What do you do when you first wake up?

For a lot of us, the honest answer is that we reach for our phones before our feet even touch the floor. We scroll, we check statuses and likes, we take in other people's news and worries, and we unknowingly hand the tone of our whole day over to whatever happens to be waiting on the screen. It is such a small moment, those first few minutes of the day. And yet it holds the capacity to dramatically impact where and how the day goes from there.

Here is why it matters more than you might think.

Those early minutes after you wake are when your nervous system is deciding what kind of day it's going to be. And you have more say in that than you realize. When you begin with a little movement or a few minutes of stillness, you give your body a different set of instructions compared to when you wake and scroll, whether that's looking at social media or the Weather Network. Research on mindfulness has found that regular meditation lowers cortisol, the body's main stress hormone, and softens the physical stress response before the day's demands arrive.

Morning movement does something similar for the mind. In studies of adults, a morning bout of physical activity has been linked to sharper memory that day, and a feel good mood that lingers for hours after you have finished. And when you move, or simply step into the morning light at a consistent time each day, you help steady your body's internal clock, which supports deeper and more restful sleep at night.

None of this asks for an hour you don't have. It asks for a few minutes, practiced routinely. Which, as it happens, is exactly what we have been doing together all month long.

Inside the AUM@home Community this month, we've been meeting for a simple morning stretch and mindfulness practice three mornings a week for thirty minutes or less. Yes, I know, it's still on an electronic device, but my intention for putting these classes out there is to help you understand how easy it can be to get up and put yourself on the top of your list before anything else pulls your energy outward.

So tomorrow, before you reach for your phone, see what happens if you reach for your breath instead. And when you'd like a little guidance and some good company while you do, I'm right here either live, or through a recording. It sounds contradictory I know, but the same device that pulls your energy outward and downward can just as easily uplift and fill your cup. It all depends on what you choose to open first.

Big love,
xoM