If you follow along on my YouTube channel {shameless plug – click here} you know that I have been doing something new this month of April!
I have been perfecting my mornings.
Why do my mornings need perfecting? Who am I to have the authority on the perfect healthy morning? What gives me the right to call it the perfect healthy morning?
Well stick around and I’ll share it all!
This year our time in Europe was a bit rough this year {we are there 6-8 months of the year}. We only had one bedroom. This meant that my entire morning depended on when Kyle got up and at em – because hard as I may try doing burpees or meditating while he sits 3 feet away on the computer is nattt my jam. I tried. Really really tried. I didn’t mind doing yoga with him there but the rest of my morning routine went out the window.
The worst part of my morning routine going to $#!^?
I didn’t even sorta realize how much it was affecting me!
I figured as soon as we were back home to our 3 bedroom + basement house I’d hope skip and jump back into the routine I had before we left.
However, just before we left Kyle didn’t have to be up and at em for anything so it was sorta like having our own house back and I realized that….
WOW I no longer had the discipline to jump back into my morning routine
This was a shock to me and made me uber stressed.
Luckily {not to be too #soyogi but…} the Universe had my back and I stumbled across a YouTube video by Sorelle Amore- {you can watch it here} in it she explains Tim Ferriss’ morning routine and since I love Tim Ferriss and all that he stands for { I mean he’s basically pure genius who has literally hacked life} I def need to watch this and embody as much of it as I could – duh!
Here is his routine according to Sorelle :
- Get out of bed within 2 min of alarm going off
- Make your bed
- Sit down and meditate for 10-20 minutes
- Take a cold shower
- Drink some green tea
- Write in a monkey mind journal {listing all the things that are on your mind}
- Write in a different diary 3 things you’re grateful for, what would make today great, 3 points daily affirmations
- Bullet Journal everything you need to do and then pick 3-5 top things to get done today
This all should take about 45 minutes and then he has you do 20-90 minutes of exercise after
These are all #thehealthiest obviously but I needed to make some adjustments for my own life – the things I need to get back to doing more for me.
Now let me tell you….
I used to be the Queen of morning routines herself – just ask my Biz coach. There are things missing in there for me personally that I needed to make my life more primed and enjoyable.
I must preface this by saying that I LOVE my mornings and I only teach classes at night so I can take the time and spend 2+ hours on my morning routine. It’s understandable that these things won’t work for everyone but if you work from home or you can get up a bit earlier and add in even just 1 or 2 of what I’m doing or what Tim Ferriss does for his mornings into your routine and create a mindful practice around it – I promise you will see a life shift.
I know that’s promising a lot but it’s true.
Just a moment of intention – of something you enjoy you can immerse yourself in can make the world of a difference to how you feel the rest of the day.
Set yourself up for joyful success and you will definitely move mountains girl!
{even if those mountains are that you won’t throw your lunch at Susan, your annoying coworker who just won’t stop chewing super loudly}
So here is what my routine now looks like:
Get up ASAP
Now let me tell ya – I’ve been doing good with this. I don’t let my flipping the screen over happen too often but we are only on day 25 – ask me at day 100 how that’s going – it’ll either be a habit or I will have said efffff that – it’s a toss up
Make your bed
Nahhh can’t do – Kyle sleeps for at least an hour sometimes 2 after me so that’s his job {which btw between you/me he’s lousy at but we don’t really go in the bedroom after our initial wake up so whatevs}
Pick a muscle, set a 20 minute timer and orient a movement practice around getting in touch and being acutely present with that muscle for the whole 20 min.
Some days that may look like me just saying on my mat as I breath and think about how the Rhomboids are moving as I breath {this morning was one of those mornings – I felt a little beat but I did move my arms a bit and do some light cat/cow}. While somedays it’s an intense Warrior sequence complete with some crow pose and balancing galore. I take the time to connect with my body and find what it needs in those 20 minutes.
Meditate for 10-20 minutes.
I think this is the most important one of them all! Any day’s I ditch the mediation I feel like something is just a bit off – if I miss a bunch I am wayyyyy off. Now I have done a 21 day meditation challenge before – but it was focusing on different things every day. I wanted to pick one meditation and stick to it for the foreseeable future. But alas I changed my mind about 20 days in on the one that I want to do. I will eventually do a whole post on why and how to pick your best meditation and why that one didn’t work for me. TBH it’ll probs be on medium so check out number 12 for more deets girl!
Take a cold shower
Now a few conundrums with this one. I do workout 5-7 days a week and it seems like such a waste of water to have more than one shower so…. instead I am having a quick cold rinse
Drink some Green Tea and answer some questions about Clarity
Yes Tim’s only says drink green tea however….. I don’t have a magic kettle and like the muggle that I am I have to go downstairs and put the pot of water on and wait – then wait for the green tea to infuse. In addition to that I had been reading Brendon Burchard’s book High Performance Habits . His number one habit is clarity. This is something I have often struggled with and that results in moi moi procrastination. PS! That book is on iTunes fo free! Brendon is a huge proponent for sharing his work as much as he can. I tell you the questions in my YouTube video so check it out to get the scoop on the Q’s I ask and/or check out Brendon’s book yo!
Write in Monkey Mind Journal
Yupppp. So I feel like if I let my brain run free and Monkey mind whatever it wants to… I could be here until next Sunday. So to tame it at least a little I set a timer every day for 10 minutes. Believe it or not I has been making a difference in my gremlin mind. But TBH it could also be all these other wonderful things I’m doing chanoe?
3Things you’re grateful for, what would make today great and 3 point affirmation.
I like to take my time and come up with things I am grateful for that aren’t exactly obvious. Like yea, I know I am healthy and that’s something to be grateful for – i am reminded every single time I see someone who is sick or immobile how grateful I am. I want to take this time to come up with little things I wouldn’t normally be grateful. Like my coloured pens, or my black yoga mat, or that Kyle cleaned up the kitchen etc…. As for what would make today great – it really just turns into a todo list which I’m not super keen on – I should def work on that! And the affirmation usually is just a one point affirmation – something I could remind myself through the day. This whole month it has been around clarity. I really feel like it’s giving me more clarity in my day to interactions, practices and work! I also plan out my full workout at this time and write it out so it’s not all willy nilly just whatever I feel like today like it used to be.
Bullet Journal everything and pick 3-5 top.
This has been LIFE CHANGING for me. I started this a while back – before the whole Tim Ferriss morning thing and it turned my world around. I need to do a whole post on it cause – wow. No longer do I feel un-accomplished when I get into bed. I feel less overwhelm – just wow.
Read for 20 minutes
I got this one from Robin Sharma he talks a lot about spending every morning learning something. His 20,20,20 I think is a great beginning for most morning routines. Where you spend 20 minutes moving, 20 minutes journaling/gratitude/morning pages whatevs, 20 minutes learning. The one thing I found missing from Tim’s routine is that learning portion. I personally think it’s crucial to develop our mind and take in new concepts so that we can be more creative and more expansive. Knowledge is power was def said for a reason. Currently I am working on Kelly Starrett’s book The Supple Leopard. I believe in learning from someone that’s already great in my field. So I am working through that book {basically a hell o fa textbook on movement}. I have read parts of the book before but never sat down and read it cover to cover and I am enjoying having my brain fire so many different neurones and connect different concepts!
Handstand
Yhis is something I will do a whole post on eventually. A few years ago i lost my arm balancing abilities as a result of fixing my pelvic tilt. I felt inadequate as a yoga teacher but it’s the struggle that makes us better teachers right? I got my crow back and now I’m workin back up to my handstand. Part of that work is making sure I get one kick off on each foot every morning. I wrote a whole post on this on Medium a few days ago so make sure you check that out if you want to know a bit more!
And last but not least Journaling.
Much like in my own crazy format for this I am actually using Medium {click here to check out my Medium posts}. I want to make sure that I am putting out what I am called to put out. I also want to make sure that my creativity keeps blossoming and I think that’s partially why the best do their craft daily so here I go. Mos def I am not the best writer but done is better than perfect. Also sometimes I think of things I want to write about and they’re not exactly this blog material but i want to put them out. I want to put out my ideas. Often times something as small as formatting a post to look a certain way cause it’s too short and it’s not Thursday etc…. is a big enough mountain to stop me from doing it. NO MORE EXCUSES! I am setting a timer for 20 minutes and just letting the topic of the day flow through my writing. We will see how it goes
Then I either head to the gym and/or workout at home and I planned this portion earlier in my morning!
I know this seems lengthy and yea it definitely is but it has been revolutionary for me.
I put out content daily – I feel more organized – I feel like I’ve done something with my life before 9 am and all before I check out instagram.
Like I said earlier – cherry pick what you like and build your own perfect morning routine. Even add in some things you can’t live without in the morning.
I’m thinking I also want to add in some laughter somewhere. Cause I watched a YouTube video [all the best ideas come after youtube videos correct}. I’ll save that story and why for another day!
What’s your perfect healthy morning look like? Share w the class girl!
That’s all for the addition of PD Thursday
💦 Aspiring #movementninja out ✌
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If you have any pre existing conditions please speak to a Dr. before performing any of these exercises – I always encourage you to drive your own vessel I can’t know what you’re feeling In your body – my goal is to help you get better at hearing it but at the end of the day all of this is up to you and therefore by doing this video you release Suncana and sweat and yoga from any liability.