Create Your Wakeup Ritual
Set the tone for your day, set the tone for your life.
What do you need from your morning? What do you wish for out of your day?
We all know mornings are fundamental for setting you up for the day, but everyone’s morning ritual should be as individual as their fingerprint. I’m sharing mine with you as a few ideas to help set you up for a stress ‘less’ day.
5:45am
I try to be up by then most days, but I get up any time between 5:45 and 6:45 every day. When I’m up early I feel like I’ve achieved something just by dragging my tired butt out of bed, this sets the tone for a productive day ahead.
Firstly, I brush my teeth, put my slippers on and boil the kettle, I fill my 1L water bottle up with ¾ filtered water and the rest boiling water and drink at least half before moving on. Since I changed this simple step my skin has been happier because my digestion is better, it’s large intestine time (read my article “TCM times of day”, warm water helps to flush toxins and waste out the body upon waking where as cold stagnates and slows your digestion.
If you love to read like me, buy “the 5am club” it will change your life, let me know how you like it!
6am (ish)
I sit on my yoga mat outside, journal in hand and sip my water while writing down anything and everything that is on my mind. It could be a bad dream, things I feel anxious about ahead for the day, things I’m grateful for or just want I want to manifest. Journaling isn’t for everyone but personally it’s the most underrated activity for my self care practice.
Affirmations really do keep me going, every day they change, this morning my affirmation was;
“I am capable
I am calm
I am vibrant
I am letting go of all I can not control.”
6:15/30am
I usually drink bone broth or an adrenal cocktail with some collagen before I exercise, stretch or jump on my trampoline, it depends on what my body needs from the day, sometimes It’s just shavasana & some meditation music.
6:45am
10 breathes (5 seconds in, 10 seconds out) everyone’s different but this feels good to me, it silences my crazy brain, the extended exhale switches on the parasympathetic nervous system so I can manage stress better throughout the day. Meditation is such a helpful tool but, if we spend the rest of the day in a high anxiety state that 10 minutes really doesn’t change the world *in my opinion. Approach your day with awareness, have awareness when you’re feeling heightened stress, worry or anxiety and with that awareness try to acknowledge the feeling and take a moment to regulate yourself. This way it doesn’t get to 6pm, your shoulders are by your ears and you’re emotionally exhausted.
Meditation/visualization: I use what time I need, I don’t reach for a timer, instead I try and meditate for as long as feels good, it could just be for a couple minutes and that’s okay. I find focusing on a word, image or phrase helps me relax instead of aiming for complete mental silence, some days that’s just not realistic and thats ok too.
7am
Breakfast! My favourite part of the day, I’ve ditched traditional breaky lately and have been opting for warm breakfasts; congee, soups, broths, or toasted greens that I’ve cooked up in advance and heat up with some pumpkin, hummus and avo. Breakfast doesn’t have to be “eggs, toast or cereal” - it is what you make it. My best advice, just aim to prep the night before, have a good amount of protein, a mineral rich drink like nettle tea, and set yourself up for success.
The most important part of your morning is honoring what YOUR body needs, no one else’s. So, find what works for you, get up that little bit earlier, take that minute to sit and drink your tea, ditch the ‘to go’ cup and breathe.
Approach your day with awareness, you’ve got this.
With love,
