Ayurveda considers daily regimen (Dinacharya) as super important. In the following I will offer you a guide for morning routine, midday and evening routine. The mornings are considered most sacred to set your day right and put you on the path to health. A daily routine helps to maintain a strong immune system, be well nourished, have a steady digestion, feeling grounded and stable in the mind. Change doesn’t come over night, so from the suggested list, see if you can pick a few, which resonate with you and then commit to them for a couple of weeks. Once you feel like they are manifested then take another one, and slowly, slowly, step by step you will create a morning routine (Sadhana) Sadhana in other words is me-time. It means daily spiritual practice, to enlighten your spirit. Sadhana can be anything that helps you to be you Your Morning Routine Begins The Night Before. So Being In Bed On Time Will Help You To Get Up In The Morning. Ayurveda expert Dr. Claudia Welch said, “Every cell in the body needs stimulation, and every cell in the body needs nourishment.” Just as we need to exercise, we also need to surrender into rest.
Your Morning Routine
Rise and Shine: Wake up before sun rise! Upon awakening see if you can be aware of how your body and mind feels - being grateful to be alive
Warm water: drink a glass of warm water, this helps to wash the G.I. tract, flush the kidneys and encourages bowel movement
Nature Calls: Going to the bathroom, will help you to 'leave yesterday' behind and start fresh and anew. If you cannot have your bowel movement in the morning, see if you can still sit on your 'cheramic meditation bowl' for a couple of minutes and take deep breaths, which encourages downward movement. (keep doing so for a couple of weeks and you'll notice eventually bowels will move), Leave all technical devies out of the bathroom, so screens here
Tongue Scraping: You ever noticed upon awakening a white coat on your tongue and a not so pleasant breath? This is usually due to Ama, which is undigested stuff/ toxins, fungi, dead cells and food debris. During the night bacteria have ideal conditions to accumulate on the surface of our tongue. So gently scraping your tongue in the morning (5-8 times from back to front) helps to remove that and stimualte digestion. Make sure you get a copper tongue scraper; no plastic
Oil pulling: take 1-2 cold pressed sesame oil and swirl it around in your mouth for 10-15 min, and then spit it out. Oil pulling strenghtens gums,s teeth, and is a natural whitener. For the busy people out there, you can do your oil pulling while doing other things (preparing breakfast, showering etc)
Get Oily: massage yourself with warm sesame oil. Focussing on long strokes from top to button. A blog on how to do self massage will follow soon!
Exercise: exercising helps to boost immune system and counteracts depression.
Bathe/ shower: we advise to use natural products. Our skin is our biggest organs and know that whatever you put onto it, also gets absorbed by it and pulled into the tissues.
Meditate: Take a moment to sit in silence, before the 'rat race' begins. Maybe start with 5 minutes here and see if you can slowly increase.
Nourish your belly: eat your warm breakfast
Your Afternoon/ Early Night Routine
Yoga Nidra: This is a great practice that helps you to relax deeply into your evening, taking a yoga nidra—a yogi nap. Super nice to do prior to your dinner, just before sunset
Eat light at night: eat light, have your last meal 3 hours before bedtime, this encourages better sleep and will allow you to wake up fresh the next morning.
Your Night Routines
Set the mood: This really depends on the season and daylight. Try to turn avoid fluorescent lights. By using low light, the body prepares to go to sleep. Being exposed to too much light messes with our circadian rhythm and the hormones who give us the feeling of being sleepy.
Reduce screen time: Research has proven that screens and lights mess with our circadian rhythms, so see if you can turn off computers, cellphones, TV’s by 9pm.
Be in bed by 10 PM: Between 10pm - 2pm we are in Pitta time again, the metabolic fire increases as we sleep and is meant to digest everything we have been exposed to throughout the day. If we stay up past that time the mental activity starts to increase again and we might turn to mid-night snacking, because their is this fire needing to burn and digest.
Take a warm bath: This is a great way to reset your nervous system and prepare it towards sleep. Especially when you have trouble sleeping. Oil such as lavender, chamomile or pure rose are excellent for deep slumber.
Avoid too much mental stimulation: Especially in times like these avoid watching evening news, they are truly toxic for our dreams. Don’t have too intense conversations or go into future planning this promotes mental activity.
Candle light: Read a nourishing, sweet book that softens your heart, maybe say a few prayers and then crawl under the blanket and rest your head on the pillow.
Having a regular regimen and regular eating times helps to calm down the nervous system and ground Vata. So see if you can avoid skipping meals and make sure that during busy days you always have your 'healthy to go snack' with you
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