We’d love to share with you six pillars of health that date back thousands of years and come from the world of Ayurveda known as the medicine of yoga.
The Six Pillars are meant to be incorporated into your daily life to help you stay healthy, vibrant, and maintain your independence. After all, this is the time of life to travel, play with grandkids, volunteer in your community, and enjoy quality time with family and friends.
The human body/mind has some pretty basic requirements to maintain energy, proper elimination, and stress resiliency. These practices are simple and easy and will support you to feel great!
Eat slowly and without distractions so that you can experience the flavors and textures.
After your meal, your stomach should feel light and comfortable. If you feel lethargic, irritable, or have stomach upset after your meal, then this is your body’s way of sending you a clear message that the food you ate was not right for you. Notice and be honest about how it made you feel, and consider avoiding this food in the future. When we eat certain foods that our body does not like, they can cause inflammatory responses in our bodies, leading to long-term disease.
Keep moving. A healthy amount of exercise promotes the body’s natural cleansing processes. Exercise stimulates the production of endorphins (the body’s natural painkillers) and reduces stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol.
Use the phrase “motion is lotion” as a reminder to move daily.
But is any movement ok? No, not exactly. You should choose exercises appropriate for your body and fitness level and do not cause you pain. Right exercise should give you an energy boost. Great options are Tai Chi, walking, dancing, soma yoga, and swimming.
Go to bed and wake up at a consistent time. Ayurveda recommends sleeping by 10 pm and waking at 6 am to closely follow your body’s natural sleep rhythms.
More on getting the best sleep:
One of the easiest ways to nourish this process is through mindful breathing.
We recommend taking a conscious breathing break several times a day. Find a comfy seat, close your eyes, and start to pay attention to your breath. Begin to balance the length of your inhale with the length of your exhale. Try three counts in and three counts out. As you begin to pay attention, notice your breath lengthening to four counts in and four counts out.
Direct the breath into your lower belly instead of your chest. This engages the diaphragm well and gives the upper chest muscles a break. Follow along with breath awareness practice on our website.
As you sit quietly, sense and feel the calmness that settles into your nervous system. You will love how great you feel afterward.
We also recommend trying one of the SomaYoga for Stress Relief classes, the 61 Point Practice, or other nervous nourishing practices on the Digital on Demand Channel.
Click here to learn more about the connection of good breathing to health!
We recommend drinking a large glass of warm water upon waking to stimulate your bowel movement in the morning. You can also squeeze juice from half a fresh lemon into warm water and drink this to get your bowels primed and active.
Dry skin brushing and oiling is an amazing practice to calm the nervous system. The skin is our biggest organ, and this practice eliminates toxins from the system.
Your body needs you to be tuned in. Your health depends on it. Sense and feel what your body needs on a given day and time. It is constantly telling you.
A great way to cultivate this skill of listening, and what is known as Interoception, is to practice getting quiet and attuning back in with yourself. Some use meditation or a mindfulness-guided meditation to cultivate these skills.
Maintaining good health is about making choices based on what you sense and feel in your body.
To learn more about these and other practices to support healthy aging, sign up to Resolve Pain Guru's blog or subscribe to the Resolve Pain Digital On Demand Channel.