01 The right morning routine
Gone are the days when we used to wake up in peace and go through the whole morning procedure with a slow pace, enjoying the morning walk and reading the newspaper while sipping a piping hot cup of tea or coffee.
Mornings these days are chaos personified. Everyone is running because everyone has to reach somewhere on time.
Right from the moment you wake up till the time you go back to bed, you are constantly chasing deadlines--reaching work/class on time, finishing assignments, rushing to catch the metro home and then pacing to keep your social media updated.
This hectic schedule leaves little to no time with yourself.
02 Digital distractions
Thanks to these digital distractions that demand our undivided attention from the moment we wake up--in this maddening rush--we often forget that morning was supposed to be a time for peace and inner-reflections.
Follow this Ayurvedic morning routine and you may find yourself more at peace and may even start enjoying waking up early.
03 Wake up early
Ayurveda recommends that the ideal time to wake up is the Brahma Muhurtham. This means two hours before the sunrise. The reason for the same is to have an ideal gap i.e. time for yourself to properly cleanse and nourish your body before you set off with your day. Don't worry if you are not there yet, gradually practice to wake up early and soon enough it will become your habit.
04 Splash water on your face
The first thing that you should do after waking up is to splash water on your face. Splashing water on the eyes is considered a very effective exercise for the eyes.
Ensure that you use only room temperature water which is neither too cold nor too hot.
05 Bowel movements
It is important to allot a specific time to the voiding of the bowel as your body sweeps the toxin away during night time and it is of utmost importance that you eliminate it from your body.
Ayurveda advises having one bowel movement in the morning and if you don’t feel the urge to go to the bathroom, you may need to sleep more.
Tip: You may take Triphala to help with defecating if it doesn't take place on its own.
It is important that one cleanses the bowel in the morning as it help in releasing toxins and, in turn, helps you feel relaxed, energetic and healthy.
06 Brush your teeth properly
Ayurveda places a lot of importance on brushing teeth and tongue scraping. To ensure that your oral cavity remains healthy, make sure that your brush is fibrous but soft.
In contrast to common misconceptions about the toothpaste being sweet, your cleansing medium should be bitter with a little bit of sweetness.
07 Gargle
We are in the habit of gargling only when we suffer from sore throat, but we should include it in our daily routine as salt helps in cleaning of soft tissues including gums.
08 Oiling
Next in the routine comes oiling or Abhyanga--which is massaging yourself with warm oil. Ayurveda emphasizes on oiling your body as no moisturizer can take it places. If you don’t have the time to massage yourself daily, do it at least three days a week in winters and two days a week in summers.
It is important that you massage the whole body properly, but again if you are short on time you need to message these five body parts at least. These are naval, sole of the feet, head, ears, hands, and elbows.
Oiling should ideally be done before taking a bath and you can use any oil such as olive oil, coconut oil, mustard oil and sesame oil for this process.
09 Light workout
Ayurveda recommends starting the day with light exercise and asanas. They help in increasing the blood flow in the body and also provide flexibility.
You can choose to walk, exercise or do yoga but make sure that exercise should use only half of your body’s total strength.
Do not exercise more than required as it could lead to weakness and lethargy--which defeats the whole purpose of exercising.
10 The Takeaway
Don’t try to incorporate all the steps mentioned above in one go, go slow and take it easy by following one step at a time.
You will soon find yourself full of energy and in fact may actually look forward to mornings instead of dreading it.
---Inputs from Urban Ayurveda, a book by Tanya Malhotra
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