A MORNING ROUTINE FOR SELF-CARE, SELF-LOVE AND HAPPINESS

In our modern, busy, buzzing world, change matters. Change is good. And well routine is often underrated. Despite our efforts to reject the monotonous idea of a routine, we all have one. The truth is we tend to settle into toxic routines that generate stress and pressure.

Think about your chaotic daily morning. Dragging yourself late out of bed. You have 20 minutes to get ready, leave your apartment and face a busy day.

Morning buzzer. Rushing to the coffee machine, to the shower. Grabbing the first coat you can catch and run your way through commuting services. You’ve been awake for less than 30 minutes, the thermometer displays 7 degrees and you’re already sweating.

Don’t you think you deserve the peace of a morning routine dedicated to yourself and your well-being? I used to be one of these late starters. It was all about time, performance and not wasting a single second after waking up. Until a year ago, when I started diving into natural solutions to improve my concentration skills while increasing my level of energy.

Yoga already played a great role in my life, it seemed then logical to start researching the benefits of a yogic routine and its science sister Ayurveda. This research led me to slowly settle into a routine — most of my friends and surrounding can’t understand — that quickly helped to feel happier, stronger and more connected to myself.

Sleeping early and rising up before the sun

6 days a week, I wake up between 5 and 6 am. According to Ayurveda, nature follows different cycles of energy, and waking up around 6 am would be beneficial for most of us. Of course, you need your sleep, and again Ayurveda recommends to go to bed early as the sleep before midnight turns out to be the most restorative. Sleeping early ensures deep detoxification of your brain cells.

Hydratation first

As I wake up, I drink 4 to 6 glasses of warm water, as fast as possible. Not only does it hydrate my body but it also improves digestion and blood flow, facilitates toxins’ elimination, clears the respiratory tracks and cherries on the cake (!!!) boosts hair growth while enhancing the skin complexion. After this, I walk through my apartment for a few minutes and proceed to elimination. Morning elimination is so important as it enables you to clean up your body from all its toxins and therefore to increase your level of energy.

Self-care and cleaning the body

Shatkarmas are described in Hatha Yoga Pradipika. They consist of yogic purification techniques. Concretely, what is it? Shat stands for six while karma means action. It literally means 6 actions. These 6 actions consist of cleaning the body to balance its different energies (moon and sun, feminine and masculine) to maintain good health. Some of these actions need to be performed daily while others will be performed on a weekly, monthly or even yearly basis.

Face washing

I wash my face with an ayurvedic lotion and cold water. Following this, I massage it with a natural hydrating cream or coconut oil for one minute.

Mouth cleaning

I brush my teeth for 3 minutes and process after this to the cleaning of my tongue with a scraper. Ayurveda preconise to clean the tongue to remove impurities and maintain good health.

Jala Neti or cleaning the nostrils

Jala Neti is one of the main Shatkarma. It is of great help to clean the nostrils and is well-known for improving our breathing capabilities. It’s the perfect preparation for asana and pranayama practices. It should be performed daily.

To start, you’ll need a neti pot that you fill with body temperature water and 2 teaspoons of salt per litre of water. You poor it in one of the nostrils, releasing it from the opposite nostril. You can see how to exactly perform it on my Instagram TV.

Netra Shuddhi (Eyes cleaning)

To improve my sight, and increase mental clarity, I clean my eyes every morning with amla water and rinse them with rose water. The video below greatly explained the benefits of cleaning your eyes.

Ayurvedic self-massage with warm oil (Abhyanga)

In Ayurveda, it is referred to as Abhyanga. To do so, I pour sesame oil in a cup and cook it in a water bath until the oil gets warm. Do not let it boil. With the warm oil, I massage my feet, my legs, my shoulders, my chest, and my arms. I let it rest for 20 minutes, enjoying this moment to drink a cup of tea and for observation. After 20 minutes, I take a shower to rinse it. This ritual can also be performed before bedtime.

Getting into the yoga practice

Once my body is cleaned and prepared, I dive into the yoga practice. In our modern view of yoga, yoga practice consists of the asana (physical practice). Asanas are only a part of yoga. The movement is not the goal of yoga. The asana practice is one of the tools yogi use to reach the goal of yoga: meditation. Therefore my yoga practice does not only consist of physical movements.

Yogasana (45 to 90 minutes)

The asana practice consists of a series of movements that aim to prepare the mind and the body for pranayama and meditation. Depending on my daily schedule, I practice between 45 and 90 minutes a day. In most cases, I practice Ashtanga as I truly enjoy how it helps me to still my mind. However, if I feel creative, I go for an improvised Vinyasa Flow, and if I am tired or in my moon phase (nice word for periods), I also enjoy a restorative or yin yoga session.

Pranayama (10 to 15 minutes)

At the end of my asana practice, right before Savasana (the relaxing posture of the body performed at the end of each physical practice), I practice Pranayama for approximately 10 minutes.
There are a lot of Pranayama techniques, here are my personal favourites.

Ujjayi breath (Victorious or ocean breath)

Ujjayi breath is used and performed during Ashtanga and Vinyasa practices. If you encounter problems with your breath during the physical practice, practice Ujjayi while sitting will help you improve your breath control during the asanas practice. It’s the most recommended Pranayama for starters.

How
Inhaling through the nose, slightly contract the back of the throat. Exhale through the nose. Try to inhale and exhale for the same amount of time.

Benefits
Giving full control of the breath, Ujjayi breath helps us connecting the mind to the body. It creates awareness and enables us to ground ourselves in the present moment. Energising and invigorating, Ujjayi breath brings fire to the physical practice and increases our level of endurance. It stills the mind and helps with insomnia and anxiety issues.
Ujjayi breath is not recommended for pregnant women, people suffering from migraines or heart conditions.

Nadi Shodhana (Alternate nostril breathing)

It literally means channels purification. The idea is to balance the opposite energies of the mind and the physical body (feminine and masculine, moon and sun).

How
Close your right nostril with the thumb and start inhaling through the left nostril. Close it with the right little finger, release the right nostril and slowly exhale. Keep the right nostril open inhale, close it, open the left nostril and slowly exhale. Repeat 3 rounds of 11 breaths.

Benefits
Nadi Shodhana increases oxygen in the body and is well-known for still and calming the restless mind. This pranayama is excellent to create a deeper connection with the present moment. It helps the practitioner feel more grounded, especially in times of stress and anxiety. It also increases concentration and creativity.
If you are sick with the flu or a cold avoid performing Nadi Shodhana.

Kapalabhati Pranayama (Breath of fire)

Kapalabhati is one of the 6 Shatkarma, it literally means ‘illuminating skull’.

How
Take a comfortable sitting position with a straight spine, and close the eyes. Inhale deeply through both nostrils until the lungs are filled with air. Then exhale forcefully through both nostrils, making sure to push your stomach deep inside.

Benefits
Kapalabhati offers many health benefits. It boosts brain functions, settling you into a more positive mindset. It also has powerful effects on our organs, detoxifying the kidneys and cleaning the lungs from pollution. What is more, Kapalabhati tones your abdominals and enhances your natural beauty (hair and skin).
Kapalabhati is not recommended to be performed in the following cases: high or low blood pressure, glaucoma, history of strokes, following abdominal surgery, nose bleeding, epilepsy, vertigo or gastric ulcer.

Meditation and mantra (20 minutes)

Meditation used to be my greatest challenge. When I started meditating, I was not able to sit still longer than 2 minutes. I started this way forcing myself to sit for 3 minutes every day at the same moment and observing. Observing my physical body, my mind, the thoughts I had, the feelings, the emotions. In other words, looking at every fluctuation of my mind. Today I am able to sit in a more peaceful and relaxed way, and if you want to know the truth, I became totally addicted to my morning meditation practice. It helped me improve my focus and also enabled me to feel more serene and connected to myself.

Here is how it goes. After performing Pranayama and Savasana, I keep my eyes closed and push myself into a seated posture. From then, I focus on the breath, observe the impact of the physical practice on my mind and body (every day it feels different!!!).

Following this, I repeat a mantra 108 times. Every 21 days I introduce a new mantra in my practice. Why 21 days? Because research has shown that we can create new patterns and habits if we practice something for a minimum of 21 days. It can be anything, a traditional Hindu mantra or an idea I want to see sprouting in my thinking patterns.

For example, this month, I really wanted to focus on self-love and the withdrawal of the senses (Pratyahara) as it is exposed in the Yoga Sutras (the Bible of yoga if you are not familiar with it). Therefore I decided to repeat the following mantra: ‘I AM LOVE AND I AM ENOUGH’. With this mantra, I try to focus on the inner world, instead of the outer world and its temptations. It helps me to integrate the idea that everything I need is within me and that I don’t need to look for distractions and sensual pleasures.

After rehearsing my mantra for 108 times, I stay a few minutes longer and try to focus on one single object. It can be anything from one chakra to a visualisation of colours or places, or even my breath.

I always end my morning practice by rubbing the palms of my hands to create heat and by chanting 3 times the sound of OM.

Journaling (5 minutes)

My morning ritual has come to an end! Following this, I always take 5 minutes to quickly journal the practice. It allows me to observe my growth and evolution on a physical but also on a spiritual level.
I always follow the same structure:

How did I feel when waking up?
How was my practice on a physical and mental level?
3 reasons I have to be grateful
What are my intentions for today?

I close my morning routine with breakfast. As someone with a lot of sugar cravings, I observed that when I ate porridge in the morning, these cravings significantly reduced. That is why my breakfast mostly consists of a cup of herbal tea, porridge, fruits or dry fruits, and some nuts with almond butter with honey.

The Aftermath

It took over a year and two trips to India to establish this routine. As many of us at the end of the year, I observe what changed in my life, how I improved and what I want to improve next.

This routine can seem drastic, intense and time-consuming at first glance but the truth is I cannot imagine my life without it. Since I started living this way, I feel so much happier, serene and able to make decisions that make sense.

I used to tell myself many stories. And I probably still do. But today I can observe a switch, I am more honest with myself than ever. To call my life a success, I do not need a big job in a big company that makes a lot of money, I do not need to devote myself to others to make them like me. The only thing I need to do is to connect to myself to be me, to be aware of my needs and identity. I needed to stop forcing things, pushing for goals and objectives; and I think I somehow started this process.

The answer is within me and being aware of who I am and what I need is so far my greatest achievement. Knowing that everything is perfect just the way it is.

We tell ourselves stories that you need to be crazy to wake up that early, that we do not have the time. But when you think about it, how can we lack time to take care of the most important being in our existence: ourselves?

How can a job, a busy lifestyle be more important? To be able to love others, to share, to give, it’s important to nurture ourselves, to take care of ourselves but we live in a world where the self is often forgotten.

There is no right or wrong, this routine fits me and it might not fit you. But no matter which routine you choose, make sure to pick something that is suitable for you. Someone very smart once told me: ‘You are your greatest commitment’ not your loved ones, not your boss, not society. Whatever you decide, create a routine devoted to yourself. Self-care and self-love are so important.

What is your morning routine? How do you take care of yourself?

I would love to hear your story.

And if you are craving for more yoga make sure to visit my website.

Namaste,
MH