I'm new to this so will be trying to create a schedule. I usually sleep past midnight and wake up really tired. When I used to go to sleep to bed at 9.00 and fall asleep by 10.30...I'd get up between 5.30 and 6.00am and would feel well rested. So it makes sense to me that sleeping around 10pm helps my body prepare itself for the next day.

"One of the most basic aspects of living in tune with nature is to respect these master cycles that support our physical existence. We are meant to ride nature’s waves, not to fight against them. In fact, our bodies are already riding them, or at least doing the best they can in the face of our contrary habits. In the late evening, as the sun is setting, it seems as if all of nature is settling down. Everyone feels comfortable sitting back and relaxing after a day’s work. The birds are going to sleep, and there is a sense of heaviness in the air. By the end of the Kapha cycle at 10:00 P. M., some people may notice that they feel ready for sleep.

Likewise, if we examine the main Pitta period of the day— from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M.—we find it’s the time when we feel like being physically active and when appetite is greatest. This is because the Pitta dosha is responsible for metabolizing food, for distributing energy, and for more efficient physical functioning in general.

Pitta’s function in the body corresponds to that of the sun in nature. So when the sun is at its peak around noon, the body is most prepared to digest food. This is why, in most cultures in the world, lunch has always been the main meal of the day. It is actually only since nations have become industrialized, and people have begun to build their basic biological routines around their work rather than the other way around, that people have begun eating heavy dinners. You can think of the sun as a kind of a support for the physical function of digestion. When the sun is high in the sky, there is more support for the body’s digestive processes. Likewise, when the sun is rising in the morning and setting in the evening, digestive capacity is weaker because there is less support from the environment for the Pitta in the body. So an extremely important Ayurvedic recommendation is to take your heaviest meal at lunchtime. Moreover, you should take that meal at approximately the same time each day, in the middle of the Pitta period. By taking your lunch at about noon or 12:30 P.M ., you can digest even a large quantity of food and assimilate it properly. This will generate maximum energy and will therefore help avoid the need to have a large dinner, which is more difficult to digest, digestion being less keen in the evening. This one very simple change will actually make a profound difference in your metabolism. Because digestion is stronger at midday, it is more efficient in converting food into energy instead of into fat. Eating should produce energy, vitality, and bliss, rather than fat and impurities that are stored in the physiology and are difficult to get rid of. If you work during the day, it may be difficult or inconvenient to make lunch your largest meal. But ensuring a proper lunch each day can greatly enhance your progress toward reawakening the physiological intelligence within you. Moreover, at lunch each day you should focus not on calories, not on quantity, but on the quality of the food. It should be wholesome, nutritious, delicious, and freshly cooked."

Chopra, Deepak (2010-01-19). Perfect Weight (Perfect Health Library). Random House UK.

I am slowly working myself into the Daily Schedule. I have been getting up at 6:30am, I really want to get up around 5:45 if not earlier. For me, I feel so drained from the stress of the day before and the day ahead I want to lay in bed, a little winter depression setting in. But I have been consistent with my first drink being hot water. I bought my first neti pot. I am going to try it Friday night maybe even tonight! Yogi Cameron has a few apps and one has alarms on your phone and it says things like practice detachment exercise, sit in silence for 5 mins, I love it because it is random and reminds me to be on track.

This weekend I am going to try and put it all together so I can start fresh next week, getting up at 545am. It is all about discipline and determination. My day is not as good when I sleep in and I don't feel as well and i need to honor my body. LOL! I am reaching that age where I feel the age of my body and I need to reverse the clock, and allow it to be fresh and vital. I will post my schedule over the weekend Maybe we can do a Ayruvedic team or Ayruvedic Accountability lmao!!!

~ erica

I find that I thrive on schedule. If left to wing it, I usually am counter-productive. I have a nightly routine that I have just recently began, but I do go to bed around 10pm and wake around 6am. I have a morning routine, also which I have now pretty much mastered. When I first started, I put the steps of my morning routine on an index card so I wouldn't forget anything, but now they are all habits...finally. Still working on my nightly routine, though. I feel so much better when I follow it. I don't know why it is so hard to do consistantly.