Sister Science Lesson 2
Your Ayurvedic Daily Routine

Lesson Objectives

“The new science of Circadian Medicine is suggesting that our genes have literally lost their ability to hear the natural circadian cycles of nature. Scientists are only now beginning to understand exactly how important it is for the body to stay in rhythm with nature. In our modern high-tech world, this is becoming a challenge, as more and more folks have what some are calling a “nature deficit disorder.”  Ayurveda has touted the importance of a connection with nature for millennia.” Dr. John Douillard

In today’s lesson, we will share the Ayurvedic daily routine designed to maintain and reconnect us to the natural circadian rhythms. You will begin to create an Ayurvedic daily routine that is perfect for you.

1. Listen to the Audio Lesson
2. Complete the Ayurvedic Daily Routine Worksheet
3. Complete the Journal Activity
4. Complete the Challenge
5. Share your insights in our Yoga Veda Community

Lesson Downloads

Journal Activity

What is the first thing that you currently do when you wake in the morning?

Is this single activity setting the intention that you desire for the day?

List one or two practices from the “Ayurvedic Daily Routine Worksheet” that you would like to include in your morning routine that will help to create more {love, balance, peace, stillness, etc} in your day.

Challenge Assignment

If waking up is a struggle, midday finds you crashing, and you’re restless and alert at bedtime, it may be time to reset your clock. According to Ayurveda, yoga’s 5,000-year-old sister science, one of the keys to good health and feeling great all day long is living in tune with nature’s cycles. Literally and energetically, that means rising and setting with the sun. To help you align your system more closely with the cycles of nature, Ayurvedic tradition recommends a routine of morning and nighttime practices collectively known as dinacharya. These rituals are designed to give you calm, focused, sustainable energy to support meditation, yoga, and everything you do throughout the day.

To get back in sync, make over your daily routine with the simple Ayurvedic practices. The morning practices are cleansing and energizing; they’ll infuse you with a calm sense of presence. The evening ones will help you wind down for a restful sleep. Movement, such as yoga asana, and meditation are also essential to dinacharya (daily routine). Consider incorporating asana before breakfast and meditation in the morning and evening.

Choose one or two of these practices to start, and after a week, take note of your energy level and mood. Then add a few more and repeat the observation process. Over time, these practices may become as routine as brushing your teeth.

Submit your assignment to homework@yogavedainstitute.com for feedback and share your insights, questions and comments inside the Yoga Veda Community for peer-to-peer support.

Recommended Reading

Bonus Resources

Bonus Videos

“We can’t talk about our own health without understanding our place in our environment, because in order to fulfill our potential we have to live in the context of our surroundings. We have to know our place in the ecosystem of which we are a part, and this means living ‘consciously’: being aware of nature and how it affects us and how we, in turn, affect nature.”

Sebastian Pole