Tridosha – Vata Pitta Kapha

Let’s understand the tridosha named vata, pitta, kapha in body.

As per Ayurveda, concept of health is based on tridosha. When these dosha get imbalanced, then it is an alarm to the health which is dangerous to life. While if they are in balance and in their natural state, they ensure proper working of body.

Everything in nature is made up of five elements called panch mahabhoota i.e. earth, water, fire, wind, space, so is our body. Trio of Dosha and these five elements work together to maintain the health of an individual. We will see the connection between the trio and the five elements further in this discussion.

What Is The Location Of Vata Pitta Kapha, Tridosha?

Although they reside in all the parts of body but if we have to locate then,

• Vata resides below navel
• Pitta in between heart and navel
• Kapha above heart

Five Elements And Vata Pitta Kapha

As mentioned above that five elements are connected to the tridosha. Let’s see how.

Kapha signifies the earth and water. Like without water earth becomes dry and cracky similarly body needs lubrication and moisture. Note: there can be more reasons to have dryness and less of moisture. Kapha is the glue to hold the body parts. Thus, it is the natural moisturiser and lubricant which is very important for joints and other parts.

Pitta is the transformer, the heat. If we relate it to basic elements, it is fire and water. When the food get transformed into the rasa, it is because of the heat of pitta. Thus pitta governs digestion, body temperature and chemical transformations.

If we talk about Vata, it is as strong as wind. Like wind, movement is the nature of Vata. Out of five elements, it signifies wind (air) and space. All the movement in the body or mind is governed by Vata. For example, inhalation and exhalation (breathing), blood circulation, transmission of nerve impulses etc are few.   

At every stage of life: childhood, young age and old age, one of the tridosha dominates naturally. Also, a day can be divided into three stages according to sun cycle: rising, peak and setting. At these three timings of the day, one of the tridosha leads. Likewise, digestion too works with the phases of vata, pitta and kapha.

Tridosha are the fundamentals. If they keep working naturally, we stay healthy. So having knowledge about timings of vata, pitta, kapha during lifetime, in a day and when we eat is quite beneficial. This will help us to maintain a right natural lifestyle which is quite necessary these days. And we can keep ourselves fit, just by syncing with right timings.

How Tridosha Work During Lifetime

If we divide the whole life into three phases then we can say there is childhood, young age and old age. And tridosha – Vata, Pitta and Kapha has effect on these three phases. While these three are present during the whole lifetime but still one of the dosha dominates in each phase.

• In childhood kapha leads.
• During young age pitta affects.
• In old age vata is dominant naturally.

Childhood – The period of growth

We already know kapha constitutes of earth and water. Let’s know the nature and functioning of kapha dosha so that we can understand its relation with childhood.

Nature of Kapha	Physiological Aspect	Mental & Emotional Aspect
cool heavy slow oily/sticky soft sweet stable dense	growth lubrication nourishment stability sleep strength mass/fat maintenance of joints	forgiveness compassion memory contentment satisfaction

Childhood is the age of growth, building structure and attaining strength. And kapha is responsible for nourishment, growth, strength and more (see the table). Thus the body needs more of kapha which plays an significant role in nourishment of body. Another point is, child sleeps more than an adult which again shows kapha is dominant. One of the physiological aspect of kapha is sleep. A child gets more of milk in the form of his food and his physical activities are not much. Moreover, at this age worries are not much. That’s why we all agree on this: there is nothing more beautiful than childhood. Right?

So in all, child is soft, sleeps more, mass is building in the body at this time which all sums up that in childhood kapha is dominant.

Young Age – The period of transformation

Nature of Pitta	Physiological Aspect	Mental & Emotional Aspect
hot sharp light oily liquid mobile	transformation metabolic activities digestion lusture/glow body temperature absorbing and distributing nutrition strength hunger	Enthusiasm will power decision making courage anger inner joy mental perception intellect

In young age growing and transformation is happening. At this point blood formation increases and pitta plays a major role in blood formation. Also physical activities, exercises are common and more at this age. Due to this hunger increases. So it is important to have pitta at this phase as it helps in formation of blood and digestion. If pitta is not much then one may become anaemic and other stuff which is important for body would not be formed.

Old Age – The period of degenration

Nature of Vata	Physiological Aspect	Mental & Emotional Aspect
cold light dry rough mobile subtle	elimination breathing movement blood flow sleep/insomnia movement of thoughts slim	Focus creativity anxious/worry/optimism mental clarity multitask quick short term memory

In the third phase i.e old age, when body degenrates, all the dhatus decreases day by day. Dryness too gets increased with old age. In this condition effect of vata increases. Like in old age there is difficulty to sleep, to walk, to focus and much more.

Tridosha’s natural effect in day time

• In the morning it is cold and a bit of heaviness as compared to whole day. Due to this kapha is the time of morning.
• In the noon or mid-day sun is at the peak hence it is the hottest time. That is why pitta dominates at this time.
• Gradually the sun sets and hence the heat in the environment. At this time Vata dominates.

Tridosha (Vata Pitta Kapha) relationship with eating time

Similarly, tridosha are also related to the eating. While eating kapha dominates. The food we eat mixes with the saliva which is alkaline in nature. This mixed food reaches to stomach. Stomach produces acid to digest food. So the mixture of alkali and acid makes the food sweet and therefore kapha increases.

When the digestion starts, that means when we are finished eating and body starts to digest the food, pitta leads. Food gets churned in the stomach and then it moves forward. Here the pitta works. Heat rises which digests the food into rasa.

And after digestion vata dominates. The rasa converts into masa, majja, rakya, virya, mala-mutra. And vata helps to throw waste (mala-mutra) out of the body. Elimination is dominated by vata.  

So, this is how tridosha helps at each level and day to day life to keep body fit and healthy. They act naturally and keep working without any hassle. But other than this, which means other than the natural state if vata pitta kapha increases or decreases, it gives rise to diseases. Therefore, it is important to maintain the healthy and natural lifestyle.

To know about the eating habits, three types of food and what our sacred texts like Gita, Yogic Texts, Charak Samhita say about food, checkout the blog https://vedapathshala.com/2020/07/15/balanced-diet-in-geeta-yogic-text/

JOIN US ON

More From Veda Pathshala