You might write it as  dosa and you might say dosha. Either will do. The sound of the s – in this case of Sanskrit – is a ch sound. So say it as you like it. But do try to know your dosha: how it is truly your basic nature and how it weaves in and out of the situations in your life. That could be the food  you have eaten, your emotional – even hormonal – state, the climate in which you live – or where you are forced to reside.  Your age-appropriate style of householder, explorer,or wise elder, even those nice situations affect the status of your dosha package.

The three doshas are these:  Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. We use the Sanskrit words because they describe these meanings that are not so clearly defined in other languages.

Altogether they represent three fundamental,  psychological and physiological principles of the body. Their ratio determines your individual constitution and that combination was determined at the time of your conception. When your dosha ratio is in normal balance you would recognize your own true nature, the feeling of comfort with yourself and your surroundings.

LIfe,of course, can be fickle. Stresses of all kinds affect our psychology and our physiology. And the doshas themselves might be easily disturbed: depleted, aggravated, increased; they are moveable. In food or behaviour, in lifestyle, this tendency underlies the principle of Like Follows Like.  I like chocolate or coffee or lying in the hot sun in the sand. But when I am undiscipled about my longings, the more i get of it, the more I want of it, and so a pleasant experience becomes negative because that undisciplined longing will throw my doshas ratio way out of balance.

Too often, too far out of balance and the state of imbalanced doshas can create disease.

But knowing your doshas profile, applying principles of balance with nature, this Dosha Balance creates harmony, a life of balance and joy.

Beware the pop culture to dismiss your behaviour by applying a dosha word to an action: Oh She is SO Vata !  Let’s hope that every one of us has at least a bit of Vata in our constitution. For without Vata, there is no mobility, no change.  Without creative Vata, fiery Pitta becomes intense and is not able to do its work as the Transformer.  Kapha gets stuck in its very steady groundedness and like the earthbound turtle, goes nowhere fast.

Come to one of my workshops and explore your dosha profile and be alert to all the ways we can catch imbalance before it becomes disorder and dis-ease.  See the post on Ayurveda Basics here.