Discover Your Prakruti, Discover Your Path To Wellness
Betty Brown, Ayurveda Practitioner, RN
In Ayurveda, prakruti means “original creation.” The Sanskrit prefix “pra” means “original” and “kruti” means “creation” (1). A person’s prakruti is the inherent balance of the three doshas at the moment of their creation. Prakruti is equivalent to your inherited DNA (2).
According to the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda, the 5,000-year-old ‘science of life’, your structure, function, tendencies, and affinities are governed by your Prakruti, your Ayurvedic Mind-Body type.
Discovering your prakruti has many benefits
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Self-Awareness
Understanding yourself is powerful. Ayurveda teaches us to embrace our prakruti, our true self. Knowing your prakruti can help you understand your behavior in certain situations, to people, and in life. Understanding allows you to be non-judgmental towards yourself, creating self-compassion, and ultimately leading to greater compassion toward others.
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Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses
When you know your weaknesses, you can give yourself some grace and stop beating yourself up. Your weaknesses are an opportunity for to you build your resilience as you strive to strengthen yourself. Your weaknesses can help you connect with others as you reach out for help.
Just as your weaknesses provide an opportunity for self-growth, knowing your strengths can help you to navigate life to your fullest potential. You make choices that are right for you, helping you to build confidence and to shine.
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Create a Lifestyle of Health and Wellness
Prakruti offers you your unique preventative wellness plan showing you which lifestyle habits to avoid and the lifestyle habits to embrace. As an example, if your prakruti is mainly pitta dosha, you may be inclined to lead an overly driven lifestyle where pitta dosha (energy of fire) is dominant. You may have a tendency to give 200% of yourself without taking care of your needs, pushing past symptoms of pain and discomfort. By ignoring your pitta dosha, you are at risk of developing inflammatory conditions and burnout. You can prevent and avoid harmful lifestyle habits leading to dis-ease when you understand your Prakruti and align yourself towards healthy alternatives (3).
Discovering My Prakruti, Discovering My Path To Wellness
I discovered Ayurveda about eight years ago and my wellness journey unfolded. After finding out my prakruti, I had clarity into my habits and tendencies, supportive and harmful. My prakruti is mainly pitta and kapha with a small percentage of vata dosha. Now I understood why I felt driven to push myself in my studies, at work, and in other areas of my life. The energy of pitta (fire energy) is strong. I also discovered the physical and emotional challenges I faced were directly related to my pitta dosha. My inflammatory conditions, such as plantar fasciitis were a result of pushing myself too hard and not taking the time for self-care. Eating an excess amount of heating foods (such as spicy kimchi), left me feeling irritated and critical, especially of myself.
I have a good amount of kapha dosha (energy of earth and water) which helps to support my immune system and resilience. I tend not to get sick easily and I have the stamina to push through physical and emotional challenges. However when kapha dosha is in excess, the heavy, cool, moist energy of kapha dosha leads to lethargy, weight gain, and dullness. I noticed when I overindulged in heavy and cold foods such as ice cream, I easily gained weight and didn’t feel like moving. I became prone to kapha associated conditions such as pneumonia, seasonal allergies, and sinus problems.
Understanding my prakruti makes me feel empowered to take care of myself. I am in charge of my health and wellness. The more I follow the wisdom of Ayurveda, the more I become the best version of myself.
If you are interested in discovering your Ayurveda Mind-Body, your prakruti, take the assessment HERE(https://www.bwellayurveda.com/blog/ayurvedic-dosha-assessment/)
Reach out to me for a free 30-minute consultation to start on your wellness journey today.
Resources:
- https://www.bindusaryoga.com/understanding-health-in-ayurveda#:~:text=The%20Sanskrit%20prefix%20%22pra%22%20means,and%20psychological%20tendencies%20become%20fixed.
- Govindaraj, P. et al. Genome-wide analysis correlates Ayurveda Prakriti. Rep. 5, 15786; doi: 10.1038/srep15786 (2015). https://www.nature.com/articles/srep15786
- Sharma,H. Ayurveda and Epigenetics. Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/3699 (accessed on 05 July 2023).
All information provided is for educational purposes. Please consult your physician before making any lifestyle changes.