Every New Year, my yoga classes become overcrowded with new members who have made new resolutions to lose weight and transform their lives- but less than 3 percent will actually make this reality sustainable. When the New Year’s buzz dissipates, the commitment to these resolutions will typically follow suit; and every year, I find that this cycle repeats itself over and over. Sound familiar? I have a solution. 
The most sustainable way I have found to create healthy habits is to turn your habits into rituals. Habits are just actions that we do over and over again until they are so engrained, we don’t even think about it anymore. Instead of thoughtlessly, repeating habits, create rituals that are more mindful and meaningful to the end goal you want to achieve.
You can then take your rituals and create a creed in which you live by. It’s the sum total of all the daily rituals we do that becomes who we are physically, mentally, financially and spiritually.
The single most powerful time of the day to honor my rituals is morning. Daybreak is a remarkably abundant time, ripe with consciousness, creativity insight and tranquility.
Here is how I tap into the magic of morning. It is a personalized version of powerful Ayurveda practices called Dinachariya, a word from the ancient Rig Veda text meaning, “all intelligence awakens with morning”.
Start with Gratitude – Immediately after waking, before you’ve left your bed, say a prayer of thank you. With gratitude in your heart, then form an intention, or sankalpa, related to your day.
Bed Yoga – Practice 3 very simple stretches of your choice without getting out of bed.
Drink Warm Water with Lemon – Prepare a warm glass of water and add a squirt of lemon.
Nauli-Kria – then personal waste removal…aka bowel movement.
Tongue-Scraping – Add tongue-scraping to your tooth-brushing routine. After brushing as usual, use a metal tongue scraper or the back of a spoon to remove toxins, bacteria, and other debris from the tongue. Scraping the tongue also stimulates the digestive system and can reduce bad breath.
Oil Massage (Abhyangha) – Massage Organic Coconut or Sesame oil for 10-20 minutes on your entire body no time just apply oil and shower, but avoid washing off the oil.
Asana, Pranayama and Meditation –How will you greet the rising sun? I include Sun Salutations.
Breakfast – Big, green smoothie, a Beaming protein bite and a cup of tea.
Walk in nature with my dog 🙂
I get up at 6am and my morning rituals take about 90 minutes. This ritual adds such a powerful, positive, upward spiraling energy to my life. It shapes the trajectory of my entire day. I can’t imagine not giving myself this morning gift.
To learn more about creating rituals that will guarantee your success in mastering the Big Three – How you eat, How you move and How you think, join me for A Day of Namaste. We’ll enjoy a single day Lifestyle Cleanse from Beaming, practice yoga, create mindfully and learn how to incorporate our creative sides into our daily routines- so we can craft the lives we want to live.
