Simple daily practices create intentions for wellness.
The holidays are known to exacerbate anxiety, stress, and an overall imbalance in one’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Seasonal changes, financial stress, family pressure, holiday shopping, unrealistic expectations, and not being close in proximity to family and friends are some of the triggers that can cause imbalance. The solution can be found through cultivating consistency in daily routine of ancient Ayurvedic rituals performed each morning. Set aside time for you this holiday season. Even a few minutes a day can create the shifts needed to maintain balance. And morning matters: according to Ayurveda, the 5,000-year-old system of Indian medicine, morning is considered sacred; what happens at the start of each day can set the tone for all that follows. Here are seven simple Ayurvedic practices to encourage overall mind, body, and spirit balance, to create balance for every day.
- Start with Gratitude
Immediately after waking, before you’ve left your bed, say a prayer of thank you. With gratitude in your heart, then form an intention, or sankalpa, related to your day. Saying “thank you” is essential to maintaining balance during the holiday season (and throughout the year). Gratitude delivers us to a place of grace, honoring what is present right now in our lives, rather than living in the future or past.
- Drink Warm Water with Lemon
Prepare a warm glass of water and add a squirt of lemon (and raw honey if you wish). Sipping this elixir encourages detoxification and letting go, always important throughout the holiday season and into the new year, to release what is not ours that other people may be leaving with us.
- Tongue-Scraping
Add tongue-scraping to your tooth-brushing routine. After brushing as usual, use a metal tongue scraper or the back of a spoon to remove toxins, bacteria, and other debris from the tongue. Scraping the tongue also stimulates the digestive system and can reduce bad breath.
- Oil-Pulling
After brushing and scraping, gargle your mouth with warm sesame oil, an ancient practice known now as oil-pulling. Take a teaspoon-sized about of warm sesame oil (coconut oil works well too), and swish the oil around your mouth for a few minutes. Be careful not to swallow it; it will be full of toxins! Spit it out (not down the sink) and gently massage your gums with your finger.
- Get Moving Part One
By now your bowels are hopefully ready to release. Sit (or even better squat) on your toilet. Be sure not to multitask as this draws energy away from the movement at hand. The practice of drinking warm water with lemon and maintaining a morning bathroom routine will help encourage regularity allowing you to feel light (physically, mentally, and emotionally) throughout the day.
- Oil Massage (Abhyangha)
The grounding and heavy qualities of oil are essential during the holiday season to keep your mind and body nourished and comforted, and counterbalance the excess of vata energy that sometimes comes with the fall season Simply heat up warm sesame or coconut oil and massage into your face, neck, ears, and upper and lower body before you shower. Sit peacefully for 15 minutes and allow the oil to soak into your body (you can be oil-pulling during this time). Abhyanga will immediately calm your mind and keep you centered for the rest of the day. In the evening, you can repeat the oil massage or apply some oil to the soles of your feet before bed.
- Get Moving Part Two
Daily movement, especially activities such as yoga and walking, can help calm your mind, encourage sounder sleep, and increase your flexibility. Try scheduling exercise in the morning to start your day right and help your mind and body feel refreshed and clear.
- Shower
It can be a temptation to skip the morning shower if you feel the pressure of many tasks to be done during the holidays, but removing the dirt, sweat, and fatigue that builds up in the body encourages rejuvenation and alertness. Use mild soap, and warm rather than hot water.
Daily morning routines are more than just self-care tasks. Performed regularly they become rituals—a way to stay connected to what’s sacred and use it to create the foundation of each new day. Bring the power and wisdom of Ayurveda to your holiday season, and reap the benefits of balance all the way into the new year.
Vasavi Kumar is a mental and emotional health strategist, and the creative author of The Way of Ayurveda: Stop Dieting Start Living. She has a master’s degree in special education from Hofstra University and Social Work from Columbia University and is a graduate of the The Natural Epicurean Academy of Culinary Arts. She is also certified in Ayurvedic nutrition and massage therapy. Vasavi is often described as a “your kick-in-the-pants guide en route to your desired destination.” vasavikumar.com.