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Food, Herbs, Lifestyle, Sex, Spirit

Kick off the New Year with Delicious Self-Care – The Ayurvedic Daily Ritual

Alright ladies and gentlemen, it’s the New Year. We are all a-buzz with that excitement of new vistas and catalytic potentialities. And, wanna’ know the best way to super-charge your dreams? Start taking care of your body. Your mind will thank you.

Here is my basic Daily Ritual, pulled straight from my soon-to-be-published book on living healthy, happy and sexy with ancient Ayurveda:

Morning Routine

Your morning routine begins the night before: Getting in bed by 10 or 10:30 PM (can be a little later in the summer) will help you start the morning off right.

  1. Wake up at sunrise: If you are exhausted, sick or elderly, please sleep as long as you like. Upon waking, do not get out of bed right away. Try to be aware of your body and feel grateful to be alive before your toes touch earth. Pray.
  2. Drink warm lemon water: This helps to wash the G.I. tract, flushes the kidneys and stimulates peristalsis. If your digestion is sluggish, add 1/2 tsp ginger root powder.
  3. Nature calls: Going to the bathroom upon waking will help clear your digestive system. A healthy “motion” will have a soft brown log quality, little odor and will be well-formed (like a banana). Undigested food, foul odor, mucous, excessive dryness or “pellet-like” quality suggests a digestive imbalance. Altering diet, lifestyle and using herbs will help better this.
  4. Gently scrape your tongue: Buy a silver tongue scraper. Scrape from back to front 5-8 times. The tongue is a mirror of your intestines. When there is a thick white coating on the tongue, it is indicative that ama (toxins) are present. Tongue scraping helps prevent diseases of the oral cavity, improves our ability to taste, gets rids of old food debris and prevents bad odor in the mouth.
  5. Wash the face, mouth, teeth and eyes: Splash your face with cool water. Wash the eyes with cool water or real-deal rose water. You can also buy an eye cup at most pharmacies and use for washing the eyes. Massage your gums with sesame oil. This improves oral hygiene, prevents bad breath, increases circulation to gums, heals bleeding gums and helps us maintain strong healthy teeth.
  6. Mouth detox: Take 1-2 tablespoons of pure sesame oil (not toasted) in the mouth. Gargle and swish until it creates a liquid texture (about 10-15 minutes), and then spit out into trash can. This strengthens teeth, gums and jaw. It also improves the voice, and is said to remove wrinkles from the cheeks! I know you may think 10-15 minutes is a long time – but, just swish it around while you do something else (like your self-massage).
  7. Use a neti pot: Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt to warm water in the pot and drain through each nostril. Afterwards, put 3-5 drops of warm sesame oil or ghee in the nostrils to lubricate the nose. This keeps the sinuses cleans, improves voice, vision and mental clarity. Our nose is the door to the brain. Nose drops nourish our prana and enhance intelligence.
  8. Abhyanga (Self-massage): Massage is one of our greatest allies for total health. It nourishes and soothes the nervous systems, stimulates lymphatic flow and aids in detoxification. It also improves circulation, increases vitality, nourishes the skin and promotes body/mind balance.
  9. Exercise: One of greatest allies in moving towards balance, exercise boosts the immune system and is an excellent way to counteract depression. Exercise daily to half capacity. We want to get a little sweaty glow, but not burn out before our day begins.
  10. Bathe: Use natural products.
  11. Meditate: Begin your day with some form of breath-work and meditation. Start with five minutes and work up to at least 20 minutes daily. I sometimes do my meditation before exercise, which is also fine.
  12. Eat breakfast.

Lunch Routines

  1. Try to make lunch your biggest meal of the day. Eat in a pleasant, calm place without distraction.
  2. Take some time to bless the food prior to eating.
  3. After eating, if you can lay down on your left side for 5-20 minutes, this is ideal. Why? Because it helps the digestive organs to do their work to assimilate the meal. If you are at work, even just leaning to the left side in your chair will be helpful.

Afternoon/Early Evening routines

  1. One afternoon routine that helps you deeply relax into your evening is the practice of yoga nidra – a yogi nap. Its also nice to do this prior to dinner, just before sunset.
  2. Eat light at night: Having your last meal before sun-down, and at least 3 hours before bedtime will ensure better sleep. If you feel don’t feel hungry, drink one of my nighty-night tonics like my Golden Yogini Milk.

Nighty-Night Routines

There is no excuse, anymore, for us to not be sleeping. Women need sleep. Men need sleep. Bunnies need sleep. Everybody on the planet needs 6-8 hours of sleep on a regular basis. As Ayurveda expert and author, Dr. Claudia Welch says, “Every cell in the body needs stimulation, and every cell in the body needs nourishment.” Just as we need to exercise, we also need to surrender into rest.

It is also impossible to accomplish your goals if you are chronically sleep-deprived. Plus, your mind/body uses sleep as the washing machine for the subconscious mind. If we aren’t slipping into deep dream-time every night, much of our toxic, unprocessed emotions and experiences don’t get drained away. As Dr. Robert Svoboda says, “Sleep is the wet nurse of society.” Raise your hand if you feel like you need to be wet-nursed?

Ayurveda offers an ideal way for transitioning from the activity of the day into the sacred chamber of sleep. Following these routines will make sleep come effortlessly, and will help keep you asleep through the night:

  1. Set the mood: Depending on the season (in the winter it may be earlier), start turning off overhead lights after dinner. Avoid fluorescent lights always, but especially at night. Low lighting helps tell your body it is time to go to sleep. Lots of light confuses your circadian rhythms and messes with the natural hormones that pull you into the “sleepy feeling.” One of the first questions I people who suffer from insomnia is, “Are your overhead lights still on at 8 and 9 PM?” Switch to low level lighting, candles, or install dimmers on your overhead lights to set the mood for sleep.
  2. No more screen-time: Set an intention to turn off all screens (computers, cellphones, TVs) by 8 or 9 PM. Science now confirms that screens and lighting are also messing with our circadian rhythms.
  3. Be in bed by 10 PM: Have you ever noticed that you get a second wind around 10:30 PM? That’s because the metabolic energy your body normally uses for detoxing you while you sleep gets diverted to mental energy, and we get activated. Our body detoxifies and rejuvenates from 10 PM – 2 AM. When we stay up late, we truly do miss out on beauty sleep. If you currently go to bed at mid-night, use the fifteen-minute rule. Each night, trying going to bed a mere 15 minutes earlier. Within a few weeks, you will soundly sleeping at 10 PM.
  4. Take a warm bath: Taking a scented warm bath can help reset the nervous system towards sleep. Use oils such as frakenscense, myrrh, lavender, honeysuckle, jatamamsi, sandalwood, chamomile, neroli or pure rose for deep slumber.
  5. Avoid too much mental stimulation: Don’t watch evening news. It’s toxic for your dreams. Similarly, avoid planning your future, having intense conversations or any other activity that promotes mental movement before bed.
  6. Light a candle, read a sweet book that makes your heart melt. Say some prayers, and turn in.
  7. Unravel the day: There is a powerful meditative practice for unraveling the day. It actually builds your power of assimilation and boosts memory. Once in bed and laying down, mentally go backwards through your day in increments of 30 minutes. Try to simply register what was happening to you during the day without judgement. Notice your feelings, relax and let all events go. End with the point where you woke up in the morning. Gently drift into sleep.

~Katie

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Even small shifts like these can help stoke your a Even small shifts like these can help stoke your agni, boost your metabolism and strengthen your digestion.

🥬 Avoid processed food + leftovers. Food carries prana—the living energy that fuels body, mind and spirit. The longer food sits or the more processed it is, the less prana it has to offer you.

→ Instead: Cook simple, fresh meals when you can and eat warm foods to nourish your inner fire.

🌙 Avoid eating dinner after 6pm or sundown. Your digestion moves with the sun. Eating late overloads the body, leaving you heavy and foggy the next day.

→ Instead: Opt for an earlier, lighter dinner. Soups, kitchari or steamed veggies with a touch of healthy fat are perfect.

🍠 Focus on full meals instead of constant grazing. Every time you snack, your digestive fire is interrupted and never fully resets. Over time, this weakens agni—your body’s power to transform food into energy and vitality.

→ Instead: Root yourself in 3 nourishing meals a day so your system can digest fully and then truly rest.

🍽️ Eat only until three-quarters full. Stuffing yourself extinguishes your flame. Leaving space keeps you light, clear and energized.

→ Instead: Pause mid-meal, tune in and stop before heaviness sets in.

💦 Don’t drink ice water with meals. This is a big one. Cold and excess liquid dampen your digestive fire - it’s like pouring water on a sacred flame.

→ Instead: Sip warm water or herbal tea if you’re thirsty with meals, and drink larger amounts between meals.

When we honor the sacred fire that not only digests only our food, but also transforms our emotions and life experiences, we unlock more sustained energy, more fuel and more soul-power.

🪔  Ready to deepen your relationship with Divine Feminine Ayurveda? Comment WISDOM and we’ll send you our free course, Women’s Wisdom and Ayurveda so that you can start diving in right now.
The week before your period can also mean ICKY SYM The week before your period can also mean ICKY SYMPTOMS like bloating, headaches, fatigue, sore boobies & breakouts. Ayurveda teaches that this is often linked to imbalances in hormones (hello estrogen dominance?), ama buildup (that’s toxins), nutrient depletion and stress overload. That’s why food—and herbs—are your best allies in this phase.⁠
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Enter: the ultimate hormone-balancing, PMS-soothing treats you can imagine.  Made with cacao, dates, oats, Ayurvedic herbs (Ashwagandha, Shatavari), Maca, spices and mineral rich ingredients, these recipes are your new period BFFs.⁠
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In these recipes you’ll find ingredients like:⁠
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🍫 Cacao + oats, which are loaded with magnesium—your PMS bestie for easing cramps, stabilizing mood, calming the nervous system & boosting progesterone.⁠
🌿 Ashwagandha helps calm stress + anxiety.⁠
🌸 Shatavari supports female hormones + cycles.⁠
🌱 Maca gives an energy + mood boost.⁠
🧡 Spices like cinnamon, cardamom & fennel aid digestion + circulation.⁠
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If you’re looking to reduce PMS, support your hormones and satisfy your chocolate cravings in the luteal phase—this recipe bundle is your go-to. Swipe right to see everything you’re gonna receive. ⁠
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Want the full recipes? We’re sending them out in our newsletter this week. ⁠
⁠
Comment “HORMONE LOVE” + I’ll DM you the next steps to get added to our list.
In Ayurveda, Agni is more than your digestion. Ag In Ayurveda, Agni is more than your digestion.

Agni is the sacred fire that transforms what you take in from the outside world into vitality, clarity and wisdom.

When your Agni is strong, you don’t just break down food with ease - you metabolize emotions, challenges and life changes. You have the power to burn through confusion, soften your defenses and transform what’s stuck or hard into insight and freedom.

Old hurts lose their grip.
Confusion burns away, revealing truth.
The “stuck places” in your body and psyche soften, making space for more.

Agni is not just a physiological process…it’s foundational to our psychological and spiritual vitality.

When you tend your sacred fire, you feel more grounded and resilient in times of change.

You see clearly what needs to stay and what needs to be released.

It’s easier to connect to the part of you that is already whole and needs nothing added.

And here’s the beautiful paradox:

Tending Agni doesn’t have to be about doing more.

Removing what dims your inner flame (like outdated habits, stagnant emotions and the “shoulds” that never belonged to you) is one way that we can increase our agni-power.

This is the work we do at The Shakti School: this community is about holding you as you release what’s dimming your light and step into habits, spiritual practices and purpose-driven action that helps you burn brighter.

🪔  Are you ready to reawaken your inner fire? 

Comment WISDOM and I’ll send you our free Women’s Wisdom + Ayurveda mini-course. This course is an invitation to reclaim your power, cultivate your light and immerse yourself in Divine Feminine Ayurveda.
I’ve been on a deep dive into natural hormone su I’ve been on a deep dive into natural hormone support—because your mood swings, sleepless nights and that weird bloaty rage aren’t just "you being crazy." 😬⁠
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They’re signs your cool aunt hormone (aka progesterone) might be MIA.⁠
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But here’s the kicker: PROGESTERONE is super sensitive.⁠
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To stress. To blood sugar spikes. To liver congestion. To xenoestrogens. To basically being a modern woman. So, NO IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT YOUR HORMONES ARE WHACK. ⁠
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So what’s a gal to do?⁠
⁠
Here’s what I’m loving lately to bring her back in:⁠
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🌿 Liver love: Your liver is the queen of hormone metabolism. I’m loving warm lemon water, dandelion root tea, nettles, dill-for-days (!) beets, milk thistle and castor oil packs over the womb & liver. Plus dry brushing and self-abhyanga with cooling oils like coconut, monoi and honeysuckle. ⁠
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🍳 Blood sugar balancing meals: Try more healthy fats, veggies and grassfed or vegetarian protein - like 80-90 grams a day! ⁠
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🌻 Vitamin B6 + magnesium + zinc: These are the micronutrient fairy godmothers of your luteal phase. (Hello, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate.) Also, do not skimp on the dates! ⁠
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🌸 Shatavari, wild yam, maca and chasteberry (Vitex). These are our Ayurvedic and herbal allies for feminine hormone harmony. Make sure to check any contraindications, but I am mad about maca lately. ⁠
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🧘🏽‍♀️ Less cortisol, more calm. Daily meditation, alternate nostril breathing and saying no to anything that isn’t a soul yes.⁠
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The truth is, our hormonal systems are WISE.⁠
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They are mirrors of our relationship with our inner feminine.⁠
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This is exactly the kind of thing we go DEEP into in our Ayurveda School.⁠
⁠
Our 2026 Level 1 Ayurveda Certification is now open for enrollment – and I want you to know:⁠
This isn’t just another health course.⁠
⁠
It’s a portal to becoming the embodied healer you’ve been seeking.⁠
⁠
🌺  Start reconnecting with your inner feminine right now. Comment WISDOM for our free Women’s Wisdom & Ayurveda 3+ hour lecture series with me. ⁠
⁠
Here’s to progesterone peace and liver love,⁠
Katie
New in-person workshop alert! Join us Sep. 21 at S New in-person workshop alert! Join us Sep. 21 at Santosha Yoga for The Pelvic Floor: Where Anatomy Meets Energy with Katie Silcox and Liz Reynolds.

When the pelvis is tight and weak, the entire neuromusculature and energy system is tight and weak.

Join us for this deep immersion on how you can get out of pelvis fight, flight, freeze cycles - deeply reconnecting with your body’s foundation  and reclaim your power—physically, emotionally and energetically.

This immersive workshop explores the pelvic floor as more than just a group of muscles—it’s the root of your stability, vitality and sacred feminine energy. Through a blend of movement, breathwork, education and guided meditations you’ll deepen your connection to this powerful center of  strength and intuition.

Whether you’re healing postpartum,  navigating cycles of fertility and peri/menopause, or simply seeking greater embodiment, Pelvic Alchemy offers a supportive space to release tension, cultivate awareness and invite transformation from the ground up.

What to expect:

• Gentle yoga-inspired floor work and Pilates-based movement for pelvic floor health
• Breathwork to release holding patterns and energize the root
• Anatomy education made accessible and empowering
• Guided meditation and visualization for deeply awakening awareness and the pelvic floor - allowing your entire nervous system to deeply REST AND RECEIVE

What you will leave with:

• A new awareness of your pelvic bowl — the seat of your feminine power, vitality and intuitive knowing.
• Deep somatic movement, fascia release and yogic postures specifically designed to unlock tension and stored emotion in the hips, sacrum and  womb space.
• Tantric & Ayurvedic Wisdom for the Feminine Body: an understanding of how ancient traditions view the pelvic region — as a portal to pleasure, physical health, power, creativity and deep  spiritual embodiment.
• Energetic Mapping of the Pelvis - the energetic  architecture of your pelvic floor, including chakra connections, nadis and the subtle body — helping you understand your body as an alchemical  temple.

Get the details now over on @santoshayogacrozet or at the link in our bio.

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