WHAT ARE MY DOMINANT ELEMENTS?
Read each set of characteristics carefully and make a note of the set that describes you best. Don’t worry if you have characteristics from other sets, just choose the one that best represents you through the majority of your life. If you don’t feel any describe you, leave it blank; if you feel that more than one set is very applicable, or you are a total mix of more than one, tick all that apply.
A: Variable with little consistency from day to day; often anxious to eat; feel full after eating less than what you wanted; can feel feint between meals; like to snack on crunchy things rather than have proper meals; don’t cope well with skipping meals
B: Good appetite and enjoy eating; become irritable if meals get missed; can get headaches, nausea or feel dizzy if you don’t eat.
C: Slow stable steady appetite; doesn’t faze you if you miss a meal; you don’t feel hungry on waking; can be prone to emotional eating.
Digestion and Bowels
A: Suffer with bloating, gas, discomfort and burping; can get lower abdominal distension; stools are dry and hard and dark in colour; prone to bouts of constipation; can have alternating constipation and diarrea; sometimes feel the need to have a coffee or smoke a cigarette to act as a laxative
B: Strong digestion and metabolism; can suffer with heartburn, burping; sometimes feels mild tenderness around belly button; gets easily aggravated by spicy foods; rarely constipated; stools are well formed but can be on the loose side and are yellowish in colour; dried fruit and milk can have laxative effect.
C: Digestion is slow and heavy, and creates fullness in upper stomach; can feel lethargic and sleepy after meals; stools are well formed and resembles peeled banana. Can be pale, clay coloured, sometimes slightly oily; you don’t suffer with either constipation or diarrea, or if you do its rare.
A: Natural inclination towards sweet, sour and salty tastes, but can also be tempted by hot spicy foods
B: Natural inclination towards sweet bitter and astringent tastes, but can be tempted by pungent or sour tastes
C: Natural inclination for bitter pungent and astringent tastes but can be tempted by sweet and salty foods.
NB taste examples :
Sweet – grains, milk, meat, cheese, honey, potatoes
Sour – citrus, sour grapes, tomatoes, yoghurt, fermented foods
Salt – rock salt, sea salt, sea fish, shellfish, sea vegetables
Pungent – pepper, garlic, raw onion, ginger, eggplant
Bitter – leafy greens, coffee, turmeric, beets
Astringent – lentils, leafy greens, legumes, cranberries, unripe bananas, pomegranate.
A: Variable thirst; dry skin, perspire very little
B: good thirst; perspire a lot
C: Thirst is mainly limited but can be excessive on occasion; takes quite a bit to make you perspire.
A: Light in colour, frequent elimination
B: Bright yellow in colour, can be excessive
C: white and foamy; infrequent
Menstruation (if applicable)
A: irregular cycles; sever cramping; scanty flow; tendency to miss periods especially if exercising a lot or during weight loss; long space between menses (over a month); can have clots; suffer with pre-menstrual anxiety, nervousness, restless sleep.
B: Regular cycles; medium strength cramps; may bleed heavily and for many days at a time; less than 4 weeks between menses; loose stools prior to menstruation; pre-menstrual irritability, can suffer with acne or spots, rashes or headaches.
C: regular cycles; mild cramps; average flow; sometimes notices mucous in blood; pre-menstrual water retention and lethargy; digestion can be slower.
A: attracted to vigorous physical activity; tendency to walk fast, talk fast, and move fast; tendency to fidget during times when stillness is required e.g. during a talk, or long movie or mediation; stamina is low – often feels burnt out
B: attracted to vigorous activity and competitive sport; average stamina; often fail to recognise limits; usually feel hungry or thirsty after working out
C: good stamina but avoid exertion; need to be motivated to exercise; once exercising, feel great for doing it.
A: prefer warm and tropical climate; dislike cold, windy or dry climate; seek out external sources of heat
B: Low tolerance for strong sunlight and very hot weather; like to have windows open and fan on
C: prefer a dry warm climate; can tolerate most climates but prefer warm to cold.
A: variable sex drive; enjoy sexual fantasy (sometimes more than actual sex); easily aroused but get burnt out easily. Fertility can be low.
B. Strong sexual appetite; good balance of desire and fulfilment; easily aroused. Fertility is moderate.
C. Steady sexual appetite; aroused slowly but remain passionate for a long time once aroused. Strong fertility
A: Light sleeper; prone to insomnia; wake several times a night; don’t like to sleep in total darkness – prefer a dim nightlight on; have been known to sleepwalk/sleep talk/grind teeth; restless sleeper; feel unrested in the mornings; like own bed/own pillow – find it hard to sleep in other places.
B: Light sleeper but not easily disturbed; return to sleep quickly upon waking; wake up alert; cannot sleep with the light on – prefer total darkness.
C: sleep deeply; feel rested on waking; often snore; can sleep for many hours at a stretch; can sleep anywhere – on a rug, in a chair etc
A: dream a lot –mind is energetic in dreams – and they will often involve movement – i.e. running, being chased, flying, jumping; struggle to recall dreams in the morning, but can sometimes remember dreams from just before waking.
B: Dreams are vivid, colourful and detailed; often recall dreams; feel in control in many dreams
C: dreams are calm and peaceful often involving nature, friends and family; can be emotional; intensely emotional dreams are recalled most easily
Voice and Communication
A: weak; prone to hoarseness; tire easily; like to talk but often stray from topic.
B: very pointed and precise in what you say; enjoys debates
C: Heavy voice; speak slowly and cautiously; will initiate conversation only if it is important; good listener.
Quality of mind
A: quick and creative; imaginative; emotionally sensitive; enthusiastic; many interests and abilities; sensitive to subtle changes; intuitive; compassionate; difficulty concentrating on one subject; often fails to complete projects you start; loves travel; mind is mobile and irregular; difficulty resting the mind
B: highly intelligent; ideas are penetrating; can get frustrated with those who are not of equal intelligence; confident; understands new concepts quickly; great planner; organised; good ability to focus on single objectives; natural leader; high achiever; can be arrogant and stubborn; can be jealous; materialistic; can be hot headed
C: compassionate; loving; patient, sweet natured; gentle, kind, emotionally stable; community oriented; satisfied with life; can be greedy; get easily attached to people and things; hoarder of material things; can be slow to fully understand things
A: you are widely known but not deeply known; sometimes crave friendship/company – other times craves solitude; make friends very easily; give a lot of energy to friendships.
B: Make friends easily; will sometimes be attracted to friends that will be useful to you; have many followers, but only a few close friends; are protective over close friends; exchange a lot of energy in friendships
C: Take time to make friends, but once you do they last forever; can be easily taken advantage of; get very attached to people; good listener; absorb a lot of energy from friendships – e.g. receiving love, knowledge etc.
A: Find it hard to let go; feel fearful on separating from a loved one– will often repeat, “I love you” upon separation.
B: Will feel a short wrench on separation, telling your loved one you love them, but then just get on with things post separation
C: Feel deep sadness upon separation; finds it very hard to say goodbye.
Reaction to stress
A: Mainly fear based; anxious, worry alot; if you loose your temper you calm down quickly; you don’t hold grudges
B: Mainly anger based; you feel resentment to those causing the stress; Anger will burn slowly but intensely for a time and its hard to calm down
C: Feel powerless in stressful situations; you get lethargic and want to sleep or eat; takes a lot to irritate you or make you angry but if you get angry do you can hold a grudge. Can be prone to depression
A: quick to grasp concepts; if asked a question will often give the wrong answer because your first response is to talk
B: you have a sharp clear intellect and your responses are generally quite accurate
C: Take a while to grasp a new concept, and you process slowly, but when asked a question your answers are very exact.
A: remembers easily but forgets easily too; good short term recall but poor remote memory
B: remember things easily; don’t usually forget important things; your memory is sometimes described as photographic
C: Never forgets anything; memory like an elephant
A: spend easily; not good at saving; prone to impulse spending; has a tendency to be poor as you love to spend on trifles.
B: spend wisely; like to save; when you spend money its often on luxury items – new jewellery, or items for your home etc; wealth is accumulated by good earnings rather than by good investment but can be both.
C: spend meagrely; can be prone to emotional spending; very good at saving, wealth is more often accumulated by good investment rather than by good earnings – but can be both.
Add up your total scores and click on the one that best matches your results to find out how to make a few changes to help you live in a way that suits your own uniqueness!
Mostly A – Your dominant elements are Air and Space or VATA
Mostly B – Your dominant element is Fire or PITTA
Mostly C – Your dominant elements are Earth and Water or KAPHA