| Do you wake up with stiff joints or tight muscles? Are | | | | inhale to get us up and going in the morning. |
| you tired even after a full night of sleep? Do you need | | | | Experiment with longer, bigger, fuller inhalations, and |
| coffee or tea in the morning to get going? A few | | | | imagine how those same breaths would set you up |
| simple changes to your habits of breathing, moving, and | | | | for success in the morning when you most need it. |
| even thinking, can energize your every morning, | | | | Breathing also has less calories than coffee, is free, |
| provide stress relief and get you ready to take on the | | | | and non-addictive! |
| world! | | | | Movement Prepares You for the Day |
| Thinking is Your Starting Point | | | | Moving requires your brain and muscle to work |
| Start your day off on the right foot by creating a | | | | together and your blood circulation to increase. Since |
| strong mental intention. Here's how it works: before | | | | our goal is to prepare and wake body and mind for |
| going to sleep at night, visualize the next morning. | | | | the day, I suggest you focus on the three biggest |
| Imagine yourself waking up feeling ready and alert, and | | | | bang-for-your-buck regions of shoulders, hips and feet. |
| put this feeling into a sentence you can silently repeat | | | | Here are two simple exercises to get you going! |
| to yourself. This is your intention. | | | | For the feet: 25% of your body's bones are located in |
| Creating an intention is a powerful and effective way | | | | the feet and ankles, the home of all our balance and |
| of addressing unconscious habits and transforming | | | | connection to the earth. So wake your feet up with |
| them into conscious and beneficial actions. In order to | | | | simple ankle circles in both directions, and by pointing |
| wake up ready to go, choose an intention that puts | | | | and flexing the feet to get circulation going through the |
| you right where you want to be each morning. For | | | | entire body. |
| example: | | | | Hips & Shoulders: Major nerves and circulation |
| - I launch into my day. | | | | pathways run through from your head and torso |
| - I wake up feeling supple and energized. | | | | through your shoulders and hips to your hands and |
| - I create a great day with my first conscious breath. | | | | feet. Opening the physical pathways brings in more |
| Plant this intention like a seed in your mind before going | | | | nourishment and wakes up your nervous system. A |
| to sleep, upon waking up, and during your breath and | | | | simple yoga exercise will reach both areas: lying on |
| movement sequences. Use it as a meditation to relieve | | | | your back, draw your left leg across your body to the |
| stress from your mind! | | | | right, while drawing the left shoulder down towards the |
| Breathing Gets You Going | | | | floor. Breathe deeply into the twist, and allow it to |
| Breath can equalize, calm, or stimulate the body | | | | deepen after several seconds. Release back to the |
| depending on how it is used. When inhalations and | | | | center, and repeat on the other side. You can do more |
| exhalations are the same length and effort, the body's | | | | yoga exercises at home with a yoga DVD targeted to |
| systems and emotions are equalized. Making your | | | | your specific needs. |
| exhales longer than your inhales calms the body and | | | | Waking up sluggish, tired and uncomfortable doesn't |
| reduces tension. And making your inhales more active | | | | have to be a life sentence, and with a few simple |
| stimulates the body and mind. | | | | practices you can start your day with a spring in your |
| Now that we know this, we can use a longer, fuller | | | | step! |