This is a piece I wrote last year, talking about my process with Ayurveda and implementing a new and supportive morning routine for myself!
I’ve been very fascinated with Ayurveda, the Indian practice of food as medicine and looking at health holistically, since about 3 years ago when I first heard about it on a podcast. Since then I’ve been listening on and off to podcasts about Ayurveda, reading up on blogs, and trying Ayurvedic recipes to balance the different qualities or “doshas” that are present in my body and the environment.
I find that it just makes a lot of sense, especially once you discover the circadian rhythms and how they naturally move us through the day. Ayurveda is an ancient practice, and it feels like the knowledge it shares has already been embedded into my bones. Learning about it feels more like remembering, which has been the case with Reiki and many other things.
So in that spirit, I want to continue my process of letting go, but in a lot more gentle and appropriate way. Living my best “Little House on the Prairie” life, chopping wood and going for walks on the beach have all been so incredibly grounding after the chaos and density of New York city. I feel myself aching for settling down, simplicity, and hibernation. Something that is readily available here, as we feel each season intensely.
My goals now are to cook beautiful, Ayurvedic and healing foods for myself and my family. Today I solidified my morning routine that I’ve been following more or less, and expanding more now as I enter the New Year. I tried it this morning and it left me feeling energized, grounded, and ready to go.
Here it is:
6am wake up!
I’m naturally an early riser and find that waking up early just feels so much better in my body. It’s quite cozy to have the house to myself in the mornings, because I don’t like talking to people when I first wake up (lmao). Also I’m finding in the cold, winter months my body naturally is falling asleep earlier. According to circadian rhythms, 5-7:30am are the ideal times to wake up. Furthermore, my morning routine does take a lot of time to be executed in full.
Reciting affirmations
After I wake up, I make sure that my first thought of the day is something along the lines of “I’m so grateful to be alive”, “this is going to be a great day”. The first thing I do when I get up is to play affirmations by Bob Baker (available on YouTube, Spotify and Podcasts) and say them out loud with energy and intention. Putting enthusiasm and doing my best to fully feel and embody each sentence helps me instantly raise my vibration and set up my mindset for the day. I notice a clear difference on the days when I don’t say my affirmations, I can get scattered and easily fall into negative thought patterns. But by planting these seeds of positivity first thing in the morning, they become embedded into the subconscious a lot more easily and effectively.
Meditation
Ahh good old meditation! If you know me, you know I will staunchly recommend meditation to anyone at any time for anything. I believe it’s the simplest and most fundamental practice to open our minds and consciousness, ground ourselves, and the proven benefits are so myriad there’s literally no reason not to. I started 3 years ago with a simple practice of 5 or 10 minutes, every single day, and since that point it has expanded and become a fundamental part of who I am and what I need to be my best self. I do breathwork or pranayama every morning, followed by 45 minutes of guided or free meditation journeys where I travel the many dimensional planes and access my inner parts. Meditation to me is more important than eating. If someone asks you if you’ve eaten today, ask them if they’ve meditated today.
Here are links to some of my favorites:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CjUPnyXFhQ&ab_channel=DavidMMasters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOcKULwFc18&ab_channel=JeandreGerber
Move your body!
This morning I woke up kind of tired and sluggish, and one of the first things I did was put on this cardio latin dance video on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyVZ26yKlUE&ab_channel=MrHelioFaria-dancefunfitness)
I love dancing, especially salsa and reggaeton and this gets me moving and grooving and vibing along with the music. I love the energy of the instructor, and it helps me fantasize about my future living on a Carribean island (my dream haha). Shaking and moving your hips especially is so helpful for releasing stress and tension, because so much trauma gets stored in our hips. Moving, walking, dancing, biking, working out are all so great for our body and minds, and helps move stagnant energy in our physical and emotional bodies. Especially in the cold of winter, cardio warms me up even just for a bit. I like to follow with strength or pilates from Blogilates on YouTube. There are so many free workouts on YouTube, and we are very fortunate that even in the midst of lockdowns we can stay connected and still work out at home.
Yoga
After working out I like to do around 30-40 minutes of yoga. I usually follow Yoga with Adriene on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadrie