As the New Year begins, I really do hope you will change your lifestyle slowly. Change it into an approach that involves your whole being. For many people, January and the New Year bring thoughts of turning over a new leaf or resolving to change a habit, or in some cases start something totally new.
New Year is traditionally seen as the time for new beginnings. The year is a sheet of fresh paper for you to make beautiful.
One of the key aspects of maintaining new habits is incorporating ritual into your process. Ayurveda, or Traditional Indian Medicine, offers a wealth of inspiration for healthy rituals.
What is a ritual, and why does it work?
According to Kerala, Ayurveda is full of rituals for the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of our systems. What we do daily to stay balanced, such as our physical cleansing, exercise, and meditation, is called Dinacharya.
Our nightly and sleep routines are called Ratricharya. The routines we incorporate seasonally for optimal health, such as adjustments in our diet, exercise, and preventive remedies are called Ritucharya.
All of these routines are designed to help us ritualize our lives with Nature. Living Ayurvedically, we awaken with the sunrise, eat our largest meal with the midday sun, and dream with the lunar cycle to maintain both internal and external harmony.
In the clinical study side, Ayurveda is a science of life with a holistic approach to health and personalized medicine. It is one of the oldest medical systems, which comprises thousands of medical concepts and hypotheses. Interestingly, Ayurveda has the ability to treat many chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and asthma, which are untreatable in modern medicine.
Wintertime for reflection
You can use wintertime for reflection and cultivating vision for the burst of energy that springtime offers. Consider journaling a visualized path towards your goals.
According to research, the concept of anti-aging is embodied in Rasayana. Tvagrasayana means literally ‘skin Rasayana, which refers to refined and powerful herbal formulae designed to prevent sickness and aging of the skin.
At this moment, did you already think about what changes will you be doing for the new year?
Living Ayurvedically also means living according to your personalized optimal health. You can customize your rituals and enhance them with a personal touch so they contain two essential ingredients for success: practicality and meaning. You need to list and try rituals that work for you, same with skincare routines, what works for them might not be working with you at the moment. Here are some beginner tips:
1. Check In with Yourself
The cold months and shorter days of winter make this season the perfect time for reflection. You’re just inside sipping that coffee, drinking tea, or just plainly listening to music.
Take advantage of this time by thinking about what has been working for you last year and what hasn’t. Try to think of any goals and what needs to be done to accomplish them, or observe what has been getting in the way of achieving your goals.
2. Manage your agni.
Agni is the fire that burns within. It is the driver of transformation, the spark of insight, and the catalyst for creation.
According to a study, Agni is digestion or transformation. Ingested food is to be digested, absorbed, and assimilated, which is unavoidable for the maintenance of life, and is performed by the Agni. It’s what we call “metabolic processes”
According to Ayurveda, there are thirteen different kinds of Agni in the body-mind governing the digestion and metabolism of everything, from thoughts and ideas to the pizza and beer you ate last Saturday night.
Don’t take your Agni for granted. It’s about tuning into your clarity of mind, body, and spirit. The clearer and more connected you feel, the better your Agni is functioning.
3. Meditate
Transition to smoothly meditate this new year. Think of the things that taught you lessons, things that hold onto, and things that you need to let go of. If you have something written down, review this before going into stillness in order to reinforce your intentions.
4. Practice yoga.
According to a study, Yoga and Ayurveda are the ancient sciences emphasis on the prevention and cure of disease, and the proportion of health. Both Ayurveda and Yoga are known to reduce the aging process and are found to be useful in the disorders related to aging.
Practicing yoga every day is more about intention rather than flexibility or endurance. On or off the mat, your yoga opens your mind, body, and soul to experience life in the purest and most enjoyable ways possible. So find big and small ways to practice, every moment of every day!
5. Love yourself.
We all struggle the act of self-love. Yet, none of them really matters until we embrace that the desire for love and worthiness is really what runs our show.
Do this:
- Get in bed by 10 p.m.
- Turn off the TV and set the phone aside.
- Eat a light meal by 7 p.m. to allow time for digestion before going to sleep.
- Try taking a bath and drink some relaxing tea.
- Massage the bottoms of your feet with oil to promote relaxation.
- Wake up with the sun.
- Drink some hot lemon water to get the bowels moving
- Perform breathing exercises and meditate
- Exercise
- Shower
- Eat breakfast
- Start the day afresh!
Find balance anywhere.
Mary