Build your own healthy morning routine

It may be clichéd but it certainly is true when they say, ‘you win the morning you win the day…’ When you are living in a bustling city like London, this couldn’t be more fitting!

The beauty of setting up a morning routine and getting into a healthy pattern is that it does eventually become habitual. It will become an intrinsic part of your life that you will truly benefit from.

The biggest issue that I have faced when trying to build my own routine is that I tend to end up all over the place! I am a freelancer which means that I start my mornings when most people are still tucked up asleep! I can teach really early some days, travel around, attend various shoot, or I end up teaching late into the evening.

“Doing something is better than doing nothing…”

Carving out a daily routine to stick to became one of my biggest challenges. In truth, not having that habitual routine was exactly the reason that I realised I needed to set one up! With my day-to-day work and activities constantly chopping and changing, having some form of constant was needed to help ground me and I hope you’ll find it helpful to build this into your own life!

Knowing that you can shape your morning routine to be as little as two minutes or 20 minutes means that it is attainable for everyone. Infact that is the first point to note; work out exactly how much time you can actually spend on your routine each day and then you can hold yourself accountable.

Once you have established your routine remember that it is exactly that – your routine so don’t put yourself under pressure to perform. Doing something is better than doing nothing so work out what room of the house you want to set up your routine so that when you head there you will know that it will be part of the process. 

Dependant on the amount of time you have in the morning, here is a round-up of some of my favourite fab little elements that can really set you up to kick-start your day: 

• Take some deep breathes. I do this before I even sit up. I put one hand on my stomach, one hand on my heart and count five to ten to long breathes with my eyes closed. The power of breath is incredible. 
• Meditate. I know meditation is not for everyone and can seem like you’re just sat with a thousand things in your head, so perhaps looking at the scientific reasons for meditating may help.
• Stretch and move without letting your thoughts intrude. This doesn’t have to be classes such as Yoga – it can be anything form a few spinal stretches to waking up the hamstrings. Do whatever feels good for you and gets your circulation going.
• Drink warm water with lemon – not hot water just warm! Trust me, this is one of the best things you can do for your immune system in the morning.
• Coffee! I am a huge coffee fan, but I really do go by that saying hydrate before your caffeinate!
• Time block your day. Maybe this can be done the night before, but I think that setting up your day like this will give you control of your day and ensure that you get the most out of it. 

Even if all of these seem unattainable at first, perhaps pick three of them begin with. That way you already starting to switch up how you navigate your mornings.

My biggest take-away nugget of advice is to not check social media as soon as you wake up.

It completely overloads your senses in the morning and realigns your attention to immediately focus upon someone else’s life and not your own!

I would love to hear some of your golden tips and advice that you currently integrate into your morning routine! Let us know in the comments!