11 reasons to practice yoga in the morning.
Make yoga part of your morning for 11 days in a row and feel the difference it makes to your day. Here are 12 reasons why…
Our goals and good intentions like New Year resolutions are often based around becoming happier and healthier, more fulfilled and free of (negative) habits. When we let go of one habit though, there’s often a gaping hole left in its place, which is why things like quitting smoking, alcohol, sugar or anything else you’ve decided to move away from is so difficult; there’s nothing to take its place.
There’s often a reason we develop habits in the first place; they serve a purpose. Our habits can help relieve stress or provide some sort of entertainment, they sometimes make us feel good or subconsciously provide a sense of security. So habits aren’t unnecessary, they’re just not always helping us to be our very best selves…
Out with the old, in with the new
In order to let go of unhelpful habits, new ones have to be put in their place which provide similar benefits to the mind and body, which is where the practice of yoga comes in. As well as boosting mental clarity and relaxation, yoga also has the added benefits of increasing the release of endorphins (happy hormones) and making the body a more physically comfortable place to live in.
If you get into the habit of practicing yoga each morning for 11 days, there’s a chance you’ll continue (maybe even for the rest of the year?) and you’ll definitely thank yourself for it by the time the next New Year comes around.
1. Set your intentions
At the beginning of many yoga classes, we’re offered the chance to set an intention for the practice. This could be an intention to practice with kindness towards the body if its feeling tired, to practice focusing the mind into stillness, or an intention to step outside your comfort zone to develop self-trust and confidence. Whatever it may be, this intention has the ability to shape the rest of your day, and will give you a focus throughout the hours that follow. It’s basically like setting a New Year’s resolution every morning, although it may be a little easier to keep this one for 24 hours as opposed to 365 days….
2. Salute the sun
By being aware of the rhythms of the natural world and practicing as the sun rises, we tap into our own natural rhythms too.
Many of us are so caught up in the world of technology and work that we forget we too are a part of nature and this morning routine is a reminder of our more natural state.
3. Don't start stressed
We know how it feels to leap out of bed after hitting the snooze button one-too-many times and rushing around in the morning – our nervous system definitely knows how it feels all-too-well…. Giving yourself an extra hour or half an hour in the mornings to wake up and practice will allow your nervous system to begin the day in a far more relaxed state. Our levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) are already high in the mornings in order to give us the boost we need to wake up. If this level of cortisol is quickly increased with added stress however, we’ve set ourselves up for an equally stressful day. Making the practice of yoga a habit each morning allows the body to get into the habit of switching off the sympathetic ‘fight or flight’ stress response, and instead able to finally tap into the healing benefits of the parasympathetic nervous system – increasing the health of both body and mind immensely.
4. Get happy
As well as boosting your circulation and immune system, the mood boost received through a yoga practice is one of the most beneficial reasons to practice in the mornings. In a study conducted by the Yoga Biomedical Trust in London, 94% of participants with anxiety were significantly helped by practicing yoga regularly each morning, and 82% of those with insomnia reported valuable benefits too.
5. Me-time
Especially if you’re a parent, or your job entails managing or looking after others, it can be difficult to feel as though you’ve had any time to yourself. That extra amount of time in the morning is a way to show yourself not just that you care about yourself, but about others too. In order to give our energy out in the world, it’s essential we have enough within us in the first place. A morning yoga practice is a way to know you’ve done something for yourself that day – whether it was for five minutes or an hour.
6. Meditate for mental clarity
A morning yoga practice doesn’t have to be all about the postures; meditating is a yoga practice with unlimited benefits, and starting your day with even a few minutes can have profound effects in a short time. Becoming aware of our thoughts and observing them rather than getting caught up in them at the beginning of the day makes us more able to decide whether those thoughts are necessary or not, and from there we’re able to tap into this throughout the rest of the day more easily. The habit of watching thoughts instead of getting caught up in them is one of the most beneficial habits we can get into, and it’ll determine our actions instantly: a calm and grounded person makes different daily decisions to a stressed and anxious person!
7. Positive points
If you’re very new to meditation and the mind is a little too scary to observe at the moment, the practice of reciting affirmations silently or out-loud can be very powerful and healing. The word ‘affirmation’ is defined as ‘emotional support’, and also the act of affirming and making something stable. By reciting phrases such as ‘I am calm’, ‘I am peaceful’, ‘I am strong’, ‘I am powerful’ right at the beginning of the day, we give ourselves a sense of stability as words and thoughts like this instantly effect the body and mind. Our thoughts and words create chemical reactions in the body – a happy thought will encourage the body to create ‘happy’ chemicals, and a negative thought will encourage the body to believe it needs to create ‘negative’ chemicals. Get into the habit of reciting affirmations and your brain will literally ‘re-wire’ itself.
8. Boost brainpower
Focussing early in the morning may not be something we’re all accustomed to, but it’s significantly beneficial for heightening our productivity and alertness throughout the rest of the day. If you find it difficult to concentrate at work or school, spend some time practicing breath awareness and a few mildly challenging yoga postures, and your mind will have woken up in no time!
9. Become a morning person
If you’re not the type to jump out of bed to greet the new day, then this new habit could make you one…! A dedicated morning practice allows those of us who could quite easily sleep the day away to make the most of this time when it otherwise may have gone to waste. Just as it’s the yoga postures we enjoy the least that we really need to practice, it’s the disciplines we wouldn’t usually choose that could really serve us the most. Life is short and it’s a pretty precious thing, so rather than sleeping in and wasting the day, make a habit of getting up a little earlier to re-introduce yourself to the morning time.
10. Know yourself
A morning practice is the perfect way to measure whether your actions off the mat are having a positive or negative impact on your physical, mental and emotional health. If you feel ‘heavy’ during a morning practice, there’s a chance last night’s dinner wasn’t digested properly or you ate a little too late. If your body is tired and aching, it’s a message you’ve been pushing yourself too hard and need to take some time to restore, and if you notice your mind is focussed on one particular thought or worry during meditation, then you know it’s time to listen and take action. By practicing yoga postures daily, you’ll also notice yourself change as the strength and flexibility of both body and mind vastly improve.
11. Start now
A yoga practice has no pre-requisites; you do not have to be flexible, strong, skinny, vegan or any other stereotype attached to ‘yoga people’. All you have to do is be you and let the practice do the rest. A yoga practice is not about attaining the ability to perform impressive postures, not is it about being able to sit in meditation for hours and hours; it’s about finding out who you are beneath the bad habits that have built up over time, the chattering mind and the aching body. It’s about being your authentic self. As the saying goes “Start from where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can”.
Breathe here now to be here now
Breath awareness – i.e. focussing intently on each inhale and exhale and noticing the quality of the breath – is an instant way to bring us into the present moment. Movements within a yoga practice are almost always initiated by an inhale or exhale, so by moving with the breath, we move into the present moment. A shallow breath, held high up in the chest indicates stress and also activates the body’s stress response, whereas deeper ‘belly breathing’ where the abdomen is allowed to expand and relax with the breath, calms the nervous system and brings the body and mind into the present resulting in a far more relaxed state of being. If breath awareness can become a habit, we’ll eventually be able to use it instantly through the day to become more aware and alive.
If your day is mostly spent sitting at a desk or in a car, a morning yoga is just the medicine your body has been looking for. Postures like backbends are effective for ‘un-doing’ all the hunching and slouching we often unconsciously do throughout the day, and can help open the muscles surrounding the hips, which are a common area of tension due to long hours of sitting. By practicing in the morning, we also remind ourselves of what it’s like to stand with healthy posture, so you’ll begin to notice when you’re slouching more often and prevent back pain before it even occurs!
