(Part 3 of 3 of Nature’s Framework for Wellbeing and Wholeness)
Many leaders work at the cost of self, without even realizing it. They aren’t leading from a place of balance.
Expectations mount and we do our best to keep up, yet somewhere along the way, our inner compass spins off-center. We trade rest for results and believe faster is always better.
We forget that resilient leadership has a rhythm that allows for natural balance!
In Part 2, we explored the Ayurvedic understanding that the world is made up of five natural elements: space, air, fire, water, and earth. These elements also express themselves within your mind and body in various proportions which Ayurveda calls your Dosha and more specifically – Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.
Knowing your dosha is key to understanding your path to balance.
In the final part of this series, let’s explore how to realign your daily rhythms so you can find balance, strength and resilience.
Believe it or not, balance is at the core of sustainable leadership.
1. Restful Sleep: Returning to Restoration
Step one to balance is sleep. It sounds simple, but restful sleep is primary driver of resilience.
Restful sleep is how your nervous system relaxes and feels safe, and where your body refuels to hold space for itself and others.
The inability to rest often reveals a deeper imbalance such as believing your value lies in your output. You might think you aren’t productive when you sleep but nothing could be further from the truth!
Reflection Question (And Dosha Tips):
Is restful sleep a “must have” priority or do you take what you can get and ignore the messages of exhaustion from your body and mind?
- Vata: Ground your spinning thoughts and frenetic energy in evening routines and rituals like gratitude journaling, taking a warm bath or getting a gentle massage to guide your mind and body to slow down and prepare for sleep.
- Pitta: Cool the inner fire. End your day with gratitude, not goals. Ensure your bedroom temperature is cool. Take a cool shower. Minimize spicy food at dinner. Avoid overheating with heavy warm blankets.
- Kapha: Eat light. Avoid heavy sugary food during and after dinner. Take a short evening walk. Aim for bed around 10 pm. Avoid falling asleep on the couch. Rise early to invite lightness into your day. Choose energetic activities over inertia.
When you honor the need for consistent high-quality sleep, the effects will ripple into your workday in the form of energy and vitality.
2. Healthy Digestion: The Art of Metabolizing, Absorbing and Eliminating
If your brain is your mental processor, your digestive system is your physical processor. Your state of wellbeing is influenced by how you metabolize your life. Whether its food, emotions or experiences, what remains unprocessed or undigested will eventually show up as a toxin like resentment, fatigue, burnout, and apathy or as a physical imbalance such as indigestion, inflammation and constipation.
Reflection Question (And Dosha Tips):
What am I holding onto that’s weighing me down?
- Vata: Eat with presence and mindfulness. Busyness fragments your energy. Enjoy warm herbal tea and grounding meals. Oleate your system to reduce dryness.
- Pitta: Eat to nourish yourself. Avoid fast-paced eating at your desk. Favor cooling foods like sweet fruits and leafy greens, coconut and mint. Limit spicy foods. Where overheated emotions are concerned, step away and allow yourself to cool down.
- Kapha: Choose foods that stimulate metabolism while keeping meals light and warm. Limit dairy, sugar and fried foods. Move before meals to stoke your digestive fire. To keep emotions balanced, engage in healthy honest conversations and maintain social connections.
Balanced digestion means processing and moving through feedback and difficult moments with grace as well as choosing foods and beverages that support an optimized mind and body.
3. Movement: Movement Builds Momentum
Ayurveda recognizes the value of stillness but also the importance of movement. Energy and momentum are created through movement and you need a big energy reservoir to lead in today’s fast-paced world. Unfortunately, for many of us work has us sitting for a large part of our day. Dr. James Levine, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic shares that “sitting is the new smoking”. If you want to optimize and balance your mind and body, movement needs to be a non-negotiable routine.
Movement is what supports your mental and physical processors in metabolizing all aspects of life and reducing the cycles of burnout.
Reflection Question (And Dosha Tips):
What activities centered around movement increase balance in my body and mind?
- Vata: Incorporate movement that calms the nervous system and builds steadiness. Choose slower activities such as yoga, walking in nature, Pilates, and gentle stretching.
- Pitta: Choose medium intensity movement in cooling environments. Move to release heat, not to prove worth. Consider moderate hiking, swimming, rowing and steady cardio in the early morning or early evening.
- Kapha: Move to energize and jump start metabolism. Take a brisk walk, go out dancing, hike the hills or try circuit training. Movement should be focused on increasing heart rate to a level appropriate to your health and wellbeing.
Every stride and each breath is a reminder. We are meant to move.
4. Mindfulness and Contemplative Practice: Cultivating Inner Stillness
You can’t build and train presence in others until you’ve cultivated it within yourself.
In leadership, presence is magnetic. People feel it before they hear it. You can change the emotional temperature of a room simply by entering it with grounded energy.
This practice of presence starts with mindfulness, the soil where emotional intelligence takes root. This state can be achieved through consistent meditation, prayer, journaling, or gratitude exercises.
Reflection Question (And Dosha Tips):
What do I hear when I am present and silent?
- Vata: Anchor your attention in breath or sound. Presence quiets restlessness.
- Pitta: Cool the inner critic with compassion. Presence softens the drive to control.
- Kapha: Reignite curiosity through movement-based mindfulness. Presence stirs inspiration.
Mindfulness, presence and stillness sharpen a leader’s ability to show up fully, listen deeply and respond intentionally.
5. Social Connection: Rediscovering the “We” in Leadership
Leadership was never meant to be a solo venture. Real leadership is a relational art.
When leaders see each other as collaborators rather than competitors, they create unity across silos and strength in diversity.
The “we” restores balance to the “I.”
Even the most self-aware leaders lose perspective without mirrors. That’s what authentic connection offers: awareness, conversation, and reflection.
Incorporating a “we” into your leadership can change everything.
Reflection Question (And Dosha Tips):
Who grounds me? Who stretches me? Who reflects my blind spots with love?
- Vata: Seek steady, grounding relationships that appreciate and value your energy. Practice listening before sharing. Deepen the relationships you already have.
- Pitta: Practice humility and empathy in connection. Share meals without an agenda. Walk with a friend. Choose play over productivity. Be vulnerable with others.
- Kapha: Surround yourself with people that increase your energy. Meet for movement – join a pickleball group, sign up for group hikes or dance classes. Choose to meet in stimulating environments such as a bright café or outdoor gatherings.
Experiencing Balance
The path to a balanced mind and body, starts with awareness and ends with consistent healthy choices that contribute to your total wellbeing. When you intentionally balance your dosha, you will discover your path to sustainable and resilient leadership at work and in life.
Want to discover your own natural rhythms and how to optimize them?
Take the Mind-Body Assessment and learn how to build the balance that fuels both your wellbeing and your impact.
