of taste, or you may be an excellent cook yourself. In addition, you are probably sometimes tempted to overindulge, you may experience intermittent emotional eating tendencies, and your digestion certainly has the capacity to become a bit sluggish or boggy. In general, you may not view eating as a particularly productive activity, so you may often multi-task while eating, hurry your meals, or chew less thoroughly than is ideal. In this respect, slowing down and offering your full attention to each meal would be highly beneficial for you. You probably enjoy regular elimination and your stools likely tend to be soft and oily, meaning that you rarely have to contend with being constipated.

Energy Levels, Stamina, and Sleep

In general, you are blessed with a sturdy constitution and good overall health. In all likelihood, you have steady and lasting energy to offer the things that you care about. Both your endurance and your will are impressively robust, giving you strong athletic potential and a noteworthy capacity to maintain a single-pointed focus for long periods of time. Interestingly, pitta is apt to overestimate its reserves of strength and stamina (and is actually far more delicate than it would ever admit), while kapha is incredibly stable and needs stimulation. So for you, it is important to strike a balance between staying active and allowing yourself appropriate rest and relaxation—learning to honor every aspect of who you are. Otherwise, you may occasionally find yourself feeling exceptionally unmotivated, and may even wrestle with a tendency toward lethargy.

In all likelihood, you are blessed with sound and easeful sleep, and require about seven or eight hours of it. You may have the capacity to be quite productive late at night, but probably also suffer a distinct sluggishness if you sleep past 6 or 7 a.m., so you generally do best when you retire by 10 or 11 p.m. and wake up early.

 

The Qualitative Nature of Your Predominant Doshas

Does this sound like you? It’s astonishing how helpful the doshas can be in making sense of both our strengths and our weaknesses. In this next section, we hope to ground your understanding even further by exploring the primary qualities of both pitta and kapha, how they can impact the physiology and the mind, and how they can either support or challenge your health—depending on whether they are balanced or aggravated.

As you will see, your two predominant doshas have one quality in common, several that oppose one another energetically, and a couple that apply only to one of the two doshas. As you read through this section, you may begin to notice some of the ways in which each quality manifests in your system, giving you a glimpse into some of the more subtle aspects of your particular constitution. In time, it is precisely this type of deepening self-awareness that can inform your understanding of how best to promote optimal health and balance in your life.

Both Pitta and Kapha Are Oily

Oiliness makes for naturally soft and lubricated skin, smooth movement in the joints, and it bolsters our capacities to relax, accept nourishment, and give or receive love. In excess, it can lead to oily skin and hair, acne, excess mucus, or an especially manipulative (think slippery) personality.

Pitta Is Light; Kapha Is Heavy

Lightness often manifests as a trim, fit physique, easeful digestion, light-heartedness, a bright and alert mind, a magnetic or charismatic personality, lightly-colored eyes, and fair skin. In excess, it can cause a flighty ungroundedness, light-headedness, excess upward moving energy (think headaches or baldness), low blood sugar, or sensitivity to sunlight.

The heavy quality provides substance, lending a certain grounded, real, relatable, and embodied quality to the personality. In excess, it causes inertia, lethargy, weight gain, and feelings of being overburdened, weighed down, or depressed.

Pitta Is Sharp; Kapha Is Slow (or Dull)

A sharp mind is characteristically inquisitive, penetrating, quick, and highly capable of mastery. Sharpness is also behind decisiveness, discernment, a strong appetite, a penetrating digestive capacity (that easily breaks down ingested foods), and sharp vision—whether literal, figurative, or both. In excess, it can lead to a short temper, sharp words, the capacity to judge one’s self and others harshly, and sharp hunger.

The slow quality creates a level of deliberate intentionality and purpose, as well as the ability to pace one’s self appropriately. It allows us to be fully present, while creating depth, meaning, and connection. In excess, this quality can lead to a dull appetite, sluggish digestion, excessively slow movement or speech, a dull or uninspired mind, resistance to change, and boredom.

Pitta Is Hot; Kapha Is Cool

The hot quality creates a healthy blush in the cheeks, a naturally strong digestive fire, the capacity to stay warm in cold conditions, and gives the personality passion. In excess, it can manifest as skin rashes and breakouts, burning sensations, inflammatory disorders, excess acidity, and hot emotions like anger and rage.

The cool quality may leave the skin slightly cool to the touch and can result in a calm, cool-headed personality that is not easily ruffled. In excess, this quality can dampen the heat and efficiency of the digestive fire, or cool one’s passion and inspiration.

Pitta Spreads; Kapha Is Stable

The spreading quality can manifest as charisma and charm, the capacity for spreading influence, and may lead to exceptional achievement, broad recognition, and even fame. In excess, it is often behind a spreading rash and the capacity to create a toxic emotional environment.

The stable quality provides a distinct steadiness of mind and body, good balance, and is deeply appreciated by those who are naturally more reactive or flighty. In excess, the stable quality can lead to inactivity, stubbornness, or stagnation.

Pitta Is Liquid

The liquid quality supports proper salivation, healthy digestive juices, an appropriate capacity to sweat, and fluidity of movement throughout the digestive tract, blood, joints, and body. In excess, liquidity can dilute the digestive fire, cause bleeding gums, bleeding disorders in general, a tendency to bruise easily, and excessive sweat.

Kapha Is Smooth

The smooth quality tends to make the skin, hair, and physical body smooth and soft, while supporting smooth movement in the joints, graceful movement of the body, and a soft, gentle, and loving personality. When aggravated, the smooth quality can cause water retention and excessive adipose tissue.

 

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