You have lived in it your entire life, so I'd assume you know your body quite well.
You know when you're hungry. You know when you need rest. You know what foods you like and dislike. You know what's normal for you.
Yet, when it comes to deciding what suits our body, we listen to complete strangers more than our own body.
We follow a diet because it worked for someone else. We copy a routine that an influencer shows off. We borrow habits that helped others. We adjust your sleep schedules because someone in a comment section said that helps. We keep changing our idea of what a normal body is supposed to be.
Now let me ask you a question.
How much of your life is spent trying to fit into someone else's definition of normal?
We often imagine that somewhere there is a perfectly normal human being. A person whose appetite, sleep, digestion, body build, energy, and everything else, represent the standard.
But that person exists only in our imagination.
Now look around you. In real life "healthy" is evidently different from person to person.
Some people naturally eat less, some require more. Some people naturally feel rested with 6 hours of sleep, some require more. Some people naturally feel at ease with cold, some prefer warmth.
By themselves, these differences tell us very little about whether a person is healthy.
If healthy people differ so much naturally, then perhaps we shouldn't be asking, "Is this normal?"
Perhaps we should be asking,
"Is this natural for me?"
When something that works beautifully for another person doesn't work for us, our first instinct is rarely to question the advice. We question ourselves.
We spend a surprising amount of time trying to fix everything before looking at what's simply our nature.
Before we can decide whether something needs to change, we first need to know what is natural to begin with.
Every body functions through the three Doshas – Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. If everyone possesses all three, then why doesn't every healthy body function in exactly the same way?
The answer lies not in the presence of the Doshas – they are present in everyone – but in their natural predominance. This inherent pattern is known as Prakriti.
You can think of Prakriti as the way the body naturally tends to function when it is in its own state.
So, why does any of this matter?
Because every natural tendency reveals the areas of strength, and the areas where more care is required.
A body naturally inclined to have dry skin may need different care than one inclined to retain more moisture.
A body that naturally tends to have weak digestive capability may require a different diet than one that tends to be intense.
Knowing your Prakriti doesn't reveal a prophecy; it tells you what deserves attention now.
Prakriti tells us what is natural for an individual.
But the body doesn't always remain in that natural state.
Diet, lifestyle, seasons, stress, illnesses, and countless other factors can gradually disturb that natural tendency.
This departure from one's natural state is called Vikriti.
Only when we know what is natural for us can we recognise when we've moved away from it.