Dinacharya: Ayurvedic Daily Routine

Dinacharya: Ayurvedic Daily Routine 

Dinacharya (Sanskrit: दिनचर्या "daily-routine") is a concept in Ayurvedic medicine that looks at the cycles of nature and bases daily activities around these cycles. Ayurveda tells us that routines help establish balance and that understanding daily cycles are useful for promoting health. There are a series of articles outlining each practice in detail. 

Dinacharya Daily Routine

This is a simple introduction, the following recommendations should be taken one step at a time, and not to feel overwhelmed. You can practice some of these things and build a routine, remember you are doing the best you can to take care of yourself.

Each dinacharya step is covered in this section of the site.

• Wake up in the morning if you can before 6:00 a.m. If this is too early begin to rise 30 mins earlier than your normal time and build it up over a few weeks. It will soon become something that you do naturally.
• Next, eliminate and empty your bowel and bladder. Don’t strain. Ayurveda never wants us to resist healthy natural urges, or strain by trying to force them. If you have problems here then you should consider taking Triphala before bedtime. You can read about it here on the site, simply search Triphala.
• Wash your face, using natural products, you can read much more about face cleansing on the site.
• Brush your teeth and scrape your tongue, more instructions can be found in the detailed articles.
• Drink a glass of warm water, or with a slice of lemon.
• Perform a self-massage, dry brushing and abhyanga using warn oils, full instructions can be found on the site.
• It's best to wait 10-15 minutes for the oil to soak in between your massage and bath. If you don’t have time for a bath, take a shower.
• Whilst you let the oil soak in you could also spend time swishing oil in your mouth, a practice known as oil-pulling.
• Bathe or shower. Use warm rather than hot water.
• Perform Yoga Asanas.
• Have a go at Pranayama, simple breathing practices.
• Eat a light breakfast.

Each recommendation can be found on the site in the Dinacharya section.