8 Ayurvedic Self-Care Routine tips to Maintain Good Health
Back in those days, every person used to follow a self-care ritual in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. But in this contemporary rush-hour world, it’s becoming hard to at least brush the teeth or invest some time for healthy habits. Then how will you live longer like your forefathers? How can you maintain a healthy body like your grandmother?
If you don’t have time for self-care or it isn’t a part of daily routine, you should initiate right from this moment to live a healthy and happy life. Back in time, people were so self-health conscious which made them eat wholesome exotic foods and indulge in physical activities.
Following a sedentary lifestyle will make you age faster and thereby you couldn’t efficiently work on things like your business, education, work, family, etc. Ayurveda teaches preventive self-care habits and its ultimate goal is to maintain good health.
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8 Simple Ayurvedic Self-care tips
1. Rise Predawn
In Ayurveda, there are three main body types (Doshas): Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. According to Ayurveda, the predawn hours are dominated by Vata Dosha, which means it’s a positive energy that awakes you by making it easier to get out of bed.
More importantly, the subtle energy keeps you active when you wake up before sunrise. Whereas, if you wake up after the sunrise, you’re body feels sluggish throughout the day because the time is dominated by Kapha’s heavy (earthy) energy.
Therefore, predawn is considered as a favorable day in Ayurveda. You also get more time to participate in self-care activities and your personal stuff as well. So, try waking up at least at 5 am every day to obtain a healthy body.
2. Head to the Loo
In those days, soon after waking up, people used to head to the loo for nature calls. When you get habituated to move your bowels each morning at the same time, it helps to regulate the digestive system. Thus you won’t face constipation or any issues related to improper digestion. So, the first thing in the morning must be heading to the loo and passing bowels.
While passing the bowels, you must relax down into a squatting position and then should perform the activity. The position is important as you pass bowels because the squatting position is better than sitting on the flush toilet.
3. Nose picking
Jala Neti is a nose cleansing technique our forefathers used to include in their daily regime. It’s basically a process to flush out germs, dirt, or congestion that have accumulated overnight. You need to rinse the sinuses with warm saline water with the help of teapot like vessel called a Neti pot.
To perform this nose cleansing technique, you should add 1/4 tsp of salt to warm water in the pot and drain it through each nostril. Later, put 3 drops of ghee or sesame oil into each nostril to lubricate the nose. This method ensures to keep your sinuses clean.
As our nose is considered as the window to the brain, this method also improves mental clarity, vision, voice, and enhance intelligence.
4. Tongue Scraping
Have you noticed a white coating on your tongue as you wake up in the morning? In Ayurveda, it’s called “Ama”. This Ama builds up on your tongue during the night. It’s basically the accumulation of improperly digestion food residue and toxins in the body.
Ama gets accumulated on the tongue because of the buildup of toxins in the intestines and stomach. The very simple way to remove ama is by tongue scraping which is the only method we follow even these days.
Invest in a good copper or stainless steel tongue scraper. Now, start scraping your tongue back and forth several times until all the white layer is gone.
5. Oil Pulling
After scraping your tongue and brushing your teeth, you can try oil pulling which is a process to remove toxins from your body. Oiling pulling is one such incredible method to improve overall health.
It’s a technique of swishing natural oils in your mouth to draw out toxins from the body. Some of the benefits of oil pulling are,
- Helps reduce bad breath
- Whitens teeth
- Removes toxins from the body
- Kills bacteria in the mouth
- Strengthens teeth and gums
- Helps to prevent cavities
Ayurveda recommends using Coconut oil or Sesame oil. Put a tablespoon of coconut oil or sesame oil in your mouth and slosh it around like a mouthwash for 20 minutes. Once you’re done with swishing the oil, spit the oil into the tissue paper to avoid clogging your sink pipes with oil.
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6. Sip on
Before having anything in the morning, sip on a glass of warm lemon water. This detox drink helps to flush out the toxins from your body and rejuvenates your skin. As the toxins get out of your kidneys, gastrointestinal tract, and other parts of the body, you’re ready to metabolize breakfast.
The warm lemon drink also has many beauty benefits such as bringing back a glow to your skin, enhancing the skin texture, and preventing skin problems.
Boil a glass of water until it gets warm. Then add a juice of a freshly squeezed half lemon. You can also add a 1/4 tsp of Cinnamon powder.
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7. Body Massage
According to Ayurveda, massaging your body known as “Abyanga”, is a wonderfully relaxing way to improve blood circulation, alleviate stress, detoxify the body, and balance the doshas.
Massaging the body with warm pure oils also moisturizes and detoxifies your skin. Thus an eternal glow is obtained. So, every morning perform the Abyanga ritual to achieve all the benefits of massage.
Depending on the type of your dosha, apply these oils,
- All doshas: Jojoba Oil
- Vata: Sesame oil
- Pitta: Coconut oil
- Kapha: Almond oil
How to massage
- Begin the process by massaging the crown of your head and then the scalp with circular strokes for 5 minutes
- Next up, move onto your face and massage with fingertips in circular directions
- Work your way down to the neck. Massage in upward and sideway direction for 2-3 minutes
- While you massage the abdominal area, follow the direction of your intestines
- Finally, finish the ritual by massaging the feet
8. Eat a Balanced Diet
A balanced diet constitutes the right proportions of Macronutrients, Vitamins, and Minerals. Including them into your diet plan can not only promote a healthy body but also would prevent skin aging and all kinds of skin problems.
Choose your favorite natural and organic foods that will support your body. Happy eating! Happy Life!
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Up to the very end!
These are some of the amazing tips people followed back in those days to maintain a healthy life and sustain for a long period. Include these tips into your daily routine to stop skin aging, for healthy skin and body, and to live a longer life.
Let us know if we missed any ancient tips from our forefather’s era by commenting below.
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