I find morning routines interesting. Here’s mine.
Podcaster and author Tim Ferris likes to ask his guests what are their morning routines. His guests are always super remarkable people in one way or another and their answers are fascinating with many common themes often combined with heavy doses of eccentricity. I have also found it interesting to ask this question of those in my world. From this I’ve learned how important it is to set yourself up for the day with intention, physical movement and mental grounding.
So, in case anyone is interested, here is my morning routine. I have been doing this for just over a year now. I have found in doing this steadfastly every weekday morning that I have had more energy, more strength, and a better mindset to enjoy the day. It feels a little weird to share this, perhaps too self important or personal. However, since it has so positively impacted my life, I am going to power through that weirdness and put it out there.
I wake up at 6am. I don’t use an alarm clock as for some reason my one superpower is being able to wake up at any time I want without one. Also, I figure if I sleep later then it means I needed it (but that never really happens).
Wim Hof Method
I am a practitioner of the Wim Hof Method (h/t Dave S), so the first thing I do are some breathing exercises. This involves breathing in deeply and exhaling rapidly 30 to 40 times followed by a full exhale and breath hold with no air in the lungs. I do four or five sets of this breathing routine. After the first set I can usually hold my breath for 90 seconds. By the fourth set I am doing two to two-and-a-half minutes. When I do five sets I often reach three minutes. When holding my breath I close my eyes and try to clear my mind. The clearer my mind is, the longer the breath hold. After holding my breath, I breath in deeply and hold again for 15 seconds. (Warning: I do this on my couch or on the floor. There’s a danger of passing out so you should never do this in a place where that would be unsafe.)
On the last set of breathing when I hold my breath, I do fifty pushups. That may seem a bit nuts, but after this breathing exercise it actually becomes pretty easy to do pushups in this way. This feels good and by now I am fully awake, feeling clear headed and strong.
The next activity is a stomach routine which is basically four sets of crunches. The first two sets of fifty are twist crunches (one set for each side). Then I will do fifty reverse crunches followed by another fifty normal crunches. At the end of the routine I’ll do a cobra stretch to stretch those stomach muscles out.
Then it’s another fifty pushups but this time I will breath normally. This is the hardest part of the morning routine.
After the pushups I will do a series of yoga poses: bound angle pose, head-to-knee forward bend, seated forward bend, half spinal twist, the crane/crow pose, shoulder stand, warrior pose II, and the triangle pose. I do these pretty quick with maybe thirty seconds per pose per side.
Meditation
That all takes about 35 minutes so it’s now about 6:35am. Next, I do a 15–20 minute meditation. For the first minute or two, to settle my mind, I repeat a Thích Nhất Hạnh mantra, “breathing in I calm my body, breathing out I smile, dwelling in the present moment, I know this is a wonderful moment.” When I feel grounded, I will do a body scan and then on to the main part of the meditation. Most days this is a mindfulness of breathing meditation. This involves focusing the mind on the breath and when your mind wanders, gently bringing focus back to the breath. For the last few minutes I do a version of the metta bhavana or loving-kindness meditation though about once a week I will do this for the whole meditation. This is basically all about wishing yourself and others happiness. Sounds a bit cheesy I know, but is a very pleasant experience.
Journal
Next I will write in my journal for five minutes. What I do is more or less based on The Five-Minute Journal which I used for a while. I write three things I am grateful for, three things that were great about yesterday, three things that would make today great, and an affirmation. I also will write about anything that is on my mind or things I want to take care of that day.
My good friend, Ted, passed away last September. Before he died he had a bunch of stickers made up that say “Enjoy Every Day.” So, to remind myself that life is short, that I am lucky to be alive, and that every day matters, I end every day’s journal entry by writing “Enjoy Every Day.” Ted’s mantra is now mine.
Cold Shower
And last but not least, the cold shower. I end the morning routine with a shower that starts and ends with one minute of cold. I really look forward to this last step. This is, again, part of the Wim Hof Method. Once you get into the habit, this feels great. It caps off a routine that makes me feel strong, healthy and happy. Some day I’d even love to have a cold water plunge tank to start of the day.
This whole routine takes about an hour and 10 minutes. I usually try to avoid looking at my phone, but some days I will look to see if anything has come up at work while I was sleeping. Some days if I am in a rush I will shorten or cut the meditation. And once that my morning routine is done, I start on the kids morning routine which is a whole different story.
Please share any comments or similar experiences you might have. Thanks!
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