- Sipping hot/warm water when you first get up and throughout the day. Not drinking ice-y drinks with meals.
This is number one because, not only is it so easy to do, it has such a major impact. In the portion of the Veda that deals with the art of warfare, one of the strategies to disable your opponent is to infiltrate their population and popularize the drinking of cold beverages because it is so weakening to the system. Ayurveda is all about digestion and ice-y drinks especially with meals puts out “agni” or digestive fire. If there is no digestive fire to transform your food, it cannot be digested creating “ama,” or undigested particles in the body, a major source of disease. Drinking a cup of hot water when you first get up wakes up your digestive system and sipping it throughout the day keeps your digestive fire stoked.
2. Catching “the kapha train,” as in sleeping during the 10–2AM time period
Ayurveda is all about aligning our bodies with the rhythms of nature, so we are designed to go through different cycles during the day. The 10 to 2 time period is when the body is geared to rest the most deeply, do most of its purification work and when it regulates its hormones. This is the time period for melatonin production, so if you’re in the habit of going to bed after this time, chronic insomnia can become a problem.
