#ayurveda routine

[comeonitsonly40days]

Day 306:  It Keeps Getting Easier

After showering off the sesame oil and getting the bathtub all greasy, the next step in the Ayurvedic morning routine is so easy, even I can’t complain about it.  According to the Ayurvedic Institute, Step 14 is “Dressing.”  There are no instructions about that type of clothing to wear or in which order to put things on, just the simple statement that “wearing clean clothes brings beauty and virtue.”  If only.

Four years ago I suffered a distal radius fracture and getting dressed each morning became a terrible ordeal.  Especially for the first two weeks when the hand surgeon feared my radius might shift a bit more and require surgery.  To this day, I have a vague dread of getting dressed each morning.  Something in the recesses of my memory keeps whispering to me that it’s not gonna be easy or pretty.  But ever since I’ve been doing this Ayurvedic thing, that voice has been silenced.  By the time I get out of the shower, feeling proud and happy that I’m now on Step 14, nothing fazes me.  I feel sick of my clothes and very sick of putting on so many layers even though it’s late April, but my optimistic outlook is unflappable.

I gave myself permission this morning to skip the routine because I stayed up late reading last night and slept in a bit this morning.  Intellectually, I had all my excuses lined up.  But something more powerful than my intellect wouldn’t let me.  So I got the 19 steps of the Ayurvedic morning routine completed--in record time--and couldn’t stop marveling at my stick-to-itiveness.  There’s a real possibility I may never look back.

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” 

                                                                           --Calvin Coolidge

--CompassRose   

[comeonitsonly40days]

Day 312:  There’s Something in My Ear!

Next to putting drops in my nose, the thing I dislike most in life is putting drops in my ears.  Lucky me, that’s the next step in the Ayurvedic morning routine, according to our friends at the Ayurveda Institute in Albuquerque.

Once again, you’re supposed to deposit five drops of warm sesame oil in each ear.  This supposedly alleviates ailments such as poor hearing, waxy build-up, TMJ, and even lockjaw!  As much as I’m loving all things Ayurvedic these days, I don’t think I’d rely on sesame oil if lockjaw set in.  But thankfully, my main issue, otologically speaking, is my lousy earring.  After telling my husband for 30 years that if he didn’t stop blasting his damn stereo, he was going to wind up deaf, the joke’s on me and my shitty hearing.

So once again, on the fourth day of doing the Ayurvedic regimen, I mustered up the courage to drop two little squirts of warm oil into my ear.  To be perfectly honest, it felt comforting.  When I returned my head to an upright position, a small trickle of oil ran out my ear, but that’s OK because the next step involves getting oily from head to toe.

I’m sure it’s too early to experience any improvement in my hearing, but honestly, I swear I’m not turning up the TV quite as loud.  Last night my husband couldn’t understand what someone said on whatever MSNBC show we were watching and asked me if I’d heard it.  I had and was able to explain it all to him!  That’s what he gets for turning up his damn stereo so loud.

“It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.”                                                                      -- Walter Lippmann

--CompassRose

[comeonitsonly40days]

Day 322:  Hells Bells, I’ve Got to Start Praying Again?

Back in February, when Lent began, I decided to pray to St. Ephrem as part of my daily routine and only crapped out a few times.  But I felt guilty each time I prostrated myself because I’m not a true believer.  Happily, I wasn’t struck down during those 43 days of forced devotion.  But I was dismayed to learn that Step 2 of the Ayurvedic morning route requires a prayer be said before you even get out of bed.  Who knows how long a person can press their luck in the Simply Mouthing Prayer Department before some god somewhere gets pissed and takes action.

The Ayurvedic Institute of Albuquerque, NM, provides a prayer that is supposed to be said after you clean your aura (Step 1).  You’re supposed to touch the ground with your right hand after saying the prayer and then touch that hand to your forehead--out of love and respect for Mother Earth.  The problem is that my bed is on the second floor and if I touch the ground after praying, I’m actually touching the new hardwood flooring from Lowe’s we had installed last summer.  

I decided it would be best if I threw on some clothes (but not my clothing for the day because a shower is coming up in Step 13) and headed outside to stand on Mother Earth herself while praying.  But the instructions say to pray before leaving bed.  So for the past three days I’ve been praying in bed, then running outside, standing in the backyard in 30-degree temps, saying the prayer again, and then touching the grass.  Because it’s been rainy lately, when I touch my forehead, I leave bits of damp dirt and dew on it.  Let’s all pray that provides some beautiful extra grounding. 

I feel guilty about saying the prayer because I don’t believe in Hindu gods or a Christian god or anybody’s god.  If I’m wrong, and somebody really is watching over me, here’s hoping they take pity on a poor wretch like me who’s just following the directions she printed out from somebody’s website.

Here’s the prayer the Institute recommends saying first thing each morning:

“Dear God, you are inside of me, within my very breath, within each bird, each mighty mountain. Your sweet touch reaches everything and I am well protected.

Thank you God for this beautiful day before me.  May joy, love, peace and compassion be part of my life and all those around me on this day.  I am healing and I am healed.”

[comeonitsonly40days]

Day 323:  Day 3:  Day 2:  Step 1

Today is my third day of trying really hard to bring some healthy daily routines into my life.  And it’s my second day of doing the 19-step Ayurvedic morning ritual.  The whole thing isn’t exactly killing me, but it’s also not getting any easier.  

Today I plan to talk about Step 1 of the Ayurvedic morning routine.  I might digress and wander off into other areas, but I really intend to stick to Step 1.  And according to all things New Age, intention is everything.

The website maintained by the Ayurvedic Institute of Albuquerque, NM, says that I should get up by 6 a.m. and then do this:  “Look at your hands for a few moments, then gently move them over your face and chest down to the waist.  This cleans the aura.”

These past two mornings I’ve gotten up closer to 6:30 a.m., but that’s OK.  Then I had to find my glasses, which could have been be anywhere in the room or in the bed or under the bed, and put them on so I could read the three pages of instructions I’ve printed out from the Institute’s website.  Then I took off my glasses and did the stuff with my hands.  Maybe I got my aura good and cleaned, maybe I didn’t, but I definitely thought a lot about doing a better job of filing my nails.  And that started my day off with some quasi-negative thoughts, which surely can’t be part of the Ayurvedic plan. 

So I’ve been able to get Step 1 done for two days in a row.  Step 2 is easy, too.  But that’s for tomorrow’s blog.  I will say this for good ol’ Ayurveda:  Getting the 19 steps done more or less correctly for two mornings in a row feels like a Nobel-prize deserving feat.  And this morning, while executing Step 13 (bathing), the thought popped into my head that I felt younger.  That’s really strange because I never feel old, never look for any type of corrective to restore youthfulness.  The fact that it simply showed up, gave me an unexpected and truly authentic boost.  But then I had to move on to Step 14 (dressing) and piling on four layers of clothing in April brought me right back down.

“Being young isn't about age, it's about being a free spirit. You can meet someone of 20 who's boring and old, or you can meet someone of 70 who's youthful and exciting. I met Fred Astaire when he was 72 and I was 21, and I fell in love with him. He certainly was a free spirit.”                           -- Twiggy

[comeonitsonly40days]

Day 325:  Ayurvedic Update

It’s Day 2 of my attempt to bring not just some healthy routine into my life, but also some sound Ayurveda practices. Yesterday I wandered around the internet until I found a website belonging to something called The Ayurvedic Institute of Albuquerque, New Mexico.  There, someone named Vasant Lad, B.A.M.S., M.A.Sc., had gone to the trouble of writing up The Daily Routine with lots of helpful hints.

Right off the bat, I went to a Doubting Thomas place as I read the 19 steps I was supposed to go through before breakfast.  These included waking up by 6 a.m., saying a prayer before getting out of bed, washing my eyes, pooping, scraping my tongue, dropping oil in my ears, dropping ghee in my nose, doing yoga and breathing exercises, and meditating.  Since I’ve known for years that if I don’t eat breakfast within 10 minutes of getting up in the morning, I might die, I felt immediate and full-out defeat.  I dreaded finding out what the evening routine consisted of, but couldn’t find any mention of one at the website.

I continued stumbling around the internet and to my great relief, discovered that in Ayurveda, emphasis is placed on morning rituals, while the evening routine is kept intentionally simple.  What it boils down to is brush your teeth, wash your face, and go to bed at the right time.  And don’t read in bed.  Bed is for sleeping, chairs are for reading in, and it’s best not to confuse the brain.  This is something I can handle.

So I revisited The Daily Routine and decided I shouldn’t admit defeat so fast.  I read over all the instructions carefully, thought things out, and suddenly 19 simple tasks before breakfast no longer seemed deadly.  The pragmatic American in me then decided that there’s nothing wrong with baby steps.  This morning I completed six steps, tomorrow I’m determined to hit at least a dozen.   I’m looking forward to reporting back on how the process launched my day (but not really looking forward to dropping oil into any part of my body without first steadying myself with a bowl of oatmeal).

“He that takes medicine and neglects diet, wastes the skill of the physician.”                                                                                --                                                                               --Chinese Proverb

--CompassRose