Ayurveda Tips for Making and Keeping a New Routine

January2022Blog-FeaturedImage-Sage & Fettle Ayurveda with Angelina Fox, ERYT500, YACEP, Ayurveda Health Counselor and Yoga Teacher

Making a new routine is a big challenge for most of us. Ayurveda has some tips for making and keeping a new routine!

 

Ayurveda translates to “Science of Life.” Or, I like to think of it as the awareness of what is. Either way, implementing Ayurvedic principles into your daily, or otherwise, routine, is all about becoming aware of the way things work, whether it be your mind, the function of an exercise, or the way you interact with your world. To help us with this, Ayurveda sets us up with the understanding of the three doshas, or biological constitutions, of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.

 

We are all made up of all there doshas, but may have a dominance in one or two, or more rarely, and equal of all three. Vata is air and ether (space) and encompasses the qualities of cold, dry, dark, rough, mobile, light, subtle, and clear. Pitta is fire and air and encompasses the qualities of heat, sharp, oily, and pungent. Kapha is water and earth and encompasses the qualities of cool, wet, smooth, soft, heavy, stable, and oily.

 

Once we have a better understanding of the qualities most dominant in our own body, mind, and psyche, it will be much simpler to choose activities to support our constitution, and to put together a plan based on the best way for our constitution to implement it.

 

Routine for Each Dosha

Here are a few suggestions based on a dominance for each dosha. You are your best teacher and only you know what is right for you. These are only suggestions based on the principles of Ayurveda.

 

Vata Dominance

Because vata is mobile, it is often difficult to stay focused, so vata benefits greatly from a regular routine. Vata dominant constitutions generally lack routine, are always multi-tasking, adding one more social event to their calendar, and frothing to take care of them selves as they run their better down. Because vata is cold, mobile, and dry, having routine items that create stability, softness, and warmth are important to maintain balance. Making sure to add time in to feel stable like walking barefoot in the grass, focusing one on project at a time, and making space to be in stillness for short amounts of time all help keep vata balanced. Activities like warm and slow fitness classes like hatha or slow flow yoga, japa meditation with a mala, warming and rhythmic pranayama like ujjayi will help give vata the movement it craves, while maintaining a sense of structure.

 

Pitta Dominance

Pitta constitutions are generally already fairly organized and good with routine. Pitta dominant people tend to be very structured, headstrong, and driven. It can be helpful to let loose once in a while and schedule in a day off from routine, or something out of the ordinary. Because pitta is sharp and hot, adding things into the daily routine that invite playfulness, a sense of letting go, and/or have no competitive goal set to them, as well as taking thins off the calendar to relax would all be great ways for pitta to stay balanced. Activities such as; loving kindness meditation, cooling pranayama like sitali, attending a slow moving asana class like restorative, yin, or nidra, dry brushing would all benefit Pitta.

 

Kapha Dominance

Kapha dominant people tend to like routine, but often lack the luster to stick with routine. It is helpful to set a routine that is attached to social activities to get kapha motivated. Because kapha is heavy and dense, adding items in the routine to lighten things up, get moving more, and/or focus on supporting others are a great way to get a routine going for kapha. Things like; volunteer at a local food bank once per month, attend a more active yoga or fitness class a specific number of times per week/month, moving meditation, net pot, heating pranayama like kapalabhati, etc are all simple things to incorporate.

 

All doshas benefit from

  • tongue scraping
  • drinking water first thing in the morning
  • meditation
  • movement
  • self-massage with oil (using different oils for each dominant dosha)
  • waking at or before sunrise
  • being asleep by 10pm or 2-3 hours after sunset (within reason)
  • wake and go to bed at the same time every day, even on weekends (I know it’s terrible)
  • consistent meal times
  • have dinner no later than 2 hours before bed time, and no snacks in that time frame

Building A Routine

Keep it Simple

I know, duh. We hear this all the time, but it really is true. If we decide we want to start running 3 days per week and start out with 12 miles, something is going to go awry. Ayurveda is all about deploying simple practices, although they may be quite challenging to implement. The simpler the task, the fewer barriers there will likely be to achieving it.

 

Start Small

Add one thing at a time instead of a bunch of things all at once. Give it an honest go for a minimum of 30 days to see if it sticks and if it works for your current life situation. If it does, keep going and maybe add one or two more things you’d like to implement.

 

Pick Something You WANT to Do

Again, duh. But, often we hear, “I should do ____.” That will never happen. If we feel like we “should” do something because it is socially perceived as healthy, trendy, whatever, we will have limited success making it a regular part of our life.

 

Recognize Your Process

Figure out if you are goal oriented, a list maker, big picture, etc. Use this knowledge to keep you on track. If you can be clear with yourself around how you stay organized, it will be much easier to keep on track to build and maintain a new routine. And, if you drop away from the routine, come back to it.

 

Be Compassionate

It is difficult to start something new. Offering compassion toward yourself around falling away, mis-steps, and other roadblocks is important.

 

Routine is a Growth Process

What worked for you once, may not work for you now. Everything is inconstant flux. Not only are we changing, but our environment, the people around us, our work, etc also change so we may need to let go of something that is no longer supporting our current lifestyle. Letting go of that something need not be replaced with another thing if it doesn’t make sense. Sometimes, less is more.

 

Find a Buddy

Doing things with friends is so much more pleasant. Find someone who is interested in the same things you are and will help you, or someone who you can check in with regularly to help keep you on track.

 

Give Space to Change

Especially if you are following and Ayurveda routine, you may need to change what you’re doing temporarily due to seasonal, personal, or unrelated changes. If you’re a vata dominant individual, you may need to was up on some of your routine in the spring when those activities may aggravate kapha. Or, if you are in the pitta time of your life, it may help to add more kapha and vata practices to help create balance.

 

Remember to do what you love! If you are Pitta dominant and you love hot yoga, that makes sense you are drawn to the heat. Keep going! Just add some things in there to balance that out to keep yourself vibrant and joyful.