Begin Your Day Correctly

The classics advise us to get up during the "ambrosial hours" in the morning, between 3 and 6 a.m. This is a vata time of day; the atmosphere is imbued with lightness and purity, allowing us to awaken more easily. Furthermore, this time of day is said to be the most conducive to connecting with our deepest inner nature and consciousness. Therefore, beginning your day correctly is one of the most effective Ayurvedic tips to strengthen your immune system during winter.

Whatever time works best for you, your daily routine will be most useful if you wake up at the same time every day. We often spend the dark winter mornings in bed. Because the morning hours are kapha, your body may resist getting up. Therefore, you should begin your day correctly by trying to get up before 7 a.m. to avoid feelings of lethargy and heaviness.

Scrape tongue is a simple hygiene practice that removes bacteria and toxins that have accumulated on the tongue overnight. It also serves to stimulate and cleanse the digestive tract and vital organs. So while tongue scraping is considered an important element of daily oral hygiene, it also supports the natural detoxification of the system at large. Another benefit of scraping the tongue is that it allows us to take notice of the coating on our tongues each morning and to begin to see how our dietary choices and lifestyle habits influence our overall health from one day to the next. A tongue cleaner made of stainless steel is balancing for all doshas. When you are finished, rinse with clean water and spit.

Ayurveda recommends cleaning the teeth with herbs that promote oral health, which are typically bitter, astringent, or pungent in taste. Try Tooth Powder, a powdered blend of Ayurvedic herbs and minerals, including neem, amalaki, miswak, and charcoal, that leave your mouth feeling clean, polished, and refreshed.