By Eileen Press Normington, MD, CAP
Edited by Gin Brunssen, BS, LMBT


THE KAPHA DOSHA

INTRODUCTION

All of us are a part of nature. In ayurveda nature is composed of five elements. These are ether or space, air or atmosphere, fire or sun, water or moon, and earth. Kaphas are people who naturally have a high content of the earth and water elements. This means their bodies and minds tend towards the qualities that are inherent in these elements. These are qualities such as, cold, heavy, wet, soft, smooth, unctuous, sticky, slimy, gross, cloudy, stable, and immobile. Kapha gives us our structure, stability, growth, and feelings love and sweetness. People who are predominantly kapha are strong, broad and sturdy and are wonderful mates and parents. They tend to have thick pearly skin, luxurious hair, gorgeous moon shaped faces and eyes, long eyelashes and are great sleepers.

Because water is deeply associated with the prana of the moon, kapha increases at the times when the sun's influence is waning and the moon's influence is more keenly felt. This strongly happens during winter. Kapha is also high in childhood because it is associated with the building of our tissues and deep feelings of love. Kapha begins things, and therefore it is strongest at the beginning of the day, 6 - 10 am and the beginning of the night, 6 -10 pm. Because of its smooth and soft qualities, it is important for all people to go to sleep during the kapha time of the night

WHY IS DIGESTION SO IMPORTANT, ESPECIALLY TO KAPHA'S?

When kaphas become imbalanced, they can have a tendency towards obesity, lethargy, sluggish digestion, constipation, overeating, food addictions, overly loose joints, decreased motivation, high cholesterol, diabetes, allergies, and congestion. They become imbalanced because of the kapha qualities of cold, wet and heavy. These qualities can affect their digestion and make it sluggish. When your digestion is impaired you do not absorb the nutrients your body needs and you do not eliminate toxins and unwanted food well. These unwanted and undigested food particles are called “ama” in ayurveda and over an extended period of time, they create congestion and disease, damaging vulnerable cells and tissues. You can tell when a meal is too high in kapha for you (either by the type of food, the amount of food, or the time of day you are eating) because right after eating your body and mind will feel heavy, dull, lethargic and sleepy.

KAPHA MORNING ROUTINE

Kaphas need to get up before the kapha time of the day. That means they need to get up before 6am. Right away this will help them to be less sluggish. As soon as they get up, they should open the curtains, turn on the lights and connect with the sun. No staying in bed while the snooze alarm goes off! A nice walk at sunrise is a wonderful way to do this. If you do yoga, it is optimal for a kapha to do it early in the morning. The earlier in the day a kapha gets moving the better.


KAPHA NEED FOR EXERCISE AND YOGA

To stay healthy, kaphas need a lot of exercise. Because kaphas tend to have a nice extra fat layer, sometimes their muscle tone is poor and they can easily injure themselves. In addition they can have loose overly flexible joints. Therefore an intelligent yoga practice that makes them strong and avoids injury is best for them. They have the stamina and endurance to do a long yoga practice five days a week . . . just make sure the yoga is done in a knowledgeable and careful manner. It must be strengthening, moving, and stabilizing. It should be internally warming but not overheating. And it should have a drying quality to it. For instance, the room should be warm, but not disturbingly hot and humid.

This particular type of practice is good for all of us during winter, those that have consistently sluggish digestion, are overweight need help managing kapha congestion problems. For example, the practice could be slowly flowing and interspersed with longer holdings, which takes advantage of the kapha endurance and develops joint stability and stamina. If you can do your main practice in the morning, and then you might do an inversion practice later in the day to help keep your energy moving upwards. Make sure to stay warm during the whole practice and cover up in savasana or corpse pose at the end of your practice.


BALANCING KAPHA: DIET AND SPICES

There is a lot known about managing kapha with diet. Number one, do not eat seconds and limit portion size. If you are a kapha, you do not have the capacity to digest large amounts of food, because your digestion is cold, heavy and slow. Do not skip meals, but do keep them small. Make sure all your food is fresh. Fresh food is intelligent and high in prana. It will help you to develop the natural intelligence of the cells in your body and of your mind. Leftovers, canned, frozen, and stale foods are not intelligent and damage your body. Processed foods are pranically dead and of no value. So consider this in your food choices. Also, your digestion tracks with the sun, so eat your largest meal at noon, when the sun is at its apex. Think of your breakfast and dinner more like snacks than like meals. Stay away from ice, dairy, meat, nuts, oils, sugar, salt, and sour tasting or fermented foods. Eat cooked green leafy vegetables every day along with whole grains that are high in protein and nutrition, like barley, millet, oats, cous cous, buckwheat, oats, quinoa, and amaranth. Lentils, dahls, sautéed tofu, and almonds are also excellent sources of protein. Stay away from processed wheat and sugar, and eat rice only once a week. You may use local, raw, unprocessed honey, but do not cook with it. For oils you may use two teaspoons of olive oil or ghee, which is clarified butter, each day. If you want to have some skim milk, it can be boiled with a pinch of turmeric and dry ginger in it.

Spices are fantastic for helping to build a strong digestion. Great spices for kapha are black pepper, paprika, dry ginger, garlic, cloves, bay leaf, fenugreek, cumin seed, coriander, cilantro, parsley, turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg, basil, thyme, oregano, cardamom, sage, and mustard seed. Eat fruit daily to help get vitamins, minerals and roughage, but stay away from sweet and sour fruits. It is best for kaphas to cook their fruit, for instance stewed apples or pears with whole cloves in them are great for breakfast along with some oatmeal. The tastes that activate kapha are sweet, sour and salty, so these are the tastes you want to avoid. On the other hand, the tastes that will help you manage kapha are pungent, bitter and astringent. You can go a lifetime without kapha diseases if you embrace exercise and work on cultivating intelligent food habits.

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Author's Biography:
Eileen Press Normington, M.D.,C.A.P is a retired physician. For the last twenty-eight years, she has been practicing yoga, pranayama, ayurveda, and meditation. She received her B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Californa, Santa Barbara and her M.D. degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas in 1992, and was a surgical pathology resident at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. She then worked as a scientist in the biotechnology industry. Eileen is certified in 500 hours of ayurvedic study with David Frawley from the American Institute of Vedic Studies and 200 hours of hatha yoga from Focal Point Yoga. Eileen is successfully married for 22 years. Her husband is a biotechnology executive and student of yoga. Together they have two grown children, who are the ultimate teachers of right action, ahimsa, patience, forgiveness, and living in the now.