Set down your roots
The winds of change are blowing in as vata season approaches. The increasing air and ether elements can make us feel unsettled and ungrounded. When our energy is unsettled maintaining structure and routine is important medicine. Don’t get swept away by the autumn winds — set down some roots now. Establish structure and stability with a routine you can count on.
Many of us struggle with routine because our days are often unpredictable. Unplanned interruptions to the day, last minute meetings at work, that unexpected project your kiddo forgot to tell you about until the last minute, all of these things can really mess up our routine. As they say, the best laid plans always fail. Since my day can often be unpredictable I rely on morning and evening routines to anchor my day. Having a morning and/or evening routine that you do every single day creates some predictability and stability to what might otherwise be a busy and chaotic day.
Morning and evening routines differ energetically. In the morning I want to create rhythm for the day, move prana, and get motivated. In the evening, I want to calm and settle the mind and prepare for a peaceful night’s sleep. Both your morning and evening routines should be grounding as we enter the vata season.
Many people anchor their days with a cup of coffee in the morning and a glass of wine (or a drink) in the evening. While coffee and alcohol aren’t inherently bad, we often use them in the wrong ways. Coffee is drying, and stimulating, and alcohol has a drying, light, and sharp quality. Both of these beverages aggravate both pitta and vata doshas, and both deplete the vital essence of ojas. This makes coffee and alcohol the wrong choice during the pitta to vata transitiion of September, as we are working to build the vital essence of ojas for support through the depleting season ahead and pacify pitta without increasing vata as the dominant environmental elements shift. You’d be best to avoid them altogether this time of year, but if coffee and/or alcohol are a non-negotiable part of your daily routines take extra to care to balance their qualities with routines that establish grounding and support ojas (rest and rejuvenation).
What your routine consists of is not the most important thing here……….having the routine is what is important! This week, print this dinacharya (daily routine) checklist and begin creating a stabilizing routine before the winds of vata come blowing. Use the suggestions on the sheet or create your own routine then check in and let me know how it’s going!