What is Your Evening Routine?

In the late 'past your bedtime' hours of the day we can assess how our mind and body are coping with digesting our experiences of the day.

If you find yourself delaying sleep, tossing and turning in the middle of the night, waking up at midnight hot, irritated, agitated, fitful and restless, hungry or ready to switch on the computer and work you may have a Pitta imbalance.

The hours from 10pm - 2am are considered 'pitta time' in Ayurveda and are linked to the qualities of the Fire and Water Elements (sharp, hot, light and mobile - flowing like hot lava.)

These qualities are essential for breaking down/digesting the experiences of our day whilst we sleep and dream and they also support the liver (the hottest organ in the body) which schedules a power-clean up around this time which also supports hormonal balance (another pitta function).

If your days are packed full to the brim with little time to appreciate, process, digest and let go - the night time Pitta activity will be extremely pressurised and possibly just won't work for you.

A night time ritual of adding a down-regulating pranayama practice along with a rose water eye compress at bed-time can be a good start to decompressing the Pitta spaces of the body (agni, eyes, emotions, liver and skin) and allowing the body to do a cleanse, clean and purify during this essential Pitta time.