The stages are represented by the three doshas: kapha (beginning), pitta (middle), and vata (end). The kapha stage, manifesting the elemental forces of Water and Earth, is characterized by growth, development, and preparation. Pitta reflects the energy of Fire and so we see activity, motivation, and accomplishment. Finally, Vata is the force of Air and Ether which manifest as reflection, retreat, and dissolution.

For humans these stages can be experienced through the rhythms of Nature: the periods of the day and the night, the seasons, and the stages of human life.

Night then repeats this pattern and is born as a new day. The sattvic daily routine is based on living in harmony with the flow of the day and feeling our alignment with the current of Nature.

The Rhythm of the Day – Ayurveda and Ayurvedic Medicine

Kapha Time: Sunrise and Morning

The development of a sattvic morning involves transformation from the typical busy rushed morning that many are familiar with, to a morning that contributes to physical, mental, and spiritual health.

Ayurveda and Yoga both encourage rising with the sun, not only to create sufficient time for morning practices, but also because this aligns us with the energy of the new day. It is good to have some contact with the morning sunlight, and not to be isolated in a dark room. Sleeping in late contributes to kapha imbalances such as congestion, mental dullness, and physical lethargy. Some yogis get up as early as two hours before sunrise, capturing the stillness of that time of day to support their meditation practice.

Each morning, drink a tall glass of pure warm water and evacuate your bowels. Clean your face, mouth, nasal passages (through use of a neti pot and nasal oils called nasya– see Section V: Resources). This clears the head and the mind and provides invigoration and alertness.

Use a small amount of unrefined sesame or coconut oil, or a constitutionallysuited herbal oil, to massage your body. Include a few drops of oil in each of your ears. Follow this with some yogasana (physical postures) practice or slow stretching and your exercise of choice.

I often recommend the series of yogasanas known as surya namaskar, or the “sun salutation.” This twelve-pose flow is a complete exercise that stretches all of the major muscles groups and provides a cardiovascular and strength workout that is coordinated with the breath. (See Section V: Resources for diagram.) Based on your constitutional needs, you can adjust the speed, length, and intensity of your exercise routine.

After completing your exercise the body should feel energized and relaxed. This is an optimal time for meditation, affirmation, and visualization to align with the stillness and bliss of your True Nature, and bring that consciousness into the activity of your day.

Pitta Time: Mid-morning through Afternoon

The kapha morning provides the foundation and preparation for the pitta period of activity. Our metabolism follows the rhythm of the sun. The middle of the day marks the zenith of the sun’s journey as well as the peak of our digestive strength. This is the time to focus on eating our main meal.

Ayurvedic guidelines for eating focus on relaxing our bodies and mind during our meal to create a sacred experience and optimize the digestion and assimilation of our food. They also address the tastes, qualities, and subtle factors that make a meal “complete,” as well as how much food and when to eat.

1. Prepare your body and mind to receive food by sitting down and beginning meals with a prayer and three to five slow abdominal breaths.

There is a saying in India, “When you eat standing, Death is looking over your shoulder!” Sitting down is important for giving space to the digestive system while eating and relaxing the body.

Taking a few slow breaths also serves to relax the body and engage the parasympathetic branch of your autonomic nervous system (ANS). This aspect of the ANS tells the body that there is no immediate emergency and blood can flow to the digestive organs.

Starting the meal with a prayer acknowledges the sacredness of the moment, as you invite your food with reverence and care to enter your being and become your body and mind.

2. Create a peaceful eating environment free from arguments, excessive noise, and distraction.

Distraction compromises digestion. Emotional disturbances enter into your food and you consume their subtle essence. It is better to take some time to relax or wait to eat later rather than eat while you are upset.

3. Chewing your food to an even consistency improves digestion and absorption of the food.

When you chew your food well you are more attentive to the taste and texture of the food, deriving deeper emotional satisfaction. As you chew, enzymes are released in the saliva that help break down the food and the surface area increases to allow for more complete enzymatic activity in the stomach and intestines.

4. Eat at a moderate pace and avoid overeating. Eat until you are satisfied (about 75% full), not stuffed, and include all six tastes in your food.
Overeating creates attachment to the body and senses, puts an unnecessary burden on the digestive system, and leads to undigested food that can accumulate and putrefy, becoming toxic. Ayurveda describes six tastes and all of them should be included in an optimal meal. The six tastes are sweet (e.g. grains), sour (e.g. fermented foods), salty (e.g. natural salt or sea vegetables), bitter (e.g. leafy greens), pungent (e.g. spices), and astringent (e.g. legumes). These six tastes have both physical and psychological effects that contribute to a meal that feels complete and satisfiying.

If we jump up after our relaxed meal and immediately become engaged in activity, blood is directed away from the digestive system and our food is not digested as well. Some deep breathing, pleasing conversation or reading, or a gentle walk gives space for relaxed digestion. As with meditation, we ideally want to carry the sacred energy of our mid-day meal into the next segment of our day.

6. Drink only a little bit of liquid with meals; more for dry meals and less for moist meals.

Warm water, ginger tea, or lacto-fermented beverages aid digestion. A combination of liquids and solids that creates a mixture the consistency of soup is easiest to digest.

7. Avoid cold beverages.

They destroy the digestive fire and decrease digestion, whether they are taken with meals or alone.

The simple act of avoiding ice water and cold beverages (or food) from the refrigerator can make a big difference. The digestive system is a warm environment and is mildly shocked when very cold foods and drinks are taken.

8. Have your biggest meal mid-day, and eat lighter meals in the morning and evening.

Again, your digestive strength follows the course of the sun and so the biggest meal should be eaten mid-day. Many cultures still understand the value of this practice and slow down in the middle of the day, even closing up their business for the lunch period. Unfortunately, a lot of modern cultures tend to allow little time for relaxation during the mid-day meal, and lunch is either eaten quickly or skipped entirely in favor of quick snacks. The result is unstable blood sugar and energy levels, emotional instability, and a pattern of eating the biggest meal during the night when the metabolism is slowing down for sleep.

9. Only eat when physically hungry (not emotionally), and allow three to four hours between meals.

The stomach takes an average of four hours to empty entirely; more for heavier or larger meals and less for liquids.

Another modern trend that has developed is snacking or “grazing.” Having many small meals throughout the day is even promoted as being healthy. The result, however, is that partially digested food remains in the stomach while the new food is coming in. Toxins get created due to improper digestion. Food is improperly assimilated and the stool is poorly formed. The blood sugar becomes imbalanced and cravings—even panic—result when a snack is missed.

A good rule for eating is to have a big enough meal to get to lunch without cravings. Make lunch the main meal, substantial enough to make it to dinner. Then make dinner small, light, and early, but enough to get to bed without feeling hungry. Eating this way will teach the body to run off of fat instead of sugar. You will effortlessly maintain an ideal weight and have consistent energy throughout the day.

10. Eat lovingly prepared food, for we eat not only the food, but the energy put into it as well.

With each step along the journey—cultivation, farming, harvesting, and preparation—food is acted on by consciousness that contributes to sattva (love), rajas (disturbance), or tamas (ignorance). The subtle essence of the food feeds our mind and spirit, so we should always strive to eat food cultivated and prepared with high consciousness.

Vata Time: Afternoon through Sunset

During the vata period of the day, the mind and emotions become more active, and the body’s energy begins the process of decline towards sleep. If the midday meal was skipped you’ll often begin to feel anxious or emotionally unstable and reach for something quick to eat. Without proper fuel, the body begins to run on stress hormones. Properly nourished, you should be able to feel as energetic at the end of the work day as you did at the beginning.The energy of vata is subtle, being made of the Air and Ether elements. For this reason, the evening through sunset is another excellent time for meditation, as Nature will aid in the expansion of your mind and identity. The vata period is the death of the day, giving space for the birth of the night.

Instead of eating the biggest meal at night, you’re health will increase dramatically if you eat a light early meal and get to sleep during the first third of darkness, kapha time. Most people will notice that if they sit down to relax during this time Nature will naturally carry them into sleep. Before the use of electrical lighting and the distraction of television, Mother Nature always woke people up and put them to bed. There is a deeply rejuvenating and harmonious effect on us when we follow the rhythm of the sun.

If you stay up past the first third of the night, then the fiery energy of pitta will kick in and give you that “second wind.” A big meal at night sometimes makes this necessary for people, as sleeping with a full belly is uncomfortable. The truth is that there really is no such thing as a “night person” and staying up late on a regular basis will deplete the body and mind. On the other hand, an early bed time ensures optimal rest, allowing our body to repair itself and our soul to find rejuvenation in the ocean of Spirit during deep sleep.

Vata again calls the end to the night and gently rouses and individual to wakefulness as the birth of a new day approaches. When people are stressed or depleted they may experience bouts of insomnia during this time of night as cortisol (a stress hormone) levels increase, preparing the body for morning.

Kapha Season: Late Winter and Early Spring

Spring is a time of new beginnings. It is Nature’s New Year. The sun melts the winter snows and brings animals and people out from their winter hideouts to become more active again. There are record numbers of garage sales and it is a very popular time to begin a new diet or exercise program, or put into action January’s New Year resolutions. People are trying to get rid of the old stuff and start fresh.

Ayurveda encourages this impulse, as “lightening up” is the natural antidote for kapha’s heaviness. Mucous and toxins accumulated during the winter also “melt” and can lead to spring time allergies. Nature provides us with an abundance of cleansing sprouts and herbs to aid in this purifying process, and this is also the recommended time to undergo pancha karma, Ayurveda’s system of purification and rejuvenation.

Pancha karma involves three phases: preparation, elimination, and rejuvenation. The preparatory phase involves the internal and external use of medicated oils along with heat, a simple diet, and rest. This is most commonly accomplished through ingestion of medicated ghee in increasing amounts, and daily warm oil massage and steam baths. This phase collects toxins (including fat-soluble toxins such as toxic heavy metals) from the cells of the body, and draws them back to the digestive tract for elimination.

When the patient is “ripe” with full flexibility throughout the body, oily skin and feces, and a calm “oily” mind, one or more elimination procedures are performed. “Pancha” means “five,” and “karma” means action. There are five modes of elimination: via the mouth, nasal passages, small intestine, colon, and blood.

Following proper elimination, the body and mind are light and clear, but the digestion needs to be strengthened. The phase of rejuvenation involves eating a very simple gruel and progressing back to a normal diet, as well as a gradual move from rest back into activity.

The benefits of pancha karma are deep, affecting physical, psychological, and spiritual health. For the sick, it can be a therapy that is effective when others fail. For the healthy, it is a protective measure that enhances health, strength, and longevity. For spiritual aspirant, it is a fantastic aid in the quest for enlightenment through the purification of body and mind.

Pitta Season: Late Spring and Summer

The sprouts and seedlings not consumed in the spring grow into the magnificent harvest of the summer. The longer days allow for greater activity, and naturally encourage earlier waking and later bed times.

I ncreased heat can be fatiguing and dehydrating, so take advantage of the many fresh fruits and vegetables provided during this season, along with plenty of fluids. These foods will have lots of the cooling tastes: sweet, bitter, and astringent.

The sunlight is an essential nutrient for our bodies that helps produce vitamin D in our bodies, necessary for strong bones and development. It also protects our bodies from pathogens and brightens our thoughts and spirit. Excessive time in direct sunlight can lead to pitta imbalance, however; the most obvious challenges being sunburn and sunstroke.

Vata Season: Fall and Early Winter

Summer eventually dries up the water from the earth, plants, animals, and people. The trees lose their leaves and their energy retreats into their roots,
many animals hibernate, and people are attracted to the warm, cozy indoors. The shorter days call for more rest and earlier bed times to protect against the cold and dry qualities of this season. Meals should be warm and nourishing and include plenty of insulating fats, as well as an abundance of the nourishing tastes: sweet, sour, and salty.

It’s especially good for your body and prevention of colds and flu to do the daily oil massage, as well as neti and nasya to protect and nourish the dry mucous membranes of the nasal passages.

Winter represents the death or retreat of the year that is reliably and consistently followed with new life. Meditation on the seasonal cycle as a microcosmic image of the longer journey of our soul grants insight into the nature of human life and death.

The stages of life have their own unique dharmas, specific purposes and emphases that influence all individuals as they pass through them. All levels of health are largely affected by the degree with which we live in harmony with these stages.

Kapha Stage: Birth to Puberty

Childhood is a period of growth and preparation for adulthood. A healthy child needs to be well-nourished and supported: physically, psychologically, and spiritually. Without these ingredients, a void or deficiency will be present that will negatively affect health and development.

Because of the disconnected quality of many modern families and communities, many children do not receive this vital nourishment. In their book Hold Onto Your Kids, Drs. Neufeld and Mate describe the modern phenomenon of “peer orientation.” Children and adolescents are moving away from their adult attachments and becoming increasing attached to each other as an attempt to fill relationship “attachment” voids. Peers, however, generally have no deep ability, nor responsibility, to fulfill each other’s needs for stability, love, culture, or maturity.

Just like the sacredness of the morning preparation for a purposeful day, or spring time for a bountiful summer harvest, childhood lays the foundation for a lifetime of health, growth, and consciousness.

Kids are meant to be plump during early childhood. They will grow to be stocky, moderate, or slender based on their constitutions. However, because of the increased kapha during this stage, some children may suffer from congestive conditions, such as childhood asthma. This is quickly worsened by consumption of processed and artificial foods. In many, this is likely the sole physical contributor to this challenge, as well as childhood obesity. Emotional factors, as mentioned above, will also contribute to health challenges, especially if a child turns to food to help fill an attachment void.

There are a few very important changes needed in modern culture that will greatly contribute to the health of our children, and therefore, the health of
society.

The effects of nutrition on development and consciousness are enormous. It is highly unlikely that an enlightened society, or an individual for that matter, will emerge from a diet of genetically-modified, processed, and artificial foods. Natural eating also implies that people increase their connection with food
cultivation and preparation in order to experience their relationship with the whole of Nature. Starting a home or community garden and connecting with local farmers is an excellent first step.

2. A return to community living

The isolated nuclear family is an experiment that does not seem to be working for a majority of people. Most families have a tremendous amount of cumulative stress resulting from a lack of support that has historically been present in the form of village living or extended families. Stressed out people aren’t very fun to be with, and they usually aren’t enjoying themselves! Is it any wonder that the “broken” family is becoming more the norm than the exception? Movements such as co-housing communities, eco-villages, and other experiments are showing themselves to be exciting new strategies to address this issue.

3. More holistic education

At an early age, many children are sent to schools with a large number of children compared to teachers. The school environment is a scary place for a lot of kids, and the education itself is often experienced as boring or meaningless with its emphasis on standardized testing, as well as nearly exclusive focus on the development of intellectual intelligence. Alternative models, such as Waldorf, are finding increasing popularity among parents and children seeking a more complete and well-rounded approach to learning. (In my area, a farm school is being developed. It plans to include hands-on learning of many practical skills, and plenty of time learning outdoors, which research has shown to improve people’s learning, retention ability, and overall mood.)

Pitta Stage: Adulthood

As we move from adolescence to adulthood there is an increasing desire to discover our place and purpose in the world. What do I want to do? How will I sustain myself, or my family? What do I want to accomplish or contribute to the world? These are the questions that carry the energy of fire during the pitta stage of life.

Often these questions do not have clear answers. In the past, an individual simply did what his family did. We have greater freedom and vast possibility nowadays, but many experience less clarity and guidance when it comes to finding their outward activity.

Since money largely dominates the sphere of modern human awareness, and not having it can be terrifying or embarrassing, a choice of career is sometimes based on what will make money or provide security. This motivation is unfortunate, because working for these reasons is motivated by fear instead of joy. You can “dry out” from a lack of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment that money is unlikely to sufficiently fill.

The most satisfied individuals tend to do something they love, something that they’re good at, and something that they experience as a contribution to the world. They may be exceptionally wealthy or they may be just “scraping” by. Most people will agree that it’s generally nicer to have money than not, but an emphasis on money alone is much too costly for the effect that it has on the deeper levels of life.

An enlightened approach to picking a career, or outward activity, may involve:

• meditation, contemplation, and brainstorming about what you are naturally drawn to, enjoy, or are good at; surrender and appreciation of your current
• circumstances (faith that you are in the best place right now for your growth and development that you possibly could be);
• and an action plan to moves you towards goals rooted in enthusiasm, not resentment, that you work on daily.

Vata Stage: Menopause or Retirement until Passing

As you move towards the final stage of life, your attention is naturally drawn within more and more. The attachment to outer activity fades and is ideally replaced with a maturing inner life.

In traditional cultures, the elders of a community were highly revered as the storehouses of wisdom and guidance. They were able to provide direction for the adults and nourishment for the children. Of course, with healthier diets and lifestyles themselves, they served these roles well and were not a burden to their children or community.

Complete health for all generations includes the role our elders need to play. Research has shown that older people that continue contributing, learning, and volunteering have better health, memory, and happiness. In addition to outward activity, Nature will greatly support the meditation efforts of people in their vata stage of life. They will cultivate a fearless and welcoming attitude to death as they approach their transition, a new birth of freedom from the physical form.

Done w/ Ayurvedic Medicine – go to Ayurveda