Richard M wrote: > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Hugo wrote: >> >>> My experience on a year long course was that my digestion died. >>> This is very common in the TMO and extremely unpleasant, esp- >>> cially for someone like me who likes a bit of a scoff. Yet it >>> isn't talked about, in fact talk about it being something to >>> do with the programme is actively put down. I never heard a >>> convincing explanation from ayurveda other than that it's >>> like when you clean a pot, first time you scrub it dirt >>> comes off and after that it starts to get better. I think >>> that implies it's part of the unstressing process. Whatever, >>> it aint pleasant and I've seen eighteen year olds from MMY >>> schools having to eat ginger pickle to get their digestion >>> going. >>> >>> It seemed to me that after just sitting in silence for 9 hours >>> a day my metabolism had slowed to the point where it couldn't >>> get going enough to digest something. It must have a negative >>> effect on your bodies ability to process nutrients not that >>> you get much of those with all that overcooked rice and dhal. >>> >>> I was eating protein tablets and vitamins and I was still >>> rather frail at the end of it. I think this is another >>> thing that should be studied in relation to TM and health >>> as it's apparently very common. >>> >> In general Indians have kapha constitutions and westerners pitta. They >> both tend to get the same imbalance: vata. Massive rounding and cheap >> veggie diets on those course make people more vata. Vata imbalances >> lead to poor digestion. >> >> > I know not a lot about Ayurveda - but vata is the principle of > "movement" is it not? That would be extinguished by rounding I would > have thought. Wouldn't rounding be expected to increase kapha? > (and I am sure I heard/read somewhere that westerners tended primarily > towards vata?) Maybe body wise kapha but the mind due to the increased meditation would become more vata. Certainly there were folks on TTC including myself that gained weight but in general the course I was on wasn't austere as far as food with though we had more than our share of cauliflower. We did have eggs available every morning, fish or chicken twice a week and usually tuna available on "guru day" at the buffet.
People when they have vata imbalances can put on weight too because they will be trying to "ground out" and their body is trying to slow them down by eating more. If they are vegetarian they might wind up eating more carbs which are usually fine for vata types because carbs are calming but can put weight on otherwise. If a kapha type wants to diet usually a low carb diet works fine and is specified in ayurveda because kapha types have problems with carbs (obviously the opposite of vata types.). You probably read about vata imbalances. You have your constitutional type (prakriti) and your functioning type (vakriti) which is the imbalance. You adjust for the latter and the former is used as a guide to see what can go out of balance or as some practitioners say when in balance you may function more like your constitutional type. Remember that vata is air/ether and relates to increased prana. Kapha is increased ojas (earth/water) and Pitta increase tejas (fire). It gets complicated and thats why I recommend folks take a workshop or two on ayurveda rather than just seeing a practitioner every now and then. You can learn to watch for your own imbalances and adjust for them. Practitioners will tell you that some folks with balance their doshas in just a few days and others might take months if not years. A good practitioner will help you watch out for yourself or even recommend a workshop.
