09 Dec New Year’s Resolution: The Ayurveda Way
If there is one thing that does not seem to have any control on it and which has been the case since the beginning of time, it is time & its passage. Till a while back, we had barely begun to enjoy the new year i.e., 2018 and now it seems old and we await another one. Year 2019 is knocking at our doors and its intensity increases with each passing day. We were once boys and girls. And today, we have our own boys and girls with the only difference being they are kids and we, grown-up kids!
Hi, Dr Madhura Bhide here once again. And before the year ends, I would like to give you some pointers with respect to Ayurveda and how you can make better and meaningful new year resolutions!
1. Try and understand our body types
Ayurveda does not lump every human being as a bag of flesh and bones that somehow manages to derail its health and which nevertheless needs to be nurtured back to health using factory-based mass-produced medicines. Ayurveda treats every human being as an entity entirely different from everyone, how-so-ever close for whom the path to good health has to be individually tailor-made depending upon each person’s body type. You could be one of the three “Dosha” types, namely Vata, Pitta or Kapha.
Vata denotes the elements of space and air and is thus associated with movements that control our biological activities.
Pitta denotes the digestive heat and metabolic energy in our bodies and concerns itself with enzymes, bile, hormones and other fluids which help breakdown food and convert it into energy.
Kapha denotes the build-up of energy and lubrication in the body which provides the body its bulk, structure besides unrestricted functioning between various parts of the body.
The body of every living being is made of five elements, collectively called the Panchamahabhutas and consist of earth (prithvi), water (jal), fire (agni), wind (vayu) & space or ether (akash). It is when the Doshas above get adversely affected by the Panchabhutas that problems manifest in the form of diseases. And diseases, as we all know, are in infinite numbers.
For a start, try to understand your own body type. At Recova Life, we have a feature on our website where you can get a fairly detailed analysis of your body type, also called “Prakruti”. Do visit it on http://www.recovalife.com/services/. In any case, you are always welcome to call on us to know more!
2. Try and understand the ideas behind concepts like dinacharya, ratricharya and ritucharya
Every season affects the Panchabhutas which in turn affects our doshas. So too, the activity in the daytime and at night. Calibrate all your actions carefully according to the precepts of Ayurveda and change them such that your “Dosha” remain in sync with the environment around you and your chances of being unwell reduces drastically.
Dincharya typically starts at dawn even before the sun rises and involves cleaning of the mouth and tongue, answering nature’s call, exertion and exercise to raise your pulse and make you sweat so as to discharge all accumulated toxins, warm-oil massage, a bath with luke-warm water and very light soap to cause minimum loss of moisture to your skin. Moving on, it involves meditation after one is comfortably settled and then morning break-fast. Next comes work, relations, pets, and activity throughout the day.
Ratricharya starts at dusk when the sun is in the process of setting and involves not doing certain things like having food, intercourse or sleep. If done regularly at dusk these can prove harmful. Strolling about in the dark is not advisable for fairly obvious reasons. If one has the chance to be in the open on a moonlit night, enjoy it as it has a good, calming effect on the body. Dinner time ideally is before sunset with food being lighter than lunch and easily digestible. It is advisable to brush and clean the mouth & moisten the eyes & consume a simple paan/ beeda. A pre-bedtime stroll of a 100-steps is very advisable. ADEQUATE SLEEP IS A MUST.
Ritucharya means following a pattern of living which corresponds with the prevailing season and atmospheric conditions. Unlike the first two, this one is vast and covers aspects to do with food, clothing and respective dincharya and ritucharya. Suffice to say here that in the Indian context where we face extreme climatic conditions in certain parts, this is an important thing to take note of and practice rigorously if one is to enjoy life in every season. This being a fairly detailed subject, shall be taken up in right earnest in respective places later.
3. Reduce stress, eat well, sleep more, exercise and stay fit
Stress. It’s quite one thing to espouse a particular lifestyle and quite another to actually live it dutifully. And this precisely is the case in India. Our dinacharya, food-habits and prevailing circumstances invariably brings us to situations which are least conducive to our lives like long office commutes, long working hours, working thru the night, unrealistic demands and deadlines etc which invariably affect our health adversely. This new year, promise to make small changes (yes Ayurveda is about making incremental changes which bring about substantial results!) to your working styles, your jobs and your professions. Try and find ways and means that reduce stress and give more time to yourself.
Food is another aspect which you should concentrate upon in the coming year. Far too much is made out about taste with little respect for nutrition and for that matter, the environment. Ayurveda, a science of living life to the fullest in relation to the ecosystem, states rather clearly of the way to cook food for each type of constitution depending upon the season and condition within the body. Meals in Ayurveda are ALWAYS simple to make, eat and digest and are loaded with nutrition. And yes, they ARE tasty! We have in the past, and would in the future come up with individual articles on seasons and related dishes. For the moment, it suffices to say that eat as per your constitution and the prevailing climate and conditions.
Sleep. In all the running around to make life, we do forget that one important element that gives us most energy. And on this, Ayurveda is very clear that without adequate sleep, everything else remains meaningless as far as a good life goes. In bed by ten in the evening, you should be up by dawn- a full 6-7 hours of sleep. In doing so, your digestion becomes perfect, you remain ever alert, content and full of energy.
Ayurveda, yoga and exercise. Need we stress more? If there is one aspect of Ayurveda which precedes itself, it is YOGA! Stretch, turn, jump and do every possible (and impossible!) asanas in the new year. You will sweat, get your blood rushing all over your body, feel relaxed AND most of all, get life right back!
4. Meditate
To contemplate in the general sense over varied aspects of life is one thing. Quite another is to Meditate. If you are still not into it, this new years’, make a resolution to start by learning and doing Meditation in its simplest form which is sitting without doing anything for nothing less than 10 minutes. Start small but start all the same because it’s in the start that people take maximum time. Once you are on to it, its sheer beauty and the relief it brings will propel you to go further! On the topic of Meditation, we would like to state that we at Recova Life hold regular sessions teaching people on how to go about meditating the right way- in addition to initiating our participants into the more significant forms of meditation.
Once again, if you aren’t into it, use your New-year resolution to get there!
5. Use more of nature-based and organic products
This point is rather obvious but we are stating it all the same. Unless you wish to go down with some or the other extremely prevalent and life-threatening disease, the new year should motivate you to go natural in every aspect of life. It will greatly enhance your life and that of our beleaguered planet too. Factory-produced stuff, how-much-so-ever attracting in smells, tastes and looks sometimes have dangerous ingredients meant to keep their potency and texture alive for times far longer than normal. Good and slick advertising does the rest of the trick and we fall for it head over heels in our race to look good and stay good. In the end, what we get is anything but good. It would be better where you yourself make your products with locally available ingredients + those from known labs and institutions which use local and known herbs and plant extracts with Ayurvedic knowledge as their base.
This, was one marathon session on all the possible resolutions one could take for this new year. There though remains just one bottom-line to it: HEALTH, the one resolution to cap all your New-Year resolutions ever!
Wishing you a happy and healthy new year!
Do let us know if there is something specific about the above that you would like to know. We welcome you to our clinics in Pune. Where you need more details, do visit our website www.recovalife.com or #roadtorecova.com.
An important point we would like to add here is of our sessions in Pune on various activities under Ayurveda which range from teaching yoga to hair-care sessions to correct breathing techniques and so on. The list of our plans is long. But we will do it for sure! And if that interests you, do visit our website and register your email ID to get timely information on all our future sessions.
Disclaimer :
This article is meant solely to provide information about remedies under Ayurveda and is not meant to be used for diagnosis, treatment, cure or prevention of any disease.
Where the reader or any other person has chronic and/or dire health issues, it is advisable to consult a trained and certified medical practitioner for a complete and comprehensive diagnosis which can address the underlying issues effectively.
Recova Life and its constituents are also certified medical practitioners who can be consulted. Our numbers are +91 83800-16119 and Email ID atul@recovalife.com
With respect to the consumption of any herbs, fruits, vegetables and the likes mentioned here, it would be advisable where you consult a certified medical practitioner for his/her opinion before-hand.
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