I’m just about out of the cloud of the ‘Fourth Trimester’ and starting to feel a little more human. Only slightly. My days still have absolutely no routine, which I am craving and I am keen to get some kind of morning ritual happening again for my sanity and well-being. I am a big believer in making self care a priority and have realised I really miss my morning ritual of tea, yoga and meditation and leisurely breakfast before starting my day. This is definitely not going to be my morning ritual anytime soon with a new baby but I thought I might try bringing a small piece routine to my morning – and by morning that can be anytime between 5am and 11am! No pressure on myself to do at a specific time but I do want to do it everyday in April and hope that it becomes part of my day. So I chose three relatively simple techniques that I already have the equipment for. All of these I have done in the past sporadically but I want to do all three everyday and see how I feel at the end of the month.
My body really does feel like it’s been through the mill this past year so I want to boost my immunity coming into the colder months and all of these techniques help with that. Doing all three literally takes about 10 minutes each morning, which at the moment is about all I can manage.
Oil Pulling is an Ayurvedic process of swilling oil (I chose coconut oil) around your mouth for about twenty minutes and then spitting it out. Oil pulling improves over all immunity as well as gum and dental health. It detoxes gums, tongue and tonsils. It whitens teeth. It tones facial muscles. I had to let this go while I was pregnant as it can make me gag at the best of times. Being pregnant was not one of my best times, especially in the mornings! I will do this first pretty much as soon as I get up before I brush my teeth. I can only manage about 5 minutes at the moment and will hopefully be able to build it up to 20 by the end of the month.
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-11821/how-oil-pulling-can-change-your-life.html
Tongue scraping is pretty much what it says. It’s another Ayurvedic process where you scrape the tongue to remove toxins that are deposited there over night while you are sleeping. I will do this after I have done the oil pulling. See the link below for a great resource on why this is fantastic and very easy.
https://www.healthambition.com/how-to-clean-your-tongue/
Dry Body brushing is another Ayurvedic process of brushing the dry skin with a soft-ish bristled brush. You start from the feet and work your way up. There are many benefits from dry body brushing and is particularly good as the weather gets cooler and drier. It helps your body to breathe and it definitely feels like that once you’ve done it! I will do this just before I jump in the shower.
http://www.naturalhealthmag.com.au/content/dry-skin-brushing
So that’s my new immunity boosting feel good 10 minute morning ritual I am super excited to get back into my day. Will you join me? Or do you have your own self care routine that you can share?
~Allison
