Is it More Important to Balance the Seasonal Dosha or One’s Dominant Dosha?

I love shortcuts, don’t you? Here’s a great shortcut to better health from the wisdom of Ayurveda: eat all six tastes in every meal. When you eat all six tastes, your body can find its own balance in the same way it does when you take an adaptogenic herb. A convenient way to take all six tastes at a meal is to use a six-taste spice mix when you prepare your food. I guess you could say that a six-taste spice mix (churna) is a shortcut within a shortcut!

If the seasonal dosha conflicts with your dominant dosha, for instance if you’re a Kapha-dominant person in Vata season, rely on your inner awareness to detect which qualities (gunas) are out of balance. For instance, I’m a Vata-Pitta dominant type, but last March, when the weather was Kaphic (damp and cool), and after a trip to India in horribly polluted air conditions, I had bronchitis so bad that I could hardly breath. I thought I’d die. Even though I’m normally active, I was static and congested, and I had a dampened inner fire, and a heavy heart. So I ate more pungent foods, such as garlic, cayenne, and wasabi, to cut through the mucus and stoke my digestive fire and my will to live. The pungency helped to clear my sinuses, reignite my passion for food and life, and lighten my mood. The same principles apply when one has two dominant doshas: focus on balancing gunas not doshas.