Of Dark Raisinets and Prakriti

Had a wonderful satsang with the ladies after practice this afternoon.

I received an invitation from Allen to attend an ayurvedic cooking class tomorrow with Fr. Jason and that started our conversation on food and prakriti. (Sorry Allen, can't go. I made plans already).
In applying ayurvedic concepts in cooking, one needs to understand prakriti and doshas. Prakriti means nature or the natural form of build or constitution of the human body (Sundar, 2000), and doshas are characteristics or energies that make up one's prakriti. There are 3 types of doshas - vata, pitta, kapha. Most people are of 2-dosha type.

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Vata is dry, light, mobile, expansible, quick, cold, rough, clear and astringent in taste. So vata prakriti individuals tend to have dry and rough skin, are lightly built, quick in their mental process and initiation of action.

Pitta is hot, penetrating, slightly foul smelling, liquid, sour and pungent in taste. So pitta prakriti individuals tend to sweat a lot and tend to have a higher than normal body temperature.

Kapha is unctuous, smooth, soft, sweet in taste, stable, dense, slow, rigid, cold and clear. Kapha prakriti individuals tend to have soft limbs, slow gait and are slow to understand. The cold quality means that their agni or digestive power is low.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/folio/fo0010/00100240.htm

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I'm Pitta-kapha

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Prakriti test identifies you as a PITTA-KAPHA Prakriti

Since you display qualities of two doshas � Pitta and Kapha, Prakriti test identifies you as PITTA � KAPHA Prakriti. This means that in your Prakriti no dosha is predominant and yours is a two-dosha type Prakriti. Most people are two-dosha types.

The following are the characteristics of Pitta-Kapha Prakriti

Of your doshic balance, your physical traits show a Pitta domination, while mental traits are governed by Kapha. People with this prakriti usually are muscular, quite bulky and have excellent physical health.

They have reliable organizational ability, adequate drive to grow and have cascading energy levels.

They also have a fairly good level of endurance and emotional stability.

They are prone to recurrent respiratory track infection, pyoderma, skin infection, photodermatitis, wrinkling of skin, premature graying & hair loss etc�

They tend to adopt a very calculative approach towards their acquaintances.

They are likely to have conflicts with persons having equal caliber. However their peace loving, patient kapha prakriti helps them to prevent or resolve serious conflict.

Their charisma helps them gain acceptance as a leader among their followers.

People with Pitta-Kapha prakriti perform best in a field which exploit their calculative abilities and poses them too many challenges. Thus they can do well in the fields of Politics, Art, Defense, Sports, Financial analysis & Management, Personnel Management, HRD & Administration etc�

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Take the test here.

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Basically, one needs to know one's prakriti in order to know which food is not good for your type. There are certain fruits, vegetables and spices which may aggravate one of the doshas and bring it our of balance.

And where does the raisinets come in? Nowhere... I'm just eating it while I'm typing this entry. :-p

Om.