Dinacharya: The Importance of Keeping a Daily Routine
Posted by Magali Lomeli on
Do you have that one friend or family member that is so predictable? That they do the same things at the same time, day after day? Keeping a daily rhythm, or dinacharya, is important to maintain the balance and overall stability of the body. When the body knows what is coming, it prepares itself ahead of time to receive it.
The more the body knows what is happening and at the time that it is happening, the more the body expects it and the better the outcome will be. We want to do our best to maintain the stress levels of our body low. To a certain extent, everyone has a similar routine everyday, wake up, get ready, have or skip breakfast, go to work, come home, eat dinner, and go to sleep. This is a typical day for most working adults, when we deviate from that our organism gets disturbed and we open the door for imbalance.
Every person requires a different daily regime depending on their prakriti, their overall constitution, and their vikriti, the current balance or imbalance within the body. A vata individual may not want to keep a routine since they enjoy life as it comes. They often skip meals, do things out of spontaneity, and are rarely stable. This randomness and lack of structure adds to their airy nature and leads to further imbalance. Pitta individuals have a schedule and usually stick to that schedule because it makes sense and it is appropriate for their current lifestyle. They rarely deviate from the daily rhythm unless they have to accommodate for an event, in which case, they would prefer to have advance notice. Kapha individuals keep a schedule out of habit and are usually unwilling to change their habits. Good or bad, that is what they know and what they are comfortable with. Kapha types are very much stuck in their own ways.
There is no ideal way of creating a schedule and of living your life. In Vaghata's Ashtanga Samgraha, there is an outline for a daily routine that is centered around the main practices that every individual should take into account. Nonetheless, they are outdated and do not take into consideration the demands of the 21st century. Come up with one that is right for you and your needs, be strict but don't be too rigid; have some wiggle room for life's unexpected events.
More on this in the weeks to come...