In Ayurveda, understanding one’s nature of Prakruti or state of optimal health and one’s Vikruti or state of imbalance is the first important step you can take on your journey to wellness today. When you understand yourself, you can guide your life towards the self-care practices and foods you need to feel your best, manage daily stress, create supportive relationships and to live life harmoniously.
Determine Your Nature of Balance or Prakruti
Your prakruti is the inherent balance of the three energetic doshas at the moment of your creation. It is similar to your DNA or your body type. The word Prakruti is referred to as a person’s constitution. In Sankrit “pra” means “original” and “kruti” means “creation”; “original creation”.
Determining your prakruti helps you understand your tendencies allowing you to be empowered with the knowledge needed to create balance in your life.
This evaluation provides a rough guide to your prakruiti and your constitution or dosha. Use this information for a deeper understanding of yourself and to guide you as you plan your diet, exercise, and other aspects of your life.
For each characteristic, mark the best description which closely describes you. If you are uncertain, you may leave it blank. You may also mark more than one description. At the bottom of the table add up the marks on each column. The column with the highest number is your primary dosha indicating that you are predominantly this particular dosha. The column with the second highest number is your secondary dosha. The column with the lowest number indicates that you have a small amount of this dosha.
Your Prakruti or your dosha proportions, represents your perfect state of health to which you can strive to maintain.
Determine the Nature of Your Imbalance or Vikruti
This assessment is a rough guide to assess your current life situation or imbalance, known as Vikruiti. Consider your recent illnesses, stresses or life changes that have occurred over the past few weeks or months, then mark the best descriptions that applies to you.
For each characteristic, mark the best description which closely describes you. If you are uncertain, you may leave it blank. You may also mark more than one description. At the bottom of the table add up the marks on each column. The column with the highest number is your primary dosha that is out of balance. The column with the second highest number is your secondary dosha that is out of balance. The column with the lowest number indicates the dosha that is out of balance the least. This information reveals which doshas are out of balance, so that you may choose the best life style choices and foods to bring you back into balance.
