How a simple rhythm to your day increases calm.

Your life winds up being a series of days, weeks, months, and years strung together like a pearl necklace or Jacob Marley's chains.

The little things you do every day equate to the quality of your life.

If you are living on autopilot and just doing what you do everyday…your life will flash by in an instant.

We have all been there where you’re so busy that you have no idea where the day went.

The same thing happens to the weeks, months, and years of your life. Where did they go? Did you live like you wanted to?

Bringing conscious awareness to the movements of your day increases the quality of your life. It enhances your ability to create the kind of life you want to live. Do you want a life of overwhelm, stress, and chaos? Start your days that way and you are sure to get that. You want peace, calm, and joy? Do you make choices help create that experience?

Of course Ayurveda has a name for a daily practice, dinacharya. Dina means “day” and charya means “guidelines” or “to be founded in.”

Dinacharya is heavily focused on your morning routine with very specific recommendations that do extend throughout the day.

So yes, the quality of your morning is likely to be reflected in your state and mood as you cannot control what the world brings but how you respond to it.

Dinacharya supports you in creating your life and the quality of your life, it also helps you to decrease anxiety and overwhelm while giving you a sense of calm.

A daily practice gives your nervous system a sense of groundedness. It soothes vata (the energy of movement that causes insomnia, anxiety, and restlessness) and increases tejas (the fire of transformation that is stoked through daily ritual).

Many people are exhausted and want to get as much sleep as they can by sleeping to the last minute, but rushing first thing in the morning starts your day off with a big dose of cortisol, the stress hormone. You need cortisol to deal with scary situations, however, too much of it creates inflammation in your body and decreases immune function. So you start frazzle and frantic.

Dinacharya helps you to start out without stress and its corresponding hormones.

Your daily practice becomes a steady rock on which you can stand to help you feel like you are going to be ok, no matter what.

Ayurveda and yoga have specific recommendations for starting your day but don’t get too caught up in those. Even with the best of intentions, rigidity can cause dysregulate your nervous system…that is the opposite of what you want to do.

So start by simply asking yourself, “What do I need first thing in the morning?”

No idea? I posted 20 of them on my Instagram page and did a couple of lives on this very topic, check that out ​HERE.​

Above all, keep it simple!!

Namaste!

Nichole

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