I used to be the girl that rolled out of bed at the last minute screaming at her alarm to keep quiet, before stuffing a piece of toast in her mouth and grabbing a swig of tea while running out of the door.
Not anymore. Now I wake up with intention and purpose for the day. I had to begin a practice that was more helpful to my daily life as my old routine was really not working for me.
I was constantly stressed and late for work. I was aggressive in the car on the way and it often took me until 11 a.m. to get my brain in gear to actually carry out my work at full throttle.
I love my bed and hate getting out of it. Those days when it is still dark outside and you are not ready to face the world yet, the duvet just envelops you and you can hide in peace and quiet.
That is exactly what I was doing: hiding. I was putting it all off and not dealing with the stuff I had to get on with.
It all changed and it began with baby steps.
At first I just got up earlier, wrote a few lines in a notebook and did a couple of yoga poses. As I became more aware that it was doing me some good it developed further.
So over the years and with my training in yoga and meditation, this has changed completely!
I get up earlier and earlier.
Here are some of my routines, see if any might help you.
Journal
I have a scruffy little notebook next to my bed and I write my morning thoughts down in there. Sometimes they are quite short and other days I don’t know where all of the thoughts come from, they just pour onto the page.
Julia Cameron said in an interview:
“The Morning Pages, the primary Artist’s Way tool, leads us into taking many risks. It is, after all, risky to try a new arena. Morning Pages urge us to ‘follow our bliss,’ as Joseph Campbell phrased it, and our ‘bliss’ may be hydra-headed. As we work with the pages, we are often urged in new directions.”
This is true of my life now; these pages help me to make decisions in my life that I previously let unfold. They help me to format what I’m thinking and clear out the rubbish so I can cope with what is thrown at me during the day. They have taken me in some new directions I never thought possible and that’s nice. I embrace this moment each morning bleary-eyed or not.
Drink Lemon and Celery Juice
I have suffered from autoimmune disorders and I did some homework, looked at functional medicine techniques and this came up again and again in my research. Most of the advice was regarding keeping your body alkaline and improving digestion.
Celery juice is AMAZING for digestion and it The Medical Medium has completely changed the way I view my autoimmune issues now.
Yoga and Meditation
It started with simply chanting Om a few years back.
I read about chanting and a Reflexologist had told me this may help calm me.
This vibration caused when chanting Om is thought to be the same vibrational frequency found throughout everything in nature. This is the basic sound of the universe; by chanting it we are tuning into that sound and acknowledging our connection to nature and the universe.
Science is now showing the vibrations of all forms chanting also have a physical effect on the body by slowing down the nervous system and calming the mind.
My chanting is much more complex now and is part of my Kundalini Yoga practice but the tool is the same.
These are just a few of my morning rituals.
I tune into my body, mind and Soul.
It’s a connection to who I am within, before the outside world begins to jolt me this way and that.
I get into alignment with how I want my day, my week, even my year to be.
I become more creative. more balanced, more focused.
It wasn’t easy and I still don’t love getting up early.
Only WE get to decide how our life is going to be.
Only WE can break the patterns of our past.
Only WE decide our future and how we are going to go after it.
Since implementing these small changes a few years ago, I am a happier, healthier person physically, mentally and Spiritually which was the missing link for me.
Anyone can have a morning ritual and it doesn’t matter what it is. It could be sitting quietly with your first cup of coffee, taking in a sunrise or heading out for a walk.
It’s the connection to the day, the openness of a new day dawned and what that may bring.
It makes you feel glad and a bit more excited at what may happen other than dreading the whole thing and just fighting through it.
If it worked for me, it can work for anyone.
If you want to start some new habits and change your patterns, join a Kundalini Yoga class online or in studio at Hot Yoga West End.