Do You Need a Tune Up?
Last week I drew your attention to the power of the everyday aspects of your life to support your healing and experience of your wholeness. Ayurveda reminds us yogi-types that it’s in the habitual actions of our lives that we build or diminish our power and strength as well as our love and connection. Aristotle made the same point about ethics, famously summarized by Durant in his Story of Philosophy as, “we are what we repeatedly do.”
In Ayurveda, our network of habits is called Dinacharya: Dina means day, charaya means behavior, response, facial expression. Our daily habits literally build our bodies.
Fall and Spring are traditional times for checking in with our habits. There are layers of reasons for this - from how the body works in heat and cold conditions to the fact that summer and winter are just packed with social activity we don’t want to miss.
A week in October and a week in April are excellent times for a tune up. There’s a full process in Ayurveda called panchakarma that you can experience with lots of support and customization or create for yourself in your own home. If you have a serious illness or complaint, I would recommend the full meal deal and I can refer you to people local to Albuquerque or online.
If you’re pretty healthy and also invested in your continued wellbeing, this starter Tune Up might be a good place to start. Rather than changing up everything for a week, you’re in the driver’s seat. Choose one to three habits you’d like to initiate or zhuzh up a bit.
Choose three habits from the menu below that you’d like to initiate or tune up. You’re in the Contemplation Phase of Change - Congratulations!
Tips:
Choose three you can actually do right now. They’re all great, and the three that are right for you, right now, will be ones you can integrate into your current life. For instance, if you work nights, it’s not the right time to choose a sunrise wake time. If you work in emergency services, not the time to commit to three meals at the same times every day.
Not sure which to choose?
Target one you think is most important for you (even if you can’t implement it right now).
What other habits would support you in that habit either right now or in the future?
Example: I want to have a 15 minute yoga practice every morning….
but right now I wake up leave the house in 15 minutes with my coffee and bagel to eat on the way! What would need to be true in my life for me to practice yoga every morning? [This is just one specific example with a partial brainstorm list - adapt to your situation and get creative.]
Have more time in the morning:
Wake up earlier - What would I need to do this?
Go to bed earlier.
Sleep better.
Eat dinner earlier.
Change leave time. - What would I need to do this?
Talk to coworkers.
Change schedule.
Change jobs.
Different mode of transportation.
Make it Different:
Bed Yoga
5 minute yoga - change routine
1 minute meditation
1 minute breath practice
2. Choose one week to focus on your Healing Habits in the next four weeks before November 15th. You’re in the Preparation Phase of Change - Congratulations!
3. In the weeks leading to your tune up week…
choose specific times, locations, practice recipes, purchase equipment you want… whatever is appropriate for your selections. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time, but should help you know you’re set up for these new or reviving actions.
4. The first day…
you might initiate all the habits or just one and then add one per day. Choose the pace that’s right for you. You’re in the Action Phase of Change!
Tips:
Everything you do counts. Didn’t wake up with enough time for 15 minutes of yoga? You can still start this: do 5, or 1 or just roll out your mat and roll it back up. Build the muscle!
Have tons of grace for yourself: wanted to eat 10 veg and got 5 - great! Tomorrow is a new day. Wanted to turn off electronics at 9 and happened at 9:30 - terrific! It happened!
If you don’t do the whole action you’d intended one day - use it like a scientist uses an experiment: That’s a data point. What can I learn from that point in the context of other points? What one thing would have to be different for that data point to have changed? See: Tomorrow is a new day!
Bonus: Want to have some indication of your change through the week? Sit down in your Preparation Phase and journal or list all the things you feel right now, and all the things you’d like to change. Some ideas to start with: write about the quality of your sleep; how energized you feel waking up; how energized you are throughout the day; how well do you fall asleep? do you feel good after you eat? do you feel hunger? do you eat the way you’d like to? how is your elimination - poo, pee, sweat, exhales? how is your skin - dry, oily, meaty, rashes, breakouts, eruptions, flakey, redness? Then, you can either journal daily about what you do and it’s relative ease or check back in at the end of the week: what has changed? How much?
4. After the week, you’re in Maintenance Phase of Change:
is this something you want to continue or was it just for a week (for instance, kitchari only eating)? How would you like move forward? Would you like to sustain the action or initiate a new habit with your new set point (after a week of kitchari, it may be easier to incorporate more vegetables, have less processed food.)
Remember, perfection is not the goal of this week.
Stress reduction is. So think of this like an experiment: you’re testing a hypothesis. Probably the hypothesis that you’ll feel better for having done this. Remember the idea is to create a change toward the life you want, toward healing and wellness. On the way, you might experience feeling not great - change can be hard. Be kind to you while remembering your commitment and that this is temporary: you will adjust in just a few days. And you’ll have more knowledge, a history of doing something to support your total wellbeing and prioritizing your health and happiness. You are worth the effort.
