Ayurveda Routine for a Life of Bliss

Improve your digestion, immune system, energy, focus and clarity.

In the tapestry of life, our daily routines weave the most intricate threads.

Daily Routines hold the potential to harmonize your bodily functions, uplift your mental state, and elevate your spiritual well-being. Ayurveda, the ancient science of life and longevity, imparts profound wisdom on how these routines can be tailored to each individual, promoting a balanced and enriching lifestyle.

Benefits of an Ayurvedic Daily Routine:

An Ayurvedic daily routine, known as ‘Dinacharya’, is a holistic approach to daily living. Its benefits are multi-faceted and impactful. By following a structured daily routine aligned with natural rhythms, you can drastically and continuously improve your quality of life.

Rise with the Sun (Brahma Muhurta): 

Waking up during the early hours aligns our biological clock with the natural cycles of day and night, fostering a sense of balance and vitality. Brahma Muhurta means 'the Creator's time' and is said to start an 1 hour and 36 mins before sunrise.

For example, if sunrise is as 6:30 am, Brahma Muhurta starts around 4:54 am.

Ayurveda teaches that waking during this very auspicious time increases your lifespan and helps you avoid diseases. The pre-dawn hours offer an increased availability of oxygen in the atmosphere, which can boost immunity, increase energy levels, help reduce pain, enhance the absorption of vitamins and minerals and improve your productivity for the day.

Waking before 6 a.m, which is during vata time, can be very beneficial as it’s said in Ayurveda to bestow the lightness, energy, clarity, and creativity of vata into your day. Conversely, waking during kapha time, 6-10 a.m, can impart heaviness, sluggishness, and melancholy into your day.

Glass of Warm Water:

Begin your day with a warm glass of water on an empty stomach. In Ayurveda this simple practice is known to cleanse and rejuvenate all the body tissues. It also helps improve metabolism, balance the stomach acid after a long night's rest, and relieves constipation and bloating.

Oral Hygiene - Tongue scraping & Oil Pulling (Gandusha/Kavala): 

Oral cleansing refreshes the mouth after a long night of rest, stimulates digestion, and supports overall health. In Ayurveda using a copper tongue scraper morning and evening is crucial to remove toxic build up from the tongue. This enhances your sense of taste, making food more enjoyable while also enabling the proper digestive enzymes to be produced to break down the food you consume.

It’s also important to gargle and swish oil in the mouth to extract toxins. Do this morning and evening to maintain oral hygiene, while benefiting teeth and gum health. Swishing oil reduces bad bacteria, plaque, cavities, inflammation, and bad breath. Coconut Oil and Black Sesame Oil are the most commonly used for swishing, and we recommend talking with your Ayurvedic practitioner to see if there are herbalized oils better suited for your specific needs.

Nasal Oiling (Nasya): 

Nasya is the nasal administration of herbalized oils to moisturize, soothe, and protect the nasal passages, releasing tension in the head, promoting mental clarity, and releasing stress. In Ayurveda, the nose is considered the direct route to the brain and herbs administered there are faster acting. This practice promotes respiratory health and is especially beneficial for those in high pollution environments.

Nasya is a powerful preventative for sinus/respiratory imbalances but should NOT be used during a cold or sinus infection.

Morning Walks:

Said to be the best free medicine that almost anyone can do, morning walks offer numerous benefits including improved mood, energy, circulation, and sleep while reducing stress, anxiety, and depression. Even modern scientific studies have been shining a light on the incredible effects of the specific light spectrum our bodies absorb during the early morning hours.

The saturation of infrared and blue light activates your mitochondria, the powerhouse in your cells, strengthening the immune system, reducing stress, and supporting mental health. Morning walks also reset your Circadian Rhythm, which gives you optimal energy during the day and precise amounts of melatonin for a great night’s sleep.

Self-Massage (Abhyanga): 

Massaging the body with warm oil nurtures the skin, muscles, and nerves, promoting relaxation and circulation. In Ayurveda Abhyanga is known to decrease aging, calm the nerves, lubricate the joints, eliminate impurities from the body, promote better sleep, release stress, increase mobility, and protect the skin, while increasing stamina and alertness throughout the day.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Abhyanga should NOT be performed by anyone with high amounts of 'ama' or toxic buildup in the body. It's best to be assessed by an Ayurvedic practitioner to evaluate your level. Some detoxing may be needed before adding this extraordinarily beneficial practice to your daily routine.

With busy modern schedules, Abhyanga might be challenging for some to incorporate. The next best thing is an evening oil foot massage. This simple practice can reduce insomnia, stress, anxiety, nervousness, depression, and fungal and bacterial infections, while also improving circulation, joint mobility, and immune function. Due to the complex array of neural endings, receptors, and marmas located in the feet, a brief foot massage benefits the entire body including all organ systems.  

Diseases do not go near one who massages his feet before sleep, just as snakes do not approach eagles.

- Harish Johari | Dhanwantari

Exercise and Yoga: 

Engaging in physical activity in the morning helps in warming up the body and enhancing flexibility. Between the hours of 6-10 am is considered 'kapha time'. The natural ebb and flow of nature during this time is said to offer the best support for physical exercise and yoga.

Ayurveda recommends to workout for about 15-20 minutes daily. But you should only workout to fifty percent of your capacity - until you break a mild sweat on the forehead and your heart rate begins to increase, but you are still able to breath through your nose.

Breathing Exercises (Pranayama) and Meditation: 

Prepare the mind, body, and soul for the day. These practices calm the mind, reduce stress, enhance mental clarity, and develop your consciousness.

Every state of consciousness has a corresponding state of physiology.

- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

With the fast paced and high demands of our modern day lifestyle, it’s never been more important to implement proven practices to reset and regulate the nervous system while also improving your own conscious awareness. One breathing exercise we recommend is ‘alternate nostril breathing’. You simply sit comfortably, close your right nostril, breathe in through the left, then pause briefly. Now close the left nostril and breathe out of the right. Repeat the process, starting with an inhale through the right nostril this time. Go back and forth for five minutes and you will feel amazing!

We also highly recommend learning Transcendental Meditation. It’s the simplest practice you’ll ever learn, and it can be a great complement to other forms of meditation. It is also beneficial to listen to guided meditations. Even just 5 minutes a day can have profound benefits. Find what works best for your routine, and don’t wait to make this a regular habit.

Balanced Meals & Consistent Meal Times: 

Consuming well-balanced and timely meals supports the digestive process and sustains energy levels throughout the day. Regular mealtimes are extremely important in Ayurveda. They help prepare your body for the digestive process so you can assimilate your food properly.

You're not what you eat, you’re what you digest.

- Ayurvedic Proverb

Consistent meal times also aid in keeping vata dosha balanced, because irregularity in routine greatly disturbs vata.

In Ayurveda, vata imbalance is said to cause most diseases.

Adequate Rest and Sleep: 

Getting sufficient and quality sleep rejuvenates the body and mind, preparing you for the day ahead. Going to bed by 10 p.m. is recommended. Even modern scientific studies have shown that being asleep between the hours of 10-12 p.m. are crucial for your overall brain health, because important neurological detoxification takes place during this time. Disruptions in these processes are being linked to many neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Simple Steps to Get Started with Dinacharya:

  1. Wake Up Early: Set your alarm a little earlier each day until you naturally wake up early. Aim to rise during the "Brahma Muhurta," around 1.5 hours before sunrise.

  2. Warm Water & Oral Hygiene: Start your day with a glass of warm water and follow with oral hygiene, making sure to use your copper tongue scraper.

  3. Oil Pulling and Massage: Begin by incorporating oil pulling once a week and gradually increase the frequency. Introduce self-massage once a week and expand it to a daily practice. Massage your feet with oil each night at the very least.

  4. Exercise, Meditation & Morning Walk: Begin your day with a few minutes of stretching and a 15 minute walk each morning if possible. If you are new to meditation and breathing exercises, start with 5 minutes daily and extend the duration gradually.

  5. Balanced Diet: Pay attention to the consistency in your meal times to keep vata dosha in check. Include a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and fats in your daily diet. Adjust the variety and portions according to your unique constitution and digestive capacity.

Consistency is the Key:

Adopt these practices patiently and persistently, and witness the transformation they bring to your life. Ayurveda is not a sprint but a marathon with no finish line. Each step compounds on the last, and every step you take towards balance is a step towards a vibrant and enriching life.

Just as a well-tended garden yields a bountiful harvest, nurturing your daily routines with care yields a life of balance and fulfillment.

Want personalized recommendations to enrich your quality of life?

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