How does a vata mind work?

The vata mind has some unique characteristics. And these characteristics are a logical set of mental patterns. They stem from the bustle of the air element and the grandeur of the space element.

Each of these mental characteristics has two sides, a positive and a negative. For example – the dynamic air element brings creativity and quick grasping but also a lack of persistence. Let us dig deeper into a vata mind and discover its most interesting mental patterns.

Pros of a Vata mind

Creative

Creativity requires unbounded and unprejudiced thinking. The vigorous air element and boundaryless space element come together to produce immense powers of creativity in a vata mind. Therefore, vata people can be excellent artists, musicians, authors, and poets.

Flexible

The sublime space and air elements bring a lot of mental flexibility to the vata people. A vata person is not a stickler to rules. She may create rules and bend them at her will.

Early Adopters

Vata people love testing new things. Like a child, a vata person admires the new and unknown. She may not concern herself with practical and useful aspects of things. This free spirit of exploration helps a vata person to become a successful scientist or explorer.

Experimenters

Vata people love experiments and novelty. A vata mind has a rapid pace of activity. To keep up with their mind, vata people need some interesting thing to focus on.

However, they get bored very easily and get distracted. Therefore, they keep trying new things. However, this unstable focus is the reason why vata people seldom finish the work they pick up.

Adventurous

A vata person is normally unafraid to venture into unknown terrain. The new and unknown are more challenging than intimidating to them.

Quick Grasping

Vata people are quick to grasp new concepts, ideas, and feelings. This ability naturally comes to them because of an open mind and unprejudiced receptivity.

Liberal Attitude

A free vata mind normally finds it difficult to stick to groundless traditions or laws.

 people are seldom conservative. That is why vata people are seldom conservative or superstitious. They love to challenge and change the norms.

Sentimental

Vata people have a sublime and high level of consciousness. Therefore, they can connect with the world on a broader level. They are emotional and can be easily evoked.

Cons of a Vata Mind

A quick pace of activity

Just like the speech, you may find a quick pace in most of the activities of a vata people. For example, they may also eat, walk and work at a fast pace.

However, thoughtfulness and practicality do not accompany this quick pace of activity. Therefore, it is normal for vata people to make mistakes, redo the work or abandon it if they feel tired or stuck.

Multitasking comes naturally to Vata people. This helps to redirect their extremely active mental energy. However, multi-tasking may not be always productive. But it creates a feeling of productivity and content in vata people. That is why stress or anxiety increases their tendency to multi-task.

Rapid speech

Vata dominant people have a rapid pace of mental activity and it reflects in their speech pattern. Most of the time, they may be rather thinking aloud than talking. For this reason, vata people may blabber sometimes. They may say incoherent or half-formed sentences,

Vata people have a great imagination, that is why their minds may wander off to different things while talking. Hence, it is normal for a vata person to rapidly switch topics.

Also, vata people are too full of ideas and thoughts. They may often feel an urgent need to convey their ideas. However, this urgency sometimes makes them bad listeners.

Unnecessary physical movement

You would find vata dominant people swinging their legs, or arms while sitting. They may rapidly move their hands, and head while speaking. Vata people also love clapping their hands or strapping fingers during a conversation.

The bottom line is that vata people are not the ones to sit peacefully. With air as one of their dominant elements, vata people find peace and balance inactivity. However, hyperactivity is not a requisite feature of vata people. They get hyperactive only when they are scared, stressed, or anxious.

Quick decision making

Vata people are quick decision-makers. They would rather be on the go and learn by making mistakes than being stuck with elaborate planning. They believe that true experience can frame better plans. So, their plans are constantly changing according to the situation.

Quick start

Vata people love the fast pace of activity. Acharya Charak defines a very interesting feature of vata dominant people. They love to have a quick start. If they fancy some activity, they would start it immediately. Normally, scrupulous planning and organization are not quite a vata thing. Their main plan is – "there is no plan". They love the serendipity of things. They love to learn and modify on the go, instead of planning ahead of the start.

This may appear to be a thoughtless approach, but it is brindled with matchless flexibility. If things go astray, vata people are the last to panic. In fact, they are best adapted to unexpected situations.

The Vata people love surprises. Unexpected situations spur their creative problem-solving skills. The unforeseen stimulates their sense of imagination. And the ability to freely embrace the unpredictable is one of the greatest strengths of vata people.

Wavering thoughts

Focus is something that does not come naturally to the vata people. They have too many ideas flashing in their minds at a lightning speed. And they may drop the work at hand and be carried away something more interesting.

Lack of persistence

Vata people are quick to lose interest and abandon a project. The ayurvedic text says that vata dominant may be poor because they lack persistence. A vata person may abandon a work that is about to reach its completion and lose a great opportunity.

However, vata people are intellectuals who value experiential learning more than the monetary benefits. Hence, if there is nothing else but repetitive chores in a project, they may choose to give it up despite its financial benefits.

Fear and Anxiety

Fear is one of the distinctive features of vata people. Normally, they may prefer to be in their creative space, and away from the practical realities of life. Therefore, they may not be able to find the best solution to real-life problems. Their powerful imagination plays a villain in such cases. It may exaggerate the real problems and make them look unsolvable.

Vata people hate to plan and prepare. A vata person loves the jumps and bumps of life, as they happen. But this unpreparedness may also lead to anxiety and stress.

Therefore, vata people are highly prone to anxiety, stress, and fear.

Instant attachment and disinterest

Vata people may develop an immediate liking to something or person. However, they may also lose their interest quickly and move on to some other more interesting thing.

Volatile memory

A vata memory is frequently swept clean by the air element! Vata dominant people may have great grasping, but their shifting focus fails to retain the information. Consequently, they may not have a great memory.

Take Away

A vata mind is creative, flexible, liberal, and sentimental, all good things! However, vata people also have their flip side in their lack of planning, persistence, random work culture, and many other such qualities.

But, overall vata people are great assets to society. They are the early adopters, game changers, and trendsetters!

I hope that this blog helps everyone to appreciate the depth of Ayurvedic psychology. In the next blog, let us explore the ideal diet for a vata dominant person.