A few weeks ago fellow Sisterhood writer Ann wrote a post about the benefits of waking up early. I use to love waking up early but now that I’ve given up my daily coffee fix, I’m finding it harder and harder to get up and out of bed. And the longer I stay in bed in the morning, the later into the night I end up staying awake. It was starting to become a real problem, but I didn’t recognize it until I read her post.
So I decided to make a change and now instead of my morning caffeine fix, I start every day with a yoga fix. When I go to bed each night I look forward to waking up and taking some time early in the morning, as the sun is rising and the birds are waking up, to focus on just me.
I’m no master yogi and by no means flexible so all of the poses I do are ones you are probably familiar with if you’ve done a beginner’s yoga class before. If not, all are easily Google-able (yes, I did just make up a word) and have instructable photos online!
I start with child’s pose. I love how it stretches my back and gives my brain the chance to shake off the sleepies. I’ll hold this pose for about 10 slow breaths, sometimes 15 if it’s an especially tough morning.
Next I move up into cat-cow pose or, as I call it in my mind, Halloween cat pose. This is another great move that stretches out your back while giving your mind some nice quiet time to get things running. I’ll arch my back for 4 breaths and then relax for 4 breaths. I usually just need 3 cycles of this and I’m ready to get into the swing of the things.
Now, time to start feeling like the bad-ass chick I am and get ready to kick this day’s tush. Nothing get’s me more motivated than the warrior poses. I’ll start with warrior one, stretching out my back and my arms. I always feel like Mulan during the training montage. If any Huns break in my back door, I feel sorry for them. I’ll move into warrior two and then if I’m feeling particularly awesome I’ll attempt warrior three, though it’s getting increasingly harder as my pregnancy progresses.
And that’s it! Going through these poses takes just about 10 minutes and does a better job at getting me ready for my day than my coffee ever did. Plus, rather than drinking calories (French Vanilla coffee creamer is a serious addiction of mine) I get to focus on my body, breathing, and the day ahead while stretching.