Importance of Body Type at Workplace

In today’s high technology and fast-paced world, almost everyone feels overwhelmed and overly busy. In one way or another, we all have experienced work-related stress. Some people may feel trapped in a rat race and meeting deadlines become their daily routine. Stress on the job creates a variety of symptoms, including fatigue, increased anger, problems with relationships, inability to focus properly, stress headaches, insomnia and a variety of stress related diseases. Long-term stress can lead to serious problems such as acquiring critical illnesses and more.  Effective stress management is key to having a balanced work life. You can’t always avoid the tensions that occur on the job, but you can take steps to manage work-related stress. The first step in this direction is understanding importance of body type at workplace.

In Ayurveda, your career and work is linked to who you are in your body. For example, knowing your doshas (kapha, pitta, or vata)  – that is, your mind-body type and what is typical of that mind-body type and how that relates to your environment will give you a clue about what type of work would suit you. Having a deeper understanding of who you are, allows you to modify your current working condition which makes your work environment more enriching and satisfying. Consequently, if you are in a position that you can’t change your situation, you may want to know about what types of jobs you should look for that are less stressful to you.

Importance of Body Type

Vata Dosha

For a person who has a dominating Vata Dosha, he or she may be typically more susceptible to mental stress. While many Vata types do well in creative or mental jobs, it could create too much stress if the mental workload is intense. Vata types do best if they have moderately relaxing jobs, without excessive mental or physical activity. The Vata dominant minds are ever curious and creative, fundamentally motivated by the need for change and stimulation. Vata helps to create something out of nothingness with ideas coming from nowhere. Vata types can give them plenty of change, renewal, variety, novelty, stimulation, freedom to move and think relatively freely. If they work with a healthy amount of experimentation and exploration they will love and thrive in that kind of context.

Our Ayurvedic recommendations for work, and career strengths for VATA types, is that at work and probably anywhere else, make an effort to practice moderation. Excessive responsibilities or boredoms, or interruptions, multi-tasking will feed their erratic and nervous kind of nature. They have to pay close attention to their working environment and they need fresh air, and the fluorescent kind of light, too much movement, dryness and coldness, or air conditioning, will further aggravate their VATA imbalance. They may do well in creative work, eg in art, music, or dance, as designers, or photographer. These are some areas of work which may suit them. Having said that, each person is unique and they may create their own niche by understanding themselves better. This is true for every one and every body type.

Pitta Dosha

People who have more Pitta in their bodies are intense and competitive. When in balance, they are a realist, a leader, a planner, a decision maker. But if out of balance, they can become aggressive and self-promoting; chances are, they’ll eventually overheat (both physically and mentally). This shows up emotionally as anger, irritation, frustration and resentment. Pitta dosha is like fire: hot, intense, penetrating, radiant, bright, mobile, expansive, and light. Pitta dominant minds are fundamentally motivated by the need to have a goal, a challenge, something to do and get engaged with, to digest, to understand and assimilate deeply.

Pitta types need their work to be going somewhere; it needs to be goal oriented, clearly structured. There can be a preference for moderate to high levels of pressure and intensity. Exploration and experimentation are fine, but will be more calculated and focused than for vata. Pitta people get empowered by their own challenges, competition, decision making, and overcoming obstacles, an excess of these conditions will make them impatient, irritable, and domineering. They need to make sure that they keep their working environment cool and resist their tendency to compete and be better than everybody else, and be the boss. People with a lot of pitta in their body type may find success in elite level sports, law, finance or politics and any other place where they are leaders in their own right.

Kapha Dosha

Those who have more Kapha Dosha in their bodies are people who are slow but steady, reliable, and compassionate, heavy, immobile, dense, solid, smooth and moist, cool are some other words that are used with Kapha. When they are in balance, they have a lot of stamina, endurance, and strength. Kapha people often use these qualities to make a business or operation run smoothly. But if their job is sedentary, then they can slip into complacency, inertia, possessiveness, and collecting or hoarding. They may not like change and avoid it even when it may be beneficial. Kapha dominant minds are fundamentally motivated by the need to create security and stability, comfort and cohesion.

Our Ayurvedic recommendation for Kapha types are for them to bring variation in their routine to get over their tendency to get stuck in a rut. Creating challenges for themselves is highly recommended. For example, sign up for a class in something that sparks their interest.  Kapha body type people may find satisfaction and excellence in caring professions like medicine, or horticulture where they are nourishing plants, in manual labour jobs or where they are managing or creating structures or where structure and repetition is required.

A Balancing Act – Bi-doshic and Tridoshic People

As well as finding the work that best suits you, that ‘goes with the grain’ so to speak, you should also pay attention to keeping balance, avoiding the common pitfalls inherent in your particular area of expertise. And if you are a “bi-doshic” (when people have two doshas which are more prominent) or “tridoshic” (all the three doshas are in almost equal proportion and they will show up in different circumstances, as required by life at that moment) rather than a “mono-doshic”, then how and what kind of work do we do so we don’t get too anxious or create a burn out or just don’t get out of the rut!  This requires a good understanding of who we are innately.

To learn more about your dosha and understand importance of body type better when it comes to your work and career, click here to take our free course.  This introductory course paves way for you to discover your mind-body type.