In general, predominantly Vata people are creative and quick, constantly on the move and always looking for the next big thing. Easily Bored if confined to one place for too long, they are the type who cannot remain still and are constantly looking to be challenged. Vata types are people who see the bigger picture, often noticing things that slip by others. Constantly on the move, Vata’s are often found to be visionaries, writers, artists, scholars and philosophers. Examples of predominant Vata’s would be visionaries like Bill Gates and artists like Salvidor Dali.
You may notice a predominant Vata by their nervous energy, often they cannot sit still and bounce their legs when seated, their thought processes are characterised by physical energy and they often pace. Vata’s inevitably don’t do well in a cubicle office environment as its too constricting. Do you know a friend who cannot sit through a movie or is constantly standing up to walk around on a flight or bus trip, the likelihood is that they are Vata dominant. One of the obstacles that Vata’s face is that the constant mental movement of their minds can sometimes make them irrational or erratic.
Vata’s often cannot or do not know how to put their thoughts on hold, going from the pointless over-analysis of situations to brainstorming brilliant ideas to endlessly repeating conversations in their mind and replaying past scenarios. This constant mental flux can make them easily distracted and prone to going off on a tangent. As quickly as Vata’s can conceive an idea they also seem to be able to lose it, as they have a difficult time remembering the masses of thoughts that pop into their heads on a daily basis. This can affect their short-term memories as they “live” in their heads more than in the physical world at times.
Stilling the mind through meditation techniques can often feel near impossible to them. When stationery they sometimes suffer from bouts of anxiety and start to over complicate and worry about things of no concern. Broadly speaking Vata’s tend to live more in the past or future than in the present moment.
The biggest challenge that Vata dominants need to overcome is the inability to still and settle their minds. All our us have Vata moments periodically, leaving us anxious, overwhelmed and excessively worried, often repeating pointless scenarios over and over in our minds. This will take place in our lifetimes as we have evolved into a predominantly Vata-centric society, where multi-tasking and juggling a million things at once is considered the norm, and even expected at times. This can make it highly difficult for a person to stay balanced and centred.
When you feel anxious or feel like you are juggling too many balls and are on the verge of dropping a few it’s essential to learn to pacify and ground your Vata energy, you needn’t be predominantly Vata to feel overstress, anxious or affected by nervous energy, it may well just indicate that you currently suffer from a Vata imbalance within your Doshas.
