Author: AyurYogAdmin

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Fear of Missing Out – FOMO

In the bustling city of Ananth, there lived a young girl named Anandi. Anandi was a bright, vibrant girl, always eager to learn and excel in everything she did. However, she was always curious about what everyone around her was doing. Anandi had the habit of comparing herself with others in academics and also scrolling through social media to find out stories of acquaintances and her friends. This would drain her by the end of the day. Though she had a lot of accomplishments and talent of her own, finding the achievements of her peer groups, a pang of envy and anxiety would wash over her. She felt she was missing the best moments life had to offer. The Fear of Missing Out(FOMO)  was very overwhelming with fear and insecurity.

Anandi realized FOMO was making her restless. She could not focus on her studies, and could not sleep easily as she felt she was missing something . Anandi would wake up tired and that affected her performance in her studies, hobbies, and the activities she was involved in. She suddenly felt she did not have enough time.

One fine day, Anandi decided to disconnect herself from all the groups on social media. Anandi decided she would check her social media only at one particular time during the day. She decided to visit the town library, where she was surrounded by books of all kinds. The librarian noticed Anandi , being lost and apprehensive reached out to her.

Anandi being honest, narrated her struggle with FOMO and her visit to the library to overcome it. The librarian said that  FOMO is a natural feeling. However, FOMO should not control our life. She then started to narrate a story of a girl Ahana. Ahana was an adventurous girl next door, who loved traveling. She would travel to different places, trekking mountains, visiting exotic lakes and cities and immediately posting her travelogue on social media. One day, she looked at the huge park and playground, where a bunch of children were playing merrily, just being themselves in their laughter and joy. Ahana ran inside the park to join the children merrily playing unaffected by the happenings in the world. Ahana cherished playing with them more fulfilling than traveling places.

The librarian paused and looked at Anandi. Seeing the puzzle on her face, the librarian continued “Each person has their journey of life, and comparing your life with your peers, and friends will only make you unhappy and restless. Cherish the people and surroundings around you with gratitude and keep doing things that bring joy and happiness inside you”.

Anandi thanked the librarian and realized life was not a race to accumulate experiences but a tapestry of moments, each adding its color and meaning.

                                      

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Children and Playground

Two decades ago, children would never really worry about their exam results or about the marks scored in exams, as long as they know they are promoted to the next class. Vacations were very carefree and energetic. Children would wake up early during vacations, to start the day by cycling or walking together to the beach to make sand castles, and jumping with joy, when a big wave swept their feet and stride back. In the scorching heat of summer, not really worried of getting tanned, children would be playing somewhere in the building compound. Children across all age groups in the society would play together, games like Pandi (hopscotch), hide and seek, Kho Kho, and Goti(marbles) to name a few……which would vibrate the entire society throughout the day making every household feel, yes, the school vacations have begun!

 The current generation of children attends a summer camp, doing some activities in an organized manner guided by a coach. After the summer camp, the children are busy hopping from one class to another like skating, soft skills, yoga, and the list go on. Just allowing children to express, discover and play by themselves is a thing of the past. Technology too has contributed to the change in the lives of children with iPad games, computer games, and cartoon channels being telecasted the whole day. Children can spend the whole day without friends, either playing computer games or watching TV, which has paved the way for a lot of behavioral and health issues among children. Children do not identify themselves with the playground.

“Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning”

  • Physical activity heals the body, mind, and soul.
  • Children at play are highly energized with laughter and joy.
  • The playground develops a child physically, socially, and emotionally.

When children across all age groups play together, there are bound to be tiffs and miffs, with aggression and domination. There is no interference from a parent, teacher, or coach. The children learn to put aside their differences and play happily is what brings in the true sportsman spirit.  Sportsman spirit is about learning to accept defeat cheerfully, being appreciative of the winners, being fair, and disciplined, accepting the strengths and weaknesses of each person, and controlling our emotions by not suppressing it, but by communicating and expressing their feelings which helps in building an acceptance and understanding towards others.

 These qualities naturally groom the character and personality of the children. These qualities today are read as a story and taught to children to imbibe as they grow, but the playground grooms a child naturally. It makes the child experience the courage to accept friends without being judgemental, let go of differences with understanding and be happy always.

 What has changed from Then to Now

Technology has improved our lives in many ways.

The children  THEN grew in an atmosphere, free of stress, and acquired the maturity and responsibility to take on the challenges of life, though the availability of resources was comparatively less.

 NOW, children are practically provided everything to their comfort right from traveling to school, studies, unlimited toys for playing and television for entertainment, yet they are restless.

Children then grew up unaware of the term Stress, but today the children’s growing-up years have changed from stress-free to stressful. 

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Online School -Routine

Online School 2020-21-The New Normal

The year 2020-2021 hit the entire world with the coronavirus forcing people to be completely indoors. The coronavirus also known as COVID-19 started in China and locked down the entire world. Since much was not known about the nature and impact of the virus, social distancing was the first level of precaution to keep the virus from spreading.

The lockdown, brought innovation in education, where children attended online school. The challenges faced by each age group has been different in the year 2020-2021. I felt children during the lockdown, needed more attention, empathy, nurturing, and be channeled with the right thoughts.

Online classes using Skype, Zoom, Google meet and Microsoft teams ensured the learning and education of the children continues. Extracurricular activities like singing, dancing, painting are also conducted online.

Benifits of Online School

Online classes ensured the children’s academic studies progressed smoothly. The teachers quickly adapted themselves to conducting classes online with their challenges of learning the use of technology. Teachers used various tools to make the presentations as interactive and lively as possible. 

Children looked forward eagerly to meeting their friends and teachers online. The children were excited about this medium of learning as they could learn in the comforts of home. Children also became more techno-savvy learning to use desktops, opening applications, and using headphones and mic to attend the class.

Online School Challenges

  • Eye Strain was an ongoing challenge as watching the screen for long hours caused tiredness and strain for the eyes.
  • The internet had overexposed children with games, youtube videos which are sources of distraction.
  • Working parents who had to work online did not have the time to monitor these distractions.
  • The restlessness of the children was on the rise, as they are doing all activities online.
  • The absence of one-to-one connect in an open classroom had changed the mindset of the children. They were not diligent in writing the classwork notes as they knew they did not need to submit them to a teacher for correction.
  • Children were actively engaged in various games indoors but an absence of outdoor physical activities where they soak in the sun and breathe fresh air has made them lethargic.
  • The daily routine of waking up and doing various activities before going to school was absent due to homeschooling.

Nurture Children With Daily Routine

The Vedic Science of Ayurveda calls daily routine as Dinacharya. Ayurveda considers dinacharya as the key to a balanced and healthy life. Dina means day and charya is a routine. Dinacharya is aligning our activities from the time we wake up in the morning till night with nature’s clock. The essence of dinacharya is to manage and balance all our activities for the day to lead a stress-free life. During this lockdown, children have been over-exposed to technology, social media, playing online games which makes them tired and restless. We have to inculcate dinacharya in children, that will nurture and nourish them mentally, emotionally, and physically each day.

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Stress

Stress is an emotional state of the mind caused due to tension. Stress is caused by physical, mental, and emotional factors. Stress is a major cause of various health issues faced by people across all age groups today including children.

Why are children stressed

Children today are growing in a competitive environment rather than a nurturing environment. Nurturing is an integral part of a child’s growth physically,mentally and emotionally.However,children are expected to be good in studies,  sports and be involved in all extra-curricular activities. Children are busy hopping from one class to another after school. Children do not set themselves free in the playground after school which nurtures them physically, mentally, and emotionally. 

Provide a nurturing environment

Children are the architects of the future, parents who are working and nonworking, as a family should provide a nurturing environment. Family being  our first school, is the place where children acquire habits, discipline, speech, values, and they grow by observing everyone around them. Family, as a support system nurtures and grooms the child to be stress-free and face the challenges of life.

A decade back,  parents would not be worried about their children’s achievements or performance. They never allowed their worries to percolate into the children’s atmosphere. Struggles and challenges were considered a part of growing up, which were handled by the elders maturely and the struggles and challenges did not transform to stress. Children as they grew had their share of struggles and challenges which were addressed and tackled in their own space with advice and support from parents, without being overprotected and over guarded by the parents.

The irony is, two decades back human lives were not connected with technology as today,  stress as a health issue did not exist with the younger generation. Technology has improved our quality of life, however, there is a steep rise in STRESS that seems to be the by-product of technology that too from young children, teens to adults from 25 – 50 years of age. Stress is caused due to lifestyle and food habits.

Ayurveda and Yoga for a Stress free life

Ayurveda and yoga are the two Vedic sciences for the good health of the body and mind.

Ayurveda is knowledge of healthy living.

According to Ayurveda ,a disturbance in the mind causes illness to the body.

Good health is when the mind and body are in harmony with each other.

Yoga disciplines the body and mind , with the help asanas and pranayama to enable to view all situations in life evenly.

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Awakening to Our Lifestyle and habits

My Servant maid rushed in the early morning on 25th March 2020, saying “Didi, Jahan Dekho log Corona Corona Kehke sab Dara Rahe Hain, Aur Mujhe Kaam Par Aane mana Kar Rahe Hain?? Aakir Baat kya Hain??”

I smiled at her curiosity and innocence which was no different than my little girl, who seemed blissful in her world of legos, kitchen sets, and doll houses, amidst the panic that has gripped the entire world. 2020 began with the discovery of the Coronavirus, at Wuhan in China which slowly spread across the world and soon to India. India too got affected by the virus in the early summer and stringent action was taken by the prime minister to tackle the same.

Summer holidays are very special in many ways. Mothers do not have to worry about packing lunches, parents collectively do not worry about picking up and dropping children off from school and classes, and grandparents look forward to spending time with their grandchildren. The delicious ice creams and mangoes are a treat during holidays. My daughters too had started their countdown, with each exam getting over to usher their vacations with great zest and energy. I too had chalked out my travel plans for summer vacations.

However, the summer of 2020 started on a different note when the Prime Minister announced a lockdown for 21 days, keeping in mind the health and safety of the nation during the outbreak of the corona virus. The entire nation came to a grinding halt due to the pandemic that had caught the entire world. The mantra of this pandemic was “social distancing”. Keeping a safe distance was the key to eradicating this unknown deadly virus It was a bit difficult to think of staying indoors for 21 days, just when the summer vacations had begun. However “Corona”, became the most feared word for everyone.

Surprisingly, though everyone internally resisted the thought of staying home for 21 days, there was an acceptance too, of a greater cause for humanity at large. A pandemic of this kind, not only reminds us of our physical well-being but also our emotional and mental well-being as well. With the continuous updates from news channels and seeing the doctors, policemen, nurses, and various people soldering 24X7 for the affected patients, a small evolution of self-realization and self-introspection were taking place in the background ………..

  • Children surprisingly did not fuss about being indoors. They were blissfully happy playing indoors in the company of their parents and grandparents, which would not have been possible during regular vacations.
  • Children are pushed into a competitive environment, where they are compelled to attend various classes for arts, sports, and studies even during vacations in an organized manner. Most children truly enjoyed being in their space of just being, discovering, and playing on their own.
  • With the absence of a maid, mothers brought everyone together by saying “Ab Sab Ghar Pe Bhi Thoda Kaam Karo Na”. It bonded everyone to keep daily tasks going, which made us realize how 50% of the housekeeping activity was well taken care of by the maid. The housekeeping activities pushed us physically to understand the strengths and stiffness of our bodies.
  • Eating home-cooked food, made everyone realize how much junk was consumed on a normal day, which was a positive influence on health. People also became conscious of how much they ate, as outdoor activity had completely stopped. However, it also made us understand, how doing various chores at home, can keep one fit, which was the fitness mantra for our parents and grandparents.
  • The current generation of youth and children are facing mostly lifestyle-related diseases, which were not even heard of a decade ago. Obesity, Diabetics, Thyroid, and Rheumatic problems are related to a stressful lifestyle. The lockdown made us more disciplined to plan home and work-related tasks effectively. People today, lead a sedentary lifestyle juggling various activities mechanically, causing stress-related health issues. This phase will surely help in disciplining and re-orienting ourselves to be mindful and lead a stress-free life
  • Though many sectors faced salary cut or some business shops had to shut down, the savings in this phase was of a different kind. People did not indulge in unnecessary shopping, mall visiting, and eating food outside. People are used to setting aside entertainment expenses each month for some entertainment and extravagance. This expenditure has been a saving in itself.

Middle-class people could hoard food supplies from the shops for several days, but it is the most trying time for people, who work daily to earn their food, and who do not have the space for community distancing, I sincerely pray to GOD to protect them with his MIGHTY hands.

During monsoon, whenever the rains would lash out bringing daily routine to stand still in Mumbai, a time I enjoyed eating hot bhajjiyas with my dad, he would say pensively, “It is important to respect Mother Nature and thank Mother earth each day for the lives we are leading.” “Nature’s Fury can bring our lives to stand still”, which I witnessed with this pandemic.

Mother Nature, has made us realize, how humans out of greed to possess have exponentially polluted her habitat. We are living in an age, where people buy, eat, and indulge in extravagance because they like it and not because they NEED it. A family of four owns four vehicles. Our desires have super seeded our needs but that has been at the cost of disturbing the balance of our surroundings. Today, when we see various clippings of unseen animals and birds, being shared happily on social media, I feel Mother Earth is happy and smiling to see her other children rejoicing, trying to reconnect in their lost habitat taken over by humans.

I am sure Corona will be eradicated from the earth soon, healing the world with good health, empathy, wisdom, and its mantra “ Ab Sabh Hamesha Apne Ghar Ke liye Bhi Kaam KarNa “, where “ Ghar” is not just our home, but our community where humans become more mindful and compassionate, to peacefully co-exist with mother nature and make the world a great place again!

 

LifeStyle

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Daily Routine – Dinacharya

What is your Daily Personal  Routine 😊😊😊

Ask a school-going kid, college-goer, and working person, What is your daily routine? The school kid will energetically reply,

“I wake up, brush, bathe, pack and get ready to go to school, after school I come home, play, study, attend some activity class if any, do homework, and sleep to wake up the next day”

However, the college student and the working person may be amused by this question, as in today’s fast-paced life daily personal routine is driven by pre-determined tasks or activities to be achieved. However daily routine should include personal routine, which energizes us to be on the run. This has been described in Ayurveda as Dinacharya.

Dinacharya

“Dina” means day and “Charya” means activity or the chores we do each day. Dinacharya is to align the biological clock of the body with nature’s clock of sunrise and sunset. According to Ayurveda, Dinacharya is a self-discipline routine to be followed to lead a healthy and balanced life. The purpose is to regulate our biological clock and to be in harmony with nature. Ayurveda is about being aware of our body’s constitution and disciplining it with the right eating habits and lifestyle. Ayurveda is correctly coined as a way to a healthy life. Very interesting, isn’t it??? However, the pace and lifestyle that we live in today are very demanding. A lot of health issues related to lifestyle have been on the rise.

The question is, what drives our daily routine, is it a routine driven by our daily tasks or a systematic routine to wake up at sunrise to healthy well-being? Let us understand these simple steps of Ayurveda to begin each day with full vitality and energy

  1. Wake Up Before The  Sunrise. There is peace and calm in the nature around, which can be experienced by waking before sunrise. Sunrise may vary with the season.
  2. Prayers – Prayers energizes the mind positively. Express gratitude for a new morning.
  3. Wash and Clean – Wash your face with water and clean your eyes. Brush your teeth and scrape your tongue.
  4. Drink Warm Water and Evacuate – A healthy digestive system is determined by a bowel movement.
  5. Oil massage – Massaging the body, keeps the bones and joints lubricated and improves blood circulation.
  6. Exercise Exercise can be in the form of Yoga, Jogging, and walking. Exercise improves blood circulation and reduces stiffness in the body.
  7. Breathing and Meditation – Helps you calm your mind and body to start a stress-free day.
  8. Get ready to start a new day with a healthy breakfast.

Benefits of Dinacharya

1. Self-awareness

We need to be conscious and aware of ourselves. Awareness of our thoughts, words, and action.

2. Improves immune system

We need to synchronize our biological clock with nature’s clock, in terms of waking up, exercising, eating, and sleeping. It naturally guides you to a healthy lifestyle.

3. Discipline

Discipline is creating a routine to regulate the various activities throughout the day also helps in maintaining a certain discipline in the mind and body which is beneficial in several other aspects of life.

Dinacharya promotes a natural way to lead a mindful life by disciplining our body and mind and regulating our eating habits in order to help our body digest and absorb the nutrients from food effectively.

4. Peace and Happiness

Meditation and breathing exercises can have a calming effect on the mind. Happiness is a state of mind. Each individual has their own quotient to be happy. However, a stress-free mind can always make you peaceful and happy.

Dinacharya guides us to a stress-free life by aligning our lifestyle to connect with nature.  Children should be inculcated with the discipline of Dinacharya in order to harmonize their body, mind, and soul to be in harmony with mother nature!

 

 

 

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LifeStyle

Living Healthy is a Life Style

Ayurveda is an ancient Vedic science about healthy living. Ayurveda termed a “Way of Life”, is very relevant and significant across all age groups in today’s fast-paced life. Two decades ago, people were more conscious and mindful about leading a healthy life. The healthy lifestyle factors included

• Eating healthy and eating at the right time.

• Being physically and mentally active.
• Adequate sleep and rest.
• Daily personal routine clock synchronized with sunrise and sunset.

Technology and Lifestyle

The progress and growth of technology have improved our quality of life, travel, connectivity, access to information, job opportunities, and improvement in all spheres of life, however, its downward impact on physical and mental health has given rise to lifestyle-related health issues.
The lifestyle factors still remain the same. However, the pace of technology has changed the pace of physical and mental activity, eating habits, and keeping in touch with the environment and nature’s routine of sunrise and sunset.
• Quick fast and processed food causing lifestyle health issues.
• Sedentary lifestyle at home, travel and work has reduced physical activity time.
• Sleep and rest do not synchronize with the clock causing increased stress levels.
• Increased use of gadgets and devices comes with a set of health issues.

The differentiating factor of technology is our personal daily routine is mapped to the schedule and tasks-related work routine.
People have become aware of all the health issues which are more like a challenge to regular normal life.
The mantra of today’s healthy lifestyle is working out at the gym, practicing yoga for the fitness fanatic, and eating food measured in terms of proteins, carbs, calcium, vitamins, etc, instead of enjoying wholesome traditional seasonal food.

Ayurveda and LifeStyle

The lifestyle-related issues caused due to technology dependence have put a different perspective and focus on healthcare. The generation today faces psychological and mental stress, which impacts the physical health of people across all age groups. The message of Ayurveda is to accomplish physical, physiological (the scientific study of the functioning of living organisms and their parts), psychological(the scientific study of mind and behavior), and spiritual health for individuals and humanity as a whole. The objective of Ayurveda is to guide people to lead healthy life complemented by healthy eating habits. A healthy daily routine is keeping our body and mind in harmony with nature. This daily routine is known as Dinacharya.