There are three energies that make up your biologic energy field: “Vata” the energy of movement – so anything that moves from thought to food through the GI tract is done by Vata, the energy of “Pitta” allows us to transform things – from a piece of broccoli into heart and lung cells to understanding ideas and concepts and making them ours, lastly the energy of “Kapha” stabilizes us and provides strength stamina and endurance. In this video, Dr. Bill Dean helps explain in details what these three energies – Vata, Pitta & Kapha – are all about.
Transcript of the video:
The energy pattern of Vata is the energy pattern of movement in physiology, that is to say: anything that moves in the mind body is done by this energy pattern called Vata. So, if you have a thought, that’s Vata in action. If you have a movement of digestion, a piece of broccoli going through your GI tract, that’s Vata. If you have a movement of blood through your blood vessels, that’s Vata. If you have a movement of a nerve impulse moving your finger, that’s Vata. So anything that moves in physiology is under the guise of this energy pattern: Vata. Vata, when it is in balance, creates mental clarity, it gives you great creativity. When Vata is in balance, you have a calm mind The mind does not race. but when Vata is out of balance, all crazy things happen, you have a racing mind, you are under stress, you don’t handle things well, it ruins your ability to be creative and all of these things are things that are not very very healthy and in the end, Vata as an energy pattern creates 80% of all diseases in the physiology. So it is very very important for us to bring this energy of movement in our physiology and keep it in check. To not let it get out of whack.
Pitta is the energy of transformation in the physiology. Pitta gives us the ability to make change. When we change a piece of broccoli into heart cells and lung cells and brain cells, that is the power of the Pitta energy in our physiology. When we understand a thought and we say “oh, I get it” that’s Pitta at work from a psychological and mental point of view. When Pitta gets out of whack, the most common thing that we see is anger. It is just rage, and everybody has experienced that in their life. They have either seen it in themselves or they have seen it in others. Road rage is a classic Pitta. Pitta gives us competition. So, when you see a lot of people at a football game, at a baseball game, at competitive events, those people are strongly Pitta motivated. So, any athlete who is competitive, is actually engaged in strong Pitta activity. Ayurveda gives us guidelines by which we pacify these particular situations. So, when we are strong Pittas such as myself, then we want to really pacify that energy pattern because it can get out of whack and get out of control and then we can get sick if we continue to aggravate this energy pattern of Pitta.
Kapha is the energy pattern of stability, it keeps us grounded, it keeps us from flying off into space. it is the most matter field, or molecularly expressed of the energy patterns. Kapha gives us grounding, stability and it allows us to function in a material form, in a molecular form. Examples of Kapha energy are cholesterol, heavy molecules. Foods like dairy and nuts, and emotions like compassion and love and kindness and forgiveness, these are all Kapha expressions in the physiology. When Kapha gets out of balance, it becomes inert, slow and nobody wants to be like that. So, we really need to know: how can I prevent myself from getting into what we would call: Kapha imbalance? Kapha can be balanced by various activities. One of the most powerful in the yoga tradition is pranayama. Pranayama is the most powerful way to deal with the difficulties that are confronting Kapha individuals. Kapha is expressed through being overweight, and, many other folks that are in weight loss really are misdirected; and because of that, many of these diets that are expressed, because they don’t understand this concept of Kapha lead to problems with them becoming fat.
None of these energy patterns exists independently. So, the energy pattern of Vata gives us a thin lengthy individual who is very creative, always moving, can’t sit still. But, there are others who have strong Pitta, and others who have strong Kapha traits. But these elements, these energy patterns of Vata, Pitta and Kapha are actually represented in all of us in various combinations. So, you will see Pitta Kapha combinations, or Vata Pitta or you will see Pitta Kapha. or Kapha Pitta combinations. It is rare. It is extremely rare that all of them are represented equally in one individual. The are usually in combinations of two that are predominant. So, what does it look like? A Pitta-Vata would be kind of like me. He’d have a medium size build but he might have some elements that are thin, not heavily muscled. Whereas another who is Vata-Pitta would have kind of like a lengthy constitutional structure, he would be kind of thin, have difficulty putting on weight & have trouble with a racing mind. And then, Pitta-Kapha would have a medium size build but he would have a lot more muscle because Kaphas are very strong. My story is that a tackler with the Green Bay Packers is the perfect example of a Kapha. Strong, sturdy, great endurance, great stamina. Song muscled individual. These are Kapha individuals but as we talked about they have their elements of dysfunction. They can feel very obese, very easily. People say a Kapha would say: “I just look at food and I gain weight”. These kinds of combination patterns are really important to understand because we need all three energy patterns in order to function in our lives.
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