Ayurvedic Loneliness Remedies

Everyone experiences loneliness on occasion. Unfortunately, many of us feel it most intensely during the holidays, regardless of whether we are surrounded by friends and family, in a relationship, or alone.

- By Sahara Rose

You typically become lonely when you feel disconnected not only from the world around you, but from yourself. It is a state within you, which means the feeling has little or nothing to do with your surroundings and everything to do with your connection to those surroundings. Loneliness doesn't affect everyone in the same way: You can be alone but not feel lonely, or be in a room full of people but feel isolated.

The good news: The ancient health system of Ayurveda can help you cope. According to Ayurveda, everyone is a unique combination of three doshas, or body energies: vata (air energy), pitta (fire), and kapha(earth). We contain all three elements in varying amounts, and this is everchanging, just as we are ever-changing. (To find out your unique blend, take the quiz at yogajournal.com/doshaquiz.) Understanding your primary dosha can offer profound insights into how you show up to yourself and to various situations in life, including loneliness. There is no shame in feeling lonely-quite the contrary. Having some sense of why you're experiencing it can be helpful in moving through it. After all, it's only when you own an emotion and begin to alter how you label it can you change how you respond to it.

The reasons for finding time for yourself during the holiday season to counteract loneliness are different for each dosha-you may need to put yourself first, draw a boundary with work, or stop distracting yourself from your feelings. But the underlying intention is the same: to consider what your mind and body truly need. That knowledge can help you perceive loneliness, or any undesired emotion, less as a fixed state and more as a reminder to reevaluate what you need. This is the lasting solution to making your holiday season-and your everyday life-more fulfilling.

If your primary dosha is Vata...