Vata Diet: Not Dry+Mildly Hot+Mild Spices(Cumin/Fennel/Coriander)+Moong Dal+Buttermilk; Avoid Eggplant+Okra+Pungent; Cool the System for a Fiery Nature; Dashamoola+Haritaki Tea(Boil+Filter+Night)=Fast-Acting Vata/Respiratory; Prakriti vs Vikriti: Treat Imbalance WITHOUT Disturbing Constitution

Prakṛti and Vikṛti — Which Dosha Troubles This Native

Before giving a Vata-pacifying diet the teacher asks what the native's basic nature is — in general, not just in this period.

"If the basic nature of the person, let's say, is Pitta or something, and then you give a diet that is pacifying Vata for the current vikriti, it may affect the original prakriti. So you want to make sure that the vikriti is not too deviant from the prakriti."

The basic nature — fire

• Lagna is Leo. Lagna lord Sun is exalted in Aries, another fiery sign. A lot of fire — Pitta.
• Mars aspects the lagna (graha dṛṣṭi: Mars in Taurus in the 10th, 4th aspect on Leo). More fire.

Influences that show the doṣa

• Look also at influences on the lagna lord. Any duḥsthāna lord — 6th or 8th — who influences the Lagna or the lagna lord can give problems.
• Saturn, the 6th lord, aspects lagna lord Sun. So Saturn too shows the native's doṣa. Saturn is a Vata planet.
• Moon is as important as Lagna. Moon is in Pisces, a Kapha sign, and its lord Jupiter aspects it (graha dṛṣṭi: Jupiter in Scorpio, 5th aspect on Pisces). So there is some Kapha influence.
• But Moon himself is in the 8th house from Lagna, and a planet in the 8th can define the native's problems.

Moon — Kapha or Vata by how full he is

"The way Parashara defined is: full Moon is Kapha, and new Moon, Moon who is zero, he is Vata. In between, you see how full he is. Let's say he is half, then he is half Kapha, half Vata."

• Here the tithi is Kṛṣṇa Dvādaśī: twelve of the fifteen tithis of the waning half are gone. Moon is 12/15 Vata. He is basically Vata, not Kapha.
• So: Moon is a Vata planet in the 8th house. Saturn, a Vata planet, is the 6th lord aspecting the lagna lord. There is a Vata doṣa.

Conclusion

• The basic nature is fire. But nothing fiery influences the 6th or the 8th.

"There is a strong fire in the person, but the dosha that is likely to trouble the person is Vata."

• With Saturn's antardaśā running, a diet that pacifies Vata is fine.

Diet and Herbs for Vata

Diet

• Not dry foods. (The recording has "foods that have grains" as the alternative; the word is not clear.)
• Food that is mildly hot, not very hot. Very hot food with a lot of red chillies, green chillies and black pepper adds heat to a system that already has a lot of it. There is also dryness and air: overheating dries the system more and the air goes out of balance — "dry, dry air".
• So cool the system: yogurt and buttermilk are good.
• Mild spices: coriander (cilantro), cumin seeds, fennel seeds, cardamom, cinnamon (dālchīnī). Not the very pungent (tīkhā) ones such as hing. Cut down on those.
• Vegetables: stay away from eggplant and from okra (bhiṇḍī).
• Potato (ālū) is all right if perfectly cooked — it is not too bad for Vata people. Better to avoid it at night.
• Simple-to-digest foods such as green beans and carrots are recommended.
• Moong dal is very good.

Daśamūla–Haritaki tea

• Haritaki — karakkāya in Telugu, harar / harḍe in Hindi. The powder of the dried fruit. Indian stores may sell the powder or the whole fruit, which you can pound yourself. Half to three-quarters of a spoon.
• Daśamūla — the roots of ten trees, five big and five medium-sized. Half a spoon.
• The teacher points to an online herb seller for both.

Preparation

1. Put both in a cup of hot water.
2. Boil for 5–10 minutes.
3. Let it stand for several hours.
4. Filter and drink the essence the water has absorbed.

When: at night — an hour or more after dinner, before sleeping or a couple of hours before.

What it does

• Helps eliminate the Vata in the system. Very good for the breathing system too.
• It detoxifies the system.
• There is also a prepared Daśamūla Haritaki Rasāyana, sold by Indian suppliers. It is good for the respiratory system but works very slowly. The tea at night "will actually lift the Vata in the entire digestive tract very fast".