How are you waking up?
There’s a saying, how you spend your new year’s day is how you’ll spend the rest of your year. This is also true for each day. The sun brings new energy everyday and we are reborn with an opportunity for a fresh start. How you spend your morning or the first waking moments will determine how the rest of your day goes.
I wasn’t always a morning routine person, more like a snooze through 10 alarms, scramble out of bed at the last minute. But I knew a lot of highly successful and happy people who swore by their early morning routine. Curious and determined, I finally forced myself up before the sun and experienced the serene bliss of being (what felt like) the only soul awake in the world. The early morning magic seduced me and I was committed to being an early riser.
“The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep” – Rumi
It’s so tempting to hit the snooze button and stay in dream land but there is so much magic and value in getting up before the sunrise! The veil between the physical world and the spiritual world is thinner, the energy is lighter, almost sacred, the mind is fresh and clear of clutter, and the possibility of the day feels greater.
And although waking early is a game changer, I understand it’s not for everyone. Your body may need more rest or maybe you work the night shift. Whether you rise with the sun or the moon, it’s important to adopt consistent practices that will set the tone for your day.
I’m a firm believer in consistency but not rigidness. Turn your routines into rituals. The difference between the two is the attitude behind them. Routines feel like chores, forced and mundane. Rituals are more like a beloved tradition or purposeful practice that you genuinely look forward to and bring you joy. Over time these practices become non-negotiables.
Rising Rituals To Ease Into Your Day
Upon awakening, resist the urge to reach for your phone to check emails, respond to texts, or scroll social media. Avoid outside world influence until you’ve completed your rising rituals. If you don’t have time for every ritual before your day starts, try to do one or two things and integrate the rest throughout your day.
Ease out of bed as you would ease out of savasana in a yoga class. Gently wiggle your fingers and your toes, roll out your wrists and your ankles. Bring your awareness to the rise and fall of your breath. Inhale, stretch your hands away from your feet, and roll over to one side, rest in the fetal position, the position of rebirth. Pause for a moment of gratitude.
Gratitude – An attitude of gratitude is the best way to start the day. Say thank you three times before your feet even hit the floor. You can find gratitude for a good night’s sleep, the gift of another day of life, or for the realization that your nightmare was not real. It’s important to rise with the frequency of gratitude before your mind has a chance to spiral into the stresses of the day.
Ground – you’ve been sleeping, traveling in the astral realms and the dream world. Take some time to ground into your body. Plant your feet on the floor and mindfully move about. If you have an outdoor space or a dog to take out, step outside barefoot and inhale the fresh air.
Try this quick grounding meditation: Visualize a ball of white light energy above your head. Inhale this white light into your body and throughout, filling every cell. Exhale this white light out of your feet into the ground, through the earth’s soil, and wrap the cord of white light energy around the center of the earth’s core, grounding you. On an inhale, follow this cord of white light energy back up into the body through the feet, up through the center of each chakra, and exhale out the top of the head. See and feel this cord of white light energy running through you, connecting you to source and earth energies.
Breathe and Be Still – just like a shower cleanses the physical body, the breath cleanses our spiritual and mental body and refreshes our nervous system. Stillness helps us center into our inner world before taking on the outer world. Take a few moments to oxygenate the body and cultivate your inner peace.
Breath Work: alternate nostril breathing is one of my favorite breathing techniques in the morning to bring in balance and prepare for mediation. Scroll to the bottom of this post for instructions on this practice.
Meditate: set a timer for a minimum of 5 to 20 minutes, or however much time you have that day, and allow yourself to sit in stillness and quiet, focus on your breath or a symbol in your mind’s eye (roll your eyes up to shift internal gaze towards the middle of forehead, between eyebrows) Tune inward. If you struggle with self-guided meditation, use a meditation app or search youtube for guided meditations. (insight timer has thousands available for free).
Journal & Affirm – write down anything that came up in meditation, any persistent thoughts, your dreams, and/or how you’re feeling. Then write your affirmations for the day. How do you want to feel, what do you want to create, what energy do you wish to call in?
Example affirmations:
“I am calm and productive”
“I have everything I need”
“I attract an abundance of health, wealth, and happiness”
“My relationships are thriving”
Repeat the affirmations aloud as many times as you’re called to do so or until they feel like truth in your body. I also like to say them again to myself in the mirror before leaving the house.
If I’m lacking inspiration or in need of guidance on a situation that has me over analyzing, I will use a pendulum or pull an oracle card to gain some clarity. My favorite decks are Mystical Shaman Oracle Cards, The Starseed Oracle deck by Rebecca Campbell, and Angel Therapy Oracle Cards by Doreen Virtue.
Movement – Move your body, shift your mind, shake any stagnant energy from your dreams or the day before out and lift your mood.
Quick Morning Yoga: child’s pose, cat and cow, cobra, down dog, three legged dog right and left side, forward fold, malasana – yogi prayer squat (chance to say gratitude here if you hadn’t already), tadasana, prayer hands, chant OM x 3, and set intention.
Dance: Dance every damn day. Choose a song or two that will release an emotion out of you or that will create the feeling you wish to embody that day. On days I wake up somber I’ll play Whitney Houston and belt out my sorrow, releasing it from my body and then play a high vibe banger like Peanut Butter Jelly by Galantis to really get me pumped for the day!
Nourish – Nourish your body with food or other substances necessary for growth, health, and good condition. Fuel your soul’s vessel with the proper energy to win the day. If you fast first thing in the day, then nourish yourself with positive thoughts. Drink a glass of room-temp or warm lemon water, make a smoothie or juice, eat fresh fruit, sip on hot tea, take vitamins, etc.
These rituals will help raise your vibration, ground you in your body, shift and repel negative energy, and allow for magic and ease to flow through your day. None of these practices really “take” time, they actually give you time. Try them out for yourself or create your own!
Alternate Nostril Breathing:
-Place your peace fingers on your third eye, between your eyebrows. Rest your other hand on your lap, chest, or belly.
-Use your right thumb to close your right nostril.
-Inhale through your left nostril and then close the left nostril with your ring finger
-Release the thumb from right nostril and exhale through this side.
-Inhale through the right nostril and then close this nostril with thumb.
-Release ringer finger and open the left nostril, exhale through the left side.
Repeat cycle for up to 5 minutes.
Benefits of Alternate Nostril Breathing:
- Calms mind and body, reducing stress
- Lowers heart rate to relieve tension
- Purifies the body’s channels, so that prana, or life force energy, can travel more easily
- Regulates the cooling and warming cycles of the body
- Preparation for deeper meditations
How are you waking up?
There’s a saying, how you spend your new year’s day is how you’ll spend the rest of your year. This is also true for each day. The sun brings new energy everyday and we are reborn with an opportunity for a fresh start. How you spend your morning or the first waking moments will determine how the rest of your day goes.
I wasn’t always a morning routine person, more like a snooze through 10 alarms, scramble out of bed at the last minute. But I knew a lot of highly successful and happy people who swore by their early morning routine. Curious and determined, I finally forced myself up before the sun and experienced the serene bliss of being (what felt like) the only soul awake in the world. The early morning magic seduced me and I was committed to being an early riser.
“The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep” – Rumi
It’s so tempting to hit the snooze button and stay in dream land but there is so much magic and value in getting up before the sunrise! The veil between the physical world and the spiritual world is thinner, the energy is lighter, almost sacred, the mind is fresh and clear of clutter, and the possibility of the day feels greater.
And although waking early is a game changer, I understand it’s not for everyone. Your body may need more rest or maybe you work the night shift. Whether you rise with the sun or the moon, it’s important to adopt consistent practices that will set the tone for your day.
I’m a firm believer in consistency but not rigidness. Turn your routines into rituals. The difference between the two is the attitude behind them. Routines feel like chores, forced and mundane. Rituals are more like a beloved tradition or purposeful practice that you genuinely look forward to and bring you joy. Over time these practices become non-negotiables.
Rising Rituals To Ease Into Your Day
Upon awakening, resist the urge to reach for your phone to check emails, respond to texts, or scroll social media. Avoid outside world influence until you’ve completed your rising rituals. If you don’t have time for every ritual before your day starts, try to do one or two things and integrate the rest throughout your day.
Ease out of bed as you would ease out of savasana in a yoga class. Gently wiggle your fingers and your toes, roll out your wrists and your ankles. Bring your awareness to the rise and fall of your breath. Inhale, stretch your hands away from your feet, and roll over to one side, rest in the fetal position, the position of rebirth. Pause for a moment of gratitude.
Gratitude – An attitude of gratitude is the best way to start the day. Say thank you three times before your feet even hit the floor. You can find gratitude for a good night’s sleep, the gift of another day of life, or for the realization that your nightmare was not real. It’s important to rise with the frequency of gratitude before your mind has a chance to spiral into the stresses of the day.
Ground – you’ve been sleeping, traveling in the astral realms and the dream world. Take some time to ground into your body. Plant your feet on the floor and mindfully move about. If you have an outdoor space or a dog to take out, step outside barefoot and inhale the fresh air.
Try this quick grounding meditation: Visualize a ball of white light energy above your head. Inhale this white light into your body and throughout, filling every cell. Exhale this white light out of your feet into the ground, through the earth’s soil, and wrap the cord of white light energy around the center of the earth’s core, grounding you. On an inhale, follow this cord of white light energy back up into the body through the feet, up through the center of each chakra, and exhale out the top of the head. See and feel this cord of white light energy running through you, connecting you to source and earth energies.
Breathe and Be Still – just like a shower cleanses the physical body, the breath cleanses our spiritual and mental body and refreshes our nervous system. Stillness helps us center into our inner world before taking on the outer world. Take a few moments to oxygenate the body and cultivate your inner peace.
Breath Work: alternate nostril breathing is one of my favorite breathing techniques in the morning to bring in balance and prepare for mediation. Scroll to the bottom of this post for instructions on this practice.
Meditate: set a timer for a minimum of 5 to 20 minutes, or however much time you have that day, and allow yourself to sit in stillness and quiet, focus on your breath or a symbol in your mind’s eye (roll your eyes up to shift internal gaze towards the middle of forehead, between eyebrows) Tune inward. If you struggle with self-guided meditation, use a meditation app or search youtube for guided meditations. (insight timer has thousands available for free).
Journal & Affirm – write down anything that came up in meditation, any persistent thoughts, your dreams, and/or how you’re feeling. Then write your affirmations for the day. How do you want to feel, what do you want to create, what energy do you wish to call in?
Example affirmations:
“I am calm and productive”
“I have everything I need”
“I attract an abundance of health, wealth, and happiness”
“My relationships are thriving”
Repeat the affirmations aloud as many times as you’re called to do so or until they feel like truth in your body. I also like to say them again to myself in the mirror before leaving the house.
If I’m lacking inspiration or in need of guidance on a situation that has me over analyzing, I will use a pendulum or pull an oracle card to gain some clarity. My favorite decks are Mystical Shaman Oracle Cards, The Starseed Oracle deck by Rebecca Campbell, and Angel Therapy Oracle Cards by Doreen Virtue.
Movement – Move your body, shift your mind, shake any stagnant energy from your dreams or the day before out and lift your mood.
Quick Morning Yoga: child’s pose, cat and cow, cobra, down dog, three legged dog right and left side, forward fold, malasana – yogi prayer squat (chance to say gratitude here if you hadn’t already), tadasana, prayer hands, chant OM x 3, and set intention.
Dance: Dance every damn day. Choose a song or two that will release an emotion out of you or that will create the feeling you wish to embody that day. On days I wake up somber I’ll play Whitney Houston and belt out my sorrow, releasing it from my body and then play a high vibe banger like Peanut Butter Jelly by Galantis to really get me pumped for the day!
Nourish – Nourish your body with food or other substances necessary for growth, health, and good condition. Fuel your soul’s vessel with the proper energy to win the day. If you fast first thing in the day, then nourish yourself with positive thoughts. Drink a glass of room-temp or warm lemon water, make a smoothie or juice, eat fresh fruit, sip on hot tea, take vitamins, etc.
These rituals will help raise your vibration, ground you in your body, shift and repel negative energy, and allow for magic and ease to flow through your day. None of these practices really “take” time, they actually give you time. Try them out for yourself or create your own!
Alternate Nostril Breathing:
-Place your peace fingers on your third eye, between your eyebrows. Rest your other hand on your lap, chest, or belly.
-Use your right thumb to close your right nostril.
-Inhale through your left nostril and then close the left nostril with your ring finger
-Release the thumb from right nostril and exhale through this side.
-Inhale through the right nostril and then close this nostril with thumb.
-Release ringer finger and open the left nostril, exhale through the left side.
Repeat cycle for up to 5 minutes.
Benefits of Alternate Nostril Breathing:
- Calms mind and body, reducing stress
- Lowers heart rate to relieve tension
- Purifies the body’s channels, so that prana, or life force energy, can travel more easily
- Regulates the cooling and warming cycles of the body
- Preparation for deeper meditations