10 Ayurvedic Rituals to Reset & Renew in the New Year

This year, let’s ditch the New Year’s resolution for a New Year’s reset! We believe that it is time for this outdated phrase to receive a revamp. You see, 'resolution' is defined as ‘a firm decision to do or not to do something’ and ‘the quality of being determined or resolute’. Although we love setting intentions and being determined to commit to a goal even when it becomes challenging, the term resolution can often be loaded with negativity from past year’s resolves that never quite panned out. Thus, we propose instead of a New Year’s resolution, how about a New Year’s reset for renewal? Rather than beating yourself up for not sticking with that 30-day gym challenge, unsustainable fad diet or new hobby, what about committing to simple Ayurvedic rituals to support a healthy body, a sound mind and a revived spirit? Below we share some of our favorite Ayurvedic practices to incorporate into your daily routine to kickstart your new year in a gentle, supportive and loving way.

If you need a digestive reset after the sweet treats and often rich foods of the holiday season, consider doing a 3-day kitchari cleanse from the comfort of your home. Kitchari is a simple Ayurvedic dish that consists of mung dahl and basmati rice combined with ghee, digestive spices and freshly cooked vegetables. A mono-diet of kitchari will help restore your digestive system by cleansing ama (toxins) and rekindling your agni or digestive fire. Plus, it helps to resolve any food cravings you may be experiencing. 

Our Discover Your Dosha Quiz is a great place to start if you would like to learn about the doshas (vata, pitta and kapha) and how they personally relate to your body, mind,  spirit and skin. This Ayurvedic perspective on your tendencies can help you gain greater insight into what is and is not serving you within your daily lifestyle choices so that you may make better choices for the year ahead. To take your doshic knowledge a step further, we invite you to meet with our Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist, Laurel Odom. Laurel offers Virtual Ayurvedic Consultations that can assist you on your Ayurvedic journey to address a specific ailment or simply support you in a life of greater balance and ease. Laurel is qualified and experienced in determining an individual's true nature, known in Ayurveda as one’s prakruti and also can assess your current doshic imbalances, known as your vikruti. Laurel will also tailor a personalized Ayurvedic treatment plan to meet your health and wellness goals for 2024. There is so much to learn and dive into when it comes to Ayurveda, let our skilled and experienced Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist be your compassionate guide to greater health and balance.

Once you better understand your prakruti and vikruti, you can incorporate this knowledge into the food you prepare and enjoy. This year, we encourage you to cook 1-2 more meals at home each week than last year. This way, you will slowly begin to connect further with your food sources, prepare foods in a loving way and nourish your body with prana-rich, whole ingredients.

An essential source of healing in Ayurvedic medicine is the use of digestive spices to support the absorption and assimilation of vital nutrients and improve the functioning of the digestive system. We make Spice Blends to support vata type digestion, pitta type digestion, kapha type digestion and tridoshic type digestion. If you do not enjoy a digestive churna before each meal, let 2024 be the year you integrate this transformative Ayurvedic ritual into your day. You can also use our digestive Spice Blends as a culinary seasoning to bring even more healing into your home-cooked meals. To learn more about digestive churnas and our proprietary Spice Blends, visit our blog dedicated to this topic.

Abhyanga is the Ayurvedic term for applying warm, herbal oil to the body. This Ayurvedic self-massage helps to keep the skin supple, replenishes and detoxifies the lymphatic system, calms a taxed nervous system and cultivates a deeper loving connection with the physical body, mind and heart. Ayurveda shares that one should practice abhyanga daily to receive its maximum benefits. For the ultimate abhyanga experience, pamper yourself with our beautiful selection of dosha-specific Body Oils. 

Regardless of your Ayurvedic constitution, moving the body daily is vital to a long, healthy and happy life. From strengthening the bones and muscles, supporting heart health, cleansing the lymphatic system, restoring the nervous system, reducing stress, boosting brain health and function, to improving sleep patterns, exercise is essential to feeling your best.

If you are vata in nature, we suggest incorporating grounding exercises like hatha and restorative yoga and hikes in nature to balance the light, mobile and variable qualities of vata dosha.

 If you are pitta in nature, we suggest incorporating calming exercises like swimming, uplifting aerobic exercises like dancing and soothing yin and restorative yoga into your daily routine. These forms of exercise will balance the hot, fiery qualities associated with pitta dosha.

If you are kapha in nature, we suggest incorporating cardiovascular exercises like jogging, dancing and circuit training as well as vinyasa yoga to get the heart pumping and to break a sweat. These forms of exercise will balance the heavy, stagnant and dense qualities associated with kapha dosha.

Like exercise, a daily meditation practice has numerous benefits, including greater awareness and attention, strengthened immune function, improved sleep quality, increased innovation, intuitive problem solving and reduced anxiety, depression and stress. If you are new to meditation or want to integrate guided visualizations into your meditation practice, we invite you to meditate with us with our Seasonal Meditation Videos. We have designed a meditation to ground and calm vata dosha, cool and soothe pitta dosha and revitalize and uplift kapha dosha. 

Just as eating organic, prana-rich, home-cooked meals is essential for health and vitality, using earth-based organic ingredients in one’s skin and body care routine is essential to protect, replenish and support skin health. In addition, when you choose organic herbs, roots, flowers and oils for your beauty regimen, you protect Mother Earth from toxic chemicals and pollution. If you have not already, we encourage you to ditch your synthetically derived skin and body care products for 100% earth-based, organic Ayurvedic formulations. 

Circadian rhythms exist due to the natural oscillation of the Earth rotating on its axis within 24 hours. As we all know, this 24-hour cycle contains changes in light and makes up what we know as a day. Picture the soft, warm glow of sunrise, the vivid light present mid-day, the waning twilight emitted as the sun sets and the star-lit darkness of nighttime. Just as plants and animals align with these various light cycles, it is only natural that we as humans also are best living with the cycles of the Earth. Being in harmony with nature’s circadian rhythm is an excellent way to regulate the nervous system, improve sleep patterns and make the most of one’s day. Ayurveda teaches that the best way to attune to the Earth’s circadian rhythm is to awaken with the sun each day and sleep at the same time each night, preferably by 10 pm.

Making adaptogenic herbs a part of your daily routine can help you align with circadian rhythms and more! Adaptogenic plants can help you withstand stress with greater ease, improve mood and reduce anxiety, fatigue and overwhelm. Some of the most revered adaptogenic herbs today are from ancient Ayurvedic medicine, like fortifying Ashwagandha, nourishing Shatavari and restorative Tulsi, to name a few.

Join us in making the switch to a New Year’s reset, and choose some of these Ayurvedic rituals to support you in a successful year ahead. Wishing you vibrant health, abundance, vitality and joy in 2024 and beyond!