Several days ago I was thinking about the Tridosha (the three bodily qualities) and how vata (air) I am. We're talkin' textbook. While my friend Fred is the ultimate pitta (fire) and his boyfriend Blake a definitive kapha (water and earth), I was obsessed with the fact that I have every possible vata attribute down to the "dry, voluminous hair." And I felt good. Or rather that I belonged to a special club of creative, friendly beings with dry skin. Then I realized I'd been cross-referencing the list of vata balance characteristics with the symptoms that occur as a result of vata imbalance. Like any good vata, I panicked. Then my Jewish nature kicked in and I called to make an appointment with a renowned Ayurvedic doctor. Only, this being vata season, AKA Fall, I couldn't get an appointment till January. Figures.
Frustrated, I called my friend Tovah, a wellness expert and fellow yoga teacher, who told me to eat less salad, more soups and rub myself with warm sesame oil. This suggestion, however sound, led to smell like a veggie stir-fry for a number of days. If only Tovah had indicated raw sesame oil instead of toasted! If only I had taken her up on the soup! Clearly, it was time to get metaphysical. Only which direction-- east to Ayurveda, the sister science of yoga with her Five Elements, or west to Empedocles and his Four Humours? The latter certainly worked for Shakespeare. Then I thought of Hamlet, the indecision, the torment, the melancholia... True, being out of balance makes for interesting conflicts, thus theatre, novels and rock ballads, yet where are the solutions? Is the quest for perfect balance paradoxically causing greater imbalance? And how do we find the fulcrum if we already standing on it?
In the physical realm, IE the world as we know and perceive it, we are often encountering roadblocks to a quality of being we have deemed "balance." (Often, we provide our own roadblocks.) The seasons change, we feel out of whack. We move, someone leaves us or the weather shifts, we feel out of whack. Thus, the deep longing to smash ourselves back into balance like a cosmic whack-a-mole at the county unfair of the universe. It's all lila, I suppose. Only here's the dilemma: no matter how many times we slam, that deranged mole keeps popping up somewhere else. In fact, the very concept of motion is imbalance. The second you pick up your foot to take a step in any direction, the body reflexively counteracts this motion so you don't fall flat on your face. If the physical body is able to rebound and move forward all day long, so too the mind-body and eventually, one hopes, the soul-body. You may or may not need the oil of five thousand non-toasted sesame seeds. Indeed you may not need anything at all. Because you already are. In balance.
Toasted Sesame!! Haha! I was explicitly warned of this possible mix-up..! So glad you explained it publicly, lest we be mistaken for a lovely new dish at Souen.
Sarah Tomlinson said in Vata/Fall you just have to accept doing less. "It's not a good time to get things done", she said, because the energy isn't sustained and focused. She recommended naps during this time, which can be SO HARD! It is so hard to stop that pull OUTWARD: the desire TO FIX IT! To me Ayurveda is all about listening, but often we are so programmed that we need ideas and other possibilities to experiment with.. Like siestas, aahh!