It’s Day 2 of the Epic Winter Week, a 5-Part Series on Everything you Need for a Healthy Season!
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Sarah and I have followed a lot of people over the years. Entrepreneurs, health advocates, influential people and those with power. There was one thing that kept coming up, or a pattern or thread that we kept seeing…
Meditation
We don’t consider ourselves very spiritual, but wanted to incorporate regular meditation into our daily routines, so we could see the same results as those who we admired.
So we started in the summer of 2012, committing to 10 minutes every morning. Within 2 months we had fallen off the Meditation Wagon.
Over the next 2 years we found ourselves doing it once every week or two. Sometimes we’d have little spurts, but never lasted long.
Our Morning Routine
During this time period, we continued to hear about successful change-makers who always meditate and workout first thing in the morning – like a daily ritual. It clicked and immediately made sense to us, having it as part of our morning routine.
At the beginning of this month, January 2015, we committed to waking up at 5:30am every morning.
We roll out of bed, make lemon water, find a comfy place to sit in the corner of our apartment and meditate for 10 minutes, then put on our workout clothes, sweat for 20-60mins, shower, get ready for work, then take 10-30mins to get inspired by other entrepreneurs working online.
Monday thru Friday, that’s our routine.
We stick to it because we get excited about it, and that’s the key.
What Happens When You Don’t Have a Routine
If you don’t, you’ll find excuses…
” Oh, we stayed up too late last night “
” Oh, it’s too cold in the house this morning “
” Oh, these sheets are so soft and cozy! “
When we solidified and committed together, we’ve became so much more consistent.
Do we ever mess up?
Yes, definitely! We’re not perfect, but now we find ourselves thinking, okay it’s 9pm, time to wash up and head to bed. Whereas before we’d be thinking, 9pm, oh man we’ve got another hour! and then stay up and not get to bed until 11:30pm – THAT’S when we sleep in the next day – and subsequently miss our meditation, workout and inspiration time – lame sauce!
Meditation is a Perfect Start to Your Day
- It gets you out of bed better than a workout. When you first rise in the morning, all your brain cells aren’t firing yet. Waking up and sitting for 10-20 minutes is pretty easy, whereas waking up and doing a core workout is INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT.
- It’s time for you to relax and prepare for the day. Often times we wake up feeling like there’s a hundred things to do. After a good meditation session you’ll find yourself much more calm, cool and relaxed; and the beauty is you literally did nothing!
Create Your Morning Routine
There are many advantages of creating a set morning routine that you do during your workweek. The biggest one being a more productive morning while in a vulnerable state. When you first wake up, you’re not in a decision-making mode.
You’re struggling with decisions like…
~ Should I workout? ~ Should I meditate? ~ Should I make green juice? ~ Should I shower?Make it SUPER easy on yourself with a per-determined schedule that you ALWAYS follow.
When creating your routine, consider other things you want to do every morning, like exercise or inspiration time. Including these two things helped us to wake up earlier, and now we get more accomplished throughout the day than when we sleep in.
Create your routine, write it out/post it on the wall and try it out. If you don’t find yourself going to sleep earlier or getting excited about it, try adding something you’ll look forward to.
Use Essential Oils to Enhance Your Results
To get even more out of your mornings, try using essential oils to get you there. Here are a couple favorites of ours to use in the AM:
Balance
Maybe you can relate. Sometimes we wake up in a frantic. 100 things to do before lunchtime. On these mornings we like to use Balance, a blend by doTERRA, that we use prior to meditation. Simply put 1 drop on your wrists, rub together and smell. The oils work their way into your circulatory system and directly to the happy part of your brain through inhalation when diffusing it.
Peppermint
We like to maximize what we get done everyday, but in order to do that we need to maintain focus. It’s easy to lose direction and sight of what we’re trying to accomplish. This is when we use peppermint – diffusing it mainly. When the oil is dispersed into the air, we feel an immediate sense of clarity, which is exactly what we need sometimes!
So what do you think? Time to start a morning routine of your own?
Maybe Today’s Giveaway Can Help!
We’re giving away a new Essential Oil every day! We’ll be picking 1 winner every day, along with 1 Tastemaker every day!
Today we are giving away BALANCE!
Here’s How To Enter:
1 – Subscribe to our newsletter (check the area below the comment box)
2 – Leave a comment and let us know: 1.) What do you want to add to your morning routine? 2.) Let us know if you’re an SD Member 3). That you subscribed to our newsletter
3 – Share this giveaway on social media (FB, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc)
Good Luck Friends! And don’t forget to come back tomorrow to enter tomorrow’s giveaway!
*All winners will be picked and contacted on Saturday:)
12 replies to "10 Minute Morning Relaxation Ritual"
Oh wow, I’m on week 3 of getting up 1/2 hour early and having lemon water. My meditation is sporadic, but I did subscribe to that Headspace app you recommended.
I’ll admit, on the day that I slept in (ha! only 1 hour later) it messed up my whole day. This post is good advice.
Go Christine Go! I have been loving getting up earlier as well:) And do find myself sleeping in a little on the weekends but not much. Keep working on the meditation, you’ll get it!
Lately, we have been following a routine every morning as well and it works great! Wake up, lemon water, work out and then meditate. We found that we were falling asleep if we meditated just right after waking up, and so changing the order worked for us! (I’m a SD member, and subscribed to the newsletter :))
Hey Anna!
Hope all is well with you:) Yes I have that problem with meditation some days…so I think you have a great system down, wake up first with the exercise:)
I want to add essential oils to my morning routine. I’m a tastemaker and I subscribe to your newsletter. :)
Hi Jess,
Good Luck, I think you’ll really enjoy adding oils to your morning routine, it makes getting up early more fun:)
I want to add meditation to my morning routine and more H20!! I’m not a member but I subscribe to the newsletter
Yes, Great goals Kerri:) Hydration is so important in the am. Good Luck Sister!
I have tried meditation before bed and it did not workout so well. I like to do it in the mornings on my days off, but days I work I already get up at 5 and I am unsure that I can wake up any earlier before I work for 13+hours in the hospital. I would like to add more consistency in my morning ruitine.
I am a member and I am subscribed. Keep the posts coming!! ;-) love them all
Hey Christian:) So nice to “see you”! It’s tough when you have to get up so early, we get up at 5:30 and I feel ya, getting up at 5 seems like a stretch for me! Maybe you mediate at a different time? Or just do two 5 minute meditations one in the morning and one in the evening, I think some mediation everyday is better then none!
Good Luck my friend!
Hello – I start in bed thinking and stretching and asking God for direction – then I make a coffee fix hot drink (a coffee alternative) and drop a couple drops of frankincense essential oil under my tongue drink my coffee fix and go curl up on my couch with A book called Morning and Evening – by C H Spurgeon. I read that each morning and meditate on it and keep reflecting and praying. I may diffuse Frankinsence or Balance because they have helped me emotionally on my healing journey-
Frankinsence is the Oil of Truth and helps connect me with my Higher Power- Balance keeps me grounded and rooted not to be scattered in my thoughts and outside circumstances around me. Then I put balance on the bottom of my feet and go do Jazzercize! Not perfect but when I do this almost 3-4 times a week- my attitude is better .
Tami,
Wow, thanks so much for sharing your routine. That sounds like such a great way to ease into the day; such clarity and purpose. I also love your mention of Frankinsence as I would like to use it more often, perhaps even during my meditation.