The Daily Routine of Ayurveda

DINACHARYA (SANSKRIT: दिनचर्या “DAILY-ROUTINE”) is a concept in Ayurveda that looks at the cycles of nature and bases daily activities around these cycles. In Sanskrit, the word ‘din’ means day or daily and ‘charya’ can mean activity, behaviour, conduct, practice, performance, custom or routine. Embodied in the word, dinacharya, ‘acharya’ refers to following the inherent wisdom of nature by being close to the natural cycles of the day.

In Ayurveda, the activities of dinacharya are synchronized with the natural daily cycle of the sun and performed on a regular basis, because it is believed that daily routine can bring about radical change in the body, mind and consciousness. Routine helps to establish balance in your individual constitution, it regulates your biological clock, helps with digestion, absorption, assimilation and elimination, and it generates self-esteem, discipline, a peaceful mind, happiness and longevity. As human beings we are naturally a part of nature, and need to be in tune with the rhythms of nature so that we become closer to our true selves.

The sequences of dinacharya are daily activities that are performed at optimal times of the day, dominated by the energies of Vata, Pitta and Kapha doshas. The heavy and stabilizing qualities of Kapha affect us between 6-10 in the morning and evening, the dynamic and transforming attributes of Pitta affect us between 10–2 during mid-day and mid-night. The light and inspiring potential of Vata has affect on us between 2–6 in the evening and morning. In Ayurveda’s dinacharya we make small and gradual changes to establish a routine that is suited to our unique doshic nature, and because this is done everyday it has an accumulative and lasting effect.

There are routines around waking and sleeping, cleansing and eliminating, practices for body, mind and spirit, practices for eating, work, creative play and relaxing activities, which are created to suit your individual needs and dosha or constitutional type. These routines are easy to introduce into your daily life and can make a huge difference to your health and wellbeing.

The Magic of Mindfulness

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?

Mindfulness is a practice that has been explored by the worlds meditative and wisdom traditions as well as various Western sciences, including medicine and psychology. It is a universal tool for cultivating self-understanding and healing and is not dependent on any particular belief system or ideology.

Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally”.

The Chinese character for Mindfulness means, “heart presence”.


HOW WILL IT HELP ME?

Benefits of practicing mindfulness include:

  • Mental clarity, focus, and improved concentration.
  • Increased self-awareness and emotional intelligence, assisting us to relate to others and one’s self with kindness, acceptance and compassion.
  • Greater confidence in our ability to know, understand and act on our own inner wisdom.
  • Improved physical health via relief of stress; lowering blood pressure, reducing chronic pain, improving sleep and alleviating gastrointestinal difficulties.

Mindfulness Coaching sessions at Aspects of Healing involve learning about the mind both theoretically through practical Yoga psychology, and experientially through a range of simple mindfulness practices. Mindfulness coaching allows you to find personal ways to practically bring the art of mindfulness into everyday life, moment to moment.

“Knowledge does not mean mastering a great quantity of different information, but understanding the nature of mind. This knowledge can penetrate each one of our thoughts and illuminate each one of our perceptions.”  Matthieu Ricard

Trusting the Body: Kalarippayat

TRUSTING THE BODY – KALARIPPAYAT 

Kalarippayat is an ancient Indian martial and healing art-form that evolved alongside Yoga and Ayurveda and shares elements of both.

The tradition aims to bring peace to worldly conflict – inner and outer. Both Kalari practice and treatments holistically develop an individual; beginning from physical health, mental balance and progressing to the unification of the mind, body and spirit.

Kalarippayat is still relatively unknown because the British banned the practice whilst occupying India. However, Kalari continued as it had for thousands of years as a closed oral tradition. It is now re-emerging around the world as people are re-discovering the benefits of this ancient science.

Kalari treatments follow the fundamental principles of Ayurveda, but are also influenced by Siddha medicine and other regional Indigenous knowledge systems of India. Like Chinese and Tibetan medicines, Ayurveda and Kalari view a human being as a microcosm of the natural world. Treatments work on curing the root cause and not the symptoms of an imbalance. Therapists assist the body to return to a state of balance so that it can ultimately heal itself.

What distinguishes the Kalari therapist’s medical expertise from that of other specialists is their psychophysiological training as a martial artist. Before a practitioner can begin their studies in the healing arts they must spend several years in intensive physical and meditational training. This gives the practitioner extraordinary control over their body and mind and thus control of the vital energy or wind (prana vayu). The efficacy of treatment is based on this ability to control and channel prana (energy) while giving treatments.

Being tantric in origin, Kalari places great trust in the wisdom of the body to heal itself when given the chance;

“Slowly you renew yourself, you are regenerating yourself. If you can have this generation of energy, that is the real meaning. That you can generate energy from your body, you begin to become radiant. You are conscious of the flow of blood, the flow of breath, the taste of water and the feel of air after movement. Your whole body is vibrant. The body can be reclaimed as a source of energy and strength.” Chandralekha

Prana Chikitsa – Energy Treatment 
Kalari Uzichil – Kalari Physiotherapy 

What is the best diet for me?

CONSTITUTIONAL DIET

Is your body absorbing required nutrients from your diet?

It is important you look at, how your body absorb and assimilate the nutrients, even if you take the healthy organic diet. Some of my clients used to tell me their experience that they don’t feel enough energy even after taking ‘huge’ plate of meal. On the other side, some clients complains that they feel heavy and puffy even if they drink water.  They also complaints that they find it hard to lose body weight. Yes, one of our biggest problem is overweight and feeling of heaviness and this can be corrected only by changing to a better diet and lifestyle and  unfortunately no other shortcuts.

Here is the importance of Ayurveda practice in daily life.   Ayurveda is an ancient natural system of body healing. The word meaning of Ayurveda is knowledge for long life. Ancient teachers of Ayurveda throughout explains in their writings, the long life is depending on health which required proper diet.

What is your life expectancy?

Have you ever thought about why our life is complicated and shortened even though our science and technology developed well enough? It is interesting that the lifespan and health of rural people in several developing states are better than many of ours. When we look into the reasons, we will find out that they are giving primary importance to their own health and everything else is secondary. Sadly we often forget our personal health because we are ‘busy’L.

Ayurveda proclaims that dietary requirements for each person is different. The unique personal constitution, physiological and emotional aspects needs to be considered for defining what nutrients we actually needed. Six dietary nutrients explaining in Ayurveda. They are Sweet like carbs & protein, Acidic like tomato, Alkaline – Salts, Hot– Spices, Bitter– greens and Astringent – teas. 

It is very common that clients tell me that they have cravings. Have you ever felt ‘Craving for Sugar’? Have you ever thought that when this is happening and why this is happening?  Yes, our mind need ‘heaviness’ of sweet taste when it became overly light and anxious. But this same heaviness can cause overweight if the tendencies are not corrected on time.    Learning the characteristics of our own body and each ingredients in our diet helps to identify what our body really need!!

Our body always balance by changing our tendencies to opposites of its own characteristics. In this way we need heavier food when the body is light, cold when we are hot, and oil when we are dry.

Sweet is not only sugar or carbs in Ayurveda, it also includes fats and animal protein too. Sweet taste increases the heaviness and oiliness in our body. This easily reduces the hunger and good source of energy and this is why in all part of the world our bigger portion of meal is sweet.   

Sour is acidic, which create the warmth in our body. But over use of savoury, makes our systems hyper acidic which later on causes inflammation.  Increased acidity of the blood is one of the reasons for reduced immunity and increases the chances of cancer.  

Salts makes you thirsty and include minerals and alkalis. It makes your food tastier and enjoyable. Over use of salts can adversely affect the blood pressure and functions of heart, liver and kidney health.

I love Spices like many of you. They are hot and makes my digestion easy. But over use of spices can create heat within the body and digestive health problems later. So I sauté spices in ghee or in oil and reduce the potency of spices before I use them in my curries!

Vegetables when they are raw, mostly Bitter in taste. Now a days we train our kids to eat more green than anything else which helps to reduce their heaviness and make them more active. But uncooked green vegies makes the process of digestion difficult and this causes the stomach bloated.  Due to this reason Ayurveda recommends stir-fries, for lighter Vata constitution

If this is the case what is the best diet for me? Ayurveda doesn’t force us to follow any particular diet but your constitutional diet. Only you know youself better than anyone else. So learn your body type and follow a constitutional diet. 

Dr Bosco Paul
Ayurvedic Doctor