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Brain Fog Is Often Spiritual

Brain fog is a way to describe the forgetfulness nature that Ayurvedic Vata minds commonly daily express that we accept as part of us.

Our morning habit choices we choose could be adding to brain fog.
Brain fog accumulates in our daily lives.

In this article, you can learn all about brain fog from our daily environment and simple things we can tweak. You’ll also learn how brain fog isn’t always bad like when it’s from spiritual sources.

Brain fog is the general symptom description for not being able to think clearly.

Often this is when you want the mind to work for you.

Brain fog moments often shows up as confusion, lack of focus, or forgetfulness.

So brain fog would make sense as an explanation for simple memory blips.

But there’s more to this from a spiritual lens that I explain further below on how you can see it as a benefit and a blessing at times.

Because usually brain fog only has negative connotations in our practical culture.

And this article provides some healthy lifestyle tips to eliminate those daily negative brain fog aspects, plus presenting the balancing Vata brain fog positives (that’s a common built-in feature in our Vata mind nature).

In either positive or negative case, we don’t often sit around and analyze what’s going on with brain fog when our minds are in the clouded mist.

And what we experience is usually harmless, like forgetting eye glasses on our heads and looking everywhere for them.

While that can be comical, it’s extra minutes of distraction when the answer was sitting on you above your nose.

For daily routines and tasks, Vatas often create forgetfulness habits to set reminders and purposefully not forget.

High Vatas have active minds of worry-anxiety, more so than Pittas and Kaphas that can have other brain fog distractions.

This btw happened to me when I baked a healthy dessert for the morning and next morning. And the next morning, I forgot about all about it in my mind’s distraction.

A simple scenario like that happens to all of us at some point.

…And when I remembered the forgotten cool peach dessert, it was actually when I would appreciate the bite more after lunch so it could be an enjoyment positive experience.

In your daily life, if someone ever asks you why you didn’t do something and you answer I forgot, you often don’t get a lot of out-of-the-ordinary questioning.

Because forgetting is so normal.

Forgetting can also be healthy for us who like to control ideas. You let go of controlling your mind or the device in front of you that you’re tethered to.

This can invite in creativity inside us and help us let go of rigid ways.

But then there are also negatives such as cognitive decline brain fog instances we want to help prevent. It’s the “elephant in the room” but a diagnosis growing in our world, and that’s something we can be aware of and doing something about in our lives today.

Preventative Healthy Living Helps With Brain Fog

Brain fog can grow when we have these elements in our daily lives: high-processed foods, pesticides, phthalates, non-purified air, and mold, to name a few culprits in our modern lifestyles.

They alter our bodies and that affects our mind in the body-mind connection and in our mental health.

Processed foods for example become whole nutrient-stripped in the plant process (as in factory plant 🏭).

Organic plants 🌱 are better options where we don’t find the same trace levels of pesticides that are found in non-organic foods.

If you garden, you know what natural sprays you’ve used or not used in your care. And when you bake like I do, you know what ingredients you’ve added. You know the wholesomeness details.

In grocery stores, we see the ingredients in our carts we’ll be using to cook with or eat. And we can read labels.

But we don’t see the processes in-between, so this makes comparing foods an apples to oranges experience.

Cheese is an example. Rennet that is found in some parts of the world isn’t the pasteurized cheese process found along the shelf rows in our American grocery stores.

The goat and sheep’s cheese that the Sardinians farm and eat isn’t what we find in our guts.

And for daily coffee drinkers, switching to organic is good for preventative health as coffee is naturally high in mold.

Mold is a brain fog offender.

Organic coffee is considerably more expensive and more difficult to source, but it’s out there when you look and put your health first.

You can get resourceful and save money by buying whole roasts and then doing the grind work yourself. You can feel much more grounded like your coffee when you do. 😊

Daily clean air is also going to be healthy preventative help against the brain fog cause. Developing daily hayfever-like allergy symptoms is one common sign.

And building in more wellness habits and healthy intentions to your life is going to help you most in your sleep, health conditions, and mental fatigue. Yoga is one way to bring in more self-awareness intention.

When you calm and relax your mind and self that also brings down your stress and anxiety levels that help Vata brain fog.

Calming and Relaxing the Mind

Good answers and thoughts show up when the mind is calm and relaxed, and not anxious or worried like when running with high Vata brain fog symptoms.

When our minds are under stress, often we can’t think of the answer when put on the spot.

If we’re asked a Family Feud game show question like what is the first thing you do in the morning?, we can usually come up with an answer. And maybe one that lights up on the board.

But when someone asks us the same question in an interview where we know others will put judgment on what we say, we can’t come up with the answer under mind stress.

We could just give a safe answer.

…Or you may surprise yourself by blurting an answer that surprises you.

Those answers that pop up in memory unexpectedly often come from our spirit.

The answer that pops in our mind come from our deeper wisdom inside us.

We didn’t rack our brain for the answer. They just entered out of no where.

Those thoughts can be blessings when you connect-the-dots.

I’ve had a lot of time and spiritual experiences to teach me wisdom lessons learned to show me this.

Over time, the lessons gave me a different perspective to gain the deeper meaning behind those memory moment lapse blessings.
Once you know you can’t go back to not-knowing and wouldn’t want to as cracking the code secrets toward a happier life.

And you can notice when thought lapses land in aligned perfect timing.

That’s when it’s a spiritual miracle and blessing.

An example is we forget what we were going to say from our rational brain from losing our train of thought.

We get other thoughts that enter.

In groups I attended, we called these other thoughts: popcorn thoughts. These answers come from our heart as though we didn’t process the thought first.

If it’s a helpful suggestive thought, it’s often helpful for others to hear who need the suggestion.

If you can get over what others will think or any  insecurities you have in those moments, and blurt out what you’re thinking, often it helps someone else.

You don’t necessarily know how it will help, but it does when you dare to stay vulnerable in sharing.

They are spiritual collaboration opportunities that are expressed when you speak them aloud. You can feel good about showing up.

In the same token, sometimes others blurt out something you needed that sticks with you. It’s the same when purposefully listening to a podcast or a message that you need.

So we’re giving back in a way.

We can all contribute and give back in the energy of life in this way and without much effort.

If you want more of these opportunities to show up and are willing to have your day rearranged in some way, ask quietly aloud or in self-talk: what can I do today to be helpful?

Then be prepared to be useful to others. 😊

And in daily life, these prompted thoughts and memories will show up more frequently if you pay attention (that’s an active move).

You could ignore and override those thoughts to stay on your linear agenda.

That’s how I was until I knew better.

As a planner, we don’t prefer going off course. But over the years, I grew to embrace impromptu thoughts entering, seeing this new spiritual perspective.

And maybe that would help you.

Spiritual impromptu thoughts help you align and redirect to a better way, day, and life. They lead to a life of more purpose, happiness, meaning, and fulfillment. 🎉

So you can be curious next time and openly ask yourself: why did I have ____ particular thought? And see if you get anything back as a thought.

Most likely you won’t immediately.

But that makes you consider another way of thinking and living that can be spirit-filled and coming from deeper inside of you that knows deeply what you want.

And you can stay curious and wondering until something clicks like it finally did for me.

So if we wonder about those spiritual impromptu thoughts, that opens the door to our exploring our spiritual wisdom inside us that isn’t brain fog.

This can be our new norm.

And for our daily mattering lives, we can invite in ad hoc thoughts in our mantras, meditation, and centering to help advise us on what to do next.

Vata Active Mind Calming Tips

Vata active mind runs in high Vatas and imbalanced Vatas.

The mind overruns when we want to be done with our thoughts and the turmoil emotions that anxious, stressed, or worry thoughts can create in the mind-body connection.

This looks a bit like Pacman eating pellets that was a happy memory for me. And this low-sugar very Greek yogurt berry cheesecake recipe is one you can re-create. 🫐

This article is about how to deal with a Vata active mind that isn’t serving us.

When we’re confronted with ingested stress turmoil, we want to run from our mind especially when our ego dials up high fear trying to protect us from the world and our repeated hurt past experiences that have semblances in our current situation.

It’s not that severe, but our minds can overreact if we allow it to.

Because the ego serves us repeated warnings that can grow into anxiousness from our fearful thoughts.

The problem grows and can fester when our fear and associated negative thoughts have no where to go unless we successfully get them to take a hike and that satisfies our mind… or we get the feelings from I got this!

Otherwise we ride the trapped ego wave with our evolved human heads spinning in a brain fog cloud until exacerbated ego goes away or some other message distraction comes along to switch up what’s important.

We want to change our channel that can stubbornly stick around on its own.

The default is: we allow our ego to build drama in our lives until we exercise our right to put away the anxious thoughts.

We don’t have to delay our balance for more than a day or more than a few moments. We can practice shutting down our ego and getting better at our practice.

I didn’t start off as the poster child for this as I let repeated thoughts get to me.

But these days I recognize the offender right away and shut it down as soon as humanly possible.

You and I get to celebrate progress in us! 🤸🏻

The progress motivation can be as simple as wanting to enjoy life as much as possible.

We can do this if we know how to recognize and change the thought trajectory when an anxious triggering thought arises from a triggered situation or trauma.

Getting rid of a Vata active mind means having a new way with your new or current situation to get away from anxious thoughts and worry.

Developed fear or insecurity could have come from a past trauma situation, thoughts, or memories.

We can start practicing getting rid of unwanted emotions stirred up by an Vata active mind.

This is how it can go in a typical scenario…

A day can go by where we’re busy and caught up with those nagging thoughts as an under current theme.

We can delay doing something about it until the next day where we’ve confirmed we lost sleep because of the active mind in Vata.

We stayed up way too late in anxious-worry thoughts that’s now confirmed as stuck in our body’s energy.

So now we’re paying for it the day after feeling tired and bad in some way.

We want to get rest and sleep. We know that’s the formula to a healthy life that we want and productivity for our day.

And if we’re healthy, we can be more happy. If we’re happy, we do more in our lives that fuels more happiness. Plus, happy people live longer.

So ridding of an over active mind vs. calm mind isn’t just about feeling rested and better. It’s a protocol for a healthy well-being lifestyle.

It’s easy for us to tell others to not worry or be anxious. But when we’re confronted with our situations, we’re intimately wrapped up with our mind, the emotions, and thought implications of what if the worse happens?

This can show up in all kinds of other ego feeling-defeated flavors.

In those cases, one way I know that works is to have a backup plan so that the best happens coming from Plan A and you don’t have to resort to any backups.

Just having a backup plan shuts the ego down. (Remember: I got this!)

The best time to handle this is right now in this moment.

The tip again is coming up with a backup plan that satisfies you.

It’s not what you’re actually planning to do.

But things do happen in life, that you and your ego know from the past experiences and history that you have no control over.

So having a Plan B in your mind puts you and your (ego) mind at ease at the moment, as not putting more energy into worry, what-if, and other time sucking thoughts.

And in the rare instance that the situation outcome you don’t want to happen actually happens, you have a trampoline to fall on (your Plan B).

If you do this mental exercise for your Vata active mind, this puts your mind at rest.

And when you rest a Vata active mind, then you feel calm and can get on with your day.

You can enjoy the next moments instead of leaving worry on the table to be seen again later on in your thoughts without any real life evidence you need to be alarmed.

There’s no reason to be anxious or worried about anything not alarming, as it solves nothing and is unproductive.

Breaking this down: once you know what the anxious thought is about and determine it’s not clear and present danger, you can move into active mind management, such as having a mental Plan B.

The second thing you can do is have a specific mantra that becomes your outlook.

When anxious thoughts loom, you can refer to a mantra like: I know tomorrow will be better. It always is.

How can you convince you and your ego that’s true?

You have so many examples in the past of that truth. Find a supporting example in your past where the worry you had didn’t pan out, and you actually turned it into something better now that you have hindsight.

Remind your mind.

Because there’s 3 of you on your team: you, your mind, and your body.

When you have positive belief and conviction like “it always is” you’ve defeated ego because there’s no debating “always” in ego language. It’s like calling ego out.

That was ego’s ploy to turn “always” into a negative position such as it’s always going to be like this or it always will be raining.

But you’ve turned the always statement upside down on its head to a positive thought and belief that shuts ego up.

That’s how you fairly head wrestle with ego.

And, here’s how you can practice this:

Let’s use the weekend or your work days off as an example since you have more control over what you get to do or think on those days.

Say, today is Saturday and you’re stuck indoors with lousy weather and you had planned to relax today.

You didn’t sleep well because of anxious thoughts circling from the week before, so all that compounds and adds to your feeling deflated or defeated in some way in your day even though it’s your day off.

This isn’t how you wanted to spend part of your day.

But you can’t plan your thoughts and feelings in advance. What you can do now is prepare your better thoughts and feelings for tomorrow with these steps:

Start re-setting today. Think and repeat: tomorrow will be a new day.

Go to bed earlier tonight so you can get a good’s night rest (as you didn’t sleep well the previous night).

Plus, going to bed early keeps you from scrolling on your devices, overeating and overdrinking, and watching shows that make you feel bad or worse the next day.

So to recap: you’re productively going to bed early and you anticipate a better day tomorrow. And the next day (or Sunday), you wake up better rested compared to the lousy night you had before or on Friday.

That’s because you put a good intention the day and night before.

On Sunday, you’ve reset yourself and your thoughts. And hopefully you got more sleep.

You keep the mantra running in your mind: it’s a brand new day.

You have a new chance to feel productive and happy.

Plus, our minds loves to compare. And fresh-in-mind-memory was that yesterday wasn’t so great. Yesterday is over. So this new day is victory in comparison. 🎉

You could enjoy a cup of tea in peace and that makes you feel much better than turmoil yesterday.

Keep focusing on re-centering yourself in the moment.

The anxious fears of yesterday are put in the dust. Re-focus on your built-up love intentions today.

When the clouds lift, celebrate with singing, dancing, humming or whatever fancies you so you create a new recent happy memory.

Bring out more of the happy, creative person within you. Remove and lower unfocused Vata tendencies.

That’s the happy balance in life that we can reset daily.

Keep doing this even if it takes a few days. Sometimes we need more than a night. The more you practice, the shorter the time becomes to bounce back.

You can choose to get out of self-pity, feeling anxious. or sad in a healthy and graceful way faster.

We can shorten the duration of regurgitating thoughts that don’t serve us. We can put them to bed after we realize they serve no helpful purpose and rob us of time and energy.

Robbing can show up as depressed moods, procrastination, self-loathing, blaming others, self-pity, etc.

I spent way too many seasons feeling self-pity. Especially if my seasons didn’t measure up comparing myself to culture’s standards, those around me, and the high-elated feelings on the flesh level.

Those created my next season lows in the hangover effect when they didn’t measure up.

I had the wrong set of wants that weren’t aligned with what would actually make me happy… me.

People, accomplishments, or things were crutches. It was me that could make me happy.

And it’s you that can make you happy.

If that doesn’t resonate now, know it’s now in your system to digest.

Welcome in your curiosity and questions that wonder about this idea. Maybe you wrestle with this a while. But by processing this, one day, you may find yourself happy with authentic you and who you’ve become that started with practicing quieting a Vata active mind.

Baking in a healthy and happy dessert like a berry cheesecake can start your daily happy.

Greek Yogurt Berry Cheesecake Recipe

Indecisive Traits Keeping You Stuck?

Indecisive traits do keep us stuck. Instead of moving forward or going back, we stay in place.

Indecisiveness is one way to describe how Ayurvedic Vatas act often. This could be new news to you. It was new to me too up ’til 2008 when I learned about Ayurveda. The information in this article can help you learn a new way and so you can take more better risks.

Indecisive moments are found in common daily decisions like choosing to go right or left.
Indecisive – which path will you take?

…That’s when it clicked and made sense as to why I had indecisive and other Vata tendencies.

You can read my back story here about when I went to go get help for my immediate Pitta mind-body symptoms. And I also came out with knowledge and awareness on why certain Vata ways were natural to me. I’m naturally a Vata with some dominant Pitta mind, but like all of us… sometimes tired Kapha kicks up.

…And whether you tend toward uneasy, annoyed, or listlessness it all ties back to your balance.

If you’re wondering if you have Vata traits, this article shares more and how you can benefit from knowing.

Growing up, I always felt hesitant about small decisions. Do I want an orange or crackers? Do I want pink or blue to wear? This could easily be chalked up to the fact that most of us like more than one food or color. …or I’m a female, so being indecisive is typical.

But in reality it’s not about the color, food, or gender. Or even about how you were raised.

It’s about our natural makeup, that’s unisex. We have Ayurvedic orientations called Vata, Pitta, and Kapha inside us. Or wind, fire, and earth if that’s easier to remember. 💨🔥🌎

Earth, Wind, and Fire is already taken. 🥁🎹🎺

Vata is the wind element with some common tell-tale Vata signs.

But keep in mind, we’re often dominant in one or two of those elements in body. And same goes for the mind. Putting those two parts together, you get the mind-body connection that affects so much of our lives and behaviors.

Indecisiveness is one way that’s mostly a mind situation that you can easily pinpoint from an Ayurvedic lens.

When you can do that, you can restore the healthy balance back in awareness to your calm and confident decision-making.

Being decisive all around not only saves time, but leads to better decisions and outcomes.

How Being Vata Indecisive Can Hurt

At the heart, indecision is second guessing your first decision that comes from gut instinct and clear minded processing. So in a way, being Vata indecisive is being confronted with a brain fog moment.

Indecision can lead to worry that Vatas lean into already. And that state of mind can lead to staying stuck in a cycle of unproductive thoughts playing as an undercurrent in the back of your mind. 🌊That’s added stress that doesn’t need to be there.

Feeling anxiety also can cause indecision as body symptoms make it more difficult to clearly process thoughts.

Vice versa, indecision can lead to anxiety (that’s another common Vata trait).

Depending on the body symptom severity, anxious feelings lead to poor decisions and outcomes.

It numbs awareness of what is real.

And making matters worse, that pause can linger and keep you frozen from making a decision or in “fight or flight” that can cost.

For small things like daily preferences, that’s not such a big deal… but if it’s deciding on taking a right or left or making a quick life threatening decision, that can be concern- elevated.

Vata indecisive traits can compound into feeling uncertain about other areas in your day when those moments could be better spent enjoying yourself or even better… being in the moment in peace and mindfulness.

That’s when stress melts away for whatever is in your life eating at you. Those anxious feelings are traded in for feeling calm and joyful.

That’s the ticket for your healthy and happy life. 🎟️

And that can be your norm or new norm! I know because my life did a 180-turn from stress to peace when I got rid of the triggers. I became self-employed.

And I became more clear-headed… more like a human and less walking around like a busy Bot. There are too many of those already roaming our internet spaces.

How to Get Back To Your Vata Mind Balance

And in learning from my balanced seasons where I could disconnect and detox, I’m more decisive.

I’m my balanced Vata (the way that is naturally greater and my optimal best) 🧘🏻‍♀️

I don’t teeter back and forth. I can catch myself in the act of hemming and hawing and doing what I know to do to restore any Vata imbalance that tries to creep back in.

It’s not difficult or unnatural. It’s simply being intentional daily doing the specific balanced steps that turn the tide around for a better life. 👣

No one is doomed to the “I’m just indecisive” label. That’s putting a stamp of acceptance that’s not the way it has to be or stay.

And you can start by doing these two balanced healthy steps:

1) Get self-awareness in the moment so you can be next step-intentional.

2) Then, breathe the calm back into your mind-body as soon as you can so you can feel the calm pause in the next moments.

Finding ways to have a calmer life, I believe is underrated. And not what Western culture aims for although we’ve wised up post-2020.

As mentioned, calm allows for clearer, confident decisions.

Calm is also better for your healthy outcomes.

But if you don’t have that life now because of situational triggers you can’t avoid, then restoring daily when you can with what you do have as calming resources will be the next best way.

Use your surroundings: calming activities and scents, music, yoga, and a nature walk.

Do this daily and often.

They’re not time wasters. It’s like taking care of your teeth. It’s always minutes well spent investing in your daily smile. 😁

If you feel you’re daily Vata indecisive for what to do (such as jumping from task to task), get back to your breathing awareness.

We often forget, yet another Vata common trait. Not picking on Vatas as we’re a creative, enthusiastic bunch…  but in your remembering moment (or in the slight gap pause), recall there is calm balance and no anxiety.

Let the weight of the world you live in go by letting all that out in deep inhale and exhale breaths. That’s an activity you can do anywhere, anytime… and wise to do all the time.

Set a reminder if that helps. ⌚️

And when you do your breathing exercise, you’re able to work your way out slowly in the gap or one moment at a time.

And this date recipe that you can make for your daily self 😊 can help restore your Vata especially if you add the orange and cinnamon tastes.

Print Recipe

date cookies.
Print

Low-Sugar Date Cookies

You can make these ahead of time and in any oven including an apartment oven. And enjoy.
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

  • coconut flour and plain flour combined
  • a few pats of butter (or coconut oil)
  • chopped dates
  • water as needed
  • orange zest and cinnamon (optional)

Instructions

  • Prepare and chop dates filling. Tip: since dates are sticky, it's easier to use a serated chopping knife with edges. Add cinnamon and orange zest if you'd like more Vata sweetness.
  • Mix cookie ingredients: flour, butter or oil, and water as needed to make a cohesive cookie dough disc. You can make this in advance and freeze the dough if you like.
  • When dough is slightly cooler than room temperature is the ideal temperature to work with this dough. Roll out cookie dough to about 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick (doesn't have to be too thin).
  • Add date filling to center of dough.
  • Roll up and cut into small, even pieces.
  • Bake on 350°F for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Autumn Season Vata Optimization

Below I have some tips on how you can evolve and make the most of your Vata season with autumn mind-body balance tips.

We know we’ve hit a naturally changing season when daylight savings time hits and we fall back in time (and then give back an hour in spring forward).

But before these time clock changes, our healthy bodies naturally start to transition into the upcoming season. And our daily preferences change much sooner. Mostly because the stores and media around us have started their promotions on the first weekend before the new season starts.

And when we are ready, we get ourselves ready for a new season…

We change up our home candles, spices, and teas. And we opt for warm drinks over cold drinks. We also like burnt, spicier shades of browns, reds, and oranges compared to the bright whites and colors of summer.

We subtly shift from light caramel lattes to pumpkin spices. And we feel it in the sea air in the last days of summer.

And for Vata bodies (maybe that’s your dominant dosha), the mind-body can feel most balanced during the Vata season. And for any of us we want to lean into this season. And there are easy changes to help our Vata balance.

Vata Season – Surroundings Change

We lean into Vata season with a change in home décor that can cost nothing like bringing in pine cones or adding a splash of color  inspired by the changing of the trees and leaves outside.

I like to pull out different cornucopia color coffee table books or magazines (…remember those?) that have the colors I’m looking for.

So it doesn’t have to cost much of anything except bringing out your creativity and the resources around you. That can help you get closer to your inner child when in those days that’s how everyday was when you wanted to do more.

And maybe that includes rearranging books and decor on bookshelves, and creating new table centerpieces. Some people like to change up their bedroom or wall colors too.

And maybe you have a second getaway place you call home like a cabin retreat, that can be very nourishing as you move away from the summer beachy vibes.

You can look at your new surroundings and inspiration, and feel warm and cozy inside, like you get from a crackling lit fireplace, but it’s still too warm outside for that!

5 Vata Season Body Shifts

1. Warm

In Vata season, we start preferring the warm drinks, but not the hot ones. We prefer warm drinks to start the day, and that gives our soul a small boost to enter the day with optimism.

In the shower, we may feel very relaxed with the therapeutic water pitter patter comfort of warmer water drops, but your skin could still be screaming for cooler jet streams because it’s still hot outside (and you’re part Pitta!).

2.Dry

Vata bodies also shift into their natural dry, wind-like features. Maybe your lips, lizard dry feet, or another part of your body feels the transitioning effects. Even though you may have felt the dry effects during the heated summer that’s another cause.

And Vata season, all around us we see proof as nature is withering into the season.

3. Tastes and smells

And we have certain flavors that we go to that give us seasonal joy. A good reminder for us is when we already know our preferences in food, tea, drinks, and spices. Because we can reach for those with  little extra decision effort and maybe they’re on hand already.

But for a Vata who prefers variety and the preferences change daily, cinnamon and ginger does not. And those are good to lean into during Vata season.

Also, orange scented candles as in orange fruits, but could be orange color too. There are so many options in candles these days that I have to specify. 😊 Because pure orange citrus calms the nerves and that helps with Vatas who are feeling naturally anxious in their body when triggered, unlike Pittas and Kaphas who don’t understand.

4. Colors

The changing fall leaves help to inspire fall colors. Out in California where I have family and friends, to me it never feels like fall because the lack of deciduous trees with shedding leaves.

And I always feel “off” like something inside is missing even if I’m only there for a short visit and seeing the lovely evergreen palm trees and coastal vibes.

And my body calls for the changing landscapes of parks and cooler temperature vineyards.

5. Activities

Fall is a great transitional period to start a physical routine again like hiking, pickleball, or YOGA. That’s my favorite.

I’m back in classes and I’m gonna share with you my lessons old and new in the coming few weeks! It’s an anniversary for me as I started going to Hatha yoga classes regularly in the Vata season after I had my Ayurvedic epiphany. 🧘🏻‍♀️

And even if you’ve just left the happy-go-lucky and vacation summer days, and headed back to busy fall, find time to get your alone time in yoga or meditation wherever suits you best.

That will help you ease into the season, and ground and round out the rest of the year. And gear up for holiday time and a new year that’s  getting closer.

And finally…

Get An Vata Season Empowered Reset

The change in season gives us a reason to reset.

We don’t really need a reason because every day is a new start, but a new season like Vata season is a good reminder.

So we can a start new project, have new goals, and a way to remember the same season last year.

Our body cells don’t forget. I learned this experientially in a yoga class when years ago I took a break and my muscles remembered.

And you can consciously activate your brain cells by going down memory lane.

What were you doing this same time last year? I’m sure there are areas that were 180 degrees in another direction when you check.

Maybe you moved or something in your work or relationship changed. You’ve made great strides, so you should pat yourself on the back for all your soft and recognized accomplishments.

You empower yourself with healthy thoughts.

Photos, journal entries, and other personal external things can conjure up happy memories and thoughts that bring nostalgia and joy as you go through the transition of the season.

Make some new routines. Maybe some end-of-year goals. Now is a good time so you can make impact on this year’s progress. Just a thought. 💭

Unfocused Vata Mind Imbalance

Unfocused is a common mind trait. Sometimes it’s confused with ADHD that’s a common label tossed around.

Being unfocused is an Ayurvedic Vata trait. In this article you’ll learn how to better handle this in your life and  restore the imbalances.

Focusing on a drink changing can help with unfocused tendencies.
A creative green coffee drink can help with productivity and an unfocused Vata tendency. Recipe below. ☕️

For a natural Vata, it’s typical for the mind to be expressing and darting from task to task or idea to idea, instead of being laser focused.

That’s a general symptom diagnosis in the mind-body connection that’s common for many of us.

And when off-balance, this can mean getting up off the couch or outta your seat hundreds of times a day. This is one natural Vata mind tendency, anyway.

The better productivity solution is balancing the Vata mind, so that you don’t feel you have to keep doing something else other than what you’re doing. 

It doesn’t matter what the other thing is, but your mind is calling you impulsively to do it no matter what. Sound familiar?

This symptom description is often mistaken as ADHD in our ADD (or attention deficit disorder) world.

Technology has made this worse. We’re juggling our devices and the real world. And there are more noisy distractions that keeps us task switching and reinforcing the tendency to become a bad habit.

You can change your habits to better habits.

That’s completely in your healthy power to keep or change your ways, just like choosing to  make healthy meals.

The healthy way or habits could be to multi-task or time block and feel productive.

But when your mind causes unfocus, worry-anxiety around the imbalance, or you’re feeling unproductive because of your unfocused tendencies, that’s when you want to use restore balancing habit to restore your hyper-unfocused Vata mind imbalance.

Other signs are when your unfocused mind is distracting you or you’re leaning toward an unfocused day. That’s when restoring balance is called for.

And if that’s still tricky to pinpoint, you can make a tally sheet of how many times you switched tasks when your brain prompted you to in the moment (from what you had already planned to do in advance). That way you have a visual to compare to for yourself.

Sometimes you can observe the impulsive nature that the mind feeds.

Let that moment pass and help to give peace to the mind by writing down the thoughts, journaling, or creating a list.

Or if it makes sense as a 1-5-minute task, just take care of it quickly, but don’t re-route your day over the impulses if you want to live a consistent calming life that you’re in charge of.

Because 50 five-minute getting-up tasks is 250 minutes or over 4 hours that you won’t get back.

And not having enough time is one stressor we can avoid.

There’s enough chaos in the world that’ll shake off that daily depleting piece (and peace ✌️).

When we were kids, we didn’t have adult wisdom like that. Time wasn’t so important. Our moody feelings fed us and drove us to what we wanted to do.

We basically didn’t drive our bus.

But as adults, you don’t want your emotions to steer and get the better of you and then also lose time.

If you feel strong feelings about a situation, they serve a purpose to bring joy or cleanse sadness. Or… to show you something bigger about your life where you can make a change. But general daily moods don’t always help.

You don’t want the feelings to turn into daily, unproductive moody symptoms such as anxiety, anger, and lethargy where each represent a different imbalance.

And these can bleed into other Vata imbalances…

Another form of unfocused Vata-hyper mind is when it’s difficult to make decisions.

Because at the root of decision-making are your thoughts that drive what you do in the mind-body connection.

You don’t have control over your thoughts from entering, but you do have control over what you do with your thoughts.

The usual natural Pitta and Kapha profiles don’t show this symptom description unless they have a Vata imbalance which can happen to any of us at any time.

We all possess the 3 doshas (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha) to varying degrees, even if it’s just a crumb.

For any of us, our imbalance is our Achilles Heel. Restoring our imbalances is in our power and often an easy fix that needs daily repetition until our imbalance settles down.

Pittas have more hard-charging personalities like the hare in the Aesop’s Fable on a competitive mission. Kaphas are more the slow and steady turtles that finish the race. 🐢

And when you’re overrun with Vata, you can miss the goal entirely in distractions with the scenic route.

The good news is you can balance this high Vata symptom in more ways than one….

Balancing your Vata imbalance through your food senses is one way to begin restoring balance…. because an unfocused Vata imbalance is related to Vata trait symptoms such as anxious feelings, and indecisiveness. It’s no coincidence in our natural mind-body balance system.

And directly related to the unfocused symptoms you experience… something you can do is to nail down a daily routine or habit practice, so you can get back to being grounded and focused.

This can look like at least one or two healthy time slots in your day that are non-negotiable, e.g. yoga or office hours during certain hours.

You set boundaries with people about these non-negotiables. You essentially training them that you are off-limits and disconnected to the world during those times.

The way this works is being consistent and not letting any exceptions in (besides emergencies) because once you do that, then others know that your rules and boundaries are not hard set and taken that seriously. So be firm.

I watch people on the sidelines who don’t have this in place. They’re on the opposite extreme and schedule anything, get distracted by shiny objects, and fill in slots anytime their mood fancies.

…But then they wonder where the time went OR why they’re not happy with their outputs and decisions.

They don’t manage their time well on calendars getting non-negotiables handled as first thing ,so it doesn’t get missed or during the optimized hours where their minds are sharpest.

And if you’re a unfocused Vata by nature with those tendencies, that only makes your life more chaotic like the wind, where you get tossed to-and-from.

You worsen your Vata-ness with too much unfocused Vata behaviors.

People-pleasing too much can be a cause when we’d be better off practicing proper kind words to say no.

And this can be saying no to ourselves since we have other non-negotiables. Like appointments with our wellness routines.

Knowing it will be okay if you say no could be the hurdle. But  you’re not letting others down more than you’re letting yourself down.

Because your immediate feeling of guilt can turn into resentment for others and unhappiness that’s far worse.

So you want to prepare what you will say with tact if someone wants to encroach on areas.

Often, this comes from those who live in chaos and impose their unstructured life on you.

And when you’re with routine, they can’t spill over onto you.

And when you can learn the right words to say, they become more natural and roll off your tongue.

They become and your new way and that helps your routine and focusing.

Plus, you spend more time in this short-lived life doing the things that really matter to you!

For example, you can be in your sweet spot boost of daily energy, and stick with your ideas. And find a routine that you stay competitive with as things in life change.

That will help tone down worry with purpose. And help wipe away the anxious bits that unfocused Vata often feel.

And when you’ve grounded with routines and consistency, you don’t have to stick to only boring routines. You can be creative that most natural Vatas are and love.

I know how that can be, having worked over a couple decades in-and-out of corporate environments where it was all about routine tasks, maintenance, performance, and people management.

None of those areas express creativity. Something Vatas crave.

Vatas are also naturally energetic, encouraging, and eager. Having an idea and then having to wait for management to approve if ever, is anything but encouraging.

And then having people and all the chaos along the way change the dynamics. Well… all that can zap creativity.

So finding a side hobby or hustle as a creative outlet is a good way to re-focus those energies.

And if you’re in flow or with daily creativity, then you’re in alignment with yourself.

That helps grow you toward your life purpose and your authentic identity where you get the deepest satisfaction and joy.

Summary: If you have an imbalanced unfocused Vata tendency today: stick to a routine, express your non-negotiables, find a creative outlet.

The wellness outcome is finding calm and daily joy that you want. And you’ll have a strategy and stick with it.

If you’re curious about what your imbalances are in this season, take the free Body Balance Quiz.

Earth Day plant based layered beverage.
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Earth Day Layered Plant Based Cold Brew Coffee

This planet-reminding changing drink is a fun and delicious beverage.
Course beverage
Cuisine American

Ingredients

  • black cocoa
  • cold brew coffee
  • plant-based milks (almond milk, cashew milk, etc.)
  • gluten-free flour (coconut or almond flour)
  • blueberry tea
  • blueberries
  • Pandan (gel works best)

Instructions

  • Layer and freeze each layer before adding another layer.
  • Layer 1: milk
  • Layer 2: layer with black cocoa, gluten-free flour, and milk (or cream) that's more creamy and good for beverages.
  • Layer 3: cold blueberry tea
  • Layer 4: cold brew coffee (or coffee of choice)
  • Layer 5: milk
  • Add a few blueberries if you like.
  • Make plant-based pandan ice cube. Add pandan mixed with water and freeze
  • Add the ice cube to the top frozen layer.
  • Bring drink out to regular room temperature about 10-15 minutes before you want to consume if semi-frozen and 30 minutes or longer if frozen solid. Watch your planet beverage change before your very eyes! For kids, you can swap cocoa or chocolate milk for the coffee layer.