Ideally we will rise with the sun as this is when our system wakes up as well with the first rays of the sun. So depending on where you are in the world find out when the sun is rising and follow your inner clock. For the last few weeks, we have been living in our new place and had neither any curtains or blinds. Things are still in boxes and this and that is still missing. However, as we are living on a higher floor, curtains or blinds are not necessary. And we learned to rise with the sunshine — and it was nice ! The body gently wakes you up when you are out of your deep dreaming phase and you wake up to the sun. After a while your body gets naturally used to it so that you are more wide awake a lot easier than waking up in a dark room. Since then we got blinds and we leave them still a bit up so that we can continue rising with the sunshine.
A Splash of Water
Awaken your senses and get the cold splash of water in your face. Wash your eyes, and get those eyes rolling — that is the only time I will say that ? Drink a warm glass of water (not hot). It will flush out the toxins and start the digestive system. Try to stay away from any stimulating substances such as breakfast tea or coffee. At this stage, the body produces its own “cortisol”. If you add now caffeine, the body will over-produce and the natural produced cortisol will lose its effectiveness so that your body starts to crave more and more. There is a time and place for coffee J And it is not before 9.30am !
Don’t forget that tongue
Tongue scraping! You heard me right J brush your teeth and also brush your tongue. On the tongue you will have left residue from your overnight sleep. Even if you brush your teeth and not your tongue, the fog left behind will change the taste of the food. So after you splashed the cold water into your phase, next your mouth hygiene. Give it a good scrape and you will start tasking the food in a different way. In Bali, we used a coconut leave and a new one was presented to us daily. You can buy a tongue scraper online or use your brush. No excuses not to do it ?
Do some swirling
Have a sip of coconut oil — instead of using the chemical filled mouth wash with peppermint flavour, get that coconut swirling around your mouth. A minimum of 2 minutes up to 5 minutes and then spit it out. Ideally avoid spitting it into the sink, as it will clog the pipes. Remember, even though we are saying coconut oil, the oil solidifies 24 degrees. It might be a different story when you are living in a tropical environment; however here in Northern Europe we can count the days above at 24 degrees using our two hands ? I always spit it in a tissue and then in the bin. Et voila !
The first drink of the day
In Ayurveda, to get your digestion going and giving your system a gentle wake-up call. Have a warm (not hot) cup of water and add a bit of lemon or ginger. That will clean out your system and will wake up your digestion.
Ditch the junk & go for proteins
Ideally you want to avoid any sugary drinks, sugar clogs your system. They slow down the metabolism and will have the opposite effect. It is too sticky! In addition it will cause inflammation and insulin resistance.
Make sure you get a rich and nutritional breakfast. Ideally rich in proteins such as mung bean pancakes which is a real treat and will keep you satisfied for hours, Bircher Muesli with nut butter (I love pumpkin butter) and fruits, porridge on colder days again as a bit of nut butter and berries.
It’s all about the balance
I am in two minds about this. I am steady believer of doing regularly exercise to help me relax, wind down, and listen to my body to understand how far to push me. Doing exercise for me is to focus, remove the stress that has build up during the day, wind down and do some good to my body after having sat down and moved from one seat to another (which probably cannot be considered exercise ? ) Some people applaud the whole HIIT movement. A cardio-vascular or a high-intensity exercise is up to you or doing Yoga or Pilates. This depends on you and your body and I would invite you to listen to your body what works and what doesn’t work for you. Again, with so many options, it is finding the balance and not overdoing it. Some prefer a high intensity work-out first thing in the morning; others prefer a gentle yoga or Pilates session to waken up the senses. I would recommend speaking with a trainer to get a good mix and also to listen to your heart. A little story: In Japan, there is an island called Okinawa. For years, researchers have observed the people and studied their daily habits. The reason for the fascination for those that live on the island is purely due to the fact that they all become way over 100 years old. Guess what — none of them is doing five laps around the island at 20km/h. What I am saying is — just because there is a new hip trend, doesn’t mean you need to hop on it. Do what feels right to you ! It is about looking and feeling healthy and not fitting into a sub-zero sized jeans.
Incidental exercises
What I do whenever I have a bit of time or while I do something cooking, talking on the phone to a friend I throw some squads into the mix, or while I brush my teeth I will do the chair exercise against the wall or do the jack jump J Don’t worry what you like as you are at home on your own so just go wild ?
Meditation
Last but not forgotten — meditation. I admit, here at Naya HQ, we haven’t achieved the enlightenment status yet and float on a cloud and feeling zen. We are busy bees to keep you guys informed, share with you all the content we are producing…so sometimes, even we run 100km/h and need to slow us down. So we have -brief — but daily meditations twice. And it only takes ten ! Like I said, we are not the ones that sit for hours in lotus position till be float away. We still appreciate when we dedicate time observe our thoughts and feelings to centre us and prepare for the day and wind down at the end of each day. It is our way of setting our intentions for the day, and thanking ourselves at the end for what we have achieved today. Meditation is not about sitting there for an hour. It is for you to allow yourself a break to relax and find yourself again during a day filled with external stimuli.
And that’s it ! 🙂 My morning ritual and some other habits that you can apply throughout the day…
Would be great to hear from you and what your daily rituals are ?
Xx
Sarah❤
Originally published at nayaglow.com.
Originally published at medium.com