Hello Everyone,

The Balanced Yogi is busy busy this fall season with a lot of exciting news! I love the fall season. Even though this is different than any other fall…or for that matter, different than “EVER”, staying with routines, will allow you to put self-care first and foremost on your agenda. With all the craziness and distraction of the corona virus and elections, you may feel like you are living on a roller coaster or maybe just down in a deep rabbit hole. Uncertainty is scary and makes many of us anxious.  Just know this is a great time to re-evaluate your daily routine or dinacharya.

Start with your bedtime and get to bed early. Usually the best place to find extra “time” is early in the morning. If you can get to bed a little earlier and get up a little earlier, I guarantee you will feel better and more in control. Remember, the more routine, the more freedom. I know it doesn’t sound possible but it is.

If you still have kids at home and are organizing their school, especially if they are attending virtually, it is important to have a family calendar. Family calendars are inclusive, meaning make it a part of the entire family’s daily routine. Using a large erase board hung on a wall where it can be seen by everyone (kitchens are great places for Family Routine boards) makes it easy for reviewing in the evening. I think looking at the next day when everyone is awake, and alert is much easier than in the morning when there is still grogginess in the air. There needs to be a plan for everyone and every activity. Maybe cooking dinner as a family has never been on your agenda, but it is a great routine to get into and will teach your kids how to cook, serve, and be grateful. Exercise needs to be included for everyone as well as it is self-care. We may no longer have soccer practice, buy maybe your family can find something to do outside for an hour or so after dinner. If you do not have kids at home, staying busy is important. Maybe you can not go out every night for dinner, but maybe you and your special someone can cook a meal together or go for a walk after. As the days begin to shorten, remember to plan your bedtime a little earlier or at least only turn on soft lights and plan your evening for gentle enjoyment.

Once you have gotten the family organized, or maybe just you organized, and you have a game plan (the family calendar), now it’s time to have some fun. Remember that “extra time” you found in the early morning? Now it’s your turn to create or adjust your daily routine (dinacharya). All a dinacharya is, is how you organize all the tasks you do in the morning to get ready for the day. I always think it is a good idea to just write down the order in which you do those things and see if that is the way you do them every day. If it is, you already have a dinacharya. Now it may or may not be advantageous to your life, but it gives you a great starting point. Then the goal is to see if the order and the tasks are beneficial for the season.

Fall is a great time to yummy up your life. It is Vata Season, the season of dry and cold and I think the hardest season on the body, especially if you are not a kid anymore. With Vata (that which moves) moving in, you may feel distracted, easily scattered or spaced out if you are over-stressed. If you have a Vata constitution, which means you have an overabundance of air and space in your body, avoid over-scheduling and overexertion, as the body needs all its energy to prepare for the colder months ahead. As the humidity leaves, dryness moves in and Vata is easily aggravated. Stay hydrated, so that digestion does not weaken. It can cause constipation, gas and bloating. You may even suffer from insomnia this time of year…again, Vata moves everything within you and this may cause you trouble when trying to settle down. We want to make sure that in this season’s routine, we protect ourselves from the destruction that dry and cold can create in our bodies. Remember we are coming off Pitta season, the season of heat and inflammation. So, I always like to start this season with a mini cleanse. Ayurveda believes that by adding a mini “heat reducing” cleanse, you will have a much more successful fall and be less dry.

I like to do mini cleanses in the middle of the week, I find my weekdays have less activity than my weekends, but pick 3-4 days when you don’t have a lot going on or you can be very disciplined. I make sure I have lots of good water (FIJI), and fresh vegetables (leafy greens), and green Granny Smith apples (the malic acid that makes the apples sour helps to cleanse the intestinal wall) on hand. I also like to make a batch of kitchari in my pressure cooker. Then I just take it easy. I still go to work, granted I teach Yoga and Ayurveda for a living, but I do still meet with clients. I eat a small green apple before every meal and either have a salad or have kitchari for those three days. I drink lots of water maybe 75-150 ounces a day. In three or four days, I feel amazing. Ready to enjoy fall.

Once the cleanse is over…it is nurturing time. This is where you can add some things to your morning routine that will help with this season. Sometimes in the summer using oils, even if they are cooling like coconut or bhringaraj, is too much. This however is a great time to add in oil massages with warming oils like sesame or ashwagandha. These are great to do in the morning before you shower. Many times, if I am going to work out or practice Yoga or meditate, I will abhyanga (self-massage) and then when I am done, just let the shower water rinse me off. If I am feeling unbalanced at the end of the day, I like to take a bath with lavender oil and then when I step out of the tub, the oil stays on your skin and I just massage it in before putting on my pj’s. I also up the frequency of using Nasya oil (nose oil). I usually have a bottle in my gym bag and one in my purse for whenever I feel the need. I also love to use oil in my hair at night, and if I am lucky enough to be at the Himalayan Institute in the fall, I am also going to have Shirodhara which is an amazing oil treatment for your mind.

September is also a great time to change from eating raw foods to cooked (pre-digested foods). I love pumpkin and squash and make roasted root veggies for dinner almost every night. Here in Texas the weather is usually beginning to cool off and I find myself outside a lot more either doing my Yoga by the pool, biking or just taking long walks. We do not have too many opportunities to see the leaves change colors, so if I get the chance, I love to go up east and enjoy the real change in season. Like I said earlier, I love the fall season. Some of us feel more alive in the fall. I know I do. With the heat breaking, I always feel a renewed sense of energy about this time of year. I think I have been spending so much energy staying cool that now it seems like I have more energy. And there is something about the beginning of a new school year that makes me want to learn something new. I hope you feel this way also.

Usually when planning my September schedule, I add lots of new classes, but with the virus, I really can’t do that. So instead, I am spending more times working with clients one on one. I keep my distance and wear my mask and if possible, work outside. I do have two of my classes back on the schedule at Lifetime Plano, on Thursday mornings at 9:00am and on Saturday mornings at 8:30am. I will let you know when they add all the rest back on the schedule in Plano and in Allen. If you want to schedule some sessions with me, just text me at 972-658-1600. I will try to accommodate your schedule as much as I can. It really is my favorite way to teach Yoga and Ayurveda.

Yes, this is a different September. But we all know what we need to do…stay out of the distraction, breathe, live your truth, be kind, be thankful, ask for help if you need to, give help if asked. Together we will make it through all of this. Thanks for reading and please share with your friends. Sharing my blogs is the biggest complement you could give me, and I am forever grateful.