The first time I ever heard of a morning routine was almost five years ago. At the time, I was reading into subjects like this a lot and it created an interest within me to dig deeper. As I kept on reading I also started establishing one or a few habits of these into my own life. I would go through the next few years falling in and out of these little practices and habits. But one thing stuck with me, the determination to integrate something into my life as soon as I realized I was going off track. This is very normal and the best way you can learn.
Piece by piece, I would slowly establish a morning routine of my own. A routine that would change a little more over the coming year and is very likely to change as I move forward in life. The core purpose of the whole process is fundamentally the same, which is to provide you with a solid sense of calm, clarity and focus to carry on with your day.
My Current Morning Routine
Wake up: There was a period of time when I used to wake up as early as 5 am to get started on my day. Rising early is one of the best things you can do to start making positive changes in your life. The quiet hours of the early morning are such a perfect setting for us to cultivate that inner goodness within us through different daily practices and actions. I must admit I have fallen out of this habit now for different reasons. Currently, I wake up a little later around 9 am. This is one of the things that I am working on to get back into.
Drink lemon water: The first thing I drink in the morning is warm lemon water. This is something I started recently. Drinking lemon water can have multiple health benefits such as improved hydration, a great source of vitamin C and better digestion. Read a bit more on this subject to see if it makes sense to you. It is super easy to make and takes less than a minute.
Asanas: This is the first part of my morning spiritual practice. The Asanas I do are some basic flexibility movements to prepare my body and mind for the meditation that follows. These movements help me with mobility and to sit more comfortably during my meditation.
Meditation: Once I’m done with my Asanas, I start my morning meditation which takes around 21 minutes. The meditation I do Is called Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya, which I learned and was initiated into last December. This meditation is learned as part of the Inner Engineering program offered by the Isha Foundation. However, there is no one type of meditation that you need to do. Feel free to start with some simple meditations and try new meditations as you progress. In time, you will see which meditation works best for you.
Gratitude and self-affirmations: This practice is just as important as meditation practices. I have written about how gratitude can make you a happier person in our last post. How I do this is simply by holding Namaste and by saying out 5 things that I am grateful for and affirmations on how I wish to spend today.
Right after that, I am free to do whatever I want to do with the exception of making sure that I do a minimum of one task towards my personal goals and aspirations. We will talk about that later. Now, this is my personal morning routine. Feel free to try out whichever works for you and leave out the ones that don’t. I am a firm believer that every person should take the time through practice to realize what works for you and what doesn’t and make changes accordingly. Below are some tips on how you can design your very own personal morning routine.
- Set goals on how early you can aim to wake up and do your best to rise as early as possible.
- Do not check your mobile phone before you’re done with your morning routine. (I am also still guilty of this, we can work on this together I know it’s a little tempting)
- If possible move your bowels in the morning before your meditations as this will keep your body in more optimal condition for spiritual practices.
- Integrate a small stretching of any kind, doesn’t have to be asanas. Do this before your meditation as it will help you sit more comfortably during the meditation.
- Start a basic meditation such as Zazen, start small like 3 minute meditations and increase your time as you get more comfortable.
- Commit to making the morning routine happen every day at least for 48 days. 48 days is a mandala, we will cover more about mandalas and its significance in a future article.
- The last one is to give thanks. Give thanks and give a lot of it. Say it to yourself every single day as many times as you can. Affirm as much as you can and keep yourself accountable whenever you feel like your actions aren’t reflecting the same.
Do all of this over and over again and make changes whenever you feel it is needed. Remember, no spiritual advice can change your life unless you go through it. The most important aspect of spiritual practices is commitment and doing whatever you do with absolute involvement. You are the only thing standing in the way of becoming your best self. Start small, make changes as you grow and most importantly keep going. It’s in your own hands.
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