Ayurveda rituals are called dinacharya or daily routines.
Every revolution of Earth – a 24-hour cycle – has innate, natural rhythms to it. As a product of Nature, your body is designed to function in synchronicity with these natural rhythms. It does this best when it follows routines.
However, as adults we become regulated by the activities and schedules of modern society and have fallen out of sync with these natural biological or circadian rhythms.
These biorhythms affect our mental, physical and emotional life. When we’re in harmony with these rhythms we experience health and balance. However, if we function out of harmony with these rhythms we create in the long term imbalances and symptoms such as weight gain.
According to Ayurveda Rituals, one of the ways to sync with our biorhythms is to incorporate routines in our lifestyle.
There are 3 key routines that create health and balance for lasting weight loss.
The 3 key routines are:
1- Regular Eating
2- Restful Sleep
3- Daily Exercise
1- Regular Eating Routines From the Perspective of Ayurveda Rituals
You want to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same time everyday.
When you do that, you train your hunger.
Your digestive system will begin to secrete enzymes and gastric juices at regular times. And you’ll be able to digest your foods properly.
When you digest food properly, you decrease the buildup of toxins and eliminate cravings which has to happen if you want to lose weight
Here are the best times to eat:
Breakfast: between 8 and 9 am after you’ve eliminated
Lunch: between 11:30 am and 12:30 pm. Make your lunch the biggest meal of your day. But only eat about 75% full
Dinner: between 5 and 6 pm. Make sure you eat a light dinner so you’ll have digested your meal by the time you go to bed.
Wonder how you can remember?
Easy, follow the sun!
According to Ayurveda Rituals, our digestion increases when the sun is high and decreases when the sun is low.
Our digestion rises with the sunrise, peaks when it reaches the zenith and falls again with sunset.
How do you know when you are out of sync?
When you have difficulty falling asleep by 10 pm or staying asleep at night or waking up refreshed in the morning. Also when you’re feeling fatigued and uninspired and are experiencing symptoms like weight gain, then you know you’re out of balance.
One of the best way to begin re-attuning to your body’s natural biorhythms is to get a deep, restful night sleep.
2- Ayurveda Rituals for Restful Sleep
The best time to go to bed is 10 pm and to wake up is 6 am
Lisa Bailey from Everyday Ayurveda writes: “Our circadian rhythm is biologically set to require a certain amount of sleep within a certain period of the 24-hour cycle; in other words, sleeping from midnight to 8 am is NOT the equivalent to sleeping from 10 pm to 6 am.”
She adds, “In the former, a ‘delayed circadian rhythm’ means you will feel groggier and more fatigued than the latter, more natural sleep.”
There are two bedtime routines to ensure you’re going to fall asleep by 10 and have a restful sleep.
First, You want to have eaten at least 3 to 4 hours before you go to bed for a restful sleep and weight loss.
A 2017 study from the University of Pennsylvania showed that late night eating increases weight gain and hunger and slows fat metabolism.
Second, you want to turn off the electronics at least 30 minutes before going to bed.
In a study, the National Academy of Sciences found that screen time, for example watching television, reading from your kindle, using your computer, mobile phones or other electronic screens disrupted the body’s circadian rhythms.
Screen time decreases melatonin production, further delaying the circadian clock, and makes it more difficult to both fall asleep and wake up.
You can use that time to do a short meditation, do a self-massage, followed by a shower or even take a bath.
Ayurveda Rituals also recommend that you have a daily exercise routine.
3- Daily Exercise Routine
When it comes to exercise, Ayurveda Rituals have a different approach than the conventional point of view.
You exercise to support the body-mind constitution, not to look a certain way.
In the morning, more rigorous movement is recommended to wake the body and physiological systems up and counter the slowness of an early morning. Ayurveda calls the early morning between 6 and 10 am, the Kapha time of the day, Kapha lends to that time of the day its slowness.
According to Ayurveda, different types of exercise is appropriate for different people. To find out what is appropriate for you, read this blog.
The other time during a 24 hour cycle Kapha appears again is in the evening between 6 and 10 pm, but this time you need the slowness of Kapha to relax and release the tensions of the work day.
If you decide to move at that time, gentle exercise is more beneficial.
No matter what time of the day you move, always take time to stretch first.
Have you ever observed your furry family, they stretch all the time.
Because it feels good to the body!
By focusing on syncing your life with your body’s natural rhythms, you support your body’s natural tendencies for balance, called homeostasis.
When that happens, you no longer need to focus on losing weight, because weight gain, a symptom of imbalance, sheds off effortlessly.
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