6 Ayurvedic Quick Tips for Brain and Mind Fitness
Updated: Sep 3
Ayurveda's 5,000 year-old lifestyle tools are now being discovered and scientifcally validated by allopathic (Western) medicine. What can we do to help our brains remain fit?
Explore more on the Saumya Blog, selected top Ayurveda blogs and websites to watch.
6 Ayurvedic Quick Tips for Brain and Mind Fitness
1. Meditation: Use our free Daily Guided Practices. Eleven minutes in the morning, and eleven minutes in the evening as part of your morning and evening routine.
“I feel greatly improved. Stress fell off like an old hairy coat. I’m just not anxious. Depression is way decreased. I was haunted by anxiety my whole life, and it’s just gone. The mudra, mantra...WOW. This is so cool! I have regained hope. Something wonderful is taking place. You and your knowledge come to me after a lifetime of searching and prayer. I am forever grateful.” -- Mark Hughes, Minnesota
2. Quality Sleep: Ayurvedic Tips to Sleep Like a Baby Set yourself up for successful restorative sleep. Combine these tips and take inspiration from our 8 Ayurvedic Evening Rituals for a Calming Night and you will feel the difference.
3. Let Go of Stress: "People often downplay the impact of stress saying, 'Oh, it's just stress,' yet, it is stress that causes diseases and conditions in the body and mind. Stress is a killer. When we learn how to move from flight-fight-freeze side of our nervous system, to the rest-restore-relax mode, we have changed our lives, and physical and mental health at the deepest levels." - Veena | Saumya Ayurveda
Learn Diaphragmatic Breathing and Change Your Life. Change my breath and it changes my life? It may seem an overly dramatic claim, yet it is not. Breath is the one link between the body and mind. When we breathing diaphragmatically, we are in the relaxed side of your nervous system. Breath work, or pranayama is working directly our prana, or vital force.
“Saumya Ayurveda has help me to become reborn. With the help of Veena, I have become more than ADHD. My entire body responds better to stress and relaxation.
Being a molecular scientist, it was difficult to grasp the simplistic complexity of Ayurveda, but the changes I experienced with Veena allowed me, not only a general understanding of health, but sparked a lifelong journey. This is a feat, considering I had difficulty focusing and digestive issues only four short years ago.
Veena’s evaluation and treatment is so individualized that it was easy to adjust my life which spawned health. Veena is a skilled healer with a solution to fit all.” -Jessica B. Naturopath, Molecular Scientist, Medical School Student, New York City
4. Food is Medicine: We are overwhelmed and confused by information. Most people are scratching their heads or pulling out their hair. It is indeed frustrating. Ayurveda offers a clear path by customizing your food specifically to you and this means, in most cases, eating a wider variety of enjoyable foods. Through consulting with a seasoned Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner, you can learn how to turn all your food into medicine. Book your free phone consultation to explore more.
5. Movement: Yog-asana (poses, postures, "yoga")
Yog-asana refers to the physical postures of yogic practice. Morning yog-asana stimulates the digestive fire and prepares your body for a healthy breakfast. It also releases stress and tension and energizes the body and mind.
Surya Namaskar (sun salutation) is the chief morning yog-asana. This series of 12 gentle poses opens you to greet and internalize the sun into your own system.
Take a peaceful nature walk after dinner to calm your mind and aid digestion. It’s a simple activity with huge benefits. Studies show regular strolls can help prevent issues like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and even depression.
These yoga poses help relieve stress, soothe nerves, and calm busy minds:
Viparita Karani (Legs Up Wall)
A few benefits of this yog-asana:Viparita Karani may help with a range of issues including anxiety and insomnia. It’s especially supportive for good sleep, perform this pose before bed to unwind.
Makarasana (Crocodile Pose)
No other yoga pose makes diaphragmatic breathing quite so natural and easy. A few benefits of this yog-asana: relaxes the nervous system, reduces blood pressure, relieves stress and anxiety, releases lower back tension, improves digestion and supports lungs due to deep diaphragmatic breathing.
Balasana (Child’s Pose)
A few benefits of this yog-asana: relief from constipation, releases back tension, calms the nervous system and stretches the thighs and ankles.
Savasana (Corpse Pose)
A few benefits of this yog-asana: calming to the nervous system, supports digestion, enhances immunity, reduces stress, fatigue and anxiety, helps to lower blood pressure.
As you sink into these resting poses, practice diaphragmatic breathing or listen to a guided meditation.
6. Herbs: Take Your Herbs
While a proper diet is the foundation of holistic wellness, Ayurveda uses medicinal herbs to target and support specific tissues, systems, channels, and organs in the body and mind. Targeted plant nutrition can be used to address a wide range of concerns, including to improve digestion, increase mental clarity, boost immunity, and even help you catch some Zs.
At Saumya Ayurveda, we take a “less is more” approach to herbs. Rather than overwhelming you with a bunch of supplements you don’t need, we start with a gentle dose (no more than it takes – but no less, either!). As you move deeper into your Ayurvedic lifestyle, we’ll circle back regularly to ensure your herbal plan stays aligned with the seasons and your current doshic needs.
As with all herbs, the tenet of Ayurveda is that what works well for one person may be incorrect for another. Herbs are listed for informational purposes only. To know what herbs are correct for you, book a consultation.
“Veena is wonderful to work with, she’s a great listener and very thorough about going through all the different aspects of your life. My digestive issues have a had a complete 180 degree turn around and I feel better than I have in years.
I had gotten to the point that I thought a lot of what I was experiencing was just a normal part of the aging process—things changed over time, and I just got used to them.
It’s been great knowing that I can experience better health and increased vitality with some relatively small changes. Veena is great about understanding what I could easily accommodate in my daily routine. There was no “forcing” solutions, but rather incorporating what I could to work with my lifestyle. I have experienced amazing results!” –Kate K., Stillwater, Minnesota
6 Ayurvedic Quick Tips for Brain and Mind Fitness integrate naturally into our daily lives.
According to the Harvard Gazette, "...meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy, and stress."
There is a saying, "The mind is more in the body, than the body is in the mind." The Saumya 3 step meditation process shifts us from fight-flight-freeze mode, to rest-restore-relax mode. Give it a try for forty days and observe the changes. The more grounded and relaxed we are, the smoother life flows.
"The breath is the connection between the mind and body, so by training the breath, we become calm, focused, and grounded, we slow down the aging process by decreasing stress. These practices are so simple and easy to have as part of our daily life. We actually feel and look younger."
- Veena, Saumya Ayurveda
1. Learn Diaphragmatic Breathing and Change Your Life. When we re-learn to breath diaphragmatically, we move from the flight-fight-freeze mode, to rest, restore, relaxation mode from where we want and need to live.
2. Daily Guided Practices: 11 minutes in the morning and in the evening, as anchors of your daily Ayurveda routine.
3. Ayurveda Daily Routines: --Ayurvedic Morning Routine | 6 Rituals for a Calm and Centered Day
--10 Ayurvedic Evening Rituals for a Calming Night
"Choose a couple of practices from the routines that provide you with the greatest support. Perform them while applying our two minute meditation technique and your mundane tasks, just transformed into a mellifluous meditation. This is meditation applied to daily life." - Veena, Saumya Ayurveda
Explore More: Ayurveda Breathwork Pranayama
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Veena is a Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner and meditation teacher and monk.
She is President Emeritus of the Meditation Center and former staff member of the Minnesota Institute of Ayurveda.
Veena fell in love with the traditional medicine used in her family’s home learning herbal remedies at her grandmother's knee. She remains passionate for over 30 years, helping clients feel their best physically, emotionally, and spiritually with Ayurveda.
Veena individualizes treatment plans to each person, rather than offering a one-size-fits-all approach, so it fits your life and becomes woven into your daily life, naturally.