The Morning Ritual

Having a daily morning and evening ritual is good for you for many reasons. Most importantly, it trains your body to get used to what’s expected of it; i.e., this is the time for winding down, this is the time for digestion, etc. It gets you in a rhythm.

For now we will start with a good morning ritual you can start with. And yes, you may have to wake up a few minutes earlier but it will be worth it, I promise you. When you are in the space between sleeping and being awake, it’s the best time to set the intention for your day. Continue with the following ritual to develop healthy habits.

Hot water with lemon. Water is a great substance to start the day with since you haven’t had any since at least the evening before,and adding lemon to your water is a great digestive starter.

 Start a simple stretching routine. I love to stretch every morning. It warms up the muscles, preventing injuries, it helps your brain connect with your tissues, it normalizes and regulates the input to the nervous system which allows better relaxation, and even helps brain chemicals. It also helps you to get into your body for the day – something important especially if you have any sort or stressors headed your way. (And who doesn’t…) Just be sure to start gently.

The lovely Adriene of http://www.yogawithadriene.com 

Have a green smoothie or fresh juice with some protein for breakfast. The most important meal of the day – you know you’ve heard it before! But more importantly, you want to give your fasting tummy something healthy and fortifying to start your day with. I can handle eggs for breakfast and need them for the protein but they are a little much for my wife and so she likes to start the day with a green drink or smoothie containing protein. Use your intuition and the feedback from your body to see what works for you.  Meditate. Even if it’s just for even 3 minutes. If you can start your day connecting your breath to your body, you will already be in a better place than if you were to just jump up and hit the floor running. Take a moment to create your day. Visualization, a form of self-hypnosis, is a tool anyone can use to help foster healing. By providing positive pictures (creative imagery) and self-suggestion, visualization can change emotions that subsequently have a physical effect on the body.

image via: https://instagram.com/dakinistudios/

The morning is also a good time to take your probiotics and anti fungal or anti parasitic supplements or herbs. Other than that, don’t put too much in your gut. You definitely don’t want vitamins or anything too strong on an empty stomach. Vitamins and minerals in concentrated form are too hard on an empty stomach.

These 4 simple steps can help have a drastic effect on your day.