Ayurvedic Rituals
It’s 7 AM and your alarm goes off. What happens next?
Do you press snooze endless times only to rush to jump on your laptop once you finally wake up? Or do you grumble a million times as you slug through your toothbrush-coffee-maybe a podcast routine?
I know how it feels, because I’ve been there. I also know that there is a way out of that hamster wheel, particularly because I’ve been there.
The trauma of the pandemic & awakening to racial injustices in the United States hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt unmotivated to wake up in the morning & not a day would go by where I did not cry. I felt little motivation, feeling the weight of our nominal reality & not seeing a way out. I would meditate everyday, but the best I could muster was two to three minutes of a focus on breath.
It was in this mindset that I decided to wake up early one Saturday morning to join a Three Jewels GOALS meditation class. I felt like I needed a jolt of motivation, and knew there was no better way to do that than connecting to my inner guide with the support of my community. After that meditation, I finally felt connected to my purpose and was motivated to do something active. I had remembered how, in my Three Jewels Yoga Teacher Training, I had briefly learned about ayurveda as a lifestyle that helped you feel more connected to the Earth. I thought this would be a beautiful way for me to reignite a joie de vivre that was not fabricated - but rather rooted in our interconnectivity and interdependence with the Earth and all living beings.
After fervently reading Everyday Ayurveda: The Daily Habits That Can Change Your Life in a Day by Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya and trying out some of the practices, the most beautiful learning I could apply to my own case was the practice of setting out a morning routine. Setting up a morning routine helped me start my day with a heart full of gratitude along with an appreciation for the beauty I have around me. The recommended time to do these is from 4-6 am, or brahma muhurta - with a rough translation as the hours of the energy of the creator. I personally cannot wake up earlier than 7 am, so my routine starts around 7:30 am.
There are 11 full steps involved which span from gratitude practices through specific ways to brush teeth & cleanse your nostrils. I have adapted six key practices I hold dear to my everyday routine and are adaptable no matter where I am:
Morning Gratitude: Right after waking, linger in bed for a few minutes. Think about one or two things you are grateful for & feel a light expand in your chest as you continue to think about what you are grateful for.
Honor the Earth: Touch the ground with your hands, with the utmost love & healing energy you can muster, then get up.
Honor the Senses: Here is what I do, but this is up to your interpretation. I wash my face with just water & apply a Rose spray toner (this can be anything that smells delicious to you). The point is to please the senses first thing in the morning.
Honor Your Digestive System: You read that right...it depends on how your digestive system feels in the morning, but you should either drink a mug of warm water or perform your morning ablutions. The whole point is that your digestive system dictates your energetic state throughout the day (and Western science has proven that your gut produces about 95% of the serotonin in your body), so you must ensure care for its health.
Honor Your Guides: Again, this one is deeply personal, so I will tell you what I do. What you do is totally up to your interpretation. I have a special corner in my bedroom dedicated to my ancestors, inner child & spiritual guides. It is made up of pictures of my ancestors flanking a picture of me as a child. I also have figures of the Buddha, Ganesh, and the Virgin of Guadalupe in front of these images, as these have been spiritual figures that have been inspirations throughout my life. My meditation cushion sits facing them, and I will start my meditation practice by first closely inspecting each of these images and thanking them individually for the unique guidance they have given me. The idea is to honor how spirit guides you, in any expression that feels meaningful to you.
Meditation & Pranayama: This practice should be followed by a meditation & pranayama to ground your energy and settle into the day. I personally go into a 10-20 minute breath meditation, followed by a 3 minute nadi shodhana (alternate nostril breathing).
This routine takes around 45-60 minutes every morning and leaves me feeling immense gratitude and a heart open to receive and confident to channel, whether that’s at work or having a conversation with friends. Starting your day off right can have lingering effects on the rest of your day. You do not have to do exactly what I do (although I highly recommend this routine!), but the point is to fill your heart with gratitude and pay reverence to your mind, vessel and spirit, so your actions throughout the day are all aligned.