Jessie Megrelishvili - Holistic Lifestyle Coach. Founder of Centaur Well.centaurwell.com@jessiethecentaurYou know that cliché – The early bird gets the worm? Well, what if that bird was up all night drinking or working on a project?
Or, what if when she got up, she went straight for the coffee and doughnut and was too tired by the afternoon to go out of her nest and get the worm when it arrived?
Too Much?
Look, I know none of these things would ever happen to a bird – but I’m sure they happen to you, and all too often you can miss out on what you want to get out of your day because from the moment you open your eyes you already feel overwhelmed, lethargic and scatterbrained.
I’ve been there, it sucks, and fortunately – with a good morning routine, it can be a thing of the past!
Let’s take a look at a few basic practices you can start cultivating in your mornings that will generate positive rhythms for the rest of your days.
Gratitude
Have you ever considered the chances of you existing?
It’s practically zero.
The path begins with the odds of your dad meeting your mom (1 in 20,000). This is multiplied by the chances of them staying together long enough to have kids (1 in 2,000), and so on.The probability of you existing at all comes out to 1 in 102,685,000 — yes, that's a 10 followed by 2,685,000 zeroes!
As hard as it may be to accept at times – every moment you’re alive is a miracle. Put’s all your worries into perspective, doesn’t it?
Exactly – and intentionally practicing gratitude from the moment you open your eyes every morning supports you in shifting from a mindset of challenges to one of the opportunities.
Also, new research is starting to explore how gratitude works to improve our mental health.
In a recent study out of Berkeley, 300 adults were randomly assigned, three groups. Although all three groups received counseling services, the first group was instructed to write one letter of gratitude to another person each week for three weeks, whereas the second group was asked to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings about negative experiences. The third group did not do any writing activity.
What did they find? Compared with the participants who wrote about negative experiences or only received counseling, those who wrote gratitude letters reported significantly better mental health four weeks and 12 weeks after their writing exercise ended.
Now whether you’d like to write it down, say it aloud, or simply take a mental note – as long as you take a moment to acknowledge that which you are grateful to have in your life is enough to initiate a winning attitude – even under stressful circumstances.
Hydration
To all those who’ve ever attempted to gain or lose weight before will know – you are your lightest in the morning and typically look the leanest.
Why is that?
Most people would assume it’s because you hadn’t eaten for 6-8 hours. But, more importantly – you hadn’t had any fluids in that same amount of time, either.
Fun fact: you lose about 1 lb of water overnight.
More often than not, when you wake up in the morning and you’re feeling groggy, stiff, and lacking focus – it’s not because you haven’t had your cup of coffee, or because morning’s suck, it’s because you're dehydrated!
Here is a great morning mineral cocktail recipe from Aubrey Marcus’s Own The Day, Own Your Life to get you fueled for the start of your day:
12oz of Filtered Water
3g of Sea Salt
1/4 Lemon, Squeezed
What’s with the lemon and sea salt? Aubrey:
“In a perfect world, you’d be able to suckle from the teat of Mother Nature and drink spring water exclusively. Spring water has the right balance of what you want (useful minerals), with little to none of what you don’t (chlorine, heavy metals, contaminants).
For those of us not quite that lucky and who also do not have a line item for water in our grocery budgets, the next best thing is filtered water—either through a Brita pitcher you fill and stick in the refrigerator, a Pur filter you attach straight to your kitchen faucet, or whatever high-quality filter is available near you. A small pinch of sea salt into distilled or filtered water should help reset the balance. Add a wedge of lemon juice for some additional refreshing nutrients (a lighter version of the morning mineral cocktail) and you’ve optimized your water. First, the water should be at room temperature. When you’re looking to maximize mineral absorption and aid digestion, room temperature is always best for any beverage. And second, the salt needs to dissolve or stay off the bottom of the glass when you drink it.”
Breath
If we are a train, our breath serves as the tracks. The word for breath in Sanskrit is Prana which is directly translated as “Life Force” and is integral to many practices of movement and meditation and has been for thousands of years.
The beauty of using breath is your ability to control your sympathetic (stress/energize) and parasympathetic (digest/relax) nervous systems. Considering it’s the morning, I’d recommend taking on a breath practice that is energizing and stimulates a sympathetic response.
The Wim Hof Method is easily a favorite and one that is integral to my personal morning routine. It is simple, fast, and rewarding.
Here’s how you do it:
While sitting in a comfortable place, take 30 quick, deep breaths, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. Then, take a deep breath and exhale; hold until you need to breathe in. Inhale again, as deep as you can, and hold it for 10 seconds. Repeat as many times as you like.
There you have it, give that one a shot, and by all means, if you find a different breath practice that works for you – go nuts!
Movement
It can be easy to jump out of bed, plop on the couch or work chair, and start checking emails or cracking down on a work project a.k.a., piling on the stress. But, a great way to ground yourself, get out of your head, and set the tone for your day first thing in the morning is to get into your body.
Movement releases cortisol and endorphins and increases your core temperature as well as circulation, all of which are going to make you feel more alert, full of energy, and ready to focus.
Personally, my go-to is always 20-30 minutes of mobility. Having slept all night in a somewhat rigid posture, I’ve found that exploring my range of motion and getting the blood flowing in all the nooks and crannies of my spine, hips, wrists, ankles, etc. primes me beautifully for the day ahead.
What kind of movement should you do? That’s up to you to decide.
The beauty of having a morning routine is that you get to make it your own. Ask your body what it needs and listen for the response. That simple communication will serve as its own practice of learning how to listen to the intelligence of your body and will draw stronger neural connections between your head and your gut.
Silence
I’ve saved the best for last.
If you woke up too late, have an early start, or the day just simply got ahead of you – the chief practice you can fall back on is Silence.
You are on a 24/7 news cycle.
You’ve got Social Media blasting expectations, products for your consumption, and hunting down your attention at every corner.
You’ve got deadlines at work and obligations to your friends and families.
You’ve got so much flying at you from your external world that it’s so easy to lose yourself in it.
Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, months turn into years and one day you can wake up wondering how the hell your life turned out so differently than how you wanted it to.
Scary, right?
To avoid this, it’s important that we take a moment (3-10 minutes) to connect with our hearts and allow the silence to birth an awareness to carry with us into our day.
Find a comfortable seat or place to lie down somewhere quiet. Set your timer. Bring your focus to your heart. Inhale for 5 seconds. Exhale for 5 seconds. Allow your mind to wander when it does and gently guide it back to your heart without judgment or expectation. Repeat this cadence for your chosen duration.
If that sounds too complex – lay on your bed and stare at the ceiling for a couple of minutes.
All you’re looking to do here is create space for spontaneous wisdom and guidance to awaken within you so that you can better navigate the game of life.
Sounds strange? Yeah, I know.
Give it a try and find out for yourself – it might just shock you!
Let Your Practice Evolve
What you’ve been provided here are the building blocks for a kick-ass morning routine. Incorporate as little or as many practices here as you’d like. The point, like I’ve mentioned earlier, is experimentation.
The truth is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to anything in life. So, have fun on your journey towards cultivating a morning routine and allow yourself to be malleable, and invite the small and not-so-small tweaks along the way.
Cheers to many great mornings. Aho, my friend!