How to build a sustainable morning practice

There's a way to create an impactful morning ritual that keeps you centered during the day without joining the 4AM club

As an ex-club member, let me tell you, I loved this club - that is until I realized my membership was preventing me from the growth I sought most and was costing me energy I didn’t have.

Over the years, I’ve tried many trendy wellness hacks, products, and routines. This means I’ve played with many versions of a morning routine in attempts to “get it right” or “master” the perfect combination of plunges, lunges, reading, and breathing that might keep me sane throughout the day.

For a while, this did have some utility. I thoroughly enjoyed the righteous energy of waking up before the world to accomplish more and to be with myself before serving others. It felt good to have workouts done before school because I know how impossible it can be to fit them in once the day unwinds. Plus, blending up wellness bevvies and sitting under red lights is simply delightful.

Having a repeatable sequence to move through each morning did give me some comfort, but it also made me anxious. I suffer in the sense that I love routine until I don’t.

But even still, I would find ways to diversify the morning routine to meet my desire for options and change. I’d wake up around 4 or 4:30 and start to move through meditating, reading, making tea, sitting under red lights, and practicing yoga or lifting weights. Then I’d face steam, cup, dry brush, brush my teeth, tongue scrape, shower, and work at home before going to campus.

Three hours in the morning to get myself together . . . I laugh now thinking about it - it was nice. But, with time I felt that this need to be productive and active every morning wasn’t serving me any more.

I started to notice that I had found safety in doing what I had always done - trying to make myself and my life perfect. Now, at a stage of my life where I am detaching from perfectionism, I’ve realized that I can do without the pressure to execute the perfect morning routine.

The defeat, shame, and frustration that came from feeling too tired or sad to move through the morning checklist wasn’t expanding the space I made for healing.

So, I left the club. I stopped setting the early alarms and started sleeping more. For a while and sometimes still, I wake up naturally around that same hour. But, now I ask my body if it would like more sleep or if it really wants to be awake. For me, most of my early morning restlessness is attached to adrenal function and trauma nightmares.

Now, I sleep until 7 or 7:30 (gasp, a prior me literally scolded my husband for being in bed at 7:15 some mornings) and leave time for meditation or music, hydrating, eating, putting my work things together.

If I feel like a morning workout, walk, or reading, I can still do those things. I’m just not forcing them to happen. It feels much better to me to check in with myself each morning and ask what I need or want to support me through the day.

AUDIT YOUR MORNING ROUTINE

• Is your current morning routine serving your healing and liberation?

• Are you pushing through burnout just to nail that morning routine and post it to socials?

• Do you prioritize hydrating and eating to fuel your body each morning?

If you’re curious about a new approach to your morning that still grounds you and gives you time to transition, use this template below to craft a new approach to your mornings.

Sample Morning Routine Might Look Like This:

1. 1-2 hours before responsibilities: Wake up slowly. Turn on low-fi or binaural beats to move through stretches in bed and/or to meditate. Hydrate.

2. Within an hour of waking: Eat a protein rich meal. (I never lift or workout anymore in the morning before eating.)

3. After fueling yourself: Ask your brain and heart which actions or practices might support you before you move into tasks and service. Take 1 to 60 minutes to act based on your needs/wants.

In my opinion, less is more. Because what we may need shifts so often, I’ve found this approach to be more helpful. Many self care and centering practices only take a few minutes. And, on the mornings that you have move time to indulge in longer practices, you’ll be free, grateful, and trusting of your ability to take care of yourself.

Don’t get me wrong, the 4AM club might be for you, and I know it is the only time many people (especially parents) feel like they have for themselves. If it works for you, awesome! But if you’re a recovering perfectionist who is surviving through any form of burnout and keep feeling like you need to put the pedal to metal in every aspect of your life, maybe consider handing in your club card too.

We’ll be excommunicado together in our new self care club.

(My husband made watch John Wick while we were sick, so you’re welcome for the references!)

5 Ways I Practiced Yoga Last Week

1. Dharana (focus): Because there is a lot going on, when I start when task I already feel stressed about the other things I could or should be doing. When I noticed this feeling this week, I used pranayama to help me focus on one thing at a time.

2. Tapas (discipline): Despite still feeling tired this week and my schedule being different, I met my goal of three lifts this week. This is my 17th week of meeting this goal!

3. Satya (truthfulness): There were several campus issues this week that required speaking a truth. I feel stronger in my ability to use my voice to kindly and calmly defend justice.

4. Pranayama (breath): As the to-do list feels heavy, I’ve used intentional breathing between tasks to remind myself that I can go slowly and it will all get done.

5. Asana (movement): Spring fever has my energy bouncing. I’ve added some playful transitions into instruction this week and moved in all directions.

5 Ways You Can Practice Yoga This Week

1. Dharana (focus): When your focus seems dim or lost, use a tool that helps you find your concentration. This might be using a fidget tool, finding drishti (focused gaze), working with the breath.

2. Tapas (discipline): Commit to a 3-5 minute morning practice this week.

3. Satya (truthfulness): Be honest with yourself - Are you dimming your light to fit in or please others? Journal about it.

4. Pranayama (breath): Practice one breath to one movement when you’re on your mat.

5. Asana (movement): Go for a walking meditation. Leave the headphones at home and listen to the sounds of nature and the world as you take a lap around the neighborhood.

Three breathwork based practiced are shared below for paid subscribers along with weekly affirmations and more content on yoga philosophy.