Ayurveda and Exercise

One patient prided herself on her rigorous routine, running five miles daily. When she reached her early thirties she started to feel exhausted, couldn’t sleep at night, and discovered that her skin was showing signs of aging.

She was exercising too much for her health. After consulting an Ayurvedic physician, she started an exercise program that was more in line with her Vata body type. Today she sleeps through the night and has recovered her stamina, strength, and youthful skin.

Exercise has been an important part of the Ayurvedic routine for thousands of years before it became a modern fad. Exercise gets rid of heaviness and stiffness of the body because it burns ama (digestive impurities) and creates more flexibility, lightness, smoothness and easiness.

Other benefits include enhanced firmness, endurance, and ability to do work. It pacifies all three doshas and creates balance when suitable for the body type and season. It enhances the digestion, and if done properly, it dissolves impurities in the tissues. Exercise enhances immunity and capacity for food. It banishes fatigue, stops early aging, and retards weight gain.

Respect Your Limits

But too much exercise can be damaging. Fatigue, lack of glow in the skin and face, Pitta and Vata aggravation, and strain on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems result from too much exercise. Modern research confirms that too much exercise can create free radicals and damage the body. Excess free radicals have been linked to over 80% of degenerative disease as well as premature aging.

According to The Council of Maharishi Ayurveda Physicians, you should not use more than 50 percent of your total capacity,” says The Council. “And that capacity depends on daily fluctuations of energy, change of the seasons, age, and body type.” This is the Ayurvedic principle of balaardh — using half your capacity and conserving the other half. Exercising beyond one’s capacity can create imbalance in mind and body, and do more harm than good from the Ayurvedic perspective.

Vata types need less exercise, so lighter activities such as walking are best. Pitta types need moderate amounts, swimming and skiing, for example, and Kapha types need more intense exercise, such as jogging and aerobics, in order to stay in balance. The seasons follow another pattern: if you want to increase your exercise, winter and spring are the best times. In hot weather, you need to decrease exertion and stay out of the hot sun. As for age, children have more capacity for exercise and older people need less, although daily exercise is essential at any age.

How do you know if you’re doing the right amount of exercise? As long as you feel energized and blissful, you are not going beyond what your physiology can sustain. If you feel strained and exhausted, you’re doing too much. You can continue to exercise until you notice one of the following two signs of overexertion:

• Difficulty breathing through the nose. If you have to open your mouth to gulp in air, that’s a sign that your heart is overexerted, the circulation system is taxed, and the coordination of heart and lungs is disturbed. Stop immediately.
• Sweating on forehead or tip of nose. It’s fine to sweat elsewhere in the body, but when you notice sweat in these two places, it’s a sign that you are overexerted and should stop.

If you’re not exerting enough, you can exercise for a longer period or with more intensity. You could start with a walk, but each day you could increase the intensity of exercise (by walking faster). Or you could walk for a longer time (increasing the duration). Start out slowly and gradually increase the intensity and time. Stop when you note signs of overexertion.

Yoga asanas are the ideal form of exercise for all body types and ages, because they balance the three doshas, tone the muscles, and rejuvenate all the organs in the body. Pranayam, or breathing exercises, are also good for restoring balance to mind and body. You can take a course at a Maharishi Vedic Center to find out how to do them properly.

Increase Your Stamina

To increase endurance, eat more sweet, juicy fruits, and more proteins such as milk, paneer (a fresh cheese), soaked almonds and cashews. Make sure your bowel movements are regular, and if not, incorporate more cooked prunes, figs and raisins in your diet.

Exercise every day, as part of your regular daily routine. If possible, exercise in the morning before 10:00 AM, as your body has more strength, stamina, and coordination during the Kapha time of day. Exercising at this time also energizes you, preparing you for the day ahead. Exercising in the late evening or towards bedtime is not recommended, as it can elevate body temperatures and disrupt sleep rhythms. A light walk in the evening is fine. Also avoid exercise from 10a.m. to 2p.m., the Pitta time of day when the digestive fires are burning high and it is time to eat the main meal of the day.

It’s not a good idea to exercise on a full stomach, nor is it good to exert yourself if your stomach is empty. Wait about two hours after a full meal. Have a light snack of fruit juice, a cooked apple, or some kind of soupy, warming food before exercising and eat your full breakfast afterwards.

The Council of Maharishi Ayurveda Physicians recommends an abhyanga (Ayurvedic oil massage) before exercise, which is another reason why it works well to exercise in the morning, after your morning massage. This will tone the muscles, get the blood circulating and prevent injury or strain.

Be careful not to use channel-clogging oils. Ask your physician about herbalized Ayurvedic oils because they contains herbs that penetrate the skin, clear the channels and rejuvenate the cells. A healthy organic massage oil enhances circulation and endurance all by itself.

Ayurvedic Exercise – Finding Fitness

Ancient Ayurvedic healers advocated the concept of using “balaardh” or just 50 percent of your total reservoir of strength at a given time. This does not mean you need to pull out a calculator each time you want to figure out if you’ve done “half of your total capacity. It means keeping constant dialogue with your body and your mind.

When you start sweating lightly and breathing through the mouth, your body is telling you that it is going at a steady pace. When your mind is enjoying your physical activity-say a vigorous game of tennis, you know it is okay to go on playing. But when you start sweating profusely and can sense you are tired, don’t push yourself to exert. It’s simply a matter of listening to your body.

Workouts That Work

People exercise for different reasons. Some want to lose weight, some to build muscle, and still others see it as part of a healthy routine. Whatever your goal, you can achieve it the Ayurveda way-without burning yourself out.

Being a holistic system of healing, Ayurveda likes exercises that involve both body and mind. That is why, ancient healers like Charaka praised walking. It does not tax the body overmuch, it relaxes the mind, and it improves overall balance.

Yoga-which comes from the root word “yoke” or unite, is of course an old-time favorite of the vaidyas. It gives you an all-body workout at a steady pace. It is also a great calmer-who can act or feel frantic while stretching the body so deliciously? A short session of yoga will always leave you feeling refreshed and happy, not tired and ready to crash.

An Unfit Obsession

Every day, people cross the line between healthy and hurtful exercise. Some people have been known to become exercise addicts, giving their workout priority over everything else in life. Not only that, sports experts observe such people suffer withdrawal symptoms if they are forced to go without their daily quota of exercise. It is important to figure out if you are indeed addicted to exercise. Four ways you can tell:

• Do you notice you go on treading the mill or doing the weights regardless of a stretched shin or an aching arm?
• Do you plunge into and out of your workout without taking time to warm-up or stretch?
• Do you forget a dinner date or a dentist’s appointment when you are working out?
• Do you suffer lack of appetite, headaches, tension and irritability if you don’t get your fitness fix?

All these are signs you are doing more than you should.

Fit Advice

Modern fitness experts recommend a 24-hour rest between vigorous exercise sessions, to allow the body to recover fully. Concerned at the growing number of over-exercisers they urge people to check their pace-even carry a heart-monitor to the gym, if necessary.

Pick up a magazine that specializes in physical fitness and it will give you formula for calculating your speed and strength. Some examples:

• If your heart is beating at an increased but safe speed, you’re on the right track-this is your “target heart rate. Usually, this is about 75 to 80 percent of your maximum safe heart rate. But for workouts on ski machines and stair climbers, your heart-rate should be about 60 percent of the maximum.
• To figure out your 60 percent of maximum target rate, subtract your age from 220, and multiply the result by 0.6. You could also lug a mini heart monitor to the gym to check your progress occasionally.

This is where Ayurveda steps in. “Forget formulas,” it encourages you to listen to yourself.