Do you ever find yourself feeling run down and exhausted, counting down the hours until your head hits the pillow at night? Life can be hectic at times, which is why it’s so important to be practicing self-care.
I’m the mom of a 2-year-old who is always on-the-go. In addition to all of my other responsibilities, I know what it’s like to feel as if you never get any time for yourself.
But the fact is, you can’t pour from an empty cup. If we don’t take the time to practice self-care, then we’re not going to be able to give of ourselves. Additionally, stress and exhaustion can wreak havoc on our health, causing a whole host of potential health problems.
Ayurveda, the ancient system of medicine originating in India, strongly advocates practicing self-care. Instead of waiting for health issues to arise and then treating them, practicing Ayurvedic self-care rituals can help to alleviate the stress and exhaustion you’re feeling, and stop health issues from occurring.
In Ayurveda, the daily ritual of self-care is called Dinacharya. The morning is considered to be the most sacred time to practice self-care, as this will help to set the tone for your entire day. Here are my tips for a daily Ayurvedic routine that you can start simply and build into your daily habits.
Dinacharya – A Daily Ayurvedic Routine
Wake Up Early
If you are able to get to sleep at a reasonable time every night (before 10pm) then it’s best to try and wake up early, usually before the sun rises. Of course, this can vary based on the seasons, but according to Ayurveda, the best time to wake up also varies depending on your dosha. If you don’t know your dosha, then take this free quiz to find out.
Vatta – Around 6am
Pitta – Around 5:30am
Kapha – Around 4:30am
*If you are elderly, sick or have small children, these suggested wake up times do not apply.
Set Your Intentions for the Day
Before you get out of bed, set your intentions for the day. Be thankful that you have been granted another day on this earth, and decide on what your daily focus and/or goals will be.
Wash Your Face
After you’ve risen out of bed, splash some cold water on your face and dry with a towel. I also like to spritz some rosewater on my face after I’ve dried it off.
Drink a Glass of Water
The first beverage you should drink in the morning is a glass of room temperature water, preferably from a copper vessel like this one.
Scrape Your Tongue
Using a stainless steel or copper tongue scraper (not plastic) scrape your tongue approximately 7-14 times, to stimulate digestions, remove plaque and bacteria that has built up overnight and stimulate your internal organs.
Brush Your Teeth
Once you’ve completed your tongue scraping, brush your teeth with a natural toothpaste or powder. I’ve tried a lot of natural toothpastes and my absolute favorite is this one, an Ayurvedic toothpaste that contains neem and peelu extracts.
Oil Pull
Oil pulling may be one of the most important Ayurvedic self-care rituals you can perform. The benefits of oil-pulling are so vast that Dr Bruce Fife even wrote a book on oil-pulling.
Oil pulling has been practiced in India for over 3000 years, and is rapidly growing in popularity in the United States. According to Dr Fife, a lot of disease begins in our mouth, and poor dental health can be linked to poor overall health.
There are many reported benefits of oil pulling, including:
- Healthier gums
- Alleviates bad breath
- Whitens the teeth
- Removes bacteria from the mouth
- Clearer skin
- Boosts the immune system
- Clears the sinuses
The most common oil used for oil pulling is coconut oil. This is the bulk jar I buy (I go through a lot of coconut oil.)
Take approximately 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil and swish it around in your mouth.
Your goal will be to get up to 20 minutes, but it’s fine to start with just 5 minutes, until you can work your way up to the full 20 minutes.
Continue swishing the coconut oil around in your mouth until the time has passed, and then spit the coconut oil out into the trashcan. Do NOT swallow it.
Rinse your mouth out with water and you’re done!
Evacuate Your Bowels
This is pretty self-explanatory. If you suffer from constipation or hemorrhoids, try a Squatty Potty – it will literally change your life!
Skin brushing (Garshana)
Ayurvedic skin-brushing, known as garshana, is an important self-care ritual in Ayurvedic medicine. Garshana is one of the easiest self-care rituals to practice at home, and it has some amazing health benefits.
Our skin is our largest detoxification organ, and it’s exposed to a huge amount of pollution every day. When performed regularly, Ayurvedic skin-brushing can help to detoxify the skin, stimulate the lymphatic system, enhance blood circulation and make the skin smoother and more supple.
Ayurvedic skin-brushing is best performed in the morning before you have a shower. You’ll need a large dry brush or an exfoliating glove. This set comes with both and is reasonably priced.
To perform the garshana, massage your entire body including your face and head using small, circular motions on the stomach and joints and long, sweeping motions on the arms and legs.
When brushing, ensure that the direction of your strokes is always towards your heart, using light pressure on thinner, more sensitive skin and deeper pressure on thicker skin.
Exercise
In Ayurveda, the mornings are considered to be the best time to exercise. The choice of exercise is up to you – you can do some yoga, go for a jog, do a home workout video – the point is to get your body moving and break a sweat.
Breathe and Meditate
After exercising, spending approximately 10 minutes breathing and meditating. If you’re unsure of how to meditate or need some guidance, check out these free guided Chakra meditations for beginners.
Abhyanga (Oil Massage)
After you’ve finished exercising but before you have a shower, perform a self-massage with an organic massage oil. Massage the oil over your entire body, including your scalp. Performing a regular head massage like this can help to alleviate stress and tension and prevent headaches from occurring.
Make sure you perform your oil massage before showering.
Shower
Cleanse your body, removing dirt and impurities, both physically and mentally. Allow this time to yourself to wash away any negative thoughts or emotions you may be feeling.
Breakfast
Now sit down and enjoy a light, nutritious breakfast, and a cup of herbal tea. If you’d like to make a quick and easy delicious ayurvedic beverage see our post on Golden Milk Recipe Ayurveda.
Benefits of Dinacharya
- Alignment with Your Surroundings – anAyurveda daily routine makes you conscious of your natural surroundings and helps you live in harmony by aligning your body with a natural rhythm.
- Release of Stress – Meditation helps you with stress as you know. And massaging yourself with essential oils also helps release the stress and tension from both your body and mind!
- Disease Prevention – this type of routine will strengthen your immune system which will help keep you more protected from disease.
- Happiness – If you follow Dinacharya daily, it will help to eliminate stress and worries. And that will improve your happiness level!
- Improved Digestion – following a routine like this with meal timings and regulating the amount of food eaten (aka portion control) will help your body become more regular in terms of digesting your meals and absorbing the nutrients from them more effectively too.
Discipline – A regular routine is essential for self discipline. Starting the day with a basic routine will increase your self control and discipline in your work and personal lives. You will have better self discipline at work and in your family relationships too. - Longevity – it is thought that a healthy lifestyle will lead to a longer life.
Summary of Ayurveda Morning Routine
If you’re concerned that this seems like a lot, I encourage you to view this self-care ritual as something that is necessary to your well-being (because truly, it is.) When you stop viewing self-care as a luxury or something that you feel guilty about and start viewing it as a non-negotiable necessity, you will find it a lot easier to intentionally set aside the time to follow through and make self-care a habit.
You don’t have to immediately implement all of these steps to start seeing benefits. Feel free to start small, choosing one or two and gradually implementing more as you feel inclined.
A. I do the massage , brush and shower routine at night? That is when I shower
It’s completely up to you when you’d prefer to do this. I usually do it in the morning, but night is completely fine 🙂
Thanks for sharing your dinacharya routine! I wanted to share a couple of tips that I learned from my studies –
1-Tongue scraping is best performed prior to drinking water so as not to consume the ama/toxins that have accumulated overnight
2-If you prefer to do garshana/abhyanga at night you should work top to bottom (still always keeping strokes toward the heart) just moving from the head to the toes as it’s more relaxing to the nervous system. Working from toes to head will have a more energetic effect.
I love deepening my knowledge of Ayurveda and really enjoyed your article. Can’t wait to try the toothpaste you recommended. Love and light!
Thank you for your thoughtful comment Christina and thanks for sharing your insights with our community. You made my day today!
It seems a bit too much but if you think about it, it’s not something impossible. How we wake up and the mood we have in the morning affects the whole day. I do meditate in the morning, after all the habits like washing my face or brushing my teeth. And I’ve been using coconut oil in the last 2 months and I can’t even express how it benefits the health of my mouth. Also, I like to make some affirmations in the mirrror and praise myself.🙈 I’m learning about ayurveda at the moment and your article helped a lot. Thank you!❤
I’m so happy I came across this! I really needed self care & time to honor my body. I have a 2 year old and haven’t taken time or forgot how to care for myself since she was born. This list is amazing!! Thank you for guiding me through the mornings & getting my day started better than ever. Since I’m newer at this, it’s difficult to wake up so early, but once I get started on these things, I get eagerly excited to check off each one!
Ah, thanks for leaving that comment and sharing your positive results with our community. Glad to hear it is helping. And Happy New Year!
Do you buy liquid coconut oil! Solid and liquid both came up on the Amazon link
TIA
Hi – great question. Most coconut oils, especially the extra virgin unrefined ones like on the link will be solid at room temperature and they turn liquid at 79 degrees. I usually keep the jar in the kitchen at room temp and in the summer it will usually be liquid. If it is solid at room temperature, you can run the jar under warm water for a couple minutes to liquify (make sure the jar is really tightly sealed!). And I also like to sometimes run a spoon under hot water for a minute and then put it in the jar if you just need a little bit. Then it will start to liquify the amount you need which sometimes makes it easier to massage into your skin without running everywhere. Let me know what you try!