Mornings are magic, embrace them

Something that deeply changed my life for the better was when a coach introduced me to the power of a morning routine. In my twenties I was always running late, sleeping in, and being reactive as soon as I woke up. Meaning I was looking at emails, social, texts, etc. before even getting out of bed. At this point in my life I had pretty debilitating anxiety (changing my habits helped cure my anxiety which is for another post) as well as overwhelming stress, and a lack of purpose.

One of the simple changes I implemented was giving myself the time in the morning to value myself and put myself first. I was very much on someone else's agenda, and making sure everyone else received my attention before me. It’s an easy way to give away your sovereignty without even realizing it.

So when someone comes to me and tells me they have stress, anxiety, or that things aren’t the way they want, my first question is always - what’s your morning routine look like? Usually I am met with “what?” or “why?”. Then I typically receive an explanation about how their morning goes - checking their phone, watching instagram, checking emails, checking the news, doing things for others from the moment they wake up.

There is an old phrase - if you don't run the day, the day runs you (paraphrasing from Jim Rohn). This is so true. If you spend the morning checking your phone, answering messages, going on instagram or even helping others before helping yourself, you are going straight into reactive mode and will be there all day.

What if I told you that this precious time right when we wake up is the same brain wave state we are in between ages 0-7 (Theta). These were our programmable years. Over these years we created our programming based on what we saw around us, creating who we are as an adult. The beauty is, we have the ability to change these programs. One of these ways is simple in theory, but takes discipline to honor. This is a conscious morning routine, where you capitalize on that hypnotic state and instill new habits.

A conscious morning routine is one where for the first 30 minutes upon waking, you do not look at your phone, email, news, or answer to others during this time. I understand this can get tricky with children in the mix, so don’t feel that this has to be perfect. Just start trying, even doing this once goes a long way.

credit - Gymshark central

So why is this important? Well, when we are in that theta brainwave state we are very suggestible. This is similar to a state of hypnosis. If you are reactive during this time, you are teaching your mind to be distracted. This distraction is going straight into your subconscious. This is priming you for mind wandering while communicating with others and keeping you from being present. This keeps you from being mindful, and creates stress (by living in the past or future instead of the present). This puts you into the sympathetic nervous system which is the stress state in the body. Stress is the number one contributor to disease. This morning time is so precious - it can create stress or calm, chaos or peace. You get to choose.

Additionally, if the things you look at first thing are not empowering you are literally programming these things directly into your subconscious. You're basically saying someone else's agenda is more important than yours, and your subconscious is like "OK got it! I'll give you more of that."

The other common misconception about integrating a morning routine, is being too busy for one. So busy that you need to start working as soon as you wake up. If this is the case, wake up 20-30 minutes earlier. You would’ve been sleeping anyway. Give your subconscious this time to start your day stress free, and prioritize your health. 30 minutes is ideal, but if you can get just 20 minutes, you will see and feel the benefits. Your stress levels will be cut in half within a few days.

But the thing is we are in our own programming, so it takes discipline and willpower (POWER), to not do the things we always do (ie. our usual morning routine).

Don't feel you have to be rigid on a morning routine. Go with the flow of what feels empowering, light, positive and in flow for you.

Some ideas for those precious 20-30 minutes in the morning:

• Stretching (our body needs to stretch to expand the muscles that were constricted all night)

  • This can be hands over your head, twisting your body, stretching out your legs

  • A great stretch is extended side angle in yoga, and breathing into the side you are stretching

credit Yoga Journal

• Focusing on your breath and doing 3/3/5 breathing (in for 3, hold for 3 out for 5 seconds)

• Walking outside

• Sitting in the sun and listening to the birds and nature

• Listening to affirmations and or subliminals (this goes straight into your subconscious)

• Writing what you are grateful for in a journal and feeling the energy of that gratitude

• Listening to our 11 minute morning meditation with headphones

• Future self journaling - write 3 pages in a journal of what you want to manifest

Give yourself grace, starting new habits is one of the hardest things we can do. We literally have to overwrite our very deep and innate programming. Just try once, then again, and see how you feel. To your health!