The Dosha Clock – In the Morning and Day
Ayurveda in its axioms of Dincharya (daily lifestyle) provides an insight into the logos of following the Dincharya. It describes and further elaborates this through the happenings of Dosha clock. What is a dosha clock? Depending on the time of the day certain of your bodily dosha gets activated. It may be described as the potential energy that is stored in the dosha gets converted to kinetic energy – a certain time period of the day is related to certain dosha. This helps in delineating what to do and what not to do depending on the time of the day.
Kapha times: 6 A.M. – to 10 A.M. and 6 P.M. – to 10 P.M. are associated with Kapha time.
Pitta times: 10 A.M. – to 2 P.M. and 10 P.M. – to 2 A.M. are related to Pitta time.
Vata times: 2 A.M. – to 6 A.M. and 2 P.M. – to 6 P.M. are connected with Vata time.
The rising and setting of the sun are connected to Kapha. Kapha is grounding earth energy, and as the earth prepares for the day and settles down for the night, you are in Kapha time. Early morning and evening are Kapha times. Kapha makes one feel fresh but still, the heaviness of the sleep remains. Then again in the evening, from about 6 P.M. until around 10, Kapha ushers in a period of cooling air, inertia, and declining energy.
The peak of the day and peak of the night are related to Pitta. At midmorning, Kapha slowly melts and gets admixed with pitta, and by noon one feels hungry and ready for lunch. Again from 10 P.M. until around 2 A.M., Pitta is at its peak, and the food is digested. The transition between night and day and between dusk and dawn is related to Vata.
In the early morning, from about 2 A.M. to sunrise, Vata equates to movement one prepares for waking up and evacuation in Vata times. Similarly, Vata adds lightness to the body during the Afternoon period. Vata time is one where dreams (dreams are strongest in the morning) – even daydreams count.
Morning Vata Period – Waking Up and Evacuation
A general rule of thumb in Ayurveda is you should rise along with the sun. There is a time period known as Brahma time period. This is a time period about 45 minutes before sunrise when birds start to chirp. The birds know the awakening energy or earth has awakened, thus it is the time period you should get up at. Usually, it is the Vata time period (around 5 – 5:30 AM) you should get up at. As sleeping till very late begins the Kapha time will aggravate your Kapha.
Have you ever slept in very late and felt tired for the rest of the day, even though you got more than enough sleep? That’s because your Kapha energy became imbalanced. When you oversleep, your Kapha rises and you feel heavier and more lethargic. So, avoid sleep during morning Kapha time. Also evacuation
Morning Kapha Period – Activity and Light Breakfast
Try to perform rigorous activities during the Kapha period as this won’t let your Kapha gets activated in too much of an excess. Don’t slump in Kapha time. Yoga and other forms of exercise do the trick. It also helps in getting rid of all the stiffness in muscles and joints from the sleep. This activity also helps in building up the digestive fire for the rest of the day and helps in the digestion of the breakfast you will soon be consuming. Try to keep the breakfast as light as possible. Try to consume cooked whole grains
and fruit juices (according to the body type). This won’t let Kapha get activated in excess. Try to avoid heavy breakfast like baked goods, eggs, pancakes, pastries, cold food products.
The Day Pitta – Lunch biggest meal of the day
Make pitta time the time for performing hardest tasks. As pitta is that fiery intuition, that inner gut feeling you get more work done in a lesser time period. Since Pitta time period provides you with an excess of digestive fire, make lunch the biggest meal of the day. You can digest the food more easily and it also provides a Segway to Vata period – which is the period when your creative juices flow. Try to eat grains and if you are a meat consumer try to eat it during the day.
The Dosha Clock – In the Evening and Night
The Afternoon Vata Time – Creativity
Vata is an aggregate of all neurological activity in the body, in its daily time creates euphoria of creativeness. The Vata time is time for planning, writing, and art. You start dreaming about future possibilities and all the action you can take in making the dreams a possibility. There is especially a spike in blood glucose since you have had a big lunch in pitta time, and this helps in tapping into the creativity. To maintain this level, especially in the late afternoon you should take light snacks, avoid heavy snacks and sweet as the next period is that of Kapha. Try fruits, nuts, and hummus.
The recommendation for snacks in Ayurveda is clear. Kapha people should avoid small packets of snacks at any time during the day; they should only consume three times a daylight breakfast and dinner, and
The Second Kapha Time – Self Care
After the sunsets, then begins the second Kapha time. This has a grounding effect on your body. So you are well of with self-care and practicing mindfulness. Mindfulness may be presented as a care of self, cutting vegetables, preparing food – all in all paying attention to whatever activity you are involved in. Try paying attention to your emotions, this leaves out all the stress in your workplace – stress does not belong in the home. Loving and compassion belong in the evening when you are with someone you love.
Eat a light dinner. During Kapha time, your digestive fire is not as strong because your body is preparing for sleep. The food doesn’t get digested as quickly and leaves you susceptible to food stagnation, obesity, and ama-toxicity. This also can cause excess bad bacteria in your stomach (ama-toxicity), leading to candida, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), and other related digestive disorders. Avoid hang-over from food and keeping the dinner light helps in doing so. After the light dinner, take a short walk. This helps in better intestinal peristalsis and helps for colonic health.
The Second Pitta Time – Sleep
Most of us get a second burst of energy at around 10 pm. This is due to your pitta activation. If you get up long enough you will get more alert and start building up an appetite. Parents know to get their children into bed before this start happening. So, try to get in bed before the start of pitta time or before 10 pm. turn off your TV or anything digital/anything with a glowing screen an hour before bed. use the extra hour for self-evaluation, reading, and meditation. The glowing screen aggravates the Pitta; try to avoid that as this might cause insomnia. A 2004 study published in PLOS Medicine found that short sleep duration is associated with reduced leptin, elevated ghrelin, and increased body mass index. That means proper sleep is healthy and even helps you lose weight.
The quality sleep occurs during pitta time. After this, the Vata time begins the Vata time is the time of dreams and nightmares. As Vata is associated more with wakefulness during this time, the Vata wakes you up. Pitta, however, due to its warmth does not cause any such happenstance and helps in getting you a sound sleep. The pitta with all of its warmth acts like a mother coddling a baby to sleep.
The Second Vata Time – Dreams and Meditation
Kundalini practitioners advocate waking up at 2 in the morning and practicing the kundalini practices. This by stance creates a Segway in capturing the spirit of creativity from Vata. Vata in the morning creates a time of dreams and nightmares. An artist taps into the power of Vata staying up all night in accomplishing new projects. As the cliché goes – as we have seen numerous times in movies – a creative person suddenly jerks up from sleep and begins working on new project or artistic works. The Vata provides this power of creativity. Use the second Vata time for dreaming and meditation, waking up and evacuation.