Vata Life

You ever get overwhelmed?

That was rhetorical. If you’re living on planet earth surrounded by other humans and the answer to this question is ‘no,’ how often do you change your batteries? Or can you just plug into a charging station nowadays?

Being overwhelmed isn’t necessarily a bad thing, on the contrary, it could be raining blessings upon my fortunate and grateful head. Yet, it’s still coming at me, it’s outside of my field of vision. My instinct to anything coming at me is to dodge, dive, dip, duck, dodge. Whether it’s a bucket of feathers or a bucket of slime, I’m going to flinch. Everyone manages and processes things differently and there is no shame in being overwhelmed. You might be a new mom and count your lucky stars everyday for the gift of your kid, but that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to cry while sitting on the toilet in the bliss of 30 seconds to yourself and months of sleep deprivation (I can’t relate to this personally, but I’ve got it on authority that its a thing). Doesn’t mean we’re not grateful, it just means we’re living that human life.

I get overwhelmed easily, it’s taken me years to understand the science behind it. It’s not because I’m an empath or an Aquarius (my usual fall backs when trying to decipher the super secret code that is life). For me it comes down to one thing: Vata. I’ve got vata in spades as part of my physical and mental constitution, plus I live in the world -and, more specifically, the tri-state area, and, for four months a year where I live it’s vata season, so basically, vata’s got me whipped. And it’s not just me, we all fall victim to vata, it encompasses movement in the body and the world around us, there’s no avoiding it.

By now you’re wondering at what point I’m going to acknowledge that the majority of you reading this think I’m making up words and blaming my overwhelmedness on imaginary words (overwhelmnedness = an actual imaginary word). Hi. I see you. Here’s the thing, I really don’t want to get into a lengthy breakdown of Ayurveda and the doshas - no, not more made up words. There are a few reasons, the biggest being I’m not in teacher mode because I’m too overwhelmed. This post is coming at you in real time people. Here are your options: 1) you can read my post from a million Christmas’s past here  2) tired of Kerrie’s words? I get it, you can get some straight up facts here.  Alright, go ahead, go get learned. I’ll wait.

Welcome back. Now that you at a minimum know that I’m not just making shit up, let’s get back to this overwhelmed idea. Some people handle external stimulus like champs. Put them in a crowded club, bass bumping, lights flashing, limbs flying around, the smell of a whole lot of…essence…and they not only don’t care, they’re perfectly comfortable, some even enjoy it. Gulp. Clearly that person is not me. Too many things at once has me like a cat chasing a laser pointer. Over here, no, no, over there! Here! There! Ah! System overload. It took me a long time to figure all of this out, including years of putting myself in uncomfortable situations. Whoopsie. Oh well, that’s how we learn, and I did, phew. The hard part is deflecting the things I can’t control, like living in a culture that is overrun with stimulus and high expectations. Shit is flying at you all the damn time in America, whether it’s ads, traffic, shopping centers, an open floor plan at an office (great in theory, but for some of us hearing three different conversations while trying to work on a project while someone is IM'ing you and another person is asking you a question because it’s an open floor plan, we just call out our questions = FACCCKKK). And this is just external stimulus, we’re not even touching on the stuff like responsibilities, expectations, ambition, ‘success’ and what not that comprise the other buckets that rain down at any given time. Combine this with an innate predisposition to vata and I’m over here like…

For many the holiday season is a big old bucket. Whether you love it or hate it, it comes with its fair share of internal and external potential eeekkks, from time with family to 24/7 Christmas music. Personally, the holiday season is not a cause for flinching, except on the roads - why so much road rage, why?! And you won’t catch me near a mall if I can help it. I know how to duck, dive, dip, duck, dodge my holiday triggers. I do, however, have a lot of AMAZING things percolating in my life right now, all of which I am over the moon excited about…yet, yes, you know what’s coming…I’m a bit overwhelmed. It’s blessings all over the place, but it’s got my vata tipping the scale and my ass needs to make time to ground the fuck down. I could literally fly away at times, like a ballon without a weight, there goes Kerrie, off into the ether. Add in the fact that we’re in vata season in the northeast and it’s practically a blimp taking me up up and away.

The good news is all of my learnings have me chock full of resources for grounding myself, and I figured keeping in the spirit of giving and sharing, I’d put my faves here. Merry Chrismakwanzakkha.

1). WATER.  A warm bath, it’s like magic. If that’s not an option for whatever reason, a shower works too- but not just the morning one when we’re rushing to get ready for the day, take a second one before bed where you just stand there and go mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. If I still have an excuse as to why I can’t do those things? I drink some room temperature water. Or take a walk near water. I could put on sounds of the ocean. Put my feet in a bowl of hot water. Whatever. Get some warm water in my life (yes warm is important, vata is cold, to balance it, you need warm - it’s rocket science, I know).

2). MASSAGING THE FEET. If you just ‘ewww’d’ maybe get a pedicure. I can handle my feets, they’re mine and they do a really great job of supporting me, so I warm up a little oil and rub those tootsies. Energy flows where the awareness goes. And our feets? Well, they quite literally connect us to the earth. If you’re being honest with yourself and you know you’re never going to do this, you can also stomp your feet on the ground when you feel super disconnected or even bring awareness to your feet while you walk, saying to yourself “two feet planted on the ground” or “feet on the ground” or whatever works for you to bring your attention to your feet while you’re out and about. It’s one of my favorites, probably because it’s so darn easy. If you think this sounds crazy, who cares? You’re saying it to yourself, no one is going to hear you, what’s the worst that can happen? Go ahead, get a little crazy.

3). EAT WARM FOOD. Put down that salad! When feeling fritzy and flightly, eating warm, soft, easy to digest food is the best medicine for the body. Think buddha bowls, rice dishes, cooked veggies, soups etc.

4). RESTORE. Whatever that means for you. Curl up into a blanket burrito on the couch. Go to a restorative yoga class (which I’ll be teaching starting January 2020 and I’m super excited about!). Listen to calming music. Read a book. Pet your dog. Eat breakfast while sitting down (gasp!). Drink a cup of tea in silence. Take a mindful walk. You know what soothes you best. Even if you don’t have a ton of time to do something, some of these things only take a few extra minutes.  I love silent breakfast (no talking, reading, looking at the phone, just quiet woo-sah time), but I’m aware this is a luxury not available to all. Seriously, something as simple as sitting down to pet your dog or cat for a few minutes in the morning can do wonders to tether you back to life.

There’s other stuff too. But these are my go-to’s because I can squeeze them into just about any day/space/time and, well, they work for me.

One things for sure, Sheila loves it when I’m overwhelmed, extra belly rubs always welcome in our house.

Alright, I’m stopping before I get overwhelmed by writing this post. Happy holidays to those that celebrate and try and chill out, ya heard?

Living that Vata Life,

Kerrie