Rachel Ishiguro Yoga

If you have a lot of Vata Dosha in your constitution, you may find that you feel out of sorts in the fall or winter. Vata can also be high in the early morning (2am to 6am) so if you struggle with wakefulness during this time, it's worth considering. Finally, trauma aggravates Vata, and we see higher Vata during menstruation & post-menopause (later in life in general).

Vata Dosha combines the air & ether elements, and has the gunas/ qualities: dry, light, cold, rough, subtle, mobile, and clear. Vata can get a bad rap, but it governs movement of all kinds, and as such, plays a key role in maintaining life. We need it for nervous system & digestive function, elimination of wastes, and much more.

When Vata Dosha is balanced, expect a creative, flexible mind, energy & enthusiasm, and clear communication. Balanced Vata supports quality sleep, good digestion & circulation, and agile movement.

With Vata imbalance, look for anxiety, restlessness, and poor focus, as well as distrupted sleep. In the body, dry skin, gas/ constipation, and pain may occur. You may also be prone to weight loss or cold sensitivity.

We can adjust our yoga practice to help balance Vata. This is a good idea if you have a lot of these qualities in your nature, or for anyone during dry, cold, and windy weather.

Some ideas:
💨 Find a steady, consistent pace. Vata needs to slow down, but not so much that the restlessness becomes unbearable. A slow flow often works well because it helps warm the body.
💨 Practice daily, at the same time of day, and use a set sequence.
💨 Focus on grounding & softening into your connection to the earth.
💨 Breathe into your low belly/ pelvic bowl, or down into the legs/ feet. Focus on the nourishing inhalation or warming pranayama.
💨 Standing & seated postures, forward folds, and focus on the hips can help Vata find balance.
💨 Use guided meditation such as Yoga Nidra to help with focus & nervous system regulation. Mantra meditation/ chanting can also work well for Vata Dosha.

For some Vata practices, check out my YouTube channel through the link in my bio.

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One thing I've found really useful in the Ayurvedic "map" of the doshas is the way it recognizes both YOU as a unique individual, and the way your circumstances affect health over your lifetime.

Western biological science is coming to a similar understanding with epigenetics, as we learn more about how our circumstances can affect how our genes (our innate nature) express.

In Ayurvedic terms, your innate nature—unchangeable and present from conception—is known as Prakriti. In terms of the doshas, this is your own unique blend of the three types. This describes your tendencies, or the ways in which you are most likely to get "out of balance".

Since we all have our own unique blend of these constitutional types, and we are ALSO affected by our environments and life circumstances, it can be hard to figure out Prakriti sometimes. There are lots of quizzes available, but you'll probably get the best understanding by working with a licensed Ayurvedic practitioner over time.

Knowing your Prakriti could be helpful. It can:
🎯 Give insight into how we respond to weather and seasonal change
🎯 Give insight into what might underlie certain symptoms
🎯 Help us understand PREVENTION - how to approach food, lifestyle, and yoga practice in order to best support our own health and wellbeing.

Regardless of whether you know the balance of types in your constitution, you can absolutely work with the qualities (gunas) that are showing up at any given time to help you move towards health.

As you read over the ideas I'm sharing this month, if you recognize certain tendencies, try out the yoga practices I'm suggesting and see if anything changes for you. Please share your questions and let me know what you notice in the comments.

If you have a lot of Pitta Dosha in your constitution, you may find that you feel particularly out of sorts in the summer months. This is because summer can aggravate a lot of Pitta qualities.

Pitta Dosha combines the fire and water elements, and has the gunas/ qualities: oily, sharp, hot, light, flesh smelling, spreading, and liquid. It governs digestion: of food, ideas, and experiences.

When Pitta Dosha is balanced, you might see things like good hunger, digestion, and metabolism; well regulated body temperature; and good vision. In the mind, well-balanced Pitta can be seen as intelligence & curiosity, ambition, and courage.

When Pitta Dosha is aggravated, it can cause a number of issues. Some signs to look for in the body include inflammation, rashes, and digestive issues such as reflux & ulcers. You might also have difficulty regulating your body temperature, leading to feeling overheated, excess sweating, and body odor.

Mentally, you might notice restlessness. You might be irritable or impatient, demanding, or critical of yourself or others. Pitta folks tend to be quite driven, meaning that they may experience burnout.

We can adjust our yoga practice to help balance Pitta. This is a good idea if you have a lot of these qualities in your nature, or for anyone during hot weather.

Some ideas:
🔥 Slow down. Focus on cooling/ relaxing.
💧 Cultivate a non-competitive approach. Focus on self-reflection, rather than comparison or external standards.
🔥 Practice during cooler times of day.
💧 To vent heat from the body, practice poses that make space in the groin & armpits, and have straight legs. Twists and calming postures like Viparita Karani (Legs up the Wall) can be helpful.
🔥 Focus on slow, rhythmic breathing, work with lengthening the exhale, or do explicitly cooling pranayama/ breathwork.
💧 Use cooling/ calming mantras & meditation. Ex. use water or moonlight imagery in meditation, Metta/ Loving Kindness, or Yoga Nidra.

For some Pitta practices, check out my YouTube channel through the link in my bio.

August has a way of feeling both full and fleeting. Before the season slips by, take an hour each week to slow down and reconnect with yourself.

Join me on Wednesdays for a gentle, supportive practice that includes mindful movement, breathwork, meditation, and restorative poses to help you feel more grounded and refreshed.

🗓 Wednesdays in August
⏰ 10:00–11:00am PT on Zoom
✨ Recordings included

No experience is needed. Come as you are, move at your own pace, and leave feeling restored.

👉 Registration link in bio.

If you've heard anything about Ayurveda, the "science of life" and yoga's companion health science, you've probably heard about the doshas.

Doshas are often presented almost like a personality quiz in Western yoga culture, but they're more nuanced than that. If you've been following me for a while, you may remember that we talked about gunas or qualities a few months ago. One way to think about doshas is that they represent clusters of these qualities that can go out of balance together.

As a tool for managing health, doshas give us one of many possible maps to understand how & why we can get "unbalanced" and develop disease symptoms. Importantly, they can also help us create balance to improve health and wellbeing!

The 3 doshas are Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.

✨ Doshas are made up of basic elements: Vata is air & ether; Pitta is water & fire; Kapha is water & earth.

✨ In terms of gunas, or qualities:
Vata is cold, light, dry, rough, subtle, mobile, and clear.
Pitta is hot, sharp, oily, light, liquid, spreading, and flesh-smelling.
Kapha is heavy, slow, cold, oily, smooth, soft, stable, obvious, and cloudy.

✨ Doshas can convey both strengths and weaknesses. They are neither good nor bad, they just describe tendencies. When out of balance, they can create unpleasant symptoms and eventually disease.

✨ Doshas are part of our innate nature (prakriti). Each of us is born with a unique blend of all 3 doshas.

✨ Doshas also are affected by changing factors throughout our lives (vikriti), which means that your unique mix of doshas is going to be constantly in flux. This can be influenced by factors such as time (of day, year, life), weather, food, sleep, activities, and other life circumstances.

Including an understanding of Ayurveda in our therapeutic yoga practice can help us understand how to move towards balance. I'll be sharing more information about doshas from a yoga therapy perspective all month.

Knee pain can be a major impediment to getting your movement in.

For my clients who come to me with persistent pain, they're often in a place where they can't seem to get started on a movement practice without causing a flare-up.

For many of them, this leads to a habit of constantly pushing through pain. That leads to the pain getting worse... and all of it can develop into a sense of desperation or hopelessness.

Knees are excellent teachers of "how much is too much".

There's no single answer to that question, but one thing is for sure. Your body will let you know.

It's humbling. But if you're willing to show up with what is and trust what your body is telling you, things can get better.

For some people this means a lot of rest, and then building things up very gradually. For others, it's more about changing what movements you're doing. It might be about finding ranges of motion or proper support so that you're not increasing pain, and then working on other parts of the body (feet and hips?) that impact your knees.

It's about learning what the quality of sensation means, and paying attention to what makes things worse (and for how long).

This is the nuance that underlies that trite phrase "listen to your body".

It's not something you're supposed to innately know how to do, but it's something you can learn.

Need help figuring it out? I love guiding people through the process of learning "how much is just enough".

Three ways to get started:
🩵 Comment on this post
🩵 Send me a DM
🩵 Use the link in my bio to book a free consultation call

Let's talk about what this journey can look like.

If you go to a yoga class, you might hear that our knees are vulnerable and need protecting. The truth is more nuanced. Your knees are actually awesome and may not need as much protection as we think.

Pay attention to how your knees feel during practice and adjust if uncomfortable. Important: this is educational, not medical advice. If a doctor or therapist gave you different recommendations, follow their guidance.

Common knee cues explained:
🦵🏽 Stack your knees above your ankles.
Not necessary if the pose feels good. Knees go forward of ankles regularly (like stairs). Varied strength building is helpful.

🦵🏽 Microbend to prevent hyperextension.
Hyperextension isn't bad. It's normal human variation. If uncomfortable, try other strategies. You don't need to do it for knee protection.

🦵🏽 Don't rest your foot on your knee in Tree Pose.
If it feels unsafe, skip it. Otherwise, your knee handles this pressure well and it's often the best placement.

🦵🏽 Keep your knee tracking toward your middle toes.

A useful cue for pain reduction and hip awareness, not necessarily for safety. You're unlikely to damage your knee if you don't.
Do any of these myths surprise you?