Spa & Wellbeing

What is Dosha?

25.08.2022

If you’re interested in Ayurveda, even for a little, you must’ve come across the term Dosha.Ayurveda, holding a history of more than five thousand years, takes our Doshas in the center of all its suggestions from our diet to our lifestyle, from exercise to herbal treatments, for preserving and healing our physical, spiritual and mental health holistically.

So, what exactly is a Dosha and what does it signify? In this article, we wanted to give you some insight about the definition and basis of Dosha, being an inseparable concept of Ayurveda...

Definition of Dosha

The expression dosha actually means “fault”, “defect” or “one that may cause problems” in Sanskrit. In Caraka-Samhitā, one of the ancient scriptures describing Ayurveda, Dosha is expressed as imbalances that can result in diseases.

Then why would Ayurveda focus on Dosha, having such a meaning, in maintaining and promoting our health, you might ask? Well, to explain simply, it’s like this: 

According to Ayurvedic philosophy, Dosha is an integrated energy pattern that determines and governs our body type and personality. And it draws its basis from these five elements that have made up Prakti (human) and all other living and non-living beings in the universe: space/ether (aakash), air (vayu), water (jala), fire (teja) and earth (prithvi).


The first element was ether, derived from the tanmatra of sound—thin and dynamic sonic vibrations in the space. That’s why ether is defined as space, that is, the essence of nothingness and emptiness. Over time, these moving vibrations created the element of air, and air brought forth the element of fire through its frictions. As the fire burned and melted its surroundings, the dissolutions revealed the water element. When the flow and calmness of the water surfaced the sediments at the bottom, the earth element at last was formed.

When Prana (life) enters our body, each of these elements manifests in our body at various rates. But none of them alone have enough strength and qualities (Gunas) to keep Prana in our body. For instance, the fire element has hot, sharp and light Gunas, or the air element has dry, thin and cold Gunas, while the water element possesses liquid, heavy and slippery Gunas… But neither alone can keep control of all of our senses, our blood circulation, our minds, in short, our entire vital functions. That’s why these elements, to be able to govern and carry out our vital processes, including our physiological functions, emotions and thoughts, come together and bring about three bio-energy patterns - Tridoshas - in our body, which, in Ayurveda, are called Vata, Pitta and Kapha doshas:

  • Vata Dosha is generated by space and air elements and basically energizes all kinds of movements in our body. Having given movement to Pitta and Kapha doshas, Vata Dosha is also called “King of Doshas”.
  • Pitta Dosha is composed of the fire and water elements and governs our digestion and metabolism. Pitta dosha, believed to be found in our small intestines, stomach, liver, spleen, pancreas, blood and eyes, brings heat and energy to our body by controlling the transformation process in our circulations.
  • Kapha Dosha arises from the combination of earth and water elements and provides structure and lubricating energy to our body for proper functioning. It helps us store energy by lubricating our joints and add moisture and volume to our tissues.

This is how the Tridoshas, namely Vata, Pitta, and Kapha dosha, appear in us all; but in different rates and accordingly, creating a sui generis balance in each person. It’s exactly this difference that creates our unique and authentic selves by separating us from the so-called one-fits-all approach.

Furthermore, in Ayurveda, the Dosha dominances that builds up our personal constitution (Prakriti) are also different. For instance, one individual only has Vata as his dominant dosha, while in the other Pitta and Kapha doshas are dominant collectively. That’s where Ayurveda finds its basis according to such dominant Dosha energy and our energy balance combined with the unique proportions of our Doshas, in everything ranging from our physical structure to nutrition, from our phases of life to our diseases.


In this regard, our states of health and illness are linked in a causal relationship with whether our Doshas are in balance or not. Meaning, so long as our Doshas stay balanced, our body will function normally, i.e., remain healthy. But if our dosha balance is vitiated -normally (prakrita) or unusually (vaikruta)- due to environmental and physical variables such as seasonal changes, hours of the day, and digestive orders, we may be exposed to physical, mental and spiritual diseases. To give an example, Pitta increases at noon of the day and regresses towards evening with Kapha’s prominence; which is deemed a Prakrita Pitta dosha vitiation. Or while Vata normally deviates during the rainy season, if it loses its balance in the spring (the normal season for Prakrita Kapha dosha vitiation), this will be Vaikruta Vata dosha vitiation. So this is where Dosha’s capacity to “cause problems” comes from.

In short, we can define Doshas, consisting of Vata, Pitta and Kapha, as the basic energies leading to our state of being healthy or not at every step of our lives, for they have the tendency to deviate and lose balance, based on Ayurveda philosophy.

If you’d ask what to do when your doshas become unbalanced, Ayurveda’s answer points to You here, as well. Pursuant to this ancient science, which is based on the philosophy that ‘a person who knows herself / himself can heal herself / himself’, once your dominant Dosha and/or Dosha balance is vitiated or tends to be vitiated, the primary thing you should do is to resolve for a lifestyle adaptation to balance the relevant Dosha with a conforming nutritional diet, appropriate meditative and yogic exercises and medicinal Ayurvedic herbs. Naturally, to do this, you’ll first need to discover your dosha type. For the sake of both the present and future of your physical, mental and spiritual health, you can take a look at our article to better understand your dominant dosha(s); in other words, your Ayurvedic Dosha type.

Wishing you to approach your health holistically and with love and compassion in every aspect…

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