LotusGoa.com Ayurveda & Yoga Blog

Daily Routine:

A regulated daily routine puts us in harmony with nature’s rhythms. It establishes balance in our constitution and helps to regularize our biological clock.

Our body is a clock Or rather, it is several clocks at once. This biological clock works in conjunction with the doshic clock.

 

Early Morning & Early Evening Vata Time – 02.00 to 06.00 & 14.00 to 18.00

Late Morning & Late Eveing Kapha Time – 06.00 to 10.00 & 18.00 to 22.00

Mid Afternoon & Mid Night Pitta Time – 10.00 to 14.00 & 22.00 to 02.00

 

WAKE UP EARLY:

It is beneficial to wake up before the sun rises between 04.30 to 05.30 (Vata Dosha). At this time of the morning, pure qualities are lively in nature, which can bring freshness to the doors of perception and peace of mind.  Getting after sun rise may feel delicious, then dense, dull, heaviness of kapha  (06.00 to 10.00) will have started to color your physical and mental experience.

 

PRAYER:

Karāgre vasate lakșmeeh,

Karamūle saraswatee;

Karamadhye tu govindah,

Prabhāte karadarśanam.

“On the tip of fingers is Goddess Lakshmi, on the base of the fingers is Goddess Saraswati, in the middle of the fingers is Lord Govinda.”

 

OR

 

Dear God,

You are inside of me  Within my very breath 

Within each bird, each mighty mountain. 

Your sweet touch reaches everything and I am well protected. 

Thank you God for this beautiful day before me.

May joy, love, peace, and compassion be part of my life and all those around me on this day. 

I am healing and I am healed.

 

WASH YOUR FACE, MOUTH, AND EYES:

Splash your face with cold water with eyes open for couple of times. Swish and rinse out your mouth. Triphala water can used to wash your eyes.

 

CLEAN YOUR TEETH AND TONGUE:

Use a soft toothbrush for your teeth, and an herbal powder made of astringent, pungent, and bitter herbs. Scrape your tongue with stainless-steel scrapper, every morning. If there is a lot of coating on the tongue, that means there is much ama or toxicity in the system.

GARGLE:

To strengthen the teeth, gums, and jaw, to improve the voice and remove wrinkles from the cheeks, gargle twice a day with warm sesame oil or coconut oil. Also, hold the oil in your mouth and swish it around vigorously. Then spit it out and gently massage the gums with your index finger.

DRINK a GLASS OF WATER:

Drink a glass of room-temperature  or lukewarm water, preferably from a pure copper cup or tumbler. (Fill the cup the night before and let it sit overnight.). This water will not be absorbed but will wash the gastrointestinal tract. It also stimulates peristalsis in the intestines.

EVACUATION:

Cultivate the habit of passing motion twice a day. Even if you don’t have the urge, sit for a few minutes, without forcing. If you do this every day, following your glass of warm water, the habit will develop.

NOSE DROPS (NASYA):

Now put 2 to 4 drops of warm ghee, brahmi ghee, or sesame oil into each nostril. This helps to clean the sinuses and also improves voice, vision, and mental clarity.

EXERCISE or ASANA along with PRANAYAMA & MEDITATION:

Everyone should do some exercise or asana every day. A walk in the fresh early-morning air and some yoga stretching are good enough for many people; some additional aerobic exercise may also be beneficial, depending on your prakruti. 

Kapha individuals, with their stronger, heavier physiques, can do the most strenuous exercise, and they benefit from it. Jogging, bicycling, tennis, aerobics, hiking, and mountain climbing are great for kaphas (though they don’t like such vigorous exercise!). 

Pittas do well with a moderate amount (swimming is especially helpful for cooling pitta), while vata individuals do best with quieter exercises like walking, easy swimming, or yoga asanas.

As a general rule, Ayurveda recommends exercising up to one half of one’s capacity. A good gauge is to exercise until sweat forms on the forehead, under the arms, and along the spinal column. Straining is absolutely not recommended.

 

OIL MASSAGE:

Take warm sesame or coconut oil, and rub it all over your head and body. Oil massage improves circulation, calms the mind, and reduces excess vata. The skin of the entire body becomes soft, smooth, and brightened.

 

BATHING: 

Following your oil massage, take a bath or shower. Bathing is cleansing and refreshing. If possible sometimes use mixture of Neem & Chikpea. It removes fatigue, brings energy and alertness, and promotes long life. Bathing every day brings holiness into your life.

 

BREAKFAST:

Vata and Pitta persons should eat some breakfast, kaphas are usually better off if they don’t eat.

 

LUNCH & DINNER – Kindly read Ahar (Food).

 

EVENING: 

When you’ve finished your job for the day, go home and take a walk, alone, silently, in the woods, in the park, along ocean or on the bank of the river. Listen to the water, the birds, the rustle of leaves, sounds of waves.

 

BED TIME:

Recommended time to go bed is around 10pm

Before you go to bed, read some spiritual books for a few minutes or Meditation or AUM chants for 21 times to induce sound sleep.

If you like drink a cup of hot milk, with a little ginger, cardamom, and turmeric. Drinking milk at bedtime helps to induce sound sleep. Or Triphala powder ½ spoon with warm water if you feel difficult in passing stool in the morning.

Rubbing a little oil on the soles of your feet and on the scalp OR Reflexology is also soothing and promotes restful sleep.