Start Your Day Right.
Start your day right.
The reason I have decided to write about this is because I recently I had been feeling out of balance, overwhelmed and like something was off.
I went and saw my Ayurvedic doctor because she is amazing at helping me to better my health. I booked in to make sure that everything was in working order for the future years ahead, for when I will one day have a child. I’m a firm believer in preparation and doing what we can to support our journeys.
I wanted to make sure that I am doing all the things I could be doing in preparation so that in a couple of years time, my body would be in great shape and in a healthy, balanced environment for when I am able to meet my little, sovereign being.
My doctor brought to my attention that one of the reasons that I was feeling out of balance was because I wasn’t prioritising my self care. I was having slip-ups on some of my daily habits and one of those being my morning ritual, which is a great reminder because we all slip and it’s important to have support in getting back up. A morning ritual makes me feel empowered, happy, motivated and happy yet, sometimes, I fall into old patterns of laziness, lack of motivation and I succumb to every excuse in the book. Once I reconnected with my values and the reason why this is absolutely necessary it was a no-brainer and a relief in some way that I was moving back into my happy-zone.
THE BENEFITS OF A MORNING RITUAL
1. Morning rituals help you prepare yourself for the rest of the day and this is one of my favourite reasons why I love a morning ritual. How you spend your time after you wake up will influence the rest of your day! If you start off feeling rushed or lazy, expect that sensation to remain with you for the rest of the day. A morning routine, however, gets you on track from the moment you wake up. It puts you in the right frame of mind and who doesn’t want that?
2. They increase your productivity.
With a morning routine, you really do start your day right. You spend every moment of your time on something valuable and productive from the moment you wake up. You’re able to maintain this feeling throughout the day to avoid wasting time and that dreaded feeling of procrastination or self sabotage.
3. You feel in control. So when you have commitments and responsibilities, it can feel like you’re rushing from one task to the next, or that you have a never-ending to-do list. Your day canthen start to control you and this is what I really want you to avoid, because I want you to feel in control of your day, and not the other way around. A morning ritual might cover just a tiny little part of your day, but let me tell you, it can be a step towards helping you regain control.
4. One of my favourites is that it lowers your stress and/or overwhelm. Let’s face it, we have a lot going on mentally, physically and emotionally. Oftentimes, you may feel like you lack time to complete all of your responsibilities, however, when you have a routine in the morning, you know exactly what you should be doing, plus, you know that you’ll have enough time to finish everything without rushing. That alone is an amazing reason to commit to yourself. A morning ritual lowers your stress because you have allowed yourself some slow time in the morning and there is no better feeling, it almost becomes an addictive feeling!
5. You will get more energy and you will improve your relationships, because you will become more accessible to the people that you love and to the people that love you when you are able to give yourself a little bit of time to work on yourself. Why? Because you are then able to pour from a full, empowered, healthy, calm, self-love cup! You will feel better about yourself showing up as your best version, your reactions to daily stresses will be patient, compassionate and empathetic – how good!
6. It helps combat forgetfulness because you have the time to go through your day reminding you of any upcoming appointments, reminders and tasks you had planned. That brain fog that may have been an issue gets lifted and your mind is sharper and more focused when you regularly commit to a morning routine.
7. A morning routine improves your confidence, and as a result it will help you be more flexible and adaptable throughout the day especially when an unplanned incident arises.This is a great skill to have and a beautiful by-product of this helpful ritual.
As I mentioned earlier, we all have a lot going on mentally, physically and emotionally which may have us pouring from an empty cup where we are unable to live and respond from that beautiful, patient and loving part of ourselves. All of that can simply be cultivated from dedicating some time for ourselves early in the morning.
WHAT MY MORNING RITUAL LOOKS LIKE
Now here are some of the things that I do as part of my morning ritual – which has evolved over the years – but I’ll list down a few things that really light my soul on fire!
The first thing is some sort of movement.
I begin by smiling and stretching in bed and sometimes this it if I have a fitness session booked. Otherwise, I will transition through a gentle yoga flow, something like:
● Starting with the gentle opening of the body in a child’s pose, opening the shoulders and going through a cat or cow variation
● Then progress into a downward dog, high planks, chaturanga, and baby cobras followed by some twists.
● I usually flow through that sequence a few times just to lengthen and activate my muscles, open up my joints as well as increase my circulation.
I love being able to exercise in the morning. As a personal trainer, I may run some fitness classes before lunch, so sometimes I don’t get to do the exercise that I want, so that’s why I incorporate some sort of movement in my morning ritual. I’ll then try to exercise later on that day.
The second thing I love doing is meditation and this is vital to help me remain balanced. Meditation has the ability to change your life and lots of people don’t do it because they say that they “can’t stop their mind from thinking.”
If this is you, this is exactly the reason why you need to begin a meditation practice. Meditation is not about getting your mind to “stop thinking” it is about coming back to your breathe and gratitude. I have a great podcast episode on this with expert Caitlin Cady which you should listen to if you’d love to learn ways to access this craft but are finding it difficult or even if you need a refresher!
Should you choose to you could also try one of my five-minute meditations. Five to twenty minutes is a perfect amount of time to meditate, depending on how much time you have throughout the day. You can access some on my YouTube channel right now if you like..
Dry body brushing is something my ayurvedic doctor told me to re-begin (which I love doing anyway!). I purchased the ayurvedic type of body brush which is like a circular sponge looking thing with some herbs in it.
Dry body brushing is literally what it sounds like! You are brushing your skin preferably towards the direction of your heart and this really helps stimulate your lymphatic system. I’m naturally a cold person and this is a great way to warm ourselves up and to increase our circulation.
It’s great for inflammation too, it’s great for a lot of things! Exfoliation of cellulite, feels so good! It only takes a few minutes to do your whole body.
Something else you can do is journaling or writing out your success list in the morning. It’s a really good time to set up your day. When you journal, I would recommend that you journal about the course of your day. If you have any overwhelming thoughts going on, go ahead and write them out.
You can also just write out your day so that you have a sense of what is going on.
Now with all of those tips, you can start to build your own morning routine and feel amazing at the start of your day! It could just take ten minutes, or it could take an hour, it just depends on how much time you have. Also remember that you don’t have to do everything on this list! Just pick the ones or create the ones that would be the most comfortable for you.
I did a ten-minute morning ritual this morning because that’s all I had time for, and I feel fantastic! What would be your ideal length of time?
Spend some time reflecting on this amazing morning ritual and when you create yours, let me know what you created!