Workout Tips for Pitta Dosha — Fitness and Ayurveda

In this downloadable Ayurvedic exercise guide (English and Spanish), you’ll learn the key workout tips for Pitta dosha and how to apply them, so you can get fitter and stronger without aggravating your delicate Pitta constitution.

This is how to do it.

A balancing approach to moving a Pitta body: The Prana Method

We all know that exercise is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle.

But, if we are Pitta, learning how to work out specifically for our body type can be confusing and challenging.

When we first discover we are Pitta dosha, we also learn that we should stick to light forms of exercise, like walking, swimming, or Yin Yoga, which are wonderful to calm an overly irritated Pitta body type.

Yet, we want to look fit, prevent or mitigate muscle loss, and have strong bones, which are certainly valid Pitta concerns that we need to address. These considerations are also applicable for Vata constitutions.

Most of the Ayurvedic guidance regarding fitness points us in a direction that preserves our Prana — and that is amazing! — but it doesn’t fully solve the waste of tissues.

We find ourselves with weaker bodies, out of shape, bone issues, some belly fat, and a low self-esteem.

Nevertheless, there is a way to build a fit and strong body — regardless if you are a 20 or 60-year-old Pitta individual — without burning yourself, aging prematurely, or breaking out.

With strength training and progressive overload, we can have strong legs, arms, and glutes and a solid core to help us prevent back problems in the future. And by using calming and grounding asanas, we can prevent tightness, increase our inner and outer flexibility, and cool our bodies. Both forms of movement are integrated to produce the best results in a Pitta body.

This unique methodology will be available soon in Prana app.

Pitta feels very similar to exercise

Pitta shares some of the same attributes of exercise and so if we are not careful with fitness, we could be provoking disbalances in the body and the mind.

Therefore, you need to be mindful and deliberate when working out and focus on reducing the fire and oily qualities you probably have already in excess.

The key word is moderation.

Mild forms of strength and resistance training, deep breathing, a gradual tempo, and grounding asanas are all important to get the benefits and no, the side effects of working out.

Both exercise and Pitta are clear, hot, light, sharp, and mobile.

After all, we use exercise as an integral part of reduction therapies, highly beneficial for Kapha constitutions.

However, for Pittas, we must cultivate the opposite qualities, as opposites create balance.

These are the attributes that we should be creating:

• Grounding
• Cooling
• Balancing
• Smooth

There is just one attribute from exercising that can help Pitta dosha. Exercise is dry, while Pitta tends to be oily.

Fitness tips for Pitta

The question is how to apply the opposite attributes to our workout sessions.

Here is the answer:

Grounding

A grounding workout is necessary to pacify the spreading, clear, and light attributes of a Pitta body. A grounding session has several components:

• The ideal time to exercise is at the Kapha time, from 6 am to 10 am. As Kapha is heavy and gross, we ensure that we aggravate Pitta less at this time of the day than if working out at a Vata or Pitta period.
• If possible, work out barefooted. I do this if I am not using weights and just my body weight or resistance bands. This strategy can help us connect to the earth and increase the grounding attribute.
• Practice a gradual, and intentionally slow tempo. Tempo is the speed of each movement you perform. It is vital to help you build muscle, improve strength, and aid in recovery, while promoting, groundedness, coolness, and mindfulness.
• Add a grounding session at the end of your resistance training.
• Finish with Uttanasana or Standing Lunar Forward Bend, for instance, to relax, turn your focus inward, and decrease the body internal heat.

Cooling

To reduce the inherent body heat and decelerate Pitta:

• Take frequent rests throughout your workout.
• Drink room temperature water infused with lime or cucumbers. Avoid cold water.
• Breathe deeply throughout each movement to minimize exposure to heat and other pitta-aggravating qualities.
• For Pitta dosha is essential to avoid working out later in the day. A Kapha time is ideal as it is cooling and soothing.

Balancing

To mitigate the mobile quality in the body and mind:

• Be conscious about the tempo. A slow eccentric and concentric pace is a powerful tool to get fit while maintaining Pitta dosha cool and calm.
• Doing unilateral exercises — standing on just one leg or using one arm — not only helps us aesthetically to have more harmonious bodies, but also promotes balance and core stability.
• Work on your core. Having strong abdominal muscles helps prevent chronic lower back pain and many other injuries, but also they keep us from losing our balance.

Smooth

Pitta is sharp and light, and so we need to move in ways that are smooth. This can support a balanced fluidity and flexibility without aggravating the spreading side of Pitta.

• Incorporate a starting session at the beginning to activate your body, open your joints, and connect your mind to the muscles you’ll be training. This can improve your range of motion and facilitate smooth movements.
• Grounding session. Add yoga asanas at the end of your workout that purposefully stretch the target muscles and bring softness and equilibrium to the body.
• Breathe deeply and throughout every exercise. This is key to have a smooth fitness regimen.

Embrace duality

Learning more about your Pitta dosha is empowering and will eventually, and with practice, make you approach fitness in an Ayurvedic way. Duality exists in every part of our being. The sooner we embrace the opposing forces within ourselves, the faster we will, intuitively, reach a balanced state.

Workout Tips for Pitta Dosha

Fitness guide for Pitta

Ideal workout routine for Pitta

Workout

• Prep session: do a short activation circuit (2-5 minutes) to engage the muscles you will be training. This is the perfect time to connect your mind and muscles and become fully present.
• Training session: initiate your workout routine. Consider the tempo of each exercise, which is the speed in which you perform each repetition. Perform each movement in a controlled way.
• Grounding session: finish with a few grounding movements. Stretch, massage, feel your body, breathe deeply, and relax. Practice Savasana at the very end.

Watch this video

To see the three key components of a Pitta pacifying workout

Rejuvenation for Pitta dosha

Rejuvenation should be a special component of an adequate Ayurvedic fitness routine for Pitta dosha.

The emphasis is to increase Ojas, or our primary vitality, and improve the balance of our mind and body.

These are some Ayurvedic strategies you can use to ensure that you get in the best shape of your life, while avoiding the exacerbation of Pitta.

• Workout from 4 to 5 days a week. Make sure you leave adequate time to rest. Furthermore, your muscles need to recover and grow, and that means you need to have sufficient sleep and rest time.
• Exercise from 35-45 minutes with a moderate intensity.
• Give your joints some extra attention. Massage them with coconut oil to protect them.
• Practice green therapy. Spend time in nature!
• Have milk decoctions prepared with nourishing and cooling spices and herbs, like Shatavari, which is particularly beneficial to soothe anger and irritability, calm the nervous system, and balance hormones.
• Practice lunar alternate nostril breathing before and after your workouts.
• Make Uttanasana or Savasana the cherry on top to your exercise session.