The Season of Light: How the Morning Shapes the Day
Morning shapes the day
Photo of sunflowers in morning light by Aleksandr Eremin on Unsplash
There’s something incredibly grounded about aligning our internal rhythms with the literal peak of the sun's energy. As we approach the Summer Solstice, we witness the peak solar energy in the northern hemisphere at this time of the year: We enter what I love to call the Season of Light. This is a time when the morning sun makes its presence known early and vividly as the day begins, offering us a natural invitation to awaken with the dawn. In the warmth of summertime, our days are long and naturally filled with productivity, action, and getting things done. This is the natural energy of summer when the sunlight is definite and bright. It can be energizing to be aware of this much light. You can get so much work done! Yet, the secret to navigating this high-energy season gracefully lies in how we begin the day. As my teacher always says, how the day begins is how it ends. Beginnings are delicate. The morning is the literal and symbolic energy of beginnings, and you want this energy to carry you through the day and not burn out early and easily. I find that the high energy of summer can make me busy and burn me out sometimes. There is nothing wrong with being tired, but the Season of Light is a reminder that managing energy is about pacing and setting up the conditions for energy to flow throughout the day. Cultivating a morning routine is a way to manage energy. By cultivating a conscious morning routine, we create the time and space to contemplate the day ahead, shaping what we expect and what we want to experience and so creating the balance that keeps our energy levels going at a pace that can be maintained.
The Root of Daily Mindbody Practice
The conscious morning routine is basically a grounding routine. A grounding routine doesn't require a massive time commitment; it can unfold beautifully in just fifteen to twenty minutes, though some mornings you might find yourself stretching it to forty and fifty. I love a slow morning, but the important thing is simply to touch into the grounding energies first thing in the morning. The ultimate goal is not a strict time limit or making the routine especially long, but it’s more about the consistency of touching into that vital part of yourself that makes conscious decisions and imagines the future. Doing that consistently has a “gathering” or organizing effect on our personal energy, and this helps us meet the energies of the day. Modern guidance reminds us that what you expect is ultimately what you get, so it pays to spend the first moments of the day making it good.
There are four parts that make up the core of a morning ritual that can be done before having coffee and breakfast or diving into the news and the general pull of the phone:
1. Wake up as slowly and gradually as possible
2. Drink water
3. Move the body
4. Observe a little quiet time
You may already be doing this. If not, the Summer Solstice time is a great time to start.
Wake up Slowly, Gradually
This practice starts the very moment you wake up. Whenever possible, allow yourself to wake up gradually with the natural morning light. This means staying in bed for a few conscious minutes and embracing a gradual shift into full wakefulness. Before you even open your eyes, pause to notice that fleeting, sacred moment where you are awake but still suspended in stillness. Let your physical body awaken first, and then, in your mind's voice, offer a simple, neutral greeting: this is the day. This is basically making a decision to enter the day. A subtle and gradual shift into wakefulness supports the conscious step into the day that allows you to step into the day energetically and intentionally. Take just a few brief minutes before you rush into motion.
Hydrate: Drink Water
The next essential step is to hydrate. It is amazing how dehydrated we can become overnight, a reality that is compounded if you happen to be a mouth breather while you sleep (scientific research shows this is true — see the PubMed article here). If not breathing through the nose throughout the night, your mouth's natural moisture is lost through rapid evaporation, making that first glass of morning water a vital act of replenishment. I have found that drinking water in the morning improves mood and seems to clear my mind.
Move the Body
Once hydrated, it is time to introduce gentle movement to the mind and body. A wonderful way to start is with a small walk outside where you can touch the grass with your skin, or even just with your eyes. Personally, I love looking out the big window of the room where I have breakfast to take in the sight of the two lemon trees standing just outside. Following this visual and sensory grounding, spend two to five minutes physically moving your body. I highly recommend doing a very simple practice: I especially like body shaking to release stagnant energy and warm up the joints. I use a rebounder, but it is not needed. When I travel, I am away from the rebounder, so I just shake in a standing position (this is known as “Trembling Horse” as you stand with feet hip distance apart and a little bend to your knee, ankle and hip joints to engage leg muscles). You can shake your hands, tap your feet, tremble your whole body as if shivering a little bit for 2 to 5 minutes (see the blog post about shaking and trembling as an exercise here). A brief walk around the house combined with some gentle stretching works beautifully too. It doesn't have to be long or complex; it just needs to wake up your physical vessel and put you in touch with the soft animal of your body. I have sometimes thought of doing any kind of movement in the morning as kind of “installing” a sense of the physical body directly into awareness. When mind and body feel aligned and united, there is a sense of inner unity and being in the moment.
Finish with Quiet
Finally, and most importantly, in the last few minutes of your short grounding morning “routine,” settle into a brief moment of quiet. This is the time to sit still and be quiet, read an inspirational text, journal for five to ten minutes, or recite prayers either out loud or silently in your mind. Crucially, all of this grounding happens before coffee, breakfast, or checking your phone. Starting the day with directly checking notifications, reading emails or scrolling through news headlines can be a way of letting the noise and chaotic energy of the world in before you have even had your coffee and breakfast or a moment to yourself. Going straight to the phone can be jarring when news headlines and external demands seem to hijack your mind and your energy before you’ve even had a sip of coffee or remembered a dream. Instead, take the time to consciously check in with yourself and tune into “the still small voice” of guidance. A simple grounding morning routine is a ritual for creating an intentional sanctuary for your peace of mind and simply living your life your way. Such a morning ritual can protect your health, your mind, and your spirit.
Be Kind
The morning ritual sets a conscious tone before you move into the next thing. You may very well need to spring into fast action after doing your morning sequence. There have been days when I do abbreviated versions of my own routine. It is important to tweak and adjust it as you go. By dedicating this brief window to grounding and energetic centering in the morning, you establish a daily practice you can touch back upon as the hours roll on. Establishing your morning ritual may take a few tries to get it just right, so be kind. Treating everything like a race to the next thing is a habit that can get locked into your nervous system over many years. The morning rush is addictive, and the day’s headlines, news and outrage can exert a pull. Though changing a longtime habit can be awkward and strange, simply changing things up and trying new things can also be energizing. If, like me, you have ever started the day waking up late and feeling you are already behind on everything, then rushing around another day yet again, you may have already experienced a craving for days when things just calm down already. The invitation is to create those days for yourself on purpose and see what happens.
You can honor the morning light to take command of your day from the inside out. Just remember to be kind as you create the day anew each day.