Kapha Giving for Better Health

Winter is the season of Kapha and the following are some of the characteristics that indicate balance in this Ayurvedic type: nurturing, forgiving, faithful, loving and giving.

Recently I went to the Christmas party at my local yoga centre. I heard a story taken from the book "The Yogi: Portraits of Swami Vishnudevananda" that I felt summed up how important the act of giving, in particular, is to create your own "paradise" or balance in your life.

Here's my rendition of the story :

There were some people who had heard about paradise and hell and wanted to see what it was like to live there. Since paradise and hell were next door to each other - there was just a wall separating the two - they set off to explore the two places.

First of all they visited hell. Everyone there was sitting round a long table groaning with food. They had long wooden spoons attached to their arms. The spoons prevented the diners from bending their arms at the elbows. The only way they could eat was by throwing the food up into the air and catching what they could in their mouths. There was food flying everywhere.

The visitors quickly left hell to visit paradise on the other side of the wall. When they got there they saw that everything was the same. The only difference was that the people had golden plates and long golden spoons attached to their arms. However, everyone was enjoying the food because they were using their spoons to pick up the food and serve it to each other.

At this time of year when we are surrounded by abundance - in the form of food, loved ones, time to rest and enjoy etc, our environment both internally and externally is changing all the time. The best thing we can do is to practise acceptance and adapt to deal with the changes. If we resist and hold on to challenges, our health and vitality will be adversely affected. A simple example on a physical level is constipation. And we all know how that makes us feel.

So this holiday seaso
I encourage you to remember to "give a little". Be thankful and say "yes" to that which comes your way - just try it out and experience how much better you feel and how well your immune function responds. It means you'll stay in good shape to enjoy the holidays. You and everyone around you will be able to appreciate the nurturing and enduring Kapha energy that comes from giving and receiving.

Have a Happy and Healthy holiday season!
(c) 2008 Janet Gomez