Ayurveda
Ayurveda, the most ancient medicinal science on the planet is often associated with herbs and ‘jadi-buti’, but in reality it is much more than that. India’s ancient system of medicine, in fact, has been guiding the human race to health and healing for thousands of years.
Going beyond curing diseases with traditional herbs, Ayurveda offers certain principles and by simply adding them in our daily routine we can attain a healthy and happy life. Having heard and read a lot about it, I decided to give it a try and voila! It actually works wonders.
According to Ayurveda, our health depends on what we eat, the state of our mental health, how and in which environment we live. The system advocates regularity in everything and living in tune with nature’s cycles. This implies to go with the flow of nature, sleep on time and wake up early.
By adopting some basic evergreen secrets from Ayurveda, I experienced a positive change in my life. To boost our health, Ayurveda provides quick morning and evening self-care rituals, known as dinacharya. These rituals are indented to provide us a calm, focused, and sustainable energy throughout the day by aligning our system more closely with the cycles of nature.
Ayurveda describes three fundamental energies and each “doshas”, namely, vata, pitta, and kapha, have their own periods of time within a twenty-four-hour day in which their energies predominate. So, the idea is to establish a routine that “goes with the flow” of these doshas. Without going in detail, let me share some basics about this routine.
The Ayurvedic dinacharya begins by waking up early in the morning, before the sun rises. Then, clean your face, mouth, and eyes with fresh cold water and massage the eyelids by gently rubbing them. Next step is to drink a glass of room temperature water, preferably from a pure copper cup filled the night before. Evacuation is vital for our health to eliminate body waste. After that, clean your teeth and scrape the whole tongue gently from the back forward with 7-14 strokes, and gargle.
Ayurveda recommends that putting 3 to 5 drops of warm ghee or oil into each nostril in the morning helps to lubricate the nose, clean the sinuses, and improve voice, vision, and mental clarity. Also, head & body massage (Abhyanga) has various benefits. Warm sesame, sunflower, coconut oil, or mustard oil can be used for different purposes. Next is to bath, wear clean clothes, and use natural scents, essential oils, or perfumes. The routine put emphasis on regular exercise, especially yoga. Pranayama and meditation is the key to sound body and mind.
Now you are ready to have your breakfast. Lunch is the largest meal of the day so take a gentle walk after eating to aid digestion. Dinner is to be lighter than lunch and should be taken at least three hours before bed.
In Ayurvedic herbology, different herbs are used for different purposes or doshas. We can easily add some of these herbs into our routine. Turmeric is known as the spice of life which is an antiseptic and purifies the blood. Cumin aids digestion, coriander cleanses the system, and ajwain aids in weight loss.
Thus, by incorporating some basic Ayurvedic rituals, we can lead fitter, healthier, and happier life.
