One of the main pillars to ultimate health in Ayurveda is your dinacharya, your daily rhythm. How you structure, move through and experience each day has a huge impact on how you feel, how you age, and how healthy you are in mind/body/spirit.

I’d like to share with you an ideal day, as a combination of different Ayurveda practices and my own personal perspective.

• Wake up early, preferably before sunrise. As you wake up and lay in bed, take the opportunity to sense into the vastness of the world and universe. Feel into your place in this amazing cosmic and human experience. Begin to actively and intentionally participate in your inner spacial experience, free will, attitude and role. Hone your center, your attitude, your love. Avoid getting onto your cellphone, checking emails, sending texts, etc. Instead, cultivate your inner state of being. Hone your center, raise your vibration, start attracting the positive things or experiences you desire. Give thanks and share blessings.

• Go to the bathroom, scrape your tongue, brush your teeth and wash your face.

• Drink a cup, up to a liter or more, of filtered water. Add lemon or apple cider vinegar, and make it hot if you’d like. This flushes out all of your channels, especially your main digestive tract. If you haven’t had a bowel movement yet, this is a great practice to help you go, without using coffee or caffeine.

• Open your body through breath. After clearing your channels, you can do a nice 10-30 minute exercise session. The main idea is to bring breath, prana – vital life force energy, into all the cells and tissues of your physical body. You open up, activate, and connect. Dancing, going for a walk, yoga postures, tai chi, aerobics, any exercise that helps you deepen your breath is awesome.

• Sit in silence for 5, 10, 20 or 30 minutes. Connect with your heart and spirit. Let the divine center of your being harmonize your entirety.
• Have a nourishing breakfast. I advocate a natural, plant based diet. The more fruits and vegetables the better! Sit down and eat in a quiet, settled atmosphere.
• Enjoy your day and your work. Come back to the intentions you set in the early morning, reflect on and reestablish your inner state of being if you like.
• Have your main meal of the day around noon. The digestive fire at the base of the stomach is the strongest at this time, which gives you the greatest capability to digest, transform and assimilate all of the nutrients from your food into strong, healthy tissues.
• Finish working in the early evening.
• Have an early and light dinner. This helps the food move through the digestive tract to relieve the main digestive fire so your metabolism can go deeper to work. This helps to burn, transform, move out and discard all the cellular waste in the body. It heals inflammation, helping you wake up feeling clear, light and energized rather than groggy, heavy, lethargic or bogged down.
• Enjoy a fun, easy, relaxing and playful evening. Reading a book, spending time in nature, going for a leisurely walk, doing one of your favorite hobbies, hanging out with friends and family, or just generally chilling out and having a nice evening is key. This helps you feel happier and more satisfied in life. You feel more relaxed, content, joyful, easeful, nourished and taken care of. Taking part in your more sweet, soulful and sensuous nature helps enhance your ojas – subtle essence and glow, immunity, moon qualities. It prevents burnout, exhaustion and fatigue.
• Prepare for bed with a nourishing, restorative and relaxing night time ritual. Bathe (if you didn’t in the morning), give yourself an oil massage, and get into bed early. Say prayers, journal, read a book, and have some quiet time. Avoid using anything with a glowing screen after the sun goes down. Even better, keep all electronics out of your bedroom, including your phone.
• Give thanks for the day and go to sleep early. Enjoy your restoration and caring for yourself.