(audio version below)
I probably don’t need to tell you what a dinacharya is.
After all, there are a million Ayurvedic practitioners who have devoted blogs to this. I’ve ghostwritten some of them myself.
So I’m going to tell you what Ayurveda’s teachings around daily routine are not.
Okay I’ll Give a Quick Definition
A dinacharya is a map to the energy of the day. Not necessarily the day you usually live, but nature’s day.
The key to the map is the five elements. The unique combinations of ether, wind, fire, water, and earth that make up everything in nature are always in flux, and their shifts define the energy of different parts of nature’s day.
Each of the three doshas (made up of two elements each) leads a distinct part of the day, making certain activities done at certain times more fruitful.
For example, waking with the sun (or by about 6:00 a.m.) aligns you to the birds, the flowers, and the other day-living creatures who rely on light to do their work. Eating your biggest meal at midday harnesses the fire element needed for digestion. Doing spiritual practice in the wee hours of the morning takes advantage of the quiet time you need to explore your inner universe.
It’s like finding a wormhole on your regular drive to the store.
Now What It’s Not
The problem with all these posts about dinacharya is not dinacharya itself. The problem is that the teachings have been too often interpreted rigidly as a list of things you must do, not what you could do.
Take the list of things we should do to clean our bodies in the morning. To find the time to gargle, scrape tongue, brush teeth with a neem stick, abhyanga, udvarthanam, nasya, bathe is daunting to anyone with children or a morning commute. And that’s all before a sadhana of pranayama, meditation, and yoga asana.
Add to this bubbling brew the reality that most of us living in this modern Western culture lack support for childcare, cooking, and basic self-care and what you end up with is an endless list of ways to beat yourself up.
In the face of these constraints, the most common approach to dinacharya I’ve seen is to do none of it while feeling guilty about doing none of it.
But the wisest way to ride these elemental waves is to flip the script and use the teachings about daily routine to lift you up, not keep you down.
The King’s Day
The guidelines for an ideal dinacharya are a set of model practices for a king to follow. Yes, that’s right – Ayurvedic texts were originally written for kings, not for average people with careers, children, and no extended family (or servants) to support them.
Even then, they are suggestions, not rules.
Are Ayurveda’s guidelines around daily routine wise? Absolutely.
Are they doable? Sometimes.
Don’t worry – there is a way to make dinacharya work for you.
Make Dinacharya Work for You
The primary purpose of a dinacharya is to calm vata dosha. Left uncontained, this wandering wind will never stop moving until it has exhausted your mind and body. Vata is like a magnet to the modern problem of boundless possibilities – brought to you by the internet and the myth of progress – which is why so many people live in a state of nervous system collapse.
Vata – just like the nervous system it governs – is not great at sustained movement, but wonderful at short bursts of energy that are followed by rest. So a solid daily routine holds vata in a graceful tension that allows it to move safely within limits.
When we can keep vata from unfettered meandering, we create the focus to direct our days the way we’d like.
For example, eating a full meal 2-4 times a day (depending on agni, dosha balance, stage of life, among other things) rather than constant grazing offers a deeper satisfaction that creates space to focus on things besides eating.
Similarly, falling asleep early enough to get a solid 7-8 hours before sunrise nourishes you with rest so that you can do your day free from the distraction of fatigue.
Tools to Build Your Daily Routine
Building a dinacharya that works for you is as much about saying yes as it is about saying no. As you build your routine, you’ll discover attachments to behaviors that aren’t serving you as well as clarity about what you really want from your day.
Below is a simple list of choices for you to create your own daily routine. It is not a to-do list. If you can and want to do them all, go for it, but ease in slowly or risk toppling your tower. If you can’t imagine doing any of this daily, let’s talk – that is a sign of some bigger emotional blockage.
Here’s a tip to create a structure that will ease your mind rather than tense it up: start with setting either waking/sleeping or meal times (in bold) first – one or the other, not both at once. Only when that has become so fully woven into your day you get pleasure from doing it, add some of the basic morning bathing practices (in italics) no matter what time you’re rising. If you desire to incorporate more, wait until each piece feels so easy you forget it was once hard.
Remember that your daily routine should serve you – you aren’t serving it. To decide what is right for you, ask yourself this kind of question: Is it truly going to calm vata to do a 10-minute abhyanga while kids are banging on the bathroom door or are you better served by shifting into a devotional attitude while making them breakfast?
Dinacharya “could do” list
(This is laid out in the order of the day according to traditional teachings on dinacharya)
Wake between 4:00 – 6:00 a.m.
Splash cool water on your eyes
Rinse mouth
Scrape tongue
Brush teeth
Oil pulling
Drink a glass of warm water
Eliminate
Neti and nasya (or just nasya)
Abhyanga (oil self-massage)
Udvarthanam (dry herbal paste massage)
Bathe
Spiritual practice (e.g., pranayama, meditation, chanting)
Physical movement (yoga asana, walk)
Breakfast (lightest meal)
Lunch at midday (biggest meal, 4-6 hours after breakfast)
Post meal walk
Dinner (4-6 hours after lunch, at least three hours before bed)
Shut down screens an hour before bed
Bedtime bathing routine (e.g., clean teeth, face, hands and feet)
Calming spiritual practice (e.g., yoga nidra, meditation, gentle pranayama, journaling)
In bed by 10:00 p.m.
