In Sanskrit the daily routine is called the Dinacharya

In Sanskrit the daily routine is called the Dinacharya. Din means 'day' and acharya means 'to follow' or 'close to'. To be 'close to the day' in this respect actually means to merge your daily cycle with the natural cycle of the Sun, Moon, Earth, and the other planets in our Solar system. The reason for this is that your most healthy and happy state is your most natural state, and vice versa. Intrinsic to this natural state is the basic intelligence of everything from how a baby should take its first step to how the sperm should enter the egg to conceive the baby in the first place, to how a cell should remember when to live and when to die.

Dinacharya is one of the best things that you can do to stay in balance, prevent disease and treat almost any disease. The Ayurvedic Rishis considered daily routine to be a stronger healing force than any other curative medicine and so devoted initial chapters in their books to this.

Today's society is so alienated from Nature. Who knows what day of the cycle the moon is in? To really heal you must return to balance and know your place in the Universe. One way to describe the daily cycle is in terms of the doshas, Vata, the air element; Pitta, the fire element; and Kapha, the water element. Vata is dominant from 2 to 6 in the morning and afternoon. Kapha is dominant from 6 to 10 in the morning and evening, and Pitta is dominant during mid day and midnight. Keep in touch with these energies during the day and move with them, not against them.