To help manage the physical, mental, and emotional symptoms of anxiety, heat up that fire in your belly. This can be accomplished through the diet by eating warm, easily digested food prepared with stimulating spices such as ginger, cumin, fennel, and coriander. Avoid raw, cold foods, which actually increase that light, airy vata energy. Instead of your usual smoothie and salad routine, opt for a warming breakfast and cooked lunch inclusive of the six tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent). When creating a routine, focus on the importance of doing one task at a time. Relax the nervous system by clearing out your busy schedule and prioritizing sleep, which is a time when the mind can detoxify from negative emotion. To really enhance kapha, try walking barefoot in nature. Once you check off these three steps, you’ll be much closer to balancing the three doshas and achieving a calm mind that is rooted in the present moment.
