Knowing your Prakirti is only half the story

Who doesn’t like personality quizzes? With dosha quizzes available to download everywhere, everyone can enjoy figuring out what their constitution is and compare and contrast with friends. People then go on to pattern their diet and lifestyle in line with these dosha plans.

The issue is that we are often looking in the wrong direction. Ayurveda teaches us that we have a unique make-up at birth. The balance of the three doshas within us at our creation is what we call Prakirti. These are physical, mental and spiritual features and tendencies that are usually stable across our lifetime. It’s useful information to know.

However, what’s more useful to know both for an individual and a practitioner is our Vikirti. The Vikirti is our current doshic balance or state. We are in constant communication with our surrounding environment and so as our environment or lifestyle changes, our doshic balance will shift too. If we do not notice this shift or are not practicing daily routines in line with seasonal changes, we can see symptoms of imbalance as our body will mirror those similar qualities we find around us. These can be an excess or lack of certain doshas that will show up as physical, mental or spiritual symptoms of inflammation or depletion. When this happens and our doshas are thrown off balance and deviate from our Prakirti, this is known as Vikirti.

To get a better understanding of our constant shifting environment, it’s useful to understand how Ayurveda sees the doshas in a wider sense. The doshas do not simply sit within us but govern all of nature and we are part of nature.

Let’s start with the circadian rhythm. Ayurveda says that each part of the day is influenced by an energy (dosha). Understanding this gives us a clue about the time of day and it’s influence on us. For example, midday is Pitta time. Knowing the qualities of Pitta, we can see that this time of day is when we are most productive. It is also the time of day that our digestion is at its strongest, making it an ideal time to have our biggest meal of the day. To avoid overheating, we should avoid strenuous work or vigorous exercise during this time.

Now let’s look at a seasonal change. Autumn time is Vata season. It’s cool, dry and breezy. If we understand this and also know that we have a Vata dominant dosha, we can begin to make adjustments early enough so that these similar qualities do not encourage an excess of Vata in us. To do this, we wrap up warm, eat foods that are dense to bring a sense of grounding and, consume warming spices to maintain healthy digestion.

Over the course of our lifetime too, we see that the doshas can influence different stages. Our early developmental stage of life is heavily influenced by Kapha dosha as our body is growing. During our youth, we are mostly influenced by Pitta dosha as we go through a series of transformations and have ambition. Towards the end of our life we are influenced mostly by Vata and while we start seeing our body losing some of its strength it can also be a time where we develop wisdom and appreciate our connection with the wider universe

So, we can see how external factors can affect our being daily, seasonally and over our lifetime. To keep our own constitution in balance so that we have a resilience to illness, we need to recognise these patterns and adapt accordingly. It's a constant dance between us and our surroundings to get the most out of ourselves and enjoy the changes around us.

The purpose of an Ayurvedic consultation is to accurately identify a person’s Vikirti. This is achieved through taking a detailed history and physical examination. With this information, the practitioner is able to advise on diet, lifestyle and herbal preparations that can act on the current imbalances and restore vitality.