Last May when I was at the Gatamorfosis festival sharing a talk on Ayurveda, there was a man in the small crowd listening nodding at everything. Afterwards he came up with his partner and a problem. They’d both done a dosha test where he said he was more vata and his partner was more kapha. They were trying to sort out meals they could eat together while taking care of themselves and their doshas. Looking on the internet and with help of AI they got pretty stuck, because according to this information they needed opposite foods.
AI helped them find some things, but the list became very short. They had started with their breakfast, since that was manageable.
They looked at me for the rest of the meals, and for a way to stop making the symptoms they both had worse.
I completely understood the frustration. Thinking of the food list for vata and kapha, you indeed are looking at differences with a very small overlap. Working with AI and a little label like your dosha from a test is very incomplete information. And AI doesn’t tend to keep asking you for the things an Ayurveda professional does, taking all of you into account and asking for the seemingly unimportant details. I enjoy using AI as a thinking partner or my accountability machine, but when it comes to Ayurvedic advice, I haven’t been very satisfied. If you don’t know enough about what you are wanting advice on, you won’t be able to ask the right questions which will lead to a mediocre answer. And when it comes to your health, I don’t think a mediocre answer is what you would be looking for.
After talking with both of them for a while I got the feeling that their dosha tests weren’t quite accurate.
And the first step of everything is having enough digestive capacity, which is almost more about how and when you eat than what you eat.
A dosha test and AI can be fun when you’re healthy and curious, when you have symptoms and are looking for relief, there are so many more layers to it.
A lot is possible, but where do you start when you don’t know what the next question is?
You start with someone who lives and studies it, and with your own body to explore, without having put all the labels.
That’s what we do in the reset: four weeks of exploring your digestion and your body, in a small group of people with the same kind of discomfort. There will be some theory to back up your experience, a lot of simplifying, a few days of one simple dish, and even more noticing.
The Autumn Reset closes on Saturday. If you’ve been staring at your own questionable food list, this is the week to decide. And if you’re not sure whether this fits your body, or if it’s better to begin with Your Starting Map, a free twenty-minute call will help you find clarity.
Much love,
Rianne
PS The couple turned out to be more alike than their dosha test said, and the adjustments to make could focus more on lifestyle than just food, giving them more freedom in what to eat for shared meals.
