Fluid and structured wellness lifestyle routines

It's healthy to do nothing.

Too much of doing nothing, and we accumulate.

It's freedom to have a choice of what to do with our time. 

Too much freedom and choice leads to overwhelm and indecision. 

Upon hearing these concepts, one of my clients called me out saying, "isn't no structure, no rules, your whole thing?" She was referring to my strong emphasis on customized wellness and being fluid in meeting our needs in any situation. 

It's not an either-or choice between solid structure and fluidity. We need both. Our bodies have structure, rhythm, AND fluidity. We are made to embody all of these qualities. 

Rather than be Ayurveda-bots that operate strictly to daily routines and practices, we're meant to feel supported and nourished by them.

This means we have to adapt the structure sometimes. Yet, having a baseline structure that grounds us, and gives us the homeostatic return point, is essential to our health (and our sanity).

This is why I create a baseline structure to my days and weeks and months that attends to all of the fundamentals of my happy life. I still have free time or open space to be unstructured.  It's essential. In the bigger picture, there is a good amount of structure AND a good amount of fluidity in my life rhythm. 

I know when to adapt, and when to get a bit more disciplined based on how I feel, and what I'm experiencing at that time. In this way, my baseline is adapted as needed (more on this below). 

If you are looking to do the same, here's the big picture considerations when designing your routines.

Your structure

Here are the major components of your life structure and rhythm. As long as your routines support these basics, your lifestyle is one that can support your wellbeing. If you don't have routines to create the time and space for these wellness lifestyle basics, you're going to feel it in your digestion, sleep, hormones and stress levels. 

Time for roles. This is all the time you need to play your roles and functions.

Quality alone time. This is the one most of us don't have enough of. 

Quality connection time. Emotional or physical intimacy. 

Regular exercise. Keeps us from accumulating emotionally and physically. 

Regular sleep cycles. Circadian rhythms and regeneration.

Connection with nature. Spiritual food and emotional recharge. 

Creative time. Another one that gets cut out when we're too busy. 

Your fluidity

Only you will know when you need more ease and adaptability versus more structure and predictability. Most of us know, but don't change to be more fluid because we "power through" to "get it done." However, there are three clear times when the balancing move is to allow more, surrender and flow:  transitions, stressors, cleanses. 

Transitions. During times of change, we're naturally destabilized and depleted. This means our self discipline and capacity are low , and our need for more down time is high. Transitions always involve some amount of grief as we move on from the 'old' towards the 'new.' During transitions, we want to alter our rhythm to best support ourselves with the above energetics. 

Stressors. Everyone has heard of the perils of being in your "flight or fright" mode too long. Yet, even healthy "stressors" like a challenge at work, or personal growth goals, can over-activate our sympathetic nervous systems. In this place, meditation, calming practices, and sleep are key, and we want to adjust our structure to meet those goals until we don't feel stressed. 

Cleanses. Cleanses bring up a lot of challenging emotions and thoughts. You can feel physically weak, or mentally not present. Essentially, a cleanse is a transition for your gut, and your microbiome. Prioritizing fluidity to go through the cleanse process is supports emotional wellness and insight. 

I'm saying to be fluid with the structure, not to throw it out the window. In fact, there are healing benefits to the structure in all of the above scenarios.

Are there times to stick more to rhythm, even when you're feeling self destructive? Yes: when you have addictive patterns, Vata signs and symptoms. 

Creating the structure of your intentional life is the first step. 

where structure meets fluidity, 

Siva