Hello and good morning.
The morning can be such a powerful time of day.
All the unknowns ahead of us might stir up some feelings of uncertainty,
But also give us a great sense of hopefulness.
So much of our day might be out of our hands,
But you're here to harness the power that you have over your body and mind so that you can show up to this day as the best version of yourself.
This morning routine centers around the intention of creating space in the body for full inhales and exhales.
This will set you up for a day with more awareness and more flexibility.
There will be some journal writing at the end and I invite you to have a pen and notebook ready as well as a writing prompt.
Your writing prompt might be a book that is meaningful to you or a card from a deck.
We're going to be choosing a word or phrase or card at random and use that to guide our journaling.
So now,
If you feel ready,
You can sit either on the ground or on the edge of a chair or couch.
Be comfortable.
This morning practice is about easing into things.
So we're going to start really gently.
You can now tilt your head to the right,
Getting a little stretch in the neck and do some shoulder rotations on the left side,
Forwards and back.
Especially in the morning,
We want to be careful not to stretch too far too fast.
You can bring your head back now and tilt to the other side,
Doing those shoulder rotations on that other side.
And coming back to center.
Now bring the arms to the sides.
Inhale,
Reach those straight arms out and up to the sky,
Holding there and exhale.
Let that go.
Then bring the arms out to the sides with the fingers pointed to those side walls.
Bring the shoulder blades in and out a few times.
Then bring the hands back behind you,
Maybe clasping the hands together or resting the hands on your lower back.
You should now have a nice open chest.
We're going to take five deep inhales and long exhales,
Trying to reach the lower depths of the lungs.
On your next inhale,
You can try to bring the breath more into the back,
Feeling movement in the back ribs,
Keeping those breaths going.
And when you've done your five breaths,
Reach those fingers again toward the side walls,
Arms coming out like the letter T,
And then reach up and clasp the hands together with the palms down and then rest the hands down on the crown of the head.
Here,
The elbows are open wide and you're probably feeling the weight of the hands pressing down on the head,
Maybe quite heavy,
Maybe quite light.
Now try to imagine that your head is pushing against those hands.
So getting long in the spine.
So we're resisting the weight of the hands,
Pressing the crown of the head towards the sky as the hands press down.
Without changing anything,
Let the hands come back down to rest on the thighs.
So keeping that nice long spine.
The next part of our routine will be some breathing with breath holds.
We're going to start by doing 20 vigorous breaths.
And then at the end of our exhale,
We're going to hold for 35 seconds.
Then we'll hold again on the inhale for 30 seconds.
When we finally exhale,
We will chant Aum.
We will do two rounds of this.
If at any point during the breathing exercise,
You feel any discomfort or lightheadedness,
Just go back to your regular breathing.
Don't force yourself here.
The vigorous breathing will sound like this.
You're inhaling forcefully and then letting everything go naturally on the exhale.
Are you ready?
Let's begin.
Two.
One.
Inhaling.
And then exhaling.
And we are going to inhale.
Exhale in 5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
And hold at the top.
And bringing the hands to the heart,
We will chant together.
Aum.
Really good.
Just take a few breaths on your own now.
We'll do that one more time.
Two.
One.
And then exhaling.
And we are going to inhale in 5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
And hold at the top.
And bringing the hands to the heart,
We will chant together.
Aum.
Hopefully now you're feeling more invigorated and you're ready to stand up for the next part of our morning routine.
We're going to shake out the body to wake it up,
Stimulating the organs and waking up the brain.
To do this,
Start by shaking out the hands.
And then drop them to the sides and just start to find some movement in the legs.
Start swaying the body,
Bring the head into it and then imagine that the flesh of the body is jelly.
You want to shake the body so that you feel that movement.
You're going to do this for a minute.
I will cue you to stop when it's time.
Now start to slow down the shaking.
Find some stillness.
Let it all settle and notice the sensations in the body for a moment.
And when you're ready,
You can find a seat and we'll start the journal portion of our morning practice.
You can start by opening your book to a random page and placing your finger in a spot on that page or choosing a card from your deck.
How does that phrase,
Word or card connect to other thoughts that have been floating through your mind?
Go ahead and start to write without letting the pen stop.
If you can't think of what to say,
You can write that you don't know what to say or whatever is going through your mind until something more meaningful comes.
I really hope that this morning routine is something that puts you into the right state of mind to move through your day with an open heart and an open mind.
As you go through the rest of your morning,
Control just the things that you can.
Maybe put on some soft music or something a bit upbeat.
Have a breakfast that fills you without weighing you down.
Maybe smile at a stranger and pay those good vibes forward.
Throughout your day,
See if you can notice where the breath is going.
See if you can inhale a little deeper into those lungs and make those exhales a little longer.
Be well.
