Five steps to turn your Morning Routine from Method to MAGIC
Turn your Morning Routine from Method to Magic, like yesterday!
How you start your morning = how you start your life.
If you leave your house in a panic, your day will likely follow suit.
For that reason, I have developed a step by step guide to get out the door feeling fresh, chipper and ready to take on the day.
The five M’s of the morning: AKA Your Morning Mantra
1. Maintenance
2. Mindfulness
3. Meditation
4. Movement
5. Meal
To complete these five M’s, it can take you as little as 15 minutes or as much as 90 minutes depending on how tight your morning is. These five steps will be completely up to you and your schedule.
Let’s begin by breaking each one down:
Maintainence: AKA HYDRATE
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About 60% of our body is comprised of water & brain is 70% water!
H20 is an essential nutrient, meaning that your body cannot produce enough of it through normal metabolism to meet its daily needs. Therefore, you need to get it through foods— and especially drinks — to ensure proper bodily function on ze daily.
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When we sleep our bodies go a long period (hopefully 6-8hrs) without any water consumption which can leave you feeling parched in the AM (hello morning breath). Luckily drinking 8-24 ounces of water right when you wake up can rehydrate your body quickly and efficiently. As if that wasn’t enough, it has also been shown to help optimize cognitive functioning, strengthen immunity, ward off toxins & jumpstart the metabolism just to name a few.
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So if you are the type-o-person that puts on the coffee pot first thing in the morning, I encourage you to switch up your routine just slightly. Start with water & follow up your H2o with a little warm elixir/tonic to aid in better digestion and nutrient absorption throughout the day.
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My favorite am elixir goes something like this: ⠀
Tsp of honey
Tsp of cinnamon
Tbsp of ACV
Wedge of lemon
3 ish ounces of warm water⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Heck, you may even forget you wanted coffee! JK, we all know you won’t, but I had to shoot my shot.
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Mindful: AKA GRATITUDE/AFFIRMATION PRACTICE
Have you ever had the experience of buying a new car and seeing the same model everywhere you go?
How about falling in love and then seeing the world around you through rose-colored glasses?
Well, this is not just random phenomena my friends.
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There is a small part of the brain called the Reticular Activation System (RAS) which turns on or off your perception of ideas and thoughts and determines the lenses through which you look at the world. Therefore, when you buy a new car or start dating someone new, the RAS changes to accommodate your new acquisition.
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What does any of this have to do with being mindful?
When you work to develop a daily positive affirmation / gratitude practice, you are taking steps to influence your RAS to point out and engage in activities that will make your day better. You are building new pathways in your brain that allow you to “see” what you can do to improve your well-being every day. Doing this consistently, gives you consistently better days, it’s that simple!
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My favorite mindful practice goes something like this:
Take my warm elixir from the “maintain” step and sit with my @fiveminutejournal
Set a daily/weekly/monthly affirmation
Self-love through body positivity, optimistic self-talk and knowing when to give myself grace.
Devotional service (whatever that means for you)
Meditate: AKA MEDITATE!
Meditation is one of those erry activities that we are often intrigued by, but too intimidated or confused to try.
Meditation has this stigma, that in order to develop a breathing practice, you must sit on the floor in lotus with your eyes closed and clear your mind of thoughts. This is the farthest thing from the truth.
When I was studying in India, a monk once said to me: “Meditation simply means bringing the attention to the breath”
Meaning, meditation doesn’t fit into the cookie cutter box that our minds want it to.
You can bring your attention to your breathing whilst walking your dog, sitting at a stop-light, laying in bed, seated on the floor, or [insert literally any activity]. You can breath intentionally for 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 1 hour or 10 days.
Like going to the gym and training the body to build muscle, meditation is like weight lifting for the mind. It takes time to retrain the brain to focus your awareness without the natural drifting. Try not to be frustrated or discouraged during this process. It is natural and will only get better with practice!
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My meditation practice goes something like this:
Find a sunny little nook in the house or outside
Sit on a pillow with my hands and feet in a comfortable position (I prefer my hips slightly higher than my knees for comfort)
Close my eyes and take 10 deep belly breaths (breath begins at the belly, not the chest)
If I am having a hard time “focusing” I will slowly count to 10 as I draw breath in and 10 as I release.
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Your practice doesn’t have to look like mine or anyone else’s for that matter. Do what works for you and don’t be afraid to reach out with questions. I could monologue about the benefits of meditation and the importance of practicing through the frustration and challenges, but just give it a try!
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The Calm or Headspace app / meditation minis podcast may be a great place to start as they are short guided meditations to help facilitate your journey to spiritual enlightenment!
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Movement: AKA MOVE YOUR BOD
When we think of movement, we often think of hitting the gym for a intense sweat sesh, we think of that Yoga class that kicks our arse and keeps up wanting more, we think of running a mile on your favorite trail, but what we often don’t think of is the impact that just 30 minutes of physical activity per day can have on our overall health. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Movement doesn’t have to be this nebulous 90 minute workout that leaves you feeling empowered (although I am all for these types of workouts in moderation). Movement simply means helping to facilitate blood flow in order to aid the lymphatic system in doing its job to the best of its ability.
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My morning movement practice goes something like this:
Wake up + stretch in bed for about 5 minutes
Go through my first three M’s ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Get on my mat for 60-90 minutes (some days I roll around heavy and uneasy and others I float blissfully light through my practice)
On Tuesdays and Thursdays I add in a little weight training, arms, arse and abs to maintain strength and compliment my flexibility.
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However your movement practice looks, it doesn’t matter! move in the morning, move in the evening, move for 30 minutes or for 90. Who cares!
Just MOVE YOUR BOD every day, even if that means you simply stretch in the morning when you wake up!
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Meal: AKA FUEL YOUR BOD
Skipping breakfast has become the norm in Western culture.
With the vast majority of us waking up and immediately putting on a pot of coffee.
We seek stimulation, we seek a lift in our awakening because the pressure and stressors of everyday life make us heavy.
It’s this heaviness, this reaching for aid when our bodies are tired and our minds are over-worked day in and day out that ultimately puts the body at risk for pretty much anything under the sun.
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Much of this has to do with mis-managed blood sugar. When our blood sugar is mismanaged it causes everything else to spiral, including and not limited to our hormones (which are basically the epicenter of communication in the body)
But lucky for us research shows that eating a protein rich breakfast within 90 minutes of waking up helps to stabilize the blood sugar for the entire day!
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My first meal of the day is a smoothie 90% of the time!
I load up on protein and fat bc they keep you fuller longer, therefore, I can practice, teach and run around from client to client until lunch and not be ravenous when it comes time for chow #2.
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All of my favorite smoothie recipes are up on ze blog as well as My Morning Method all put together for you to reference as you refine your routine to optimize your needs!
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Hashtag #mymorningmethod in your morning routine and let’s start a Morning Revolution!
How do you start your day?!