Mamsa Dhatu: Building Healthy Muscle Tissue

Welcome back! If you’ve been following along with this series you know that Ayurveda talks about the seven tissue layers known as the Dhatus, which work together in harmony to create your entire physical structure and support an interconnected system of overall health.

So far, we’ve covered Rasa Dhatu (nutritive fluid and lymph) and Rakta Dhatu (the blood and blood vessels) This week's article, we’ll explore Mamsa Dhatu, the Muscles

Mamsa Dhatu: The Muscle Tissues:

Mamsa translates directly to flesh or meat. Mamsa Dhatu is comprised of all of our muscle fibers and defines our structure and natural form. The muscle fibers provide a protective plaster to keep our nerves buffered and our bones nourished. Mamsa also governs our primary pumping actions, called peristalsis (this is what moves food along our intestinal tract).

Muscles give us the ability to expand and contract, inhale and exhale, pump blood from the heart, digest our food, and make a move when we are inspired.

Mamsa Dhatu protects the delicate parts of your body, including the nervous system. The nerve channels are nestled along the edges and underneath the muscles for ultimate protection. Each of your glands and organs are made up of a combination of muscle fibers and fat cells allowing the organs to stay pliable, insulated, and ready for action.

Your muscles are great communicators and will always let you know when they are not feeling balanced by creating a muscular response to hesitate, deflate, hold tight, or react.

Your visceral experiences are also held in our muscle memory.

How you engage with the world or respond with your body language is dependent on what is stored in your muscular memory bank, the muscles don’t forget what has affected them in a deep way. This guttural response often gives you innate cues about a situation at hand.

The muscles govern the emotion of control and their main function is to support. They connect you to the elements above and the earth below.

The Building Blocks of Healthy Muscles:

Building and maintaining healthy muscles requires the foundational building blocks of quality nutrients. More important than a chiseled body, you need healthy muscles to stand up, walk around, act, sweat, and feel pleasure.

Muscles need an abundance of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates to receive the enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes required to stay strong and flexible.

Remember, Mamsa Dhatu is number three in a line-up of seven tissues and receives nutrients from Rasa Dhatu and Rakta Dhatu, the tissues of lymph and blood. The muscular system must get enough nutrients for daily use, plus the juice to feed the four remaining tissues.

Raw fats have good oxygen and fatty acids to support flexibility. Clean fuel proteins like lentils, quinoa, seaweed, eggs, fish, and tahini support energy and motivation. Carbohydrates from vegetables, ideally in a rainbow of colours, provide liquid nutrients for developing muscle tissue.

Your muscles stay defined by moving and engaging them regularly. They become toned by healthy exercise and physical touch (like Glow Ayurveda's Massages) and the fiber quality develops with a healthy ayurvedic diet.

Breath is also an incredibly important aspect of healthy Mamsa Dhatu, it is intimately tied to our moment to moment muscular response as we move through our day. Have you ever noticed how your muscles tighten and your breath gets short when you’re stressed? By consciously working with the breath by doing Meditation, you can affect the holding patterns in your muscles, learning to relax or take action as appropriate.

How to Cultivate Strong and Flexible Muscles:

So what are the signs of a healthy Mamsa Dhatu? Strong and flexible muscles are the obvious clues, but the following things also signal healthy Mamsa are:

1. sweating with exercise

2. a relaxed upright stature

3. breath and heart rate that remains stable under pressure

4. regular bowel movements

There are several practical ways to nourish healthy Mamsa dhatu. The following tips are great for all doshas, whether you are a Vata, Pitta or Kapha.

1. Nourish: Incorporate electrolytes like magnesium-rich celtic sea salt, or ayurvedic black salt to calm the muscles

2. Exercise: Break a sweat for 15 minutes a day to help the body naturally detox

3. Touch: Practice abhyanga (self-massage), to nourish and tone the muscle fibers

4. Relax: Treat yourself to a steam room, sauna, or epsom salt soak to ease muscle tension after a hard day exercising

In addition, here are tips for recognizing the signs of imbalanced doshas in Mamsa Dhatu and how to support greater balance.

Vata in Mamsa Dhatu:

Signs of Excess Vata:

Small frame, tight, stiff, inflexible, or rope like muscles, tension in the jaw or shoulders, holding patterns in core and psoas, irregular breathing patterns, shooting sensation

s in the nerves, feelings of fear, anxiousness, or guilt.

Finding Balance:

Bathing: Enjoy a warm water ritual to relax and unwind

Building blocks: Nourish the muscles with proper nutrition

Abhyanga: Use Ashwagandha Bala Oil (available at the clinic) for a tonifying self-massage

Herbal Support: Nutmeg and licorice tea, ashwagandha tea or nasaya treatment (in clinic)

Pitta in Mamsa Dhatu:

Signs of Excess Pitta:

Excess sweating, heat in the muscles, lactic acid build up, prone to injuries, holding patterns in the chest, knees, and elbows, holding the breath, sharp sensations, feelings of anger, resentment, or mistrust.

Finding Balance:

Abhyanga: Tenderise your muscles with Neem Oil, or a Udvartnana Massage (in clinic)

Exercise: Favour fluid, gentle exercises like yoga or swimming

Herbal support: Brahmi, Cardamon and Shatavari tea. or try a Glow Ayurveda CCF tea (available from the clinic)

Breath: Practice long, slow breathing to relax your body - 4 counts breath in, 4 counts breath hold, 4 counts breath out, 4 counts breath hold - you'll be relaxed in no time!

Kapha in Mamsa Dhatu:

Signs of Excess Kapha:

Lack of energy, soft musculature, shoulders that pull forward or a sunken posture, weakness in the abdomen, shallow mouth breathing, dull, heavy sensations in the muscles, feelings of grief, sadness, or attachment.

Finding Balance:

Invigorate: Activate the tissues with Ayurvedic Dry Brushing (in clinic treatment)

Exercise: Favour exercise that makes you sweat and gets you breathing, preferably first thing in the morning

Abhyanga: Practice vigorous massage with Bhringaraj Oil or Kapha Massage Oil (available from the clinic)

Herbal support: Tulsi and cinnamon tea, or Kapha Tea, (both available from the clinic)

I just love Mamsa Dhatu. If nourished and nurtured the right way, it can keep your body strong and healthy your whole life... ageing? Not here!

As always, if you're not sure about your Doshic type, please book in for your personalised consultation and please don't self prescribe any Ayurvedic medications, it's always a great idea to pop into the clinic for a consultation to get the correct diagnosis and prescription.

Namaste and stay well.

Anji x