Ayurveda in Your Everyday Life

Incorporate Ayurveda into your daily life

Ayurveda offers guidance in how to establish daily routines that help to maintain well-being and sustainable health. Ayurveda promotes that the body is cleansed naturally through diet, sleep, work, exercise, love, and physical, mental and social activity.

When we talk about illness, we need to determine which type and how long we have had it, to decide on the necessary treatment. The sicker we are, the more work is required to make a change. Thus, Ayurveda is useful as it offers in-depth knowledge in how we can observe existing imbalances before they develop into a chronic illness.

Gain increased awareness through the doshas

Ayurveda speaks of the three doshas which represent different qualities: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Vata, translates as "wind", Pitta, translates as "transformation", Kapha as "unifying". Ayurveda can inform you of which qualities you constitute of, and by learning more about these qualities and how they manifest, you will be able to increase your self-awareness.

Three existential terms: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas

Ayurveda refers to three existential terms known as: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Sattva translates into "intelligence", Rajas translates into "energy" and Tamas is translated into "slow". According to ayurveda, each individual consists of a combination of these so-called universal energies which influences us, and can either lead towards development and understanding, or to ignorance and breakdown.

Ayurvedic self-care

If you wish to take a step towards self-care, you can take the Ayurveda test here! This test can offer you a glimpse of what your basic constitution is of Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Alongside this, feel free to observe how you like to do things. How do you sleep in order to feel rested? What foods make you feel nourished? How do you like to exercise to feel good? What is it about your work that makes you feel happy? The answers to these questions could serve as clues as to whether you are dominated by Vata, the flexible and changeable quality, or if you are driven by Pitta, the intensive and transforming quality. Or maybe you are influenced by Kapha, the calm and methodical quality?

You might notice that you like to perform things a bit differently based on your Vata, Pitta and Kapha constitution. Such insights can help you understand yourself better and thereby increase your well-being, joy and balance in everyday life.

​Find classes and lectures about Ayurveda Online

Do you want to learn more about Ayurveda or practice yoga classes inspired by yoga? Find our Ayurveda videos here.

Daily routines for health and balance in life

Ayurveda considers that most illnesses begin from the recognized concept of Prajnaparadha, which translates into "an offense against wisdom". It means that we sometimes do certain things in our daily life that we know will have a negative impact on our well-being. To counter this, Ayurveda suggests certain routines that promote health and balance in life. For example:

• Drink hot boiled water if you are Vata or Kapha,

• Drink boiled cooled water if you are more Pitta, approximately 6-8 cups a day. This will help your body to flush out the system easier.

• Only eat when you are hungry and not when you have cravings. Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and nothing in between, except for drinking water. This will give your gastrointestinal tract the opportunity to break down each meal and cleanse out what it should, without feeling the stress of consistently processing new food. The most important clue to know when you should eat is to listen to your hunger signal.

• Learn how to breathe with your nose, especially when you exercise. Breathing is vital for the optimal functioning of our cells and the immune system. When we breathe with our nose, the air is warmed up, purified and moistened in a natural way. It also helps us to fill the lower part of the lungs with air where there is bigger volume and more alveolis that increases the oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange. Research shows that when we breathe through our nose and activate the lower part of our lungs, we activate the parasympathetic nervous system which has an anabolic effect that strengthens the immune system.
  
  When we breathe through our mouth, especially during intense exercise, we put more pressure on the upper part of the lungs which has less volume, and therefore we gain less oxygen. This type of breathing is what we do when we are stressed. Breathing through the mouth therefore increases the production of stress hormones which activates the sympathetic nervous system; leading to an increase of catabolic and destructive processes in the body. Thus, by breathing consciously through the nose, you can cultivate an inner calm and at the same time strengthen your immune system.

Photo: yogahverdag.no