Everyone runs on all three. One usually runs loudest.

Doshas are not personality types and not a horoscope. They are three patterns describing how a body handles heat, movement and moisture, and each one goes out of balance in a direction you can predict, and correct.

Air + Ether

Vata governs movement.

In plain words

If you get cold hands, patchy sleep, bloating and a mind that will not stop planning, that is Vata talking.

Vata is the principle of movement. Every time something in you travels, breath, blood, food, a thought, a nerve signal, that is Vata doing it. Its qualities are dry, light, cold and mobile, and it goes out of balance by getting more of the same: more travel, more cold food, more screens, more decisions.

When it is off

Sleep that starts fine and breaks at 3am
Bloating, gas and irregular digestion
Thoughts that loop without landing
Dry skin, cold hands, restless legs
Appetite that vanishes then spikes

Bring it back

Warm, cooked, slightly oily food, not raw salads
Eat at the same three times every day
Sesame oil on the feet before bed
Fewer decisions after 8pm
Warmth, weight and routine over novelty

Vata rises in autumn and early winter, and in cold dry wind.

Fire + Water

Pitta governs transformation.

In plain words

If you are sharp, driven, run hot, and get irritable when a meal is late, that is Pitta.

Pitta is the principle of transformation: digestion in the gut, and comprehension in the mind. It is what turns food into you and information into understanding. Hot, sharp and oily by nature, it goes out of balance through heat: spicy food, hard deadlines, midday sun, and skipping meals until you are furious.

When it is off

Reflux, loose stool, burning after meals
A short fuse over small things
Skin flare-ups and overheating
Waking at 2am, alert and annoyed
Cannot stop working, then crashes

Bring it back

Cooling foods: cucumber, coconut, coriander, sweet fruit
Eat before you are hungry, never after
Go easy on chilli, coffee and late deadlines
Move for enjoyment, not to win
Get out of the midday sun

Pitta rises in high summer and late summer, which is now in north India.

Earth + Water

Kapha governs structure.

In plain words

If you are steady, patient, slow to wake and slow to change, that is Kapha.

Kapha is the principle of structure and cohesion: the tissue that holds you together, the mucus that protects you, the calm that steadies you. Heavy, cool, moist and stable, it goes out of balance through accumulation: too much rest, too much dairy and sweetness, too much of the same day repeated.

When it is off

Wakes groggy no matter how long you slept
Congestion and a heavy chest in the morning
Weight that settles and stays
Comfort in routine to the point of being stuck
Craving sweet things in the evening

Bring it back

Ginger, black pepper, mustard greens, millet
Move within an hour of waking
No heavy dairy or sweets at night
Change one thing on purpose each week
Warm, light, dry food over rich and cold

Kapha rises in late winter and spring, and in cold damp weather.

Before you go looking for your type

You are not one dosha

Every online quiz wants to hand you a label. It makes for a satisfying result and it is a poor description of how this works. You have all three, in a proportion that is yours, and that proportion shifts with your age, the season, your work and what you ate this week.

What is actually useful is noticing direction. Not I am Vata, but I have gone dry, cold and scattered this month, so I need warmth, oil and routine. The correction is what matters, and it changes over time.

A proper constitutional assessment is done in person by a qualified Ayurvedic practitioner who looks at pulse, tongue, history and build, and nothing online replaces that. What a self-assessment can do honestly is give you a working starting point, and show you the difference between your baseline and where you are right now. That is what our own assessment is built to do, not more.

Now put it into the day.

Knowing your imbalance is half of it. The daily rhythm page shows you when to eat, move and sleep, measured from your own sunrise.