Ayurveda Series 2 – How To Balance Pitta

If you have ever felt angry, irritable or possessive, or perhaps broken out in a rash or embarrassing pimples, chances are you may have what is called a pitta imbalance. The Pitta dosha in Ayurveda represents the fire element. You know those type A personalities? Yep, pitta. It’s amazing for getting shiz done in your life, but like all doshas it’s important to stay balanced and keep that fire under control and recognise the imbalance before it takes you over. And that’s what this episode is all about.
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So today we are diving into how to decrease and balance Pitta. If you have been listening to this show for a while you will know very well that in 2017 I had a serious Pitta imbalance. I speak about this in episode 53, Why I Broke Up With Bulletproof Coffee. Signs of a pitta imbalance are things like frustration, anger, bitterness, irritability, feeling overly hot, being overly critical, red inflamed eyes and skin, rashes, eczema, inflammation in the body and acid reflux.

But all that is not where I want to focus. I want to give you the keys to the Ayurveda matrix so you can start to recognise and decode an imbalance before it takes you over. So let’s make it simple; for pitta I want you to think of three words:

  • Moderation
  • Cool
  • Surrender

Let’s see what you can tweak in your lifestyle to decrease pitta…

  • If you can, living in a cool climate will be supportive. But if not, just be mindful of anything that will overheat you
  • Spend time with people who calm you
  • Meditate daily and focus on achieving a sense of peace with yourself, friends and family
  • When expressing thoughts or feelings, try to do so in a way that is constructive and supportive to those around you
  • Use love as your operating system. This may be a challenge for pitta’s but it’s one of your major spiritual assignments
  • Be gentle with yourself, especially when exercising. Being pitta you will have more reserves than a vata, but don’t abuse this and burn yourself out
  • Practice surrender over control
  • You can also do a daily self massage, or abhyanga, which is one of the best self love practices you can do in my opinion. Use ½ a cup of warm coconut oil and see how you feel
  • Surround yourself with sweet soothing music, and sweet smells like defusing a quality essential oil like rose, sandalwood or jasmine from a company like doTERRA. I seriously carry a roller bottle of rose and use it through the day. So good.

Ok, onto food now for decreasing pitta. Pitta will do best favouring…

  • Grounding over light
  • Cool over warm or hot
  • Dry over oily
  • Mild over sharp

The tastes to avour are sweet, bitter and astringent. Let’s start with sweet which is foods like sweet fruits, many of the grains, root vegetables and ghee. Why sweet? Because it is cooling and pacifies heat. But less is more. It’s not an excuse to eat everything sweet in site, just to be mindful that it’s potentially a taste that can be supportive for you.

The bitter taste can come from foods such as chocolate (yep, chocolate, lucky you), kale and dandelion greens.You can also use spices such as cumin, saffron, and turmeric. These foods will support you as they are cooling, and of course there are way more than this so feel free to look up Dr Google.

Bitter is also drying, as is the next taste, astringent. That subtle drying effect is great for absorbing excess sweat and decreasing pitta. The best food to imagine that is drying would be a green unripe banana. You can find astringency in legumes such as chickpeas (yep, make yourself a beautiful silky hummus… so good… Melissa’s pitta loves this), lentils, soybeans if you eat them, and if you do it;s best to focus on tempeh. There are some fruits that have this taste, such as apples, cranberries and pomegranate, and the veggies would be things like lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, fennel, parsley, dill, basil and my favourite, turmeric.

Pitta is the one dosha that can benefit from cool or cold water in between meals, but only when dealing with a pitta imbalance. If you keep doing it, eventually you may tip the scales the other way towards a vata imbalance by weakening your digestion.

In the next episode we will dive into balancing kapha, the dosha that most women love to disown, but man are there some amazing benefits to having more kapha in your constitution! So if you are not subscribed to this show, please hit the subscribe button in your podcast app.

I would love to hear from you, so please tag me @iamnickbroadhurst on social media. Please also leave me a comment below (I read every single one!). And if you could take a minute to leave me a review on iTunes I would be very grateful. Tell me what you want more of! I am at your service.

P.S. Always listen to your intuition (and your doctor or practitioner) before trying any new health practice.

2 Comments

    • Really amazing and effective method. plz share more

      October 8, 2018
      • Will do :) Thank you.

        Nick Broadhurst
        October 16, 2018
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