Incorporating Yogic Beliefs into Your Daily Routine

As you all know, I love a good routine. Throughout my time in Bali we followed a pretty intense schedule six days a week and we have been learning about the yogic lifestyle. As I explained in last weeks post, yoga is not just the practice of asanas, postures, but rather a lifestyle through the use of the Eight Limbs of Yoga. In this post I want to share what my routine was while in Bali, some of the yogic beliefs, and what I am going to try to incorporate in my daily routine as the school year begins. 

Bali Routine:

This wasn’t my routine everyday, but it gives you a good idea. 

Each morning I woke up at 6:25 a.m., made my bed, and got ready. We were instructed to stay silent until after our morning practice, which ended up being so peaceful. I walked to the yoga shala and on my way there did my “thank you” steps. For the first 100 steps you take, you say thank you. This allows a person to bring gratitude into their life and is a form of meditation. You solely focus on your step and the word thank you. I had yoga and meditation from 7-9 a.m. and then it was off to breakfast. We had from 9-10:30 do eat and do whatever else we wanted. I used the time after breakfast to raise my heart rate and get a sweat in. From 10:30-11:30 we had philosophy class. 11:30-1:30 was anatomy At 1:30 until 3 I ate lunch and worked out or took a walk. It felt so nice to have yoga in the morning for strength and flexibility and then after breakfast and lunch to raise my heart rate and keep my endurance up. From 3-5 we had teacher practice and then 5:15-6 was meditation. Then it was dinner time! We talked, chilled, showered, and had spa appointments. I loved coming into my bed at the end of the day feeling so filled with joy and ready to relax. It was also nice to be off of my phone for the majority of the day and then be able to come on it at the end of the day to relax. 

I am going to explain the yogic beliefs and morning routine and then I will get into what I will be incorporating. First of all, everything in you schedule should be made to work for you. Practice ahimsa so don’t try to overload and overwhelm yourself with a whole list of things to do. This routine is supposed to help you not hurt you so let it do that. If you can’t make it work, don’t feel guilty, this is all a learning process. The first and foremost step is to have a daily yoga and meditation practice. This doesn’t have to be super long, but it is encouraged to keep up with your practice most days. Another suggestion is to group yourself by going outside, barefoot, and feeling the actual Earth. You can also use this time to practice gratitude by thinking about Mother Nature and all that you are grateful for. Bring your whole attention to grounding and gratitude. The next step mentioned is tongue scrapping. At first I didn’t understand why this would be included, but yoga is about have a clean body, mind, and soul and this step will help. Tongue scrapping can help to remove harmful bacteria and allow a balance of the good bacteria in your mouth. Drink warm lemon or ginger water. It is thought that we should start the day without caffeine and begin with a soothing drink. One online source explains, “Lemon is a rich source of vitamin C and antioxidants, which both have immunity-boosting properties. Ginger also has immunity-boosting properties and can guard against some bacteria. Ginger is believed to reduce the risk of some cancers.” This will also make sure we hydrate after waking. Then, a netipot. A netipot cleans the mucous from the nostrils allowing the nose to be clear and clean. Oil pulling is the next step. This was something I had never heard of. You put a tablespoon of oil, typically coconut oil, in your mouth, swish it around, and spit it out. This step removes harmful bacteria and promotes good hygiene. It is an Ayurvedic technique. Another Ayurvedic technique is abhyanga massage. This is a type of full-body self massage. You can apply oil to your body and massage yourself. This helps to stimulate and nourish the body. It can also feel relaxing and help with self love. After massaging with oil you will need a shower to clean the body. Now it is time for your daily yoga and meditation. It is thought that where you meditate and do yoga should be the same everyday and should be separate from where you do anything else. Lastly, journal. Write down thoughts, emotions, etc. 

Doing all these things before school really isn’t feasible for me so I have meshed my old schedule with these new ideas to create my ultimate schedule. Throughout my yoga teacher training we were always dancing and I remembered how much I love dancing and how incredible it makes me feel. Whether I am in a good mood, a bad mood, a blah mood, or whatever, dancing is always the answer. With this, I want to incorporate dance into my daily routine and I actually want to do it twice everyday. I want to do it first thing when I wake up and either after school or before bed. I am going to wake up to my alarm which is a song and from there go straight into a mini dance party. I always thought you had to have so much energy to dance, but that is not the case. Just let your soul speak and your body move accordingly. Of course the very first thing I will do is smile because this is one of my favorite things that I do. Putting a smile on your face first thing in the morning sets the tone for the rest of the day. After both of these, I am going to  wash my face, scrap my tung, brush my teeth, and put my contacts in. I will make my bed, do my positive affirmations, repeat my favorite quote “it’s a great day to have a great day let’s go slay the day.” From here I will take my “thank you steps” to the kitchen to grab a warm lemon or ginger water and then to the basement. My plan before the school year starts is to make a meditation room/yoga shala in my basement in order to have one place where I meditate and do yoga in the morning. It will also be nice to have this space be secluded from other areas of the house so it can just be me in the morning in a peaceful state. I plan to do yoga and 15 minutes of meditation. It is so important to keep up a daily practice as a yoga teacher to inspire creativity and allow my cup to be full to share with others. From here I will eat breakfast and get dressed and ready for school. Then I’m off! 

I think it is so important to make a daily routine that excites you and makes you want to wake up each morning. Even if you have a stressful day ahead, keep your mind focused on the calm that lies within your morning routine. I make a rule for myself that I am not allowed to think about school or any obligations I have that day or coming up in the morning. The morning is my time for me to look inward. I also love to keep my phone away during this time. I believe that there is no need to add technology into the mix because then it gets your brain going in so many different ways. Also, get excited about your night routine too. I don’t have a schedule in place for my night routine like I do for the morning because every day is different. I do have a few non-negotiables for my after school routine. 

After I come home from school I like to workout right away. It puts me in a really good headspace and allows me to get away from work for even just an hour. Obviously I need a shower and I like to set aside a few minutes to make sure my room is in order. I also like to set aside my outfit for the next day so that I am less stressed the next morning. Meal prepping is one of my favorite things and I typically do this on Sunday and Wednesday. I have found that it can be hard to grocery shop and prep for the full week especially because you don’t know what you are going to want to eat and you don’t want things to go bad. Hence the Sunday and Wednesday. Also, if I don’t feel like getting a meal together there are some really good frozen meal options that I find work well for me. I will include lunch ideas and frozen meals in an upcoming post. At night I may have to get my lunch for the next day into a container or it may be prepared, it just depends on the day. The most important piece of my night routine is making sure I have time to spend with my family. Of course I have to get my homework done and I love to get ahead, but quality of life is the biggest factor. It can be hard, but I find that many times I have to stop myself from working and remember that we work to live not live to work. Incorporate joy. Find what makes you happy and instill that in your daily life. Mentally I set aside time for family dinner and then time to chat with my parents after. If hockey is on, I make sure I can watch it. Knowing your weekly schedule helps you figure out the amount of work you should do each day and what you might have to sacrifice that day. For instance, if there is a hockey game on Tuesday I make sure that on Monday I get ahead and do extra work so I might have less time that night to chill but it will be worth it the next day. I want to make it a goal to go on nightly walks even just really short ones. It helps my digestion and calms me down. When I am on a walk all I can do is walk. I can’t do work or think that I need to be somewhere else, I just have to embrace where I am. Finally, as I stated before a dance party is a new must before bed! 

I hope this post has given you ideas on what to add to your routine to Ellavate it! Remember to find something that works for you. DOn’t compare what you do to what others do because you aren’t the same. Try to increase happiness everyday. Make happiness and joy your goal everyday and see how much your life changes.