Anxiety treatment and Vāta Dosha in Āyurvedic Medicine

Who hasn't experienced anxiety? I believe this is one of the most pervasive issues the modern world has. We are all trying to move quickly, work on an endless to-do list, have the pressures of instantaneous communications through text, email, Instagram, Facebook, Tweets and other social media outlets and we fuel ourselves with caffeine, sugar and quick meals that are not necessarily providing the nutrients we need. This is a problem.

In Āyurvedic medicine we consider anxiety to come under the domain of an imbalanced Vāta dosha (see the About Ayurveda Page for more information on doshas).

Vāta is a biological humor that is composed of the air and space elements  - that makes it light by nature, dry and cold. Because it is ruled by the air element it has inherent movement; it is responsible for the movement in our bodies. It keeps our heart pumping, our blood circulating, our nerve impulses firing and our digestive organs flowing. It rules the spaces in our body, like the lungs and the spaces in the bones.

When Vāta goes out of balance, its own qualities of lightness, dryness and mobility increase. This might look like heart tremors, nervous tics, shortened breath, and an appetite that is sometimes here and sometimes gone. It can increase our own feelings of lightness or restlessness and can even put us into a state of panic if it goes too far.

The remedies for Vāta, and for anxiety treatment, are to increase the opposite qualities - bring in slowness to counter the quick movement, bring in heaviness to counter the lightness and bring in warmth to counter the cold.

We can do this in our daily routines by keeping a regular rhythm of waking, sleeping and eating. We can work with our dietary choices by eating warm, cooked, grounding foods instead of cold raw foods or smoothies. We can employ aromas, like Sandalwood or Frankincense, that help to ground the mind. And of course we can use our breath and be mindful of making conscious, slow breaths throughout the day.

Sometimes we need to address the other doshas, too, as Kapha can create blockages in our body and mind that "dam up" the Vata, and Pitta can burn out the tissues which invites the dryness of Vata in. So, it can be more complicated and you may need someone trained in Āyurveda to help you understand this.

Learning to work with our own anxiety and using the tools of Āyurveda can be very empowering and help us develop more self-knowledge.