Today marks a month since I started making time for Yoga every single morning, as part of my morning routine. I'm not sure I expected to feel the benefits so quickly, but I certainly have! At the risk of sounding like a fitness nut (I'm not), I'm going to try and convince you to make Yoga part of your morning routine too.
- Start the day as you mean to go on. By starting the day in the sunlight (or with the rising sun), expressing gratitude and offering your body some TLC, you're starting the day in the best possible way, and it helps you treat your body and your day well for the rest of the day.
- You'll have more energy. As someone who generally picks an extra ten minutes asleep over breakfast, I won't lie to you and tell you it's easy getting out of bed thirty minutes early. It's hard. I have to put my alarm on the opposite side of the room, so I have to get out of bed to turn it off, otherwise, I'll just snooze in favour of a few extra Z's. But, as soon as I'm on the mat, I'm hit with a wave of energy, that carries me right through to the end of the day. Taking the time to stretch out first thing really wakes up your body for the day.
- You'll feel calmer, and you'll appreciate everything more. I always include a five minute Shavasana at the end of each session, where I try to think of nothing, but if I can't I like to list all the things I'm grateful for that morning. It helps keep my mind grounded, and focused, and is definitely helping keep my anxiety at bay.
- It becomes a routine. And once it becomes a routine, it's easier to build a routine around it. Before this last month, the closest thing I had to a morning routine was continually snoozing my alarm for an hour, but now I have a proper one, and it's got a good skincare routine, breakfast, tea, and it sets me up perfectly for the day.
- It helps treat the damage sitting at a desk all day does. Once I'm up, I'm pretty much at my desk until I go to bed, and it does nothing at all for my shoulder and back health. Getting up and stretching before I sit at my desk is doing the world of good, my posture is improving, and I've had a lot less shoulder pain.
- It helps speed up your metabolism. Meaning your body will digest food better, and you'll find it easier to loose weight. Bonus.
- It helps you sleep better at night. I don't know why, but it does. I've been sleeping so much better this month!
