AyurvedaSpecial
Ancient Wisdom · Timeless Healing
Vata, pitta, kapha. You have heard the words. On Sunday afternoon, somebody finally explains them.
Every Sunday since April 2020 · 340 sessions · never a charge
Counting down
This session has finished. The full recording is on the same link.
Why this session exists
You have heard the words. Vata. Pitta. Kapha. Prakriti. Dinacharya. Nobody has ever sat down and explained them to you properly.
So you tried the supplement. Then the cleanse, then the powder somebody’s aunt swore by. You still have no idea whether any of it was meant for you. Meanwhile the three o’clock slump has not shifted, you are awake at two in the morning again, and every search you run comes back an advert.
On Sunday afternoon, practitioners sit down and explain it. What a dosha is and how yours is actually worked out. What changes on your plate. What a day looks like when it is built the way the texts describe. Put a question in the chat and it gets answered on air.
It runs three days ahead of Ayurveda Day on 23 September, under the theme the Ministry of AYUSH set for the eleventh one: Ayurveda for a Healthier Tomorrow. Here is the ground it is standing on.
WHO Member States report that their people use traditional medicine, and asked the WHO for help building the evidence base.
World Health Organization, March 2022of the world’s population is estimated to use traditional medicine in some form. It is the majority practice, not the alternative one.
World Health OrganizationUS dollars, the size of India’s AYUSH industry in 2020 to 2021, the last year the government published a figure.
Government of India, citing FITM and RIS, 2021Sunday broadcasts since April 2020. Free every time, no registration ever, and every episode still online.
Healing Our EarthSources: World Health Organization, WHO establishes the Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India, 25 March 2022. Government of India, Press Information Bureau, citing the Forum on Indian Traditional Medicine and the Research and Information System for Developing Countries, 2021. Ayurveda Day 2026 theme announced by the Ministry of AYUSH, 9 September 2026.
What you will leave with
Five things you will not have to look up again
- 01
A straight answer on what a dosha is
And how a practitioner actually works yours out, which is not by an online quiz.
- 02
The six tastes, and the one your plate is missing
Almost certainly bitter. You will know what to do about it before the session ends.
- 03
A daily routine that survives a job and a commute
Dinacharya without the retreat. The version for people with a bus to catch.
- 04
What to change on your plate this month
The season turns in Britain this week. Ayurveda has a specific answer for that.
- 05
The questions to ask, and the claims to walk away from
How to tell a practitioner from a product. Worth the afternoon on its own.
Start here
Vata, pitta or kapha
Most people have heard the words. Almost nobody has had them explained. A dosha is not a personality quiz result. It is a description of how your body and mind tend to behave, and what tips them over. Everyone carries all three. One or two usually lead.
Vata
वातAir and space
- In balance
- Quick, light, creative, adaptable. Moves and thinks fast.
- Out of balance
- Restless sleep, dry skin, anxious thinking, irregular digestion, feeling scattered.
- What steadies it
- Warmth, oil, routine, cooked food, early nights, doing fewer things slowly.
Pitta
पित्तFire and water
- In balance
- Sharp, focused, decisive, a strong appetite for food and for work.
- Out of balance
- Heat, irritability, acid, inflammation, skin flare-ups, waking at two in the morning.
- What steadies it
- Cooling food, bitter and sweet tastes, shade, less competition, not skipping meals.
Kapha
कफEarth and water
- In balance
- Steady, calm, loyal, strong. Slow to start and hard to shift.
- Out of balance
- Heaviness, congestion, sluggish mornings, holding on to weight and to feelings.
- What steadies it
- Movement, warmth, pungent and bitter tastes, rising early, lighter evenings.
Your constitution is worked out by a practitioner who looks at you, asks questions and takes your pulse. An online quiz is a starting point and nothing more. Bring your questions to the chat on the day and they get answered on air.
The hour before dawn
Brahma muhurta, the ninety minutes before sunrise. Of everything Ayurveda asks of a person, getting up in it is the change practitioners request first and the one most people refuse. We will make the case for it on Sunday.
Dinacharya
A day, the way the texts lay it out
Almost none of this costs anything. Most of it takes minutes. All of it is older than every diet you have tried.
Wake
The hour before dawn is the lightest part of the night. Getting up in it is the single change most practitioners ask for first.
Scrape, rinse, drink
Tongue scraper, mouth rinsed, then a cup of warm water. Two minutes, and it is the oldest advice in the book.
Move, then oil
Something that raises the breath, then warm oil on the skin before a bath. Abhyanga, and it is not a luxury in this system.
The main meal
Digestion is considered strongest when the sun is. The largest meal belongs here, not at eight in the evening.
Work, and a pause
Sustained effort, with a real break in it. Eating at your desk counts as neither.
A light supper
Small, warm, cooked, and finished well before bed. Most people reading this eat their biggest meal at exactly the wrong hour.
Sleep
Asleep before the second wind arrives. The people who cannot get to sleep at ten are often the ones who most need to.
Shad rasa
Six tastes, and the one your plate is missing
Ayurveda asks for all six at every main meal. Modern eating delivers sweet, salty and sour in abundance and almost never the other three. That gap is where most of the practical advice in this session begins.
Sweet
MadhuraEarth and water
Builds, calms and nourishes. Too much makes you heavy.
Grains, milk, ghee, dates, most cooked vegetablesSour
AmlaEarth and fire
Wakes up digestion and the mind. Too much heats you.
Lemon, yoghurt, tamarind, fermented foodSalty
LavanaWater and fire
Holds moisture, carries flavour, moves things along.
Rock salt, sea salt, seaweedPungent
KatuFire and air
Clears, opens and warms. Too much dries you out.
Ginger, chilli, black pepper, mustard seed, garlicBitter
TiktaAir and space
Cools, cleanses and lightens. The taste the modern plate lost.
Neem, turmeric, fenugreek, dark leafy greensAstringent
KashayaAir and earth
Draws together, dries, firms. The pucker in unripe fruit.
Lentils, pulses, pomegranate, green banana, teaWhere to watch
It plays right here, or on YouTube
Set a reminder now and YouTube will find you on Sunday. The chat opens shortly before we start, and questions put there get answered on air.
The running order
Who is speaking
Speakers are confirmed in the days before each session. The full running order, with times in your zone, appears here as soon as it is settled. Subscribe on YouTube and it will reach you first.
Episode producer and lead anchor: Dr Amrita Sharma.
Before you ask
The six things people write in and ask
Do I need to know anything about Ayurveda already?
No. Every session starts from the beginning. If you have never heard the word dosha before Sunday, you are exactly who this is for.
Do I have to register or pay?
No. No form, no email address, no fee, no upsell at the end. Open the link and watch.
Is this medical advice?
No. It is education about a traditional system of medicine. Nothing said on the broadcast replaces a conversation with a qualified practitioner or your doctor, and nobody will tell you to stop taking anything.
Can I ask a question?
Yes, and this is the point of it being live. Put it in the YouTube chat and the anchor puts it to the panel.
I can only watch part of it.
Drop in and out. Nothing is gated, nothing is missed by arriving late, and the whole thing stays on the channel afterwards.
Will there be a recording?
Yes, on the same link, permanently, at no charge. Every one of our 340 sessions is still up.
Carried by
- Hindu Forum of Europe
- Hindu Matters in Britain
- Sanskruti
- MentalHealth_Connect
- Diwali in London
- SAHA
- Sacred Mysteries
- Gyan
Channel partners redistribute the broadcast to their own communities. And many more.
Sunday 20 September 2026 · 2:00pm BST
Bring a question
Free, open to anyone, and no sign-up of any kind. Bring somebody who has been meaning to look into this for years.
