Pitta Dosha

The hot one 🔥

Artist unknown - a former student!

If you haven’t read my Intro to Ayurveda, I highly recommend it. It’s not very long but will give you a basic understanding of this simple yet complex system of health and healing, as well as explain what/who the heck Pitta is.

Pitta Season has sort of arrived here in the Northeastern US, where I live. What I mean by “sort of” is that, one day, the temperature was 93, and the next day it was in the 40s. This season is typically late spring and summer, but where I live, we are still technically transitioning from Kapha Season to Pitta Season.

The reason for this is that Kapha is cold, while Pitta is hot. This is not unusual for seasonal transitions, and the fluctuations are very stressful for the body, so be sure to be prepared for any kind of weather and dress accordingly.

Once summer gets underway, so will Pitta dosha become more obvious.

Knowing some basics about the hot dosha can help us stay healthy (and cool) during the summer months.

By the way, if you're in the Southern Hemisphere, heading into winter, you can tuck this information away until your Pitta Season rolls around again!

Ayurveda’s seasonal calendar revolves around the three doshas–Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. The doshas are forces or energies comprised of the five elements–space (ether), air, fire, water, and earth that make up our human physiology.

The same elements that are in Nature are within us. Yes, we are Nature, too!

Your individual constitution, which you were born with, is called your Prakriti (or Prakruti) and never changes. It is determined by the combination of doshas which are dominant in your psycho-physiological makeup, dependent upon your parents' Prakriti at the moment of your conception.

All three doshas are present in each of us, as are the five elements, just to varying degrees. Most people are a combination of two dominant doshas, while some are dominant in one and rarely all three (tri-doshic.)

Your Vikriti (or Vikruti) is your current state of balance and is influenced by diet, lifestyle, emotions, seasons, etc. We want to strive to be balanced in mind, body, and spirit while paying special attention to the balancing properties of our particular dominant doshas.

If you are unsure of your constitution, you can take this dosha quiz. Or consult with an Ayurvedic practitioner to help you figure it out and make proper lifestyle adjustments.

All About Pitta

The elements associated with Pitta are fire and water. It is the energy of transformation and the metabolic force in our body that rules digestion.

Pitta also rules our intelligence, our eyes, body temperature, and skin coloration.

It is seated in the stomach and small intestines.

The qualities of Pitta are hot, sour, sharp, moist, pungent, slightly oily, light, and fluid. 

In Ayurveda, like increases like, so in choosing foods to balance Pitta, try sweet, bitter, and astringent foods, such as fresh sweet fruits, vegetables, grains, salads, beans, legumes, etc.

Here are some characteristics of Pitta-types:

• Highly organized and self-confident

• Sharp-witted

• Good public speakers, leaders, politicians, teachers, writers

• Highly intelligent

• Warm, friendly

• Independent, courageous

• Passionate

• Strong athletic, medium build

• Doesn’t like the heat (makes a Pitta tired)

• Sensitive skin, usually pale with freckles and moles. Prone to skin eruptions and rashes–i.e. acne, eczema, psoriasis

• Excessive sweating (often pungent)

• Excessive hunger or thirst

• Strong digestion, but needs regular meals (Pittas get crabby if they skip a meal!)

• Hair is smooth and shiny, often blond or red. Later in life, hair is often prematurely gray or balding.

And on the downside – characteristics of an out-of-balance Pitta-type:

• Sarcastic

• Stubborn, hot-headed

• Hot flashes

• High acidity

• Loose stools

• Prone to headaches, fever, acid reflux, heartburn, colitis

• Can be spiteful, jealous, and angry–especially when stressed

• Domineering, vain, ambitious

You may find that some or all of these characteristics apply to you. Maybe frequently, or maybe mainly just during the summer months.

The more frequently they do apply - both the positive and the not-so-positive can mean that there’s a fair amount of Pitta dosha in your constitution.

We can also just have an imbalance in that dosha at any point in our lives.

Adulthood, from around eighteen until (roughly) fifty, is the Pitta time of life. It is a time for higher learning, growing families, and careers. Productivity.

I will write more about the seasons of life in another post.

The important thing to remember is to stay tuned into your body.

Vata-Pitta and Pitta-Vata types often have more trouble adjusting to seasonal fluctuations than other constitutions. Basically, if you're feeling hot, tired, stressed, or experiencing some of the other symptoms above, focus on pacifying Pitta. If you're feeling cold, anxious, and fearful, pacify Vata.

That being said, Vata is the queen (or king!) of the doshas, and because of its quality of movement, it pushes (and thereby unbalances) the other doshas. So, keeping Vata balanced is a good rule of thumb for all of us.

You may be someone who rarely feels hot in your body, but you have a hot personality! There are varying degrees of the doshas in each of us. And other factors, such as age, can influence how strongly we experience an unbalanced dosha. Again, just pay attention to your own body/mind's signals.

This is Rachel, one of my favorite Pitta-types. She gave me permission to write about her. Thank you, Rachel!

Rachel, Poster child for Pitta Dosha

I remember this day so clearly. We were at my son’s baseball game on a hot summer day. Had I known anything about Ayurveda back then, it would have made me smile. Rachel could be a poster child for Pitta Dosha. So could her dad, Roger, I might add.

I met Rachel when she was still in her mother, Mary’s womb, and we have been friends for many decades. Rachel was a smart, determined child.

Years later, when I lived in NYC, Rachel came to attend college there. I vividly remember one winter night, walking to a restaurant with her for dinner. I was bundled from head to toe with a hat, scarf, gloves, and multiple layers.

Rachel, on the other hand, was hatless, scarfless, gloveless, and wearing only a denim jacket.

“Aren’t you freezing??” I asked her. She just looked at me and smiled. We’d had this discussion many times before. My teeth were chattering. Her jacket might have even been open.

These are the subtle clues to what your innate constitution is. It was always one of the first questions I would ask a client - “Did you run hot or cold as a child?”

Here are some tips for remaining balanced and healthy during the Pitta season:

• THINK COOL and reduce anything that heats the body: saunas, steam rooms, hot showers, and hot spicy foods. Stay out of the hot mid-day sun. Pittas already have an abundance of heat in their bodies and can damage their organs with too much heat.

• Avoid drinking a lot of cold beverages, especially with meals. I know this sounds contrary to what I just wrote about staying cool but drinking cold liquids is a shock to the system and puts out our digestive fire, resulting in poor assimilation and digestion.

• Avoid excesses of foods that are salty, spicy, sour, hot, or pungent.

• Avoid coffee - it is especially unbalancing for Pittas due to its acidity.

• Cool your skin with unrefined coconut oil (I massage it in daily before my shower during the summer - it really helps to protect and cool the skin. By applying it before showering (wait 10-20 minutes), the warm water will help it penetrate the skin. That being said, I don’t always follow my own advice and sometimes just apply it post-shower! I love this combination of Brahmi/coconut oil during the hot summer months.

• Don’t skip meals or let yourself get dehydrated. This is especially important for Pitta-types.

• Drink coconut water. It's great hydration and neutralizes acid, so it can also help with heartburn and acid reflux.

• Take walks or bike rides in the cool morning or evening. Moonlight is especially healing for Pitta-types.

• Take time each day to do some slow, deep breathing and meditation.

• Take lukewarm or cool showers or baths and run cool water over your head and the back of your neck before getting out. This helps to reduce excess Pitta.

• When it comes to exercise, especially during the Pitta season, cool it! Don’t over-exert yourself, especially by running in the hot afternoon sun.

• Keep a spray bottle with rose or lavender water in your refrigerator and spritz yourself when you get overheated. The rose water is also excellent for dry, sore eyes. Just be sure it's of good quality that is made with real rose petals.

• 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m. are Pitta times of the day. It is at this time that your metabolism kicks into high gear. This is why Ayurveda recommends eating your main meal between  12:00 - 2:00 p.m.). Your body will be able to digest this meal the best. As for the 10:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m. time - during these hours, the body goes to work making repairs and burning stored fat. It wants to be sleeping during this time and not digesting a heavy late dinner or snack. Metabolism is active during these hours, and it’s the reason you get your second wind around 10:00 p.m. (Pitta-types love to burn the midnight oil). Getting to bed before 10:00 p.m. will not only allow you to sleep more soundly but will let your body repair itself much more efficiently.

If all this information seems daunting and restrictive, just focus on a couple of tips that you think will help you feel more balanced.

As much as I love Ayurveda, and it has helped me heal in so many ways, I’m just not into too many rules when it comes to living my life. There are some things - like early to bed - that I rarely compromise on, and it has been life-changing for me. Ditto eating my biggest meal around noon.

But I’m not perfect, and there are many times when I don’t follow my own recommendations, being the human that I am. I had potato chips for dinner the other night. This is typical Vata behavior. :)

Summer is the time to chill and not take on overly taxing projects. Get adequate R&R during Pitta Season.

Find a hammock in the shade, read something you enjoy (not something you have to read), swim in a lake or the ocean, or do whatever you love that is calming and cooling.

Here's hoping for a slightly breezy, not-too-hot Pitta Season!

Much Love,
Barbara