Embrace aging as a natural part of life with a healthy mental attitude and then focus on slowing down the rate of physical decline. Proper diet and right lifestyle with yoga, meditation, moderate exercise and good sleep in your 30's help age gracefully. Chyavanaprasam, an Ayurveda rasayana, helps build immunity, improves digestive power and keeps mind and lungs clear.
Aging Gracefully
Aging with grace is all about attitude. Having a positive attitude about what age can bring and looking forward to some of the good things like: wisdom, resilience, inner strength, and a mature perspective are some of the perks of seniority.
Aging is a beautiful natural process just like plants and trees. The universe around us is aging. It is a law of nature. If we nourish our plants/trees very well in a very favorable, non-polluted environment they grow well and look healthy.
Components Involved In Aging
To age gracefully, we must keep in mind that aging has physical, mental, and spiritual components. All these components are interrelated. Together they make us a “whole” person. Once we embrace the aging as natural part of us with healthy mental attitude, we can focus on the physical. The basic idea is to slow down the rate of physical decline as we approach the later years of our life. However, preparation to achieve this begins in 30’s and 40’s by eating right foods and having right lifestyle management.
Our goal is to continue building healthy new cells to replace the old dying cell for as long as possible. If the old cells are not replaced with new cells, skin becomes wrinkled and body loses its strength and shape.
Spiritual component supports both mental and physical health. Studies have shown people with strong spiritual connections heal faster and have better immunity. While the physical and mental components change with age, it is the spiritual component that remains unchanged and is a pillar of support in our graceful aging.
How to Age Gracefully?
- Proper Diet
Choose foods based on your mind-body constitution that can help you usher in growth of new cells while creating least amount of toxins in the body.
- Right Supplements
Include the right vitamins and herbal supplements- NOT to supplement good foods but only to cover the gaps.
- Detox
Detoxify your body regularly- a weekly fast, a monthly fast, or a quarterly cleanse based on your lifestyle.
- Muscle Mass
As we age, natural tendency of the body is to lose its muscle mass and to replace it with fat mass. Our goal is to slow down the rate of muscle mass conversion to fat mass and retain as much muscle mass for as long as possible. Follow a routine exercises and activities that can help retain the muscle mass, reduce fat build-up and keeps us flexible.
- Manage Stress
Besides foods, we need to be aware of keeping healthy mind. Stressful thoughts and emotions that we take in from outside or cultivate within. We must figure out a way to “metabolize” stress out of our system to remove “mental inflammation.” This can be a cause for many nerves related and other illnesses. Happiness of mind is relatively important.
- Spirituality
Utilize our life experiences and spiritual knowledge to shift our mental attitudes to neutralize emotions or thoughts that are source of stress.
- Be Active
Do breathing exercises, yoga and meditation to help release the stress and eliminate mental inflammation.
- Challenge Yourself
Keep the mind occupied by continuously learning new interesting and challenging things.
- Sleep
Get good rest at night.
Aging Gracefully With Ayurveda
The eight major branches of Ayurveda range from pediatrics to longevity. The branch that deals with longevity is called Rasayana, meaning rejuvenation.
Rejuvenate With Rasayana
A Rasayana is designed to remedy stress, repair, and rejuvenate the deep tissues of the body.
A Rasayana is also a category of herbal preparations designed to rejuvenate the body, mind, and spirit at the deepest possible level. In Ayurveda, stress is understood to be a causative factor in the disease process, in part because stress lodges toxins deep within the tissues of the body.
Chyawanprash: A Powerful Rasayana
One of the most powerful and respected Rasayana is Chyawanprash. It’s an elaborate combination of herbs, fruits, and minerals specifically designed for rejuvenation and enhancing immunity and physiological balance. Western studies have found Chyawanprash to be a powerful free-radical scavenger (antioxidant) and anti-stress agent (adaptogen). Taken regularly, Chyawanprash builds immunity, improves digestive power, and keeps the mind and lungs clear. It is also beneficial for stress, anxiety, and depression.
Jaya is an Ayurveda practitioner. For the past 20 years she has led clients to health and healing by sharing the transformative power of Ayurveda in her seminars and workshops.
In addition to being the founder and CEO of Active Ayurveda and Yoga, LLC and The Institute of Ayurveda and Lifestyle Management, she is a writer of Ayurveda related articles in multiple newspapers and magazines in United States. As a healing practitioner, Dr. Daptardar concentrates on prevention and wellness, specializes in women’s health, nutrition, weight and lifestyle management, and the treatment of such maladies as arthritis, asthma, allergies, acne, digestion issues, chronic pain, mental health, stress related illness and Ayurvedic therapies like Shirodhara, Nasya and much more. She practices in Weston CT and at Pryority Wellness, 45 Grove Street New Canaan, CT
Dr. (Vaidya) Jaya Daptardar BAMS, MHA
jmdaptardar@hotmail.com
www.ayurbeautyandlifestyle.com
