These herbal cocktails might be a stretch for the typical Ayurvedic diet, but they sure are tasty!

• Eat, Pray, Love (2010)
• The Doctor From India (2017)
• Heal (2017)
• Couple’s Retreat (2009)

Ayurveda Yoga Retreat playlist on Spotify

Yoga is a great way to relax and unwind. In this activity, we will be making your yoga practice date-friendly by doing a couple’s routine! Help each other stretch and hold your poses while feeling connected and having fun.

What you need for this activity

• 2 yoga mats
• Computer or smart TV

Instructions

Choose one of the two couple’s yoga videos below and do the practice together. If you really want to make it an interesting date night activity, do your couple’s yoga practice NAKED!

Meditating is definitely an activity that is much more difficult than it looks! With meditation, you learn to quiet your thoughts and focus on something specific, which I think most of us moms can admit is not our strong suit. In this activity, you and your partner will be doing a guided couples meditation to help us concentrate on our loving relationship!

What you need for this activity

• Your phone or computer

Instructions

Find a comfortable place to sit and do the following guided couple’s meditation together.

Ayurveda is an ancient holistic system of medicine that originated in India over 5,000 years ago. It emphasizes a personalized approach to wellness by balancing your “dosha” (learn more during your activity!) and promoting harmony between the mind, body, and spirit.

Ayurvedic wellness practices include dietary recommendations tailored to one’s dosha, herbal remedies, yoga, meditation, and lifestyle adjustments to maintain optimal health and prevent disease. These practices aim to restore the body’s natural balance and promote longevity, emphasizing the importance of prevention and overall well-being.

In this activity, you will be trying 4 common Ayurvedic wellness practices!

What you need for this activity

• Coconut or sesame oil
• 2 tongue scrapers
• A skin brush (or a regular soft-bristled brush if you have one on-hand)

Instructions

Treatment 1: Oil pulling

To oil pull, you put oil in your mouth and swish it (like mouthwash) for several minutes. The idea is that your mouth is the gateway for the health of your internal body, and the oil pulls out all of the bad bacteria that tend to hang out there.

1. Put 1 tablespoon of oil in your mouths and get swishing!
   • If you are using coconut oil, it may need a minute to melt in your mouth before you start swishing.
2. While you are swishing, watch the 10-minute video that explains what the doshas are, including a quiz to help you discover yours.
3. After the video is finished, spit out your oils and swish your mouth with water.

Treatment 2: Tongue scraping

Similar to oil pulling, tongue scraping is another way to remove bad bacteria from the mouth and prevent it from making its way into your body where it can wreak more havoc.

1. Scrape each other’s tongues at the same time! Make sure not to gag each other. A little gross, but definitely laugh-inducing.

Treatment 3: Skin brushing

Skin brushing involves removing dead skin cells from the body by using a dry, soft-bristled brush. It buffs the skin and improves circulation.

1. Strip! You’ll need to be naked to do this.
2. Take turns brushing each other’s skin with medium pressure, starting at the feet and working your way upwards (this moves lymphatic fluid up in your body so it can be distributed through your circulatory system. . . apparently).
   • When brushing the arms, start at the hands and move your strokes back towards the heart.
   • When brushing the neck and shoulders, move downwards towards the heart.
3. When you both are brushed up, take a quick rinse shower with warm but not hot water (it’s too drying).

Treatment 4: Oil massage

Rather than using lotions and creams that are generally filled with lots of iffy chemicals, people who practice Ayurveda tend to stick to straight oils to moisturize their skin.

1. Apply your coconut or sesame oil to each other like you would a lotion.
2. Take turns giving each other hand massages with your oil using Ayurvedic techniques, which you can learn in the video below.

Which yoga position is the sexiest?

If you won a free week-long Ayurveda retreat vacation in India where you had to eat vegetarian, do 3 hours of yoga, and meditate every day, would you go?

Would you rather fall asleep immediately at sundown every night and sleep soundly until sunrise, or get a maximum 4 hours of sleep every night but they are during the period of your choosing?

If you could invent a new yoga position, what would you call it and how would it look?

Which animal would make the best yogi?

Would you rather do a hot yoga session with thermal clothes on or an outdoor yoga session in an unheated warehouse in the dead of winter with just your underwear on?

Regardless of what your dosha is, do you feel more like a fire, water, earth, or air person? Why?

If you watched a comedy movie about 3 friends going to an Ayurvedic yoga retreat in India, which 3 actors or actresses would you want to be in the film?

If you had to follow a guided meditation for 60 minutes thinking about anything you wanted but just one thing, what would you concentrate on?

If you had to create a dosha that completely described you and your body type, what characteristics would your dosha have?