Tips to good health

Routine

• Awaken before sunrise
• Evacuate bowels and bladder after awakening.
• Bathe every day to create a sense of bodily freshness.
• Twelve pranayamas in the morning or evening create freshness of mind and the body
• Do not take breakfast after 8.00 a.m.
• Wash hands before and after eating.
• Brush teeth afer meals.
• Fiteen minutes after meals take a short walk.
• Eat in silence with awareness of food.
• Eat slowly.
• Each day massage the gums with the finger and sesame oil.
• Fast one day a week to help reduce toxins in the body.
• Sleep before 10.00 p.m.

Diet and Digestion

• One teaspoon of grated fresh giner with a linch of salt is a good appetixer.
• Drinking lassi (buttermilk) with a pinch of ginger or cumin powder helps digestion.
• A teaspoon of ghee with rice helps digestion.
• A glass of raw, warm milk with ginger taken at bedtime is nourishing to the body and calms the mind.
• Overeating is unhealthy.
• Drinking water immediately before or after taking food adversely affects digestion.
• Prolonged fasting is unhealthy.
• Consuming excess water may produce obesity.
• Excess intake of cold drinks reduces resistence and creates excess mucus.
• Stroe water in a copper vessel or put copper pennies in the water. This water is good for the liver and spleen
• Taking a nap after lunch will increase kapha and body weight.

Physical Hygiene

• If possibel, gaze at the rays of the sun at dawn for five minutes daily to improve eyesight.
• Gazing at a steady flame, morning and evening for ten minutes, improves eyesight.
• Do not repress the natural urges of the body, i.e., defecation urination, coughing, sneezing, yawning, belching and passing gas.
• During a fever, do not eat and observe a ginger tea fast.
• Rubbing the soles of the feet with sesame oil before bedtime produces a calm, quiet sleep.
• Application of oil to the head calms the mind and induces sound sleep.
• Oil massage promotes circulation and relieves excess vata.
• Do not sleep on the belly.
• Reading in bed will injure the eyesight.
• Bad breath may indicate constipation, poor digestion, an unhygienic mouth and toxins in the colon.
• Body odor indicates toxins in the system.
• Lying on the back for fifteen minutes (shavasan) calms the mind and relaxes the body
• Dry hair immediately after washing to prevent sinus problems.
• Blowing the nose forcibly may be injurious to the ears, eyes and nose.
• Continous nose picking and scraching the anus may be a sign of worms in the body.
• Long fingernails may be unhygienic.
• Cracking the joints may be injurious to the body (causes deranged vata)
• Repeated masturbation may be injurious to the body (causes vata derangement)
• It is harmful to have sex during menstruation (causes deranged vata)
• After sex, milk heated with raw cashews and raw sugar promotes strength and maintains sexual energy.
• Oral and anal sex are unhygienic (cause vata derangement)
• Sex immediately after meals is injurious to the body.
• Avoid physical exertion such as yoga or running during menstruation.

Mental Hygiene

• Fear and nervousness dissipate energy and aggravate Vata.
• Possessiveness, greed and attachement enhance kapha.
• Worry weakens the heart.
• Hate and anger create toxins in the body and aggravate pitta.
• Excessive talking dissipates energy and aggravates vata.