Instead of changing my habits to reflect an ayurvedic lifestyle for a week, I decided to look at what habits I currently have that live within the ayurvedic realm and see if I can focus on them. For me, habits take a long time to form, and if I try to implement too many at once, it’s a useless endeavor. This way, I can take a look at what I’m already doing and see if I can expand or add incrementally to it.

The first thing I did was google ayurvedic lifestyle. I watched the ayurveda movie, which was more about fixing health problems, and I did the dosha quiz, which talks about the constitution of a person, but nothing really listed out items you could do on a daily basis to make ayurveda part of your lifestyle. Sure, I can eat nutritiously or make sure that I am balanced in my intake, but what else is there? Here’s a few things I found.

From mapi.com, I found a list of ways to live ayruvedically.

1. Take a walk with a friend: this is specifically a walk, not a run. These days I’m running 4-5 days a week, so I get the exercise, but this is calling reducing excess strain. At least once a day I am walking, but not with a friend. But about once a week at work, I will walk around campus to do a bulletin board cleanup, and maybe that counts!
2. Fresh lunch. I’ll admit that the protein bar I grab for lunch or the packaged oatmeal probably doesn’t cut it. But I do try to bring a piece of fruit for lunch: an apple, a container of blueberries and blackberries, sometimes a banana. Sometimes a couple of these!
3. Drink water: I drink a lot of fluid throughout the day, but not nearly enough of that is just plain water. I should work on that.
4. Drink milk: I don’t drink milk anymore. If I do, it’s oatmilk. I don’t think this is something that I would count toward an ayurvedic lifestyle.
5. Take a break: this is about meditation! Which I am incorporating more and more into my daily life.
6. Sip herb tea: while not necessarily herb tea, I do drink tea a few times a week. Sometimes it’s black tea, or oolong, or roobios. I don’t know if i will ever drink herb tea, but the warm coziness of a cup of tea is really nice.
7. Massage your body: I think this is about making sure you keep your skin hydrated and the power of touch, but I almost want to count this in the self-care category. I get massages maybe once every couple of months, and now that summer is around the corner, I will likely get a pedicure once a month.
8. Call a friend: keeping in touch with people you like is so helpful, and I am so bad at calling people. I wonder if texting counts? There is something different about a phone call or seeing someone face to face though. I have noticed an uptick of feeling better with more and more of my work meetings being back in person vs. on zoom. I’d much rather have in person meetings.
9. Breath deep: this is SO nice. I do this when I do yoga. Usually Lesley Fightmaster will have us do at least a couple rounds of deep breathing during a practice, and it’s really relaxing to actually focus on a deep breath.
10. Go to bed early: HA nope. This just won’t happen unless I’m exhausted, and even then it’s probably 10:30 (that’s early for me).
11. Rise with the sun: also a big not happening for me. I have noticed that I am getting to sleep and waking up earlier on the weekends, though. Keeping a consistent weekend schedule is nice.
12. Have a good breakfast: This is something I would struggle with. Some days I don’t have breakfast except for coffee, whether or not you can call that breakfast. I’m just not hungry when I wake up, and according to ayurveda, a juicy fruit like an apple should be eaten first thing. I can’t imagine getting out of bed and eating an apple first thing. If I DO eat a good breakfast, it’s usually oatmeal, not juicy fruits. I think this is one thing I will just have to not embrace, especially if we should be listening to our body as to when it’s hungry. If I’m not hungry until it’s time for lunch, I should just listen to my body.
13. Care for your hair: after reading through this recommendation, I realize this is more about self image. If your hair is not how you want it (limp and lifeless), then you’ll be pessimistic about life. This is also about nutrition that helps your hair out (and likely your skin): fruit, nuts. I don’t have a problem with how my hair looks, but I likely could eat more nutritiouly!
14. Flush out the amas. Amas are undigested metabolic waste, which is always a weird thing for me to wrap my head around because our liver and kidneys do their job well. Detoxing the body is done by…the body most times. If you want to really “detox” and get rid of waste (not toxins – our organs are good at that), then you almost need to move to a liquid diet or drink laxatives like before a colonoscopy. Or a better option would be fasting for a bit or stopping eating really processed foods. This is one I’m slightly skeptical of, just like I’m skeptical of detoxes. But, I continue to try to steer clear of corn syrup of all kinds!
15. Decorate your dining table: I LOVE this one! I love a good tablescape. This is something I don’t do regularly, but that  I should do more. Make your meals a celebration. Too many times i take my supper and sit on the couch so I can watch Netflix. When I get flowers for the table, I do try to sit at the table so I can look at the flowers, but I likely also have a book with me.
16. Boost your immunity: especially during the winter, I am ultra vigilant of taking vitamin C and D (and calcium) to help prevent getting sick. During the summer I’m not as concerned, and now I wonder if I should be keeping the C vitamin regiment during the summer months.
17. Spice up your dinner: mapi.com calls out spices like turmeric, cumin, and coriander. I know turmeric is especially good for you, and I can taste it when I eat things that have it – I like the taste. But the foods I usually eat are not Indian in nature, so it’s hard to incorporate this one more regularly. One I do eat is cumin as part of my more regular Mexican food preparation. I wonder what other spices that are used worldwide would be helpful? I might have to look into this.
18. BOND WITH NATURE: YES. YES. YES. Winter is hard. (I do, however, get outside a few times.) But the rest of the year? Sign me up wholeheartedly! I am outside as much as possible, getting my hands dirty in my garden, tromping through the woods, sitting outside listening to the spring frogs in my pond.
19. See a vaidya (doctor): I regularly visit a doctor and will go if I’m not feeling right. I like that this is part of the list – combining traditional ayurveda with science.