Friday, April 10, 2009

Start Your Morning Off Right

Its amazing what one can do when you take the time to put your mind to it. For me, working in the restaurant business had made a night owl out of me for the last I-don't-know-how-many-years. So, the prospect of getting up early to meditate or do some mild & gentle excercise, let alone earlier is a hard pill to swallow.

As a Reiki practitioner I always try to do a small meditation on the Usui principles for a few moments when I first wake up and right before bedtime. On a whim because I woke up unusually early I decided to lengthen that meditation and do some early morning yoga.

I don't know about you, but I'm too groggy first thing in the morning and drive half an hour to a yoga studio for an hour and a half class. Mornings are also super busy so to figure out how to squeeze all that extra time in your day can be stressful. I think this kind of defeats the purpose of Yoga. The point of morning yoga is to gradually awake the body and the mind. To center yourself and prepare for the day in a relaxing manner. So I started by doing some simple poses and streching for a half hour. Then I moved on to an organized program. Fit tv has a show called Namaste Yoga that does half hour mini sessions. I have started recording episodes on my DVR.
It truly is relaxing, yet energizing to start the morning off stretching, meditating and doing poses. Not to mention it takes very little time.

I find when I am finished I can start my day calmly and feeling refreshed. It makes an amazing difference. Give it a try.