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A couple of days ago I was chatting to a friend of mine who read the post about my panchakarma retreat in Bali. She was telling me that she is going through several autoimmune issues and she felt like she needed a lot a panchakarma but she cant afford neither the time neither the money to make such a trip. So I told her that from what it sounds what she really need is some selfcare and she does not have to travel the other side of the world to do this. Maybe, engaging in some small daily rituals of self care will end up helping her health more than doing a big retreat once a year. So I promised I would write a post on how we can incorporate some of the ayuverdic rituals they taught us in One world Ayuverda on a daily basis. Here’s a nice idea: the best gift you could offer yourself this Christmas is using your holiday leave for a one week ayuverdic staytreat at the convenience of your own home. You don’t have to engage in all of those behaviours, just select a few that feel more relevant to your needs and give them a try for a week or so. And who knows, maybe you will end up keeping some in your daily routine in 2019.
- Wake up before sunrise. The hour between 6.00 and 7.00 is really magical, as you may have already noticed. At this time of the day, nature has loving, calming properties that can really calm your body and mind.
- Try meditating 10-15 mins at bed before getting up. Start by clearing your mind from any thoughts and focussing on your breath.
- Engage in a daily gratitude exercise. Just before getting out of bed, think of the things you are grateful for that day. These may be really simple and mundane thingws, the simpler the better actually…some examples to get you going “today I am grateful for having strong leg that can get me out of bed or “ I am grateful for being healthy at home and able to devote some time for myself” or “I am grateful for being able to afford a nice warm coffee/tea” or “ I am grateful for being able to feel the hot water on my skin” and so forth, you get the gist. This is like working out: the more you do the exercise, the more you will train your “gratefulness muscle” being able to find more things to be grateful of.
- Morning purifying ritual: rinse off your face with water or organic rose water and dry on a clean towel.
- Eye massage: massage softly your eyelids and eye lobs with your fingers. Blink your eyes 7 times and rotate your eyes at all corners.
- Optional, tongue scrapping. After washing your teeth, scrap your tongue with a tongue scraper to remove toxins accumulated throughout the night. If you don’t have a tongue scraper you can use a spoon.
- Oil gargling: do some gargles with liquid coconut oil that you have melted the night before. Keep the oil in your mouth. Swish all around your mouth and spit it out. Then gently massage your gums with your finger. This ritual strengthens the gums and teeth and protects from bacteria forming.
- Drink a glass of warm (room temperature) water. Ideally kept overnight in a copper vessel. This ritual is supposed to help to clean the gut and the kidneys and initiate peristalsis.if you don’t have a copper vessel you can try adding some lemon juice drops or lemon juice slices in your overnight water which has similar benefits. Drinking lemon with water in the morning helps with liver detoxification, helps with digestion and metabolism as it initiates “agni”, the ayuverdic element of fire, ie. The energy that makes all cells function. The basic principle is to avoid coffee and tea being the first thing you drink in the morning.
- The next step of the ritual is probably the most indulging one: engage in daily head, body and foot massage with oil. This in ayuverda is called abhyanga, but we will try a simpler version. I personally have another, not ayuverdic massage ritual, that I ve written about here, and starts with dry body brushing to detoxify the body and remove dead skin cells before massaging with oils. The massage can be done with sesame oil (preferred choice in ayuverda), almond oil or any other oil you prefer and I start by the body and gradually move to the feet where I spend some time massaging my heels with both hands and then move the fingers. Just be careful afterwards as it can be very slippery, so wear some socks or flip flops. You can then have a warm shower though I generally prefer having my bath after the dry brushing and before the oil massage.
- Engage in a morning yoga practice. After this amazing morning ritual, best way to start the day is powering up your energy with a mild yoga session. You can do this either at your local yoga studio or if you prefer at the comfort of your own home. Just choose what works best for you and what you will stick to. There are so many apps (my fave one is gaia) and youtube videos with yoga practices you can try at home. A good 10 minute one for begginers is this one.
- And of course, after your morning yoga it is time for a light breakfast. You will find many ideas for healthy breakfasts at the breakfast section of the blog.