How to Create Your Morning Ritual
- Jan 16, 2023
- 5 min read
From all the things, activities, and roads that I have tried, and believe me, I love to try a lot of things (sticking to one is a different story) one that has born the most significant fruits to my well-being, to my self-discovery, and to my curiosity has been the implementation of morning ritual (or routine, but as I am somewhat scared of that word, I would prefer to call it a ritual). It is also my rule Nr. 4 from 30 lessons I learned before turning 30, that’s how seriously life-changing I find this activity.
My road to crafting my mornings was helped by Layla El Khadri, whose course YOUNIQUE I had the pleasure to complete. She invited us for a 60-day challenge #practisemakesmastery which helped me to really cement this in my mornings. Of course, the container of support and accountability partners we had on this course, really helped to keep me on track. Before I would have done some yoga and meditation in the mornings, longest challenge on everyday yoga I did was 12 days, and 50 days of meditation with Sam Harris and his Waking Up app. Morning practices were part of my day, but never with real conviction or structure.
Habit setting can take from 18 up to 254 days and on average 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic, so set the number and promise yourself to keep at it, because you deserve all the benefits you can produce for yourself.
What are the benefits of the morning ritual?
If you inquire, most people we deem successful have some form or other of morning routine – why?
〰️ Improved mental health, and reduced stress and anxiety
〰️ Self-discovery. You start to learn so much more about who you are, because you have carved out time to listen to yourself, fully with undivided attention.
〰️ Introduces mindful structure to your day that originates in your wellbeing
〰️ Sense of control – even if everything else in your day goes sideways and is unpredictable and crazy, you know that you have control over your mornings and how you respond to life around you.
〰️ Sense of accomplishment and empowerment – because you are starting your day with a victory of keeping your promise to yourself.
There are more, but I’ll leave those for you to discover on your own!
How to implement and find your own morning ritual?
Most important is to find something that excites and works for you. You can’t start your mornings with Tai Chi practice if you don’t like it but have heard that it is supposedly good for you. You must like the activity you are choosing and at the same time allow yourself to explore, maybe one morning you find a youtube video on Tai Chi and it inspires you to start learning. There are so many practices that you can implement in your morning. I will structure it out in 4 parts, showing the skeleton on which I craft my mornings.
First – physical activity. 💪🏻
To awaken your body and give it some love. It can be either – yoga, jogging, exercising, dancing, shaking or moving in any other way that you love, that makes you feel empowered and helps you drop in your body.
Second – Breath. 💨
Personally, this is something I want to implement more actively. Wim Hof has done a great job shouting far and loud about the power that our breath has over our minds and bodies and through studies has shown incredible results to back up all the benefits. There are many different breathwork techniques if Wim Hof is not your cup of tea. There is Holotropic breathwork, Pranayama breathwork, Shamanic and Neurodynamic breathwork etc. Get curious – explore and experiment! The best part is – you really don’t need anything other than your breath to do this.
Third – Stillness. Mindfulness and meditation. 🧘🏼♀️
As much as people would like to think that exercise or any other activity substitutes meditation, I would tend to disagree. I believe that most of the world’s problems start with people’s inability to sit still for 10 minutes. There is a special veil within you that you can look beyond when your mind and attention are not engaged in other activities when you are fully still and aware of yourself, your breath, the air, the sounds, and the space and time. You are in a state of non-action and non-judgment. You are not actively trying to change your circumstances or what you are currently experiencing, you allow for life to unfold without attaching yourself to the result. You are here and now – fully present. There are so many studies now to prove the effectiveness of meditation, here's a short video explaining what happens in our brains when we meditate.
You really do not have an excuse not to give yourself even 5 minutes for stillness.
Forth – Awaken the creative and be grateful. 🌈 I love to journal after practice, to write down what came up, and what is alive within me, to try and put that into words, to capture the essence, and inspire myself. The easiest and most effective way to journal is through gratitude and affirmations. I would invite you to start with gratitudes - write 3 things you are grateful for in general, 3 things you are grateful for in your work or personal life, and 3 things you are grateful for in yourself. Get comfortable with noticing all the gifts you are blessed with if you just dare to look. You might find that there is a lot to be grateful for, and that simple mindset switch makes all the difference towards a healthier, more peaceful life.
You can add another creative outlet here that you would like to explore – maybe start free-flow writing, or drawing. Whatever sparks that curiosity of creative exploration and expression! In time you will start to see yourself in a different light, a light that is not dimmed or hidden, but fully expressed, seen, and heard!
My main tip here would be to do all this before you check your phone, the difference I feel when I resist my temptation to look into my phone and get straight to the mat can be really felt. Also - a great idea for getting into practice is to challenge yourself with someone.
Right now, a brilliant meditation app Insight Timer has a 31-day healthy habit-building challenge available for free. Every day they are introducing different methods to implement in your wellness routine. Great way to try and see what resonates for you! And if some days you fail to do anything, remember that you have the brilliant opportunity to start again tomorrow! Don't judge yourself too harshly, we are not perfect, but in time you will discover how much better your days are when you have taken the time to honor yourself.
I hope you found this helpful and informative and that I have inspired you to explore the magic of mornings. If you have any questions or you don’t know when or how to start or you need an accountability partner – let me know! Let’s inspire ourselves to discover our innate wisdom on power! 🤍
Pleasure, joy and happiness!
-Agnese
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