Positano Boats

Post-panchakarma to Italy! Now that was a challenge.  From mung daal and basmati to mozzarella, tomatoes, panini, and gelato galore.  How do we achieve balance amongst so many temptations, especially when we’re in “vacation mode?”

That’s exactly what finer balance is all about: learning how to enjoy the things we love while maintaining our commitment to good health. Coming down from my post-PK purity to reality, a reality full of choices and temptations, and connecting with my clients who enjoy lives that call for that finer balance, I want to speak to how we can apply Ayurveda to our modern lives. How do we find balance amidst work, family, errands, and such pleasures as eating out and travel?

Building a Foundation of Balance

Balanced living starts at home.  Integrating balancing practices into your daily life builds a strong foundation that you can take with you when you travel away from your home or from your center.

Very few of us don’t feel busy.   There never seem to be enough hours in the day to get to the bottoms of our to do lists, which then carry over from day to day.  We find ourselves rushing from one thing to the next, even though we know it’s important to relax, and then rush to relax by fighting traffic to a yoga class.  During our down time, we may feel a paradoxical sense of pressure to relax and enjoy ourselves, because “this is my free time!” but find ourselves interrupted by thoughts of what needs to be done tomorrow. Sometimes, the stress around relaxing leads us to lean on alcohol to artificially depress our nervous systems so that we can finally unwind.    Contributing further to our harrowed internal state, we are bombarded with email, texts, social media alerts, artificial lights, and radiation from electronics all day.  There is constant internal and external chatter.  In Ayurvedic terms, most of us are chronically and constantly vata-aggravated.  In medical terms, we are in a mental, emotional, and cellular state of chronic stress-induced cachexia. This is magnified by a lack of that which replenishes and nourishes our bodies, minds, and spirits.

Once we have identified these challenges – the stress of managing time, the constant and intrusive chatter, and the spiritual depletion – we know exactly how to build our defenses against them: by having a routine, cultivating mindfulness, and nourishing our spirits.

Having a Routine

If there’s one thing you are strict about, let it be having a routine.  Our bombarded, taxed nervous systems love having something to depend on and are calmed and soothed by structure.  Anxiety, insomnia, and general unease are all relieved by such a simple thing as having a routine.

1)   Wake up, sleep, and eat meals at the same time every day.  This is one of the most vata-pacifying things you can do and it’s great for your agni, too.  Having a daily routine lets our bodies know that they can count on certain times for rest and nourishment.  This enables our bodies to perform even better when it’s time to be productive.

2)   Wake up a little before sunrise.  (I struggled with this one for quite some time, but since I’ve been doing it, it has really changed my life.) The early morning hours are the best time to engage in nourishing, meditative practices that set the tone for the entire day.  Many people say they never have enough time for themselves.  That’s because they’re sleeping through it!  Think of all the things you could get done if you had two extra productive hours in the morning.  You’ll get to the bottom of that long to-do list, and then some!

A counterargument (and one of mine for almost a year into Ayurvedic school) is that “I need the sleep to be able to function for the rest of the day.”  Actually, the most restorative sleep occurs between 10 pm and 2 am.  So, getting to bed before 10 pm is key. If we are up late partying, browsing the internet, or working after getting that second wind, we are actually detracting from internal restoration and nourishment and will likely wake up unrefreshed, however many hours we sleep.

A healthy sleep-wake cycle has these benefits because it puts us back in touch with the rhythm of nature.  Kapha times are between 6 and 10 in the morning and evening. At these times, Kapha’s heavy, slow, and dull qualities are predominant in our environment.  When we sleep past 6 am, it gets harder to wake up with a light step, energized for the day.  A little before 10 pm, it’s easier to fall asleep because we can ride the Kapha wave.  With the right timing, waking and sleeping become an effortless dance with the elements around us.

3)   Wait until at least after breakfast to check email, facebook, etc.  As I mentioned, the early hours of the day should be dedicated to nourishing, introspective practices.  If possible, wait until after lunch to engage socially, whether it’s over the phone or online.

Cultivating Mindfulness

Practicing mindfulness helps us to approach life with clarity, relieves our stress, and unleashes boundless energy.  It is particularly important to work on cultivating mindfulness in a world of sensory and information overload, which divert important mental energy away from our experience of the present. When we offer both mental attention and spiritual devotion to each activity, we are most effective in our efforts and most open to receiving positive energy from our experiences.

1)   Don’t multitask.  Do one thing at a time.  Don’t eat lunch while checking email or texts.  Don’t text and drive!  Don’t cook dinner while talking on the phone.  Be present with each thing you do.  If we have uncluttered actions, our thoughts will follow.

Being present is a way to show love in our lives and to give thanks for every moment. We don’t multitask while we pray.  What is a prayer, but an expression of love and gratitude?  So, I invite you to move toward making each thing you do an offering of love and gratitude (I’m working on this one as well).

2)   Minimize artificial air and lighting, exposure to TV’s, cellphones, computers, and other electronics.  I encourage you to turn off the A/C and open your windows whenever possible, allowing natural light and fresh air to fill our worlds and lungs.  Though it is hard in today’s world to avoid daily exposure to electronics, we can at least mitigate the effects by spending time outdoors every day. Try taking an evening stroll through the park or break up a workday with a short walk outside to.

Recently, my husband and I have gotten into the practice of lighting candles in the evening and at sunrise instead of turning the lights on.  It’s a beautiful, tender ritual and good for our nervous systems.

It also keeps us in touch with the natural rhythm behind our daily routine.  Artificial lighting, especially after dark, corrupts circadian rhythms into thinking we should be as active at night as at noon, and interferes with the night’s role as a time for rest and restoration.

Nourishing Your Spirit

Beyond all the benefits I have already described, having a routine and cultivating mindfulness will allow you to create more time and space to nurture your spirit.  Taking some time to do so at the beginning and end of each day is so important for our nourishment.  We give outwardly all day.  The only way to sustain this without compromising our health is to give inwardly as well.

1)   Unwind, decrease activity, and decrease exposure to the above at least 1 hour before bed.  That means avoiding TV, blogs (like this one), and mentally challenging work.  So, if you’ve got your candles lit and you’re not watching TV or on your computer, what do you do?  Well, it’s quite romantic…or you can engage in pleasant conversation over a cup of herbal tea, journal, meditate, do alternate nostril breathing, and/or (one of my favorites) rub sesame oil into the soles of your feet and put on a pair of old socks that you can then kick off later.

2)   Give thanks.  For all we have.  There’s nothing so instantly de-stressing as taking 10 seconds to remember how grateful we are for the grace of our health and the treasured ties of all our relationships.  One way to make this part of your routine is to create a gratitude journal.  Another is to take a quick minute to reflect before you step out of bed.  There’s no better way to start the day than to feel so lucky for all that you have.

Finding Home Away from Home

As important as it is to have a healthy, balanced daily life, what would life be without the finer things?  Whether we’re traveling to far-off places or exploring luxuries closer to home, the world is full of fine experiences.  As I learned on our trip to Italy, traveling can be particularly challenging.  But with a little adjustment and awareness, you can definitely take that strong daily foundation on the road.

Bringing your Foundation with You

Air travel is especially vata-aggravating because it not only exposes us to physical movement but also higher altitude, and shifting time zones disturbs our regular routine.  So anything you can do to ground yourself post-travel is greatRemember that having a routine is the most important way to keep your vata pacified, so balance your travel by developing a new routine for your time away from home.

1)   Drink ginger tea and eat light on the flight.  Packing a couple tea bags and having a cup before and after the flight will minimize jetlag.  A primary cause of jetlag is weak digestion caused by vata aggravation.  Ginger tea and eating light on the plane (or even fasting) will help you land peppy and ready for your destination.

2)   Reset your watch and don’t look back!  Shift your usual times for waking, sleeping, and eating to the new time zone.  Vacation often invites us to relax our schedules; if you are going to sleep in and stay up later than usual, try to do so with some regularity so that you still wake, sleep, and eat at roughly the same times each day.

3)   Hold on to your routine.  Each of us has a morning ritual, whether it’s that first mug of warm water, a bit of yoga, or some quiet time for reflection.  Making time to go through that same ritual when traveling will help keep you grounded and will ease your body through the adjustment to a new circadian rhythm.

4)   Add some grounding practices.  Especially on arrival, take a little extra time for a self-oil-massage, followed by a warm bath.  Trust me, you won’t regret it.  Meditation is great for grounding, but if you don’t already have a regular seated meditation practice, adding one might feel foreign.  Try a simple 10 minute exercise of focusing on your breath as you walk.  You have to walk anyways and doing it mindfully will rejuvenate you.

Eating at home and away

When I was in Italy, I happily ate nightshades, yeasted bread, and gelato, drank a little wine almost every day, and actually did overeat a few times. But then came that old, familiar feeling of having gone too far, where my desires of the moment hadn’t accounted for the lingering discomfort of the moments after.  After letting this happen a couple times, I said “no more!” and called Ayurveda to the rescue. Here are a few of the tricks that I used to regain and maintain balance, allowing me to experience a purer pleasure, unmarred by discomfort.

1)    Choose fresh, unprocessed, seasonal, and organic foods.  This was relatively easy to do in a place like the Amalfi coast, but is a good basic principle to live by at home and away.  Restaurants that source their ingredients locally are also, in my memory, the freshest, tastiest, and most authentic.

Processed food has no prana left in it, partially because all food loses prana exponentially with repetitive cycles of heating.  The less prana, the less nourishing and energizing. For the same reasons, avoid eating leftovers (anything over 24 hours) and definitely avoid microwaving, which zaps whatever little prana may remain in food.

2)    Only eat when hungry.  Wait till you feel true hunger — a slight gnawing in the stomach. Don’t just eat because it’s time to or because you may not be able to get something later.  It’s better to prepare for later (e.g. pack something) than to eat when not truly hungry.  This practice protects your agni, and a strong agni is the keystone to good health.

3)    Eat what you want, but don’t overeat.  Of course, eat for your dosha when possible; but, more importantly, don’t get stuffed!  Your agni may be able to handle a poor food combination or something hard to digest, but the one thing that really weakens its capacity altogether is overeating.  Leaving a little room in the tummy will lead to lightness and energy rather than lethargy after meals (Specifically, the stomach should be 1/3 empty so agni has room to do its job).

4)    If you do overeat, eat late, or have some really “interesting” food combinations for dinner, then fast the next morning. The type of fast will depend on your dosha and can vary from hot water and no food at all till noon to fruit and hot water all day.  Giving your digestion a rest and waiting till you feel true hunger is best.  (To make sure you’re not confusing hunger for thirst, hydrate upon waking.  Drink about four 8 oz glasses of warm water with lemon/lime and a pinch of natural sugar and salt.  Then determine if you are truly hungry.)

5)    If what you ate makes you feel bad, eat something with opposite qualities to balance out the negative sensation.  For example, if you ate a Kapha meal predominant in slow, dull, heavy qualities such as pumpkin ravioli in a walnut cream sauce and started feeling heavy, following it with something pungent, bitter, or astringent will make you feel better.  Try a shot of concentrated ginger tea.  Or, chew a teaspoon of pungent, agni-building spices (I love roasted fennel seeds).

The Italians have the right idea in finishing meals with a shot of something sharp and pungent.  But, although a shot of espresso or glass of grappa after a large meal may initially make you feel better, further taxing an already taxed digestive system with coffee and alcohol is not healthy in the long run.

On the other end of the spectrum, a predominantly Pitta meal with hot, sour, and sharp qualities, such as a tomato salad with lemon citronette and a glass of red wine, may cause heartburn.  Following it with something cool, sweet, and dull, such as a soft cheese plate, will balance out the qualities that are aggravated.  Not only are meals that inherently balance qualities better for you, but they taste better as well.

6)    Though caffeine and alcohol should be minimized, having tea with chai spices and milk, or coffee with cardamom and/or nutmeg can mitigate the negative adrenal effects of the caffeine.  Also, ensuring adequate hydration after consuming these dehydrating liquids with a ratio of 2 cups of water to one cup diuretic minimizes some of the “hangover” symptoms. (Adrenal and renal stress can be seen on the face as darkness below the eyes)

7)    Drink warm to hot water throughout the day (one hour away from food).  This is great for digestion and great for clearing toxins.  Warm water is actually more hydrating than cold water, and this practice also protects agni.

Having traveled overseas and traveling every few days within Italy, I grounded by eating, waking, and sleeping at the same time almost every day.  I did my centering and cleansing breathing practice each morning and massaged oil into my feet each night.  I even fit in a few nourishing self-oil-massages (as a bonus, oil in the hair protects it from the elements and avoids tangles at the beach, and oil on the body is a great way to moisturize pre or post sun, sea, and sand exposure.  Plus, it looks really great).  Anticipating rich Italian cuisine, I packed my fennel seeds with me and was very thankful for them, especially those first few times when I did overeat. Remembering that I am the caretaker of my agni, the mornings after overeating I fasted on hot water with lemon till lunch (a few times actually skipping the delicious buffet breakfast included with the room!)

You don’t even need to know your dosha to work towards an Ayurvedic lifestyle and see tremendous results.  I hope you pick at least one new thing from each of these lists and move toward a balance that allows you to healthfully enjoy the pleasures in life.  I also hope you experience the fulfillment that comes from making space for the nurturing that our bodies are starving to receive.

Remember, Ayurveda is something to ease into gradually, and nothing is always or never. The stress of always or never can actually do more damage than good.  So take one or two of these recommendations and implement them tenderly.

– Nisha Khanna, M.D.

 

© 2013 Nisha Khanna.  All rights reserved.  Please note that this content is intended for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice.