Night
A gentle evening routine to help you unwind. It is for relaxation only and is not medical advice.
Ready when you are
Emotion rows appear when the night catalogue publishes.
Evening
The hours after sunset are traditionally kept for winding down: the evening lamp, prayer, a light meal and early rest. This evening practice follows that rhythm in three steps, release the day, regulate the breath and mind, and renew for tomorrow, timed to your local sunset.
Dusk, the Sandhya, is one of the three junctions of the day. Tradition marks it with lighting a lamp at the entrance and in the prayer room, a short prayer, and stepping back from work. The practice begins at your local sunset time.
The first step lets the day go. Note one thing that went well and one that did not, without judgement. Then offer the day mentally to your chosen deity, a practice the Gita calls offering the fruits of action.
The second step calms the breath. A few minutes of Nadi Shodhana, alternate nostril breathing, or slow even breathing with a count of four in and six out, settles the nervous system before sleep.
The third step prepares for tomorrow. Look at tomorrow's Panchangam, note the good window for your most important task, and set a simple intention.
The Moon's sign and Nakshatra tonight are shown, with a short note. On Pournami and Amavasya the practice adds the traditional observances of those nights.
Ayurveda advises a light meal two to three hours before sleep and sleeping before the Kapha hours give way, around ten at night, so you rise easily before dawn.
The whole practice takes ten to fifteen minutes. Keep it every evening and it becomes a quiet anchor for the day.
Many Hindu observances fall at dusk or after: Pradosham at sunset on the thirteenth Tithi, the lamp of Karthigai Deepam, the moonrise that ends the Sankatahara Chaturthi fast, and the night vigil of Maha Shivaratri. The texts treat the evening as a doorway, and a calm evening is held to bring a calm mind into sleep. Families who keep the lamp at dusk often find that it marks a clear end to the working day and a beginning of family time.
If you have a family deity, begin with their name. If you prefer silence, sit with the lamp for a few minutes before the breathing. The three steps are a frame, not a rule.
At or soon after your local sunset.
Ten to fifteen minutes.
The junction of day and night at dusk, kept for prayer.
Alternate nostril breathing that calms the mind.
It is traditional, but the practice can be done without one.
To place your main task in a good window.
It is kept for Satyanarayana Puja and Moon gazing.
It is a quiet night for remembering ancestors.
The breathing part, yes; the prayer is best sitting.
The food and sleep advice follows Ayurveda; the prayer follows Sandhya tradition.
Yes. The reminder follows your local sunset.
Yes, in a shorter form.
No, but with it the tomorrow note becomes personal.
Tradition advises against sleeping, eating heavily or quarrelling at the junction of dusk.
Sesame oil or ghee, with cotton wicks.