Daily Hygiene Regime for the Healthy Person

Ayurvedic Lesson 4
Personal Daily Hygiene Regime for the Healthy Person
Maintains Perfect Health and Completely Activated Immune System
This is done, in this order, every morning, upon rising

Get up 1 ½ hours before sunrise every day after the optimal number of hours of sleep for your nature:
Sattva – 4-6 hours of sleep
Raja – 6-8
Tama 8-12
Go to the bathroom and take care of any natural needs. Proper elimination of wastes is critical according to Ayurvedic medicine. One should have a normal bowel movement at least once and not more than twice a day. (Less than once a day = constipation. More than twice a day = irritable bowel)Normal bowel movement: It should float, be light. If it doesn’t float, there is too much food present and one is not digesting properly. One should not have a strong smell of food on the breath after eating – especially after an hour or so. If you do, food is remaining in stomach and is not digesting properly. The urge to have a bowel movement should be natural. One should not need to push at all. Do not suppress any natural urges such as bowel movements, sneezing, urinating, crying…! Straining will create fissures, fistulas, and hemorrhoids. One should properly cleanse the anal area after a bowel movement. Using toilet paper is not enough. One should rinse with lukewarm water. Cleansing with water not only complete cleans anal area but also cleanses hair follicles which, if not clean, can also become inflamed and cause other issues. All bathrooms here come with a spigot next to the toilet for proper cleansing. One should feel hunger and thirst at the proper times. One should not bloat or have gas in between meals. Morning and lunch can be heavier meals. Dinner should be less. Eat less meat in summer; meat in winter is all right. At a meal, eat as much food/water so that ½ of the stomach is food, ¼ water, ¼ air. The air allows the space for gastric processes to take place. The size of your stomach is directly proportional to the size of your hand! Slightly cup your hand and then imagine this space as 3 dimensional. This is the size of your stomach and lets you know proper amounts of food intake. IF YOU DIGEST FOOD PROPERLY, YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM WILL BE PROPER AND YOU WILL NOT GET DISEASES OR ILLNESSES. (One natural way to stimulate the bowels is to place hot water in a copper bowl overnight and drink it when you wake up. For 2-3 weeks, it will help evacuate bowels. After 2-3 weeks, it will strengthen the muscle fibers in the large intestine so you will get a normal gastro-colon reflex. Copper also has an antiseptic effect. If one is chronically constipated, this will only help a little bit; one needs other remedies, like the outer husk of the hairtaki or terminalia chebula as well) Constipation can be caused by traveling or too little water. Castor oil and cassia fistula fruit can also help. Physical exercise helps! Constipation comes from too little vata energy, and physical exercise increases vata.
Do some form of meditation or yoga.
Cleanse the feet, hands, face, limbs, mouth, and teeth. One should cleanse the feet, hands, face, and limbs whenever one comes inside. One should rinse the mouth after every meal. One should keep the mouth very, very clean! Any smell in the mouth indicates and alkaline condition which will lead to cavities and gum disease. The teeth and salivation are the first steps to digestion and are critical to health. Unchecked dental/gum disease can lead to a systemic septic condition which can cause many, many illnesses.
Cleansing the teeth. Traditionally, people here used a 12 angula x 1 angula sized twig from the neem tree (about the size of a toothbrush). First, the end is chewed to give it a brushlike character. The twig is naturally bitter, astringent, and pungent. It is also more hygienic than re-using the same toothbrush every day. Most people (including our doctor) have adopted the convenience of the modern toothbrush. Ayurvedic toothpaste is available with herbs (not sweet!) that help the teeth, since a toothbrush does not have the properties of neem. NOTE: Research shows that the rural people of India have excellent teeth. Urban people here do not have healthy teeth,)
Massage the gums using a gum powder made from pepper, long pepper, and ginger. It is spicy and re-establishes an acidic condition in the gums. One can also use dried gooseberry, haritaki, and vibhitaki which help rejuvenate. These herbs also help the eyes and help with bowel evacuation and digestion. In rural areas, people used some local products and also a special kind of salt. Colgate now has a new product with “active salt” which came from this idea.
Scrape the tongue. (The tongue indicates the health status of the intestines.) The tongue has a natural, thin, white coating. Too much coating is not healthy. In rural areas, people used the green part of a coconut leaf which are hygenic. Copper and steel scraping tools are available, which are more convenient. Scrape from root to tip – may cause some gagging until one is use to it. The scraper should be 10 angula and curved (slightly smaller than a toothbrush).
Gargle. There are two types of gargling:
1. Fill the cheeks with a special solution of salts (gandusha). The cheeks should be fully expanded and filled with the solution. Hold until your eyes and nose water. This penetrates and cleanses the oral mucosa and promotes good, general health.
2. Gargle with water to remove and waste and food products (often).

Care of the Eyes: Arjana is applied to the inner lining of the eye. It helps the eyelashes and eyesight. With consistent application, one will not need sunglasses for eye protection. It also rejuvenates the eyes so the whites are white, the color is more vibrant, and the pupil is darker. Attractive, clear, luminous eyes.
Nasya – Cleansing of the nose. This is a nasal drop – 2 drops in each nostril. The nose connects all parts of the head. This procedure helps protect the ear, sinus, nose, and palette from infection. Medicine can be given in the form of nasal sprays for quick assimilation. One inhales the drops and spits it out! That way, it penetrates the spongy areas of the sinuses. This will help any tenderness, heavy head, post-nasal drip, etc. Another way medicine is administered through the nose is by inhaling smoke: one can burn a small amount of the herb and inhale the smoke or, more commonly, but a medicated thread and put is it medicated ghee (clarified butter). Light the thread and inhale the smoke.
Chew a betyl leaf which has a large amount of calcium carbonate. I think betly is related to lime. Chew it and spit out. This will give a pleasing sound to the voice and pleasant breath. It is often used with clove and cinnamon.
Massage your body, using Ayurvedic oils. NOTE: Oils are heating and massage is best in winter. In summer, oil massage will make you tired and irritable. There are different kinds of massages for different types of people and different purposes. Oil massage is most common. Different oils are used for different seasons and for different medical conditions as well has human types (vata, kapha, pittha, etc.) There are a variety of preparations and the doctor decides which one is best for a patient’s medical condition, as well as the style of massage. An Ayurvedic massage without doctor’s instructions will use a general massage oil and overall massage technique. Powder massage is used for people who are overweight. It is a rigorous, powder massage of fine powder rubbed in the opposite direction of the muscles. L This reduces kapha, or the anabolic action that creates weight and will decrease adipose. It makes the body more solid and will increase the color and quality of the complexion. There are also massages that use the legs and standing on a patient instead of hands and arms. This is only for athletes and martial artists with excellent muscle development. Other massages are also good. Sometimes saunas (usually dry) are used – a hut with a hollow pillar made of porous stone filled with wood which, when set on fire, produces heat.
Exercise for the body and mind. According to Ayurveda, the proper amount of exercise for the maintenance of general health is to exercise until the sweat starts on the forehead and armpits. It should only use half your energy. One should be careful when exercising in summer or in rainy season/rain – even if one is in a controlled (air conditioned) environment
Bathe or shower in lukewarm water, only after gradually cooling after exercise. Wash the hair in cool water. This will stimulate appetite.
Then, go to work.
Walk when possible
Rest well. Afternoon rests are all right in the summer, not in the winter.l

The three energies (vata, pitha, kapha) required for daily living are most affected by:
Sleep, food, celibacy. These three things greatly influence the energies.
Celibacy is defined as no intercourse before marriage and a monogamous relationship after marriage. Ideally, intimate relationships begin after 25 years of age. Prior to that the tissues are not fully developed and sexual relations will damage them like “squeezing an unripe mango”. The hormonal imbalances experience in adolescence that create infatuations should be controlled. Sexual relationship should be meaningful. Women should be treated with the utmost care and respect. (Since celibacy is critical for the proper balance of energies, it is treated in great detail in Ayurveda – which is commonly misinterpreted and taken out of context in the west.) One kind of celibacy after marriage is having sexual interactions only at night. This is an area of importance and comes under the domain of the physician in general health care. If one is celibate, as in one’s youth, avoid meat and eggs. This will decrease the hormonal imbalances and increase the mental and intellectual processes that will support control of the sexual impulses. One must control one’s desires in order to control the mind.