1. Enjoy a walk with a friend, co-worker, or your dog. A
daily moderate walk benefits the cardiovascular system, tones the muscles, and
balances all three doshas. The rhythmic pace of walking also calms the mind. If
safe and easy, walk outside and enjoy the extra health benefits, as the beauty
of Nature nourishes the senses and contributes to overall well-being. There’s a
saying in Ayurveda: “we metabolize our experiences.” These beautiful
experiences are taken in through all our senses, and the mind then processes
them into memories and biochemical markers, literally making them part of us.
We “digest” our experiences, according to Ayurveda. In the case of a calming
walk, the result is a balancing and positive influence in mind and body.
2. Take an Ayurvedic lunch
break. Take a break from processed, canned, frozen, or fast foods. They are
hard to digest and create ama (toxins).
Instead, treat yourself to a fresh, warm lunch. Or eat at a local café that
serves fresh organic foods. Leftovers have less nutrient vitality and create
dullness, while fast food contains harmful ingredients such as chemical
preservatives. Pamper yourself—silence the smartphone and shut down the laptop.
Devote full attention to your delicious meal for a nurturing, rejuvenating,
nourishing lunch break.
3. First thing in the morning, drink a glass of
room-temperature water, or sip hot water. Hot water is an age-old secret for
reducing ama. Warm water stimulates the digestive and elimination tract, and
staying hydrated helps flush out accumulated ama or toxins. This in turn helps
maintain better digestion and clearer skin. It’s surprisingly balancing. Try
using an Ayurvedic tongue
scrapereach morning and evening after brushing your teeth. This is
also a good way to observe the amount of ama accumulating in your mouth, an
indicator of strong or weak digestion.
4. Drink a glass of warm organic milk in your favorite mug
at bedtime. While boiling the milk, add a pinch of cardamom and nutmeg for
added benefits. Cardamom aids in digestion, and nutmeg helps induce sound
sleep. Light a candle, sit in a cozy spot, listen to some soothing music, and let
some of your daily stress dissolve. This is a delightful bedtime routine for
sweet dreams! If easy, sit in a naturally-lit environment and allow the
daylight to dim naturally around you. This will stimulate the body’s natural
rest and activity rhythms.
5. Manage stress with a little rest. Overbooking the daily
calendar causes one to feel pressed for time. This hectic pace ultimately robs
us of enjoying the magic and peace of the present moment. Every day, and
especially in moments of a high-stress situation, create a comfy nest and rest
for a few minutes.
6. Give your emotions a boost. If you are hungry, eat a
sweet juicy pear instead of packaged sweets between meals. Resist overeating.
Excess weight can lead to a Kapha imbalance and feelings of emotional
instability.
7. Going to bed before 10:00 p.m., during Kapha time, allows
a deeper, more complete sleep. Blissful
Sleep and Deep Rest tablets
support the quality of sleep. Reduce heavy, oily, cold, sweet, sour or salty
foods. For an easier, more restful sleep, minimize liquids in the evening.
Avoid salty, sweet and heavy foods at any time, and especially before bed. Your
evening meal should be finished by 7:30 p.m. Turn off the computer by 8:00 p.m.
and try to avoid anything that’s too stimulating for the brain and eyes. If
sleep is an issue, try a warm Epsom salt bath with some Slumber Time Aroma.
A high stress load can influence your sleep. Avoid stressful situations until
you can handle them without feeling strain. You’ll likely sleep better. Stress Free
Emotions supports natural resistance to emotional stress and
fatigue. Early to bed, early to rise…and shine. There is something to be
said for getting your beauty rest—and being up early. Ayurvedic physicians
emphasize the value of good sleep, because during sleep the body naturally
detoxes and rejuvenates. If you experience sleep imbalances, such as occasional
trouble falling asleep, try Maharishi Ayurveda’s Blissful
Sleepformula. Made from some of the most healing herbs in nature, Blissful
Sleep will bring you quality rest without any side-effects. Deep Rest is
for people who have occasional trouble staying asleep, or who wake up feeling
energetic between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. Ayurveda recommends waking before sunrise,
usually between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.
8. Detox while you sleep and create the refined biological substance (ojas) that supports beauty and bliss.
According to Ayurveda, ojas is the end-product of healthy digestion and
contributes to health, beautiful skin, longevity and happiness. Taking Organic
Digest Tone (Triphala Plus) one hour before bedtime supports
healthy digestion and ojas.
9. Include daily practice of the Transcendental Meditation® program or other
stress-reducing practices in your routine to allow the body to deal with the
stress of the day. Stress depletes the body of ojas, while experiencing
transcendence promotes ojas.
10. Any time is the right time for Maharishi Ayurveda
organic herbal teas. They are actually Ayurvedic
herbal prescriptions for balancing the body, not just flavored teas.
In the morning, during the Kapha time of the day, brew a cup of Organic Kapha
Tea to start
your day without the threat of a post-caffeine crash. If you hit a midafternoon
wall of weariness, drink a cup of sweet and soothing Organic Vata
Tea as an alternative to a sugary beverage. At bedtime, snuggle
up and wind down with a cup of Slumber Time
Tea.
11. Self-care is a vital element of health care. Abhyanga (self-massage) is a
simple way to feel pampered and relaxed. Warm herbalized oil rubbed gently all
over the body nourishes the skin and soothes the nervous system. For
instructions on doing abhyanga, visit Steps for
Abhyanga. With over twenty powerful botanicals working
synergistically, the Youthful Skin
Massage Oils for Men or Women are
especially formulated to nourish, rehydrate and heal the skin. The
aroma-therapeutic effects from the herbs are an added bonus. Also try our more
affordable Vata, Pitta and Kapha-balancing Herbal
Massage Oils. Note: on days when I don’t have time to allow the oils
to soak in for 15 minutes or take a long bath, I still feel rejuvenated when I
do my Abhyanga and allow the oil to stay on my skin for 5 minutes and then take
a long, hot shower.
12. Enjoy ojas-producing foods—the breakfast of champions!
Freshly-cooked apples or pears, eaten in the morning, help to create ojas—the
finest and most refined by-product of digestion. Ojas contributes to enhanced
vitality, strength, immunity, and overall well-being. A pinch of cardamom,
cinnamon or clove adds a nice flavor to the dish. According to Ayurveda, it is
recommended that fruits be eaten first thing in the morning, 30 minutes before
other breakfast items such as hot cereal.
13. Once a week, eat kitchari for
a day. Kitchari is easy to digest and gives the digestive system a chance to
rest. The heartiness of the rice and dahl and the flavors of the spices make
you feel like you are not even missing out on anything. Support the gentle
cleansing effect of kitchari withOrganic
Digest Tone (Triphala Plus).
14. Spices—an Ayurvedic zest for feeling your best!
Turmeric, cumin, coriander, fennel, cardamom and nutmeg add not only aroma and
flavor, but also healing goodness to your food. Cumin aids digestion, coriander
cleanses the system, fennel settles the stomach, and cardamom cools the system.
Discover the health benefits of the Maharishi
Ayurveda Organic Churnas—precisely-blended spices that calm the
doshas. Spices add flavor and have a yogavahi property, which means that they
support digestion and make the nutrients easily available to the body.
According to Ayurveda, meals should have all six tastes—sweet, sour, salty,
bitter, pungent and astringent. Our organic churnas contain all the tastes and
enhance any dish.
15. Consult with
a Vaidya. This is an Ayurvedic health expert who can help you
understand and correct imbalances in the body and mind. At any given time, most
of us have some sort of imbalance that prevents us from feeling our best. Even
small imbalances can lead to discomfort. A vaidya can help educate you as to
how your daily food and lifestyle choices support health and balance. A
balanced body and mind create both bliss and beauty!
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