Ayurveda Signs of Burn Out and Treatment
Updated: Aug 18
Feeling unlike your usual self? Discover how Pitta dosha might be manifesting in your body and mind, and how Ayurveda can assist you in rebalancing your life.
Explore more on the Saumya Blog, selected top Ayurveda blogs and websites to watch.
Ayurveda Signs of Burn Out and Treatment
At Saumya Ayurveda, we're seeing a dramatic increase in the number of new clients, from teenager to people in their 80's with heartburn, GERD, IBS, Ulcerative Colitis in the past two year, it is clear we are literally burning up--our digestive tissues are being burnt by acid, in other words, high Pitta dosha.
If Pitta is not rebalanced at that point, Pitta spills over into general circulation and lands in our weak spots, or kavya guna. We may feel inflamed all over, have migrating issues, and go to one specialist after another and find no answers.
“Veena has been great. I suffered with burning mouth syndrome for many years. Doctors and dentists had no idea what I was even talking about, much less solutions. Veena knew immediately. Within in a few weeks of using the herbs and protocols she recommended, I am not experiencing any of the symptoms I did previously. And, my thinking is clearer, I am nearly free from hot flashes, and I feel more like myself.
Everything has been easy to incorporate into my life, which is the best part. This feels sustainable. I highly recommend working with Veena.”
- – Liz Pfeffer, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Work demands too much of us, and the world is intense, creating a Pitta and Vata imbalance for most people, which is to say, a chronic state of overwhelm with the intensity. In other words, Vata becomes aggravated causing anxiety, panic attacks, poor sleep, constipation and more. Pitta becomes provoked leading to symptoms such as high blood pressure, migraines, imbalanced menstrual cycles, hot flashes, GERD, loose stools, and on the list goes.
Here's how it works. Vata (wind, movement) becomes aggravated, typically we first feel overwhelmed and stressed. When this state is chronic, we tend to go into flight-fight mode and get stuck there. Then, Vata, the wind pushes Pitta, heat, intensity.
Picture a wildfire. What starts out as a spark of fire, when wind blows on it, what happens? The fire spreads--back and forth it goes, the more wind the more fire and this leads to us feeling burnt up and burned out. When Vata and Pitta are chronically elevated, we feel it, and it doesn’t feel good.
"We need to save ourselves. If we don't, who will? If not now, when? Simple, well-guided adjustments to food as medicine, herbs and lifestyle, creates significant and lasting changes." - Veena, Saumya Ayurveda
Signs and Symptoms of Excess Pitta as Burn Out:
1. Short fused
2. Hot tempered
3. Mental burnout
4. Feeling mentally overly intense
5. Frustration, anger
6. Being judgmental
7. Irritability, impatience, intolerant
8. Excessive perfectionism
9. Overworking
10. Burning bridges 11. Packing one's schedule too full
12. Being overly critical of oneself and/or others 13. Difficulty relaxing
14. Overthinking, overanalyzing, living in one's head 15. Intensity
Related Resources: 30 Reasons Why You Need an Ayurveda Emotional Detox
35 Signs of Pitta Imbalances:
Body:
1. Red, burning, or irritated skin including eczema and dermatitis
2. Headaches with burning sensation and migraines
3. Rashes, response to insect bites
6. Inflammation or any of the "itis” conditions (colitis, dermatitis, etc.)
7. Acne
8. Stomach heat increases, causing heartburn, acid reflux, GERD and ulcers
9. Hyperthyroidism
10. Loose stools (soft serve ice cream consistency) or diarrhea
11. Overactive metabolism
12. Nausea or discomfort upon missing meal
13. Heat avoidant or intolerant
14. Heavy, clotty cycles
15. Interrupted sleep
17. Inflammation in the body can lead to joint pain
18. Increased sweating and sour or foul body odor.
19. Increased hunger and thirst
20. Heated digestive system issues: inflammatory bowel conditions and flare ups
21. Excessive thirst, unquenchable thirst
22. Autoimmune disorders
23. Fevers
24. Acute inflammation of the joints
26. Sun avoidant
Explore More: Pitta Dosha Guide
Mind:
27. More argumentative, judgmental, competitive, angry, irritated, frustrated, and nit-picky (short fused)
29. Workaholic tendencies
30. Burned out
31. Jealousy
32. Impatience, criticism, and intolerant
33. Overly attached to goals
34. Ego inflamed
35. Controlling, fiery personality
Ayurveda Signs of Burn Out and Treatment mentally and physically manifest in a variety of ways. Don't miss the messages these symptoms are sending to you--they're trying to get your attention.
“I was inflamed. I had trouble keeping weight on, I was diagnosed with incurable ulcerative proctitus, my energy was very low, and I was taking medications daily for a skin condition, and I had severe migraines.
Following Veena’s guidance, all of these conditions have been nearly eliminated! The incurable ulcerative proctitus was given a Mayo Clinic Score of 0, normal or inactive disease.
I’m very grateful to Veena for the wonderful results and the healthier quality of life we have attained together. Without reservation, I highly recommend Veena at Saumya Ayurveda.”
--Christopher Schirber, Yoga Teacher, Minnesota
Pitta Governs Metabolism and Transformation
Pitta is responsible for all metabolism and transformation whether it's in our body or mind. Let's look at Pitta's five subdoshas to better understand what a significant role it plays in our lives.
Alochaka Pitta: Vision and Discernment
Alochaka Pitta influences how we see the world, both physically and psychologically. It governs visual functions, like our eyes and retina – but also our inner vision and discernment.
Sadhaka Pitta: Heart and Consciousness
Another important Pitta subdosha governs our brains and hearts. Sadhaka Pitta controls how we metabolize emotions and stress – and acts as a direct line to our inner consciousness.
Bhrajaka Pitta: Skin & Touch
Bhrajaka Pitta subdosha rules our skin - our largest organ - and sense of touch. We don't think of our skin as a vehicle of ingesting and digesting, yet skin metabolizes such things as touch, sunlight, and air. Our skin covers and protects our entire body, and everything within it. It is through this complex organ that we encounter and experience the physical world.
Ranjaka Pitta: Blood & Circulation
Ranjaka Pitta governs how blood forms and circulates through our body and organs. In Sanskrit, the word Ranjaka means “coloring agent.” Accordingly, Ranajaka Pitta colors our inner and outer physiology.
Pachaka Pitta: Stomach & Digestion
Pachaka Pitta governs digestion from within the lower stomach and small intestine. In Ayurveda, digestion is considered the bedrock of our health. Plus, Pitta dosha is deeply associated with agni, our digestive fire. Thus, Pachaka Pitta has a profound influence on all other forms of Pitta and why Ayurveda emphasizes appetite, digestion, and elimination.
If Pitta is running high in the gut, and it's not addressed, that heat spills over and where does it go? It can manifest physically and mentally, or both and when Pitta goes out of balance, it can spread like wildfire.
Is your agni balanced, running too high or too low? Peruse Improve Agni: Your Digestive Fire Is Key To Good Health
Pitta is About Intensity
We live intense lives. Commuting, stressful, demanding jobs, work-life balance challenges, pandemics, the Great Resignation, and on it goes. There's a lot of intensity just navigating daily life.
"According to NOAA's 2021 Annual Climate Report the combined land and ocean temperature has increased at an average rate of 0.14 degrees Fahrenheit (0.08 degrees Celsius) per decade since 1880; however, the average rate of increase since 1981 (0.18°C / 0.32°F) has been more than twice that rate."
The heat has been turned up in some many different ways and we all feel it. So, we need to release the pressure and learn how to keep it from building up. Picture a pressure cooker with the release valve at the top. If that valve is not releasing the steamy pressure, the pot explodes.
How to Avoid Burning Up and Burning Out from Sustained Intensity | Pitta
There are varying views on quiet quitting, yet in the context of Ayurveda, it's about long overdue balance--whatever that means and however that looks for each person. NPR's article, The economics behind 'quiet quitting' — and what we should call it instead, states it in Ayurvedic terms--"It's about divorcing your ego from what you do for a living and not striving for perfection."
Creating boundaries, not responding to emails after work, leaving work on time, being content with the current job level--all of these are important steps to protect ourselves from burnout. To protect ourselves from burn out, we need to take those steps that reclaim ourselves, our lives, and we need to restore with a custom Ayurveda plan that fits into our lives. To learn more, book your free consultation today.
Here's what we can and must do to protect and restore ourselves. First, Learn Diaphragmatic Breathing and Change Your Life. Breathing links us both to the mind and the body. And the more we pay attention to breathing by way of a gentle awareness, the more we can relax. We need to learn to move ourselves from chronic flight-fight response, to the rest, restore and relax part of our nervous system. Our lives depend on it, as do our mental and physical health and happiness.
Next, use our free guided practices daily. 11 minutes as part of your morning routine and 11 minutes as part of your evening routine and in between, weave in our 2 minute guided meditation technique. This brief do anywhere at anytime meditation keeps the pressure and heat from building up.
When Pitta goes out of balance, it let's us know. We feel ourselves burning out and burning up. We need to pay attention to the signs and symptoms and restore balance with the guidance an Ayurveda expert can provide using food as medicine, herbs and Ayurvedic lifestyle tools.
“Veena has helped me so much! I had been struggling with fatigue for many years. I tried many things, read lots of books, advice, etc. Nothing worked, or very slight positive change over the years, but I was still struggling with the everyday. Then a couple months with Veena, I was stunned at how Ayurveda and her customized approach worked! Not only did the fatigue go away, but I actually have renewed energy and feel so physically and mentally energetic! I am so grateful. I feel like I got living my life back."
-Michelle Cheuk, Minnesota
There is a saying, "The mind is more in the body, than the body is in the mind." The Saumya 3 Step Meditation Process shifts us from fight-flight-freeze mode, to rest-restore-relax mode. Give it a try for forty days and observe the changes. The more grounded and relaxed we are, the smoother life flows.
"The breath is the connection between the mind and body, so by training the breath, we become calm, focused, and grounded, we slow down the aging process by decreasing stress. These practices are so simple and easy to have as part of our daily life. We actually feel and look younger."
- Veena, Saumya Ayurveda
1. Learn Diaphragmatic Breathing and Change Your Life. When we re-learn to breath diaphragmatically, we move from the flight-fight-freeze mode, to rest, restore, relaxation mode from where we want and need to live.
2. Daily Guided Practices: 11 minutes in the morning and in the evening, as anchors of your daily Ayurveda routine.
3. Ayurveda Daily Routines:
"Choose a couple of practices from the routines that provide you with the greatest support. Perform them while applying our two minute meditation technique and your mundane tasks, just transformed into a mellifluous meditation. This is meditation applied to daily life." - Veena, Saumya Ayurveda
“Veena was able to help me regain my energy in just a few months and I’m feeling like my “young” self again! I love the food plan she designed for me, and all the supporting practices (am/pm routines, breathing techniques, herbs, and spice mixes) are so enjoyable to incorporate into my day. I highly recommend Saumya Ayurveda if you want to feel better and have more vitality.”
-Molly Rossini, Minnesota
Dive into subtle body yoga practices: Ayurveda Breathwork Pranayama
Discover the Saumya Ayurveda Way
We all want to be heard, understood, and cared for as whole beings, not a set of isolated symptoms. True health is more than the absence of disease, which is why Western medicine so often leaves us feeling hopeless and unseen.
Deep down, you already know what you’re searching for: a new framework for living – one that brings your entire being back into balance. With Saumya Ayurveda, you’ll receive individualized guidance to create the physically, mentally, and spiritually vibrant life you crave.
Saumya Ayurveda provides concierge, top-notch, award-winning Ayurveda care. We strive to keep it simple, so you can focus on you! Opt for virtual consultations and we'll come to you.
Our practice model is client focused, we’re not in the retail herb business. We’ll guide you where to order herbs directly online. Our top-shelf Ayurveda oils and herbalized ghees are the best in the land and we’ll ship your care package right to your doorstep.
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Veena is a Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner and meditation teacher, and monk.
She is President Emeritus and teaching faculty of the Meditation Center.
Veena fell in love with the traditional medicine used in her family’s home, learning herbal remedies at her grandmother's knee.
These childhood experiences were the seeds of a lifelong passion. For over 30 years, Veena has dedicated her life to the world’s oldest healing system: Ayurveda.
She draws on this ancient wisdom to help others find their compass to a healthy life – and support those left wanting by Western medicine.
An experienced Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner, Veena’s deep, intuitive knowledge of Ayurveda empowers her clients to reclaim their fullest, most vibrant lives –mentally, physically, and spiritually. Veena individualizes treatment plans to each person, rather than offering a one-size-fits-all approach, so it fits your life and becomes woven in your lifestyle, naturally.
“Veena has been great. I suffered with burning mouth syndrome for many years. Doctors and dentists had no idea what I was even talking about, much less solutions. Veena knew immediately. Within in a few weeks of using the herbs and protocols she recommended, I am not experiencing any of the symptoms I did previously. And, my thinking is clearer, I am nearly free from hot flashes, and I feel more like myself.
Everything has been easy to incorporate into my life, which is the best part. This feels sustainable. I highly recommend working with Veena.” – Liz Pfeffer, Albuquerque, New Mexico
“I have suffered from chronic headaches and migraines for as long as I can remember. I had talked to multiple PCPs and specialists about these issues, had been prescribed a variety of medications that never really fixed the issue.
Veena promptly put together a plan of action. Right away I noticed a significant decrease in the number of headaches I was getting, and when I did get them, they were much less severe than they had been in the past.
This is certainly the headache treatment plan that I have seen the biggest benefit from, and I plan to continue my new regimen moving forward.
I am very thankful for Veena's knowledge and advice and would not hesitate to recommend her services to friends and family alike.” -Adrienne Sobering, Albuquerque, New Mexico
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