.png)
I try really hard to get up at least 15 minutes before my kids! It definitely doesn't always work out - sometimes they randomly wake up earlier and sometimes I just really can't get myself out of bed but when I do this little morning ritual, I have to say I love it!! Just 10 minutes to myself before the chaos of the day ensues does me the world of good!
If you would like to have a bit of a morning ritual but not sure where to start then I thought I'd share mine with you as a starting point!
The first thing I do when I wake up is drink some water that I keep by my bed. I find it's the fastest way to wake my brain up enough to get going! If you need a little more help - you know those mornings when your eyes feel like they are burning in their sockets and just will not open up properly! I keep a cooling eye mask in the fridge. You can get them super cheaply from Amazon, like this one. Then I just place it over my eyes for a minute or two and it really helps!
Next-up, I make the best morning drink I've ever come across! Believe me, this beauty will set you up for the day like nothing else! It's essentially a shot of green-goodness.
What's in it?
A scoop of daily greens powder containing a blend of 36 fruits and vegetables
A gut-health supplement to keep my IBS in check!
A citrus flavour ginseng energy fizz stick with natural forms of caffeine from green tea and guarana packed full of B-vitamins!
Yes it looks like pond water, but trust me, with the citrus kick from the fizz stick it actually tastes delicious!
If you're interested in giving this health shot a go, you can view all these products in my Arbonne shop here.
Once I make up my green shot I take it outside into my garden! I absolutely love getting outside first thing! Even if it's a bit chilly, I wrap up in my fluffy dressing gown and take an extra blanket out with me! I love to go on sit on my swinging chair - it is my absolute favourite little happy place and luckily for me, it also has a canopy so I can even do this if it's raining!
Whilst I sit on my swing sipping my drink, I like to have a little scroll through my Instagram. Word of warning here, I have very carefully curated my Mums' Night Out Podcast Instagram account so that I only follow people that inspire me and/or make me smile. that way when I have a little scroll in the morning it makes me feel good rather than irritated or saddened! Top tip: if your Instagram feed is very varied then you can go through the people that you follow and select the ones that inspire you or make you feel happy and set those as favourites. Then when you scroll, you can choose just to scroll your favourites!
Once I've finished my drink I focus on my breathing and moving my body, I stand up and take a few deep breaths. I use the power breath technique introduced to me at a Tony Robbins event; essentially just breathe in for 5 seconds, hold for 20 seconds and breathe out for 10. I raise my arms up as I breathe in, hold them above my head whilst holding my breath and bring them back down to my sides on the exhale. I simply do around 5 of these breaths and then move on to a few stretches that improve my posture. I use some super simple exercises from The Egoscue Method which only take me 2-3 minutes max!
I finish my little morning ritual with a priming and gratitude exercise which again only take a couple of minutes. I learnt the fundamentals of this priming method from Tony Robbins which you can see him explain here but I have modified this to my own (shortened!) version so that it's much easier for me to stick to! During this exercise, I will think of three things that I am grateful for from the day before and then end with some of my own personal affirmations. (I'll probably write another blog post to talk more specifically about affirmations!)
And that is it! This whole morning ritual takes no more than 10-15 minutes and if I'm really pushed for time, I can condense it down even further to parts I feel are essential for me and get it done in five minutes!!
I hope that was helpful for you, I really recommend you give some kind of morning ritual a go and see what an impact it has on your day. Even if you simply step outside and take a few deep breaths of fresh air before you start your daily tasks, I still believe you'll get a benefit from that!