Reply To: Ayurvedic Energetics & Constitutions
Hi Cody,
Doshas can absolutely be aggravated on a daily basis, especially if you’re in a season that heightens your dominant dosha (pitta in summer). It’s also important to keep in mind that although you may have a dominant dosha, you have all three and can easily aggravate any of them depending on the day and circumstances.
If your dominant dosha is pitta, rather than putting the fires out after eating or doing an activity that may aggravate, it’s about making choices that will pacify pitta the first time around. This isn’t always easy, bear in mind. Eating the high tomato and garlic breakfast might have been too heating for your pitta, and there could have been a food/ingredients that aggravated your kapha dosha and caused lethargy. Although you felt great after your workout, it might have been more pacifying to listen to your body and rest rather than push it. Pitta/Vata dominants are the ones who generally push it to extremes and then get burnt out quickly afterward. There are of course times when moving your body will increase your energy, but there are also times when the best action in non-action; rest is best. There is also always the option of, rather than doing an intense workout, going for a gentle walk in nature or stretching if you’re tired. Pitta dominant doshas do well with gentle, more mindful exercises, especially in nature.
In Western nutrition, just to add a different lens, you might have eaten breakfast and had a blood sugar crash, causing fatigue. You could have had electrolyte imbalance, and/or dehydration, leading to feelings of tiredness. Eating a protein/carb snack within 30 minutes of your workout will help replenish glycogen stores, or drinking a pre-workout / post-workout can support energy levels afterward. It could have been as simple as not getting a great sleep the night before. Finally, just the heat could be causing you to feel drowsy, it certainly does for me!
I hope this helps. It can feel confusing at first when you’re learning Ayurveda, but honing in on what pacifies your dominant dosha, or doshas (I am Pitta/Kapha, so I commonly get imbalances of both simultaneously), can really help. Applying a different lens is great as well!
Riley