How to Start a Morning Practice

Welcome to the 3rd part of my 3-part series on morning practices!  In the first week, I shared my top 3 reasons for starting a morning practice.  Last week, I shared with you the story of my own journey with morning practices that began when I was only 12-years old.  In this week’s blog, I will share with you 3 simple tips for starting your own morning practice!  So, if anything in the past 2 weeks resonated with you and you’re thinking, “Hey, I want to give this a shot!” then please read on!

1. Go to bed just 10-15 minutes earlier
Your morning practice actually starts the evening before. How you sleep at night really affects how you feel in the morning!  Our body is restored at a cellular level when we sleep.  Western science has shown this through studies done on mice that found toxins from brain cells were flushed when the mice slept.  If you do nothing else other than getting a good night sleep every night, that is probably one of the best things you can do for your body and mind!  Ayurveda technically recommends going to sleep by 10:00 PM, but I know this can feel like a stretch for many of us!  That’s why I suggest just starting with a small shift of going to bed 10-15 minutes earlier than usual.

2. Wake up 5 minutes earlier
Set your alarm clock for just 5 minutes earlier than you normally wake up to give yourself time for your morning practice.  Remember, a morning practice is meant to be something that inspires and uplifts you so that you can get your day off to a really great start - so give yourself time for that!  You don’t want be rushing through your morning practice, so just start with the small shift of giving yourself 5 extra minutes in the morning for your practice.

3. Decide on your morning practice ahead of time
It will be so much easier to wake up in the morning if you already have a plan for what your morning practice is going to look like.  Make it easy for yourself by picking something that you enjoy!  Maybe pick something you have being wanting to do for a while or an old hobby that you have been wanting to pick back up. It could be reading an inspiring book, doing some art work, or even gratitude practice.  Gratitude practice is one of my favorite morning practices, and its as simple as saying “thank you.”   Thank you for this day, thank you for this life, thank you for this home.  
If you’re still not sure of what specific practice speaks to you, then just stay tuned.  In the next few weeks, I will share with you a few guided practices that can be done in less than 5 minutes so that you can just follow along. 

So, that's it in a nutshell - 3 simple tips to get your morning practice started!  I am so excited to hear how this all turns out for you!  Please leave a comment below to let me know your thoughts and how it is going.  If you run into any challenges as you get started, let me know of that also.  I am always happy to clarify anything and offer more support to help you on this journey!