Your Daily Essentials
Author: Linda Sinden Date Posted:12 November 2019
A regular routine is key to maintaining high energy as the days get longer and summer fun begins. Consider the time you get up, your morning routine, how often you eat and exercise, along with your work time, "we" time and "me" time.
Striking a balance between these components ensures that each day becomes a great day! Let’s review the key components or daily essentials Maharishi Ayurveda recommends.
Morning Routine
Have you ever wondered why when you are well rested, you naturally wake up early just before or as the sun is rising?
This is because your internal clock is tuned into the circadian rhythms of nature. These biological rhythms guide our desires to wake, eat, drink, procreate, be active, sleep, and even guide the timing of cell regeneration. You can use nature's organising power to your advantage as part of a regular morning routine. Let’s look at the key components of a balanced morning routine.
- Wake and rise with the sun. Being awake and out of bed by sunrise gives an increase of energy for the whole day. Inversely sleeping through sunrise brings a groggy, dull and heavy energy to the day. Have you noticed this?
- Go to the toilet - this is the ideal time of the day to have a bowel motion as the food taken the previous day is processed through the night and the waste is ready to be released upon waking.
- Clean your teeth and tongue. Then place 1 dessert spoon of sesame oil in the mouth and swirl it around the mouth and between the teeth for 3-5 minutes. Then spit it out, do not swallow it. This process is said to pull out impurities from the whole gastrointestinal tract and is like a mini cleanse each morning.
- Take a glass of warm water, or take a glass of lukewarm water with a squeeze of lemon or lime and 1 tsp of honey.
- Shower or bath. If time allows apply Pitta Massage oil over your body and gently ub it into your skin. Massage your scalp and face for 5 minutes, your torso and limbs for 5 minutes and your feet for 5 minutes. Then follow with a shower or bath. Do it and notice how you feel throughout the day.
- Where suitable engage in light stretching or yoga asanas prior to 20 minutes of meditation. I practise Transcendental Meditation. It is easy to do and most enjoyable and I find the calm, energy and clarity follow me into the day. I wouldn’t be without it!
- Enjoy a light breakfast balanced to the season and your body type. Review the foods that best suit when the weather is hot. See Pitta Balancing food list here>
- Dress in clean clothes, suitable to the season and your work requirements.
Eating Patterns
The quality of the fuel you put into your body (input) will determine the quality of energy (output) available to you in your daily life. The simple analogy of a car pit-stop is a useful way of driving home the importance of refuelling and re-energising your motor (body) so that you can continue at maximum efficiency, optimise your resources, and live the life you love.
As digestion can be quite variable at this time of the year it is helpful to aid digestion before your main meals with some herbal help.
- 15-30 minutes before meals take Herbal Digest 2 tablets
- 15 -30 minutes after meals take Digest Plus (Vata and Kapha types) or Digest Medium or Aci Balance (Pitta types).
- To give your body additional support take 2 tablets of Digest tone before your evening meal and at bedtime.
Breakfast
Breakfast is essential for you to be at your best in the morning. Break your overnight fast, re-fuel your brain and kick-start your metabolism with a healthy breakfast tailored to your needs. Until Summer is fully here it is best to keep it warm. Cook your fruit or have it warm and porridge, bircher muesli or similar is still a good idea!
Lunch
Are regular mealtimes taking a back seat to your work schedule? If so, consider making lunch a regular activity in your day and diary. Aim to have your largest meal of the day at lunch. This is the time to take heavier proteins like cheese, egg, meat, fish or seafood. Until the warmth of summer is constant it is best to favour a warm lunch.
Dinner
In the evening, eat lightly and according to your appetite. Eating a large meal at night can contribute to weight gain, indigestion and negatively affect your sleep.
Snacks
Snacks are important to provide an energy boost and are an effective way to stave off hunger pangs and prevent overeating at dinner. Great snacks include tree ripened fruit, dried fruit and nuts.
Exercise
Regular exercise helps you to feel in control, promotes well-being and relaxation, cleanses the body of adrenaline, can lower blood pressure, and relaxes tight muscles. It can also provide social support, relief from stress, or private time to exercise alone and clear your head.
Work time
Work includes paid and unpaid (or voluntary) work. Consider if your work hours enable you to achieve a healthy work-life balance?
There are a variety of ways to structure work time to meet your needs and the needs of your organisation. These include Flexible Work Arrangements and Flexible Leave Arrangements. Do what is best for you and your family commitments. The number of hours you work per day and over a week can potentially either enhance your life enjoyment and fulfilment, or lead to stress overload, which may result in your requiring to take Sick Leave.
Having a sense of control on a day-to-day basis and over the longer term is important in enabling you to feel positive about the direction in which you are going, and enables you to feel a sense of achievement in life. Many of the same positive thought patterns that allow people to feel in control of their lives also contribute to stress resilience – the capacity to cope with, and ‘bounce back’ from stressful events. What can you do more of or less of to support your enjoyment and resilience at work?
Work to Home Transition
Working hard and providing a great service while at work is what others expect and demand of us and what we expect of ourselves. However, many of us find that the working day extends into our personal time.
There are bound to be times when a particular deadline needs to be met, but taking work home on a regular basis is not ideal. It can erode the quality time spent on our own or with family and friends, and has the potential to be destructive of relationships and quality rest. It becomes even more of an issue when thinking and worrying about work gets in the way of sleep, relaxation and peace of mind. Do you think your work life balance is healthy for you?
Maharishi Ayurveda recommends we finish our work day by 5pm to 6 pm and transition into Me time, family time and we time. In addition a 20 minute recharge with the practise of Transcendental Meditation really helps one recharge for the evening ahead. Family people who practise Transcendental Meditation have commented to me that their experience with family and friends is very different after they have recharged with meditation.
Quality “Me time”
Most of us are working longer days, with fewer days off. Along with switching off from work by 5pm to 6 pm Maharishi Ayurveda asks us to consider our larger cycles of work and play. We need to be more willing to take time off to holiday and do things that help us relax and unwind each day. What works for you?
Quality “We time”
We time’ can be described as time dedicated exclusively to building a stronger relationship with family members or friends. Dedicating this time to family and friends is considered to be one of the best ways to strengthen the bonds between loved ones. Consider what you can do this week to build the bonds of love with your loved ones and those you care about.
Adequate Sleep
Adequate sleep is essential for our health and wellbeing. Sleep affects our physical and mental health, and is essential for the normal functioning of all the systems of our body, including the immune and nervous systems. Aim to be in bed ready for sleep with light out by 10 pm and rise with the sun, bright and early ready for a great day. If you have difficulty going to sleep consider taking 2 tablets of Blissful Sleep prior bed along with a stong cup of Slumber Time Tea. If you find you wake in the night and star gaze, then take 2 tablets of Deep Rest prior bed along with a strong cup of Slumber Time Tea.
It can also help to have a walk as the sun is setting and to engage in relaxing activity after 7pm. Ensure your bedroom is an electronic free zone and use natural fibres for your bedlinen and clothing. It makes a difference!
Wishing you the bliss of balance.
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Linda Sinden has been a practising Maharishi Ayurveda Consultant since 1990 and is a regular contributor to our weekly Insights. She has a practice in Auckland, New Zealand and also provides phone or Skype sessions for those who need assistance, but don’t have a consultant in their vicinity. Email: lindasinden@orbislife.co.nz Skype: Linda.Sinden |
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