Why Is Morning Movement Good For You?
Like many people, the idea of waking up early was not something I enjoyed…then add in waking up and moving my body in ANY way that did not including drinking coffee and shuffling my feet around until I could fully open my eyes…Count Me Out.
Recently I started to study Ayurveda (no, I am not about to convince you to do the same, buuut if you are interested let me know!) I attempted to change some habits and one of them was starting to wake up early. I set an alarm with great positive intention, I was full of ambition for getting up and getting going!
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5 snoozes later…
...
I rolled out of bed no earlier than before. Oops.
This article is not about helping you wake up earlier – so I’ll eave the story at this, eventually I made ONE change and got up earlier. Then another change, then another and eventually I had a morning routine that left me feeling awake, happy and energized even before my coffee.
What this article is ACTUALLY about, is the one change of adding morning movement to my daily routine.
I’ll layout my personal experiences and give some insight to other peoples experiences and study results that I found from multiple sources showcasing the benefits of Morning Movement.
Some of you know that I have chronic pain and some injuries that need constant love and care ( a fact of my life that I have learned to embrace and see as a positive.) I found that by doing gentle, slow, mindful movement allowed for ease and tension release right at the start of my day. In the past, I might feel great after first getting out of bed; not noticing my normal aches and pains until 45 minutes after being awake. It was almost as if my body would shut down when my mind would fully wake up. Not fair, right?!
So, I took my time and began to discover movement that helped me feel good. Always trying to move from a place of “not judgment” and “no expectations”, just rolling my head, my shoulders, my wrist, my ankles and really beginning to notice what was going on in my body. I started to realize that other parts of my body were also speaking to me, just not as loudly as the parts that seemed to be yelling at me. I started to notice more ease of movement in my workouts that I typically did later in the day. I felt tired earlier and found that going to bed early was something I enjoyed (I also sprinkle in some nighttime movement). My hips, my knees, my chest & neck, and my low back all seemed to truly the 15-30 minutes I spent noticing them.
I found that I had less anxiety throughout the day. Now, lets be clear, I have had anxiety my whole life and I did NOT wake up early one day, do 15 minutes of movement and my anxiety simply evaporated. No, that’s NOT what happened. Over the course of about 2 months, I began to notice that I was able to find my breath faster, calm my thoughts quicker, and eventually make solid decisions that I felt good about!
Ok, Enough about me…these are just a few things that I have liked and notice about this small change. Now, here is what I have found in my research of WHY Morning Movement Is GOOOOOD!
Reasons why Moving in the Morning is good for you!
· Increased Alertness (better than coffee for sure!)
· May improve focus and concentration – throughout the WHOLE DAY
· Natural Stress reliever... Yes please.
· Start your day with POSITIVITY
· Build a relationship with your body when no one else is awake – Less Distractions Just some quality you time
· Better sleep
· Help establish a routine – If you are looking to get a routine going and build consistency, start with just committing to ONE thing. Wake up early. Feel Good. Start Your Day.
· Movement can help Lower blood pressure
· Gentle movement is GOOD for your joints! Synovial Fluid!! Woop woop.
Don't know where to start? Check out my online classes or visit my YouTube for some inspiration!