Roots and Rhythms #2

Roots that ground you, rhythms that nourish you.

Enriching your motherhood experience.

Hello,

Welcome, thank you for being here!

Whether or not you saw my social post this week, this blog has quickly shifted to a “seasonal” blog with no set timeframe on when I will release entries. Largely because, shortly after releasing my last post, I was so inspired and so excited to keep sharing but I didn’t because I needed to wait until the next “month” and now I have two epic blog posts left unshared because the moment has passed (I am sure in time, I can re write them and share them with you all).

With this blog, it is my intention to have great fun in writing in the hope that it inspires and creates light hearted nourishing ways to support your lifestyle. I also recognise, I am learning her rhythm. When I add linear timeframes and rules it can take away the fun, at least at this stage. I trust, that in time, a natural rhythm will emerge as I remain connected to my heart and we settle into this journey.

I’ve noticed how things can get quite heavy when we get too serious, too rigid and so here I am taking away all rigidity and trusting in the process of my writing and creativity and that there will be moments of perfect synchronicity where my words land in your inbox at perfect timings.

It got me reflecting on routine VS rhythm and at times routine can feel dull and heavy whilst a rhythm that REALLY serves us can nourish us AND there is room for flux and change, ebb and flow. I would love to hear from you how you feel about the idea of holding a routine or rhythm and how those words maybe feel in your body? What do you associate with those words?

To me, routine has to happen from the same place, at exactly the same time each day and theres not too much room for changes. Spontaneous, unexpected changes often mean the whole routine gets thrown out. If we create a rhythm, we can roll with unexpected shifts, we can move from one thing to another but there is a container around our time and energy. We have space to flow with what comes up and often, a rhythm can easily shift locations.

Ayurveda invites us to choose our Dinacharya, it’s the rhythm of the day that follows the natural cycles. We all already have a daily rhythm/routine but it may not follow the cycles of the day and it depends on if it’s serving you or depleting you. By the end of the day, do you feel burned out and cannot wait for your children to go to bed. Maybe when dinner time rolls around you’re absolutely exhausted and you feel grumpy and irritable with your children? IF either of those questions feel true for you, it’s possible your daily rhythm is stretching you beyond your capacity.

Just recently I have traveled from the depths of the UK winter into the height of the Australian summer! Quite unnaturally, the seasons that surround us have shifted significantly. Which means so too have our rhythms. Shift in seasons (around the usual calendar season) that can send your rhythms upside down is things like moving home, starting a new job, adding a baby to your family, taking a holiday, school holidays etc. Despite travelling, and all the challenges we have navigated, our daily rhythms have really supported our sleep and nourishment and overall wellbeing despite location and seasonal shifts.

All of the above changes are often great, incredible and most likely exciting changes in your wolrd but all require a gear shift in how you live day to day and the choices you make. Logically, we can plan for a certain length of time for transition but often these transitions in our bodies take way longer than we mentally plan for.

My favourite way to nourish myself through turbulent times is to hold ritual around sleep and lifestyle. For my children and myself.

In relation to my last blog, I started talking about how Ayurveda invites us to be asleep by 10pm. At 10pm, according to Ayurveda, the dominant element switches from Earth to Fire. If we consider this from an intuitive perspective, we can consider the idea of trying to fall asleep during a grounded earthy time of day vs a more firey, active time of day. The reason for this is between 10pm-2pm, our body is going through active processes to digest the day. IF we dont get to sleep before 10pm, that is when we feel that second wind and become hungry/productive.

For full transparency, given my consistution and doshic time of life, arriving in bed before 10pm takes a great deal of committment. When I consistently go to bed beyond 10pm, I consistently wake up later than I would like and extremely sluggish. When I become intentional about my bedtime, it allows me to sleep more deeply and wake feeling refreshed and get ready for the day before my children wake. When I focus on a nourishing evening, my morning rhythm takes care of itself. Have you noticed a relationship between how you spend your evening, and how you wake in the morning? Affecting your quality of sleep and how you move through your day?

So with this information, we can become rigid in NEEDING to be asleep before 10pm. And yes, in an ideal world that would be great AND, we do not live in an idea world, far from it.

So when we consider Ayurveda as providing us with ancient wisdom, we can understand the reasons and then choose to look at our current lifestyle and situation and recognise that maybe, being in bed by 10pm every night is so far from your current reality that it would be jarring to even attempt to make such a change, on top of changes that you may already be navigating. So acknowledging where you are at and wrapping yourself in loving compassion before making any shifts can feel rather powerful.

The other thing to consider is HOW you get ready for bed and prepare for sleep? If you’re rushing around right until you flop into bed, youre likely to be too wired to drop into a nourishing deep sleep easefully. Or maybe your bedtime is inconsistent in time and preparation?

So with this in mind, and in honour of what time and how you currently go to bed, could I invite you to explore 2 things if you wish to wake feeling more rested and ease into your day?

ONE: Commit to and plan for a consistent and realistic bedtime, maybe its only 10mins earlier than what time you normally go to bed or if you don’t have a consistent time then play with and explore a time that feels reasonable to start with. This will likely require a shuffle of tasks that you usually do before bed. Maybe delegation or reflection on what is really necessary and what can be done with more ease as part of your morning rhythm?

TWO: HOW are you preparing for sleep?

My first sleep preparation is resting in the afternoon! I aim for 2pm, sometimes it’s 3 or 3.30pm but always before I begin dinner preparations. A 2pm rest around 2 young homeschooled children has been a journey and probably one I could share over and over but it has been so profound in how I feel through the afternoon and evening. My energy feels more balanced and I often have more time, space and capacity to hold my children in their big emotions at that time of day. There is more space for connection and provides a much smoother evening.

After a light dinner I recommend a family walk. A time to connect and let go of the day in addition to supporting the digestion of your dinner.

Finally, and what I had mostly intended for this blog to be about is oil application to the feet. Keep an eye out for reels around HOW I practically set myself up for this and the process I move through. But for now to share with you how applying the oil to the feet is a moment to connect with yourself and your energy as a final offering for the day. I find myself saying things in my head at the time like “the day is done”, “it is time to rest now”. It feels like a sacred moment, that can really be 2-3mins or it can be 20, that completes the day. That grounds your energy and wraps you in warm, sweet love!

My choice of oil for this is always warm black sesame oil, despite the slightly warming nature of the oil and my constitution, it provides the most delicious soothing effect. If you’re in summer and looking for an oil thats more cooling in nature you can consider coconut oil but in all seasons, my first choice would be organic black sesame oil.

So whatever changes you’re going through, however upside down your rhythms may feel right now, when you make simple choices to anchor and ground your body and mind you can really walk through times of uncertainty with a greater sense of nourishment and wellbeing instead of feeling burnt out and depleted. Naturally, there may be times where you enter these states, and even then, we can look to our rhythms and ask yourself, “where am I nourishing myself today?” “What simple practices can I explore to really connect in with myself as I walk through this day?”

I would love to hear any musings you have on routine vs rhythm, if you currently feel supported by your daily rhythm or if you feel you’d like to make changes and how you currently sleep and wake each day.

Sleep, along with lifestyle, diet and energy management make up the 4 pillars of health according to Ayurveda. When one (or more) of these are not optimal, we can begin to experience symptoms that may not leave us feeling at an optimal level of wellbeing. When we understand our unique tendencies in relation to the seasons and environment around us we can begin to choose how we support ourselves through each day.

If you have any questions for me about anything at all shared here in this blog, reach out, I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you again for being here. Honouring you, your time and your energy.

With love,

Amie

💜