Even if you have a routine, or you’ve never heard of a systematic one with life just dragging you on as it were.
Dinacharya is the daily routine as recommended by Ayurveda, a 5000-year-old science that defines a framework around Life. Let’s understand Dinacharya, to get the best of this ancient system that is still in practise today.
As a perinatal depression coach for working mothers having benefited personally from it, here’s the recommendation to understanding how Dinacharya helps maintain balance and promote health:
Step 1: Wake up early: Get up before sunrise to align with the natural circadian rhythm. Ideally sometime in the 1.5 hours before sun rise, a time known as the Brahma Muhurtham.
Step 2. Elimination & Cleansing: Attend to natural urges on waking to cleanse the body of toxins. And if that doesn’t come naturally, there are many Ayurvedic recipes for a hot morning herbal tea, based on your constitution that will “help” things along.
- Tongue Scraping & Brushing Teeth
- Oil Pulling (Gandusha): Swish oil of choice (coconut or sesame for e.g.) in the mouth for 10-15 minutes to draw out toxins and improve oral health.
- Abhyanga (Self-Massage): Apply warm herbal oil of your choice to the body before you take a bath, leave it on for a few minutes to nourish the skin, & the gentle application of the oil will improve circulation, relaxing the muscles. Reaching the corners of your back will likely test your range of motion in the process.
- Warm Bath
Step 3: Exercise (Vyayama): Exercise is a must. Just move, run, walk, cycle, swim, do karate, dance anything that suits you. Move to keep yourself from aging the wrong way.
- Breathing Exercises (Pranayama): Deep breathing exercises oxygenate the body and calm the mind. There are several Pranayama techniques suitable to the time of year/season, current mind frame, and one’s personal requirement.
- Meditation (Dhyana): Spend a few minutes in meditation to centre the mind and prepare for the day. With a very specific intention, a Sankalpa for your meditation.
Step 4: Eat right & stay hydrated: Eat meals at regular intervals, focusing on fresh, seasonal, and constitution-appropriate foods. Main meal should be taken at midday when your body’s agni, digestive fire is at its strongest.
- Drink warm water throughout the day to aid digestion and detoxification.
Step 5: Work and Productivity: Engage in work that is fulfilling and in harmony with your dosha and capabilities. A lot of us don’t have jobs we love, but that pays the bills. Either we learn to love it or find ways to do what we love and make enough to survive and maybe even thrive.
This article is aimed to assist you in building up your routine, one that works for you.
For e.g., if you can’t wake up an hour and a half before bloody sunrise, pardon my French. Neither could I for the longest time, try waking up half an hour before your usual time.
If you can’t sit still and meditate for long periods of time, don’t. Start for 5-10 minutes with some assistive apps like Medito, let guided meditation instruct you to breathe or count down or play gentle instrumental music in the background until you can meditate for longer and longer, with each sitting.
This entire morning routine can be fit into 30 minutes in the beginning, dispersing practises throughout the rest of the day like pranayama at your desk during lunch time. Exercise in the evening. Massages on weekends and so on.
Are you willing to build up your Dinacharya, and start living your best life?
ASHA PUTHRAN
