Morning Routine for Spiritual, Physical, and Mental Wellness

Hello, dear souls!

Things have been a little quiet here on the Someday My Soul front as I’ve just finished teaching a month-long virtual music camp. I am so grateful for the experience – it grew me as a teacher, person, friend, communicator, and musician. It reminded me how much I care for and love the students I work with. It gave me a chance to show up daily in my authenticity and challenged me to stay present moment by moment, even when tiredness started to set in.

With that being said, I’m so excited to jump back into blogging full-force, both here and for Lunchbox (you can find my author page here!) It’s been my dream to expand this platform into a full-fledged spirituality and wellness community with numerous offerings since I started, and I have every intention of making that happen.

There are so many ideas and projects swirling around in my mind, and I’m so excited to breathe life into them in the coming months! I have plans to create meditation and journaling courses, will continue offering Reiki services (send me a message at the bottom of this post if you’re interested in a distance healing!), and am more committed than ever to producing content that uplifts and inspires!

Let’s jump in.

Today’s post was sparked by a few things:

1. The deep need we’re all feeling for a sense of normalcy and routine

2. The importance of self-care as we further our anti-racism work and empathically field the difficult state of the world

3. My morning routine, which spontaneously developed as a result of having to wake up at the same time every day for the past month, and the necessity of making sure I felt energized, vibrant, and productive throughout long mornings of teaching!

I’m excited to share with you a routine that has REALLY been working for me over the past month. It combines nutrition, spiritual grounding, mental health and physical wellness tips. A little bit of everything! As always, you are your own healer and guide. Take what resonates with you, and explore variations on the things that don’t!

With that… I give you my morning routine!

8:30: Wake up. I am NOT an early riser y’all – most mornings I hit snooze once or twice before finally getting myself up and moving! When any self-judgment about this creeps in, I remind myself that my body houses incredible natural wisdom, so when it asks for a little extra rest in those heavenly morning hours, it’s valid to indulge.

8:45: Skincare! I’m still tweaking my skincare protocol after about 10 years of battling acne. I’m learning as I go, but getting uber consistent about my skincare plan in the last month or so has become one of my favorite parts of this whole routine!

To determine how I treat my skin on a given day, I use Alisa Vitti’s Cycle Syncing method. Her approach to skincare uses the different hormone levels of each phase of the menstrual cycle as guideposts for how to eat, supplement and topically treat the skin. I personally love this holistic, glow-from-the-inside-out approach to skincare! (If you want a full-blown post about the Cycle Syncing method for optimal skin, let me know in the comments!)

Depending on what phase I’m in, I’ll either start with dry-brushing (great for lymphatic drainage) or a go straight to cleansing. I use a gentle cleanser (currently, Arbone’s Bio Hydria line), an oil-based serum (Live Like You Green It!), tone with rose water, and moisturize (Arbonne again!).

Then, I head downstairs and grab my jade roller from the freezer. A frozen jade roller not only feels amazing on my skin when I’m first waking up and still getting rid of some puffiness, but it’s great for circulation and keeps skin firm and supple!

9:00: Hot lemon water. The first thing I do when I’ve finished all of my skincare steps is heat up some filtered water and add a generous squeeze of lemon. According to Medical Medium protocol, hot lemon water first thing in the morning is excellent for deep hydration and liver stimulation. I give my body at least 10-15 minutes of straight lemon water before I consume anything else. This optimizes the liver’s ability to flush out toxins from the previous day and overnight.

In between hydrating sips of lemon water, I jump up and down for 1-2 minutes. This stimulates lymphatic drainage, and is excellent for bone density! Then, I do about 1 minute of breathwork. I’m a huge fan of the in-hold-out-hold breath for anxiety and focus, because it stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system. The technique consists of a huge inhale, holding at the top for 5-10 seconds, a long and complete exhale, and holding at the bottom for a few more seconds.

9:15: Big bowl of fresh fruit. After lemon water, jumping, and breathwork, it’s time for fruit! I borrowed this idea from a practice known as food combining. Food combining teaches that for optimal digestion, foods should be consumed in order from lightest to to heaviest throughout the day. Fruit is light, easily digestible and cleanses the digestive system so that everything that follows goes down more easily. And, it’s delicious!

My current favorite combo is sliced peaches, fresh raspberries, and organic applesauce all mixed together.

After prepping my fruit, I meditate for 3-5 minutes. If I have time, I’ll journal whatever came up in meditation or write down 5 things I’m grateful for.

9:30: Work! I’ve found that starting to work as close to my wake-up time as possible provides me with the best window of time for a productive flow! I’m most focused and least caught up in my anxious thoughts first thing in the morning. If you were wondering why I don’t partake in a more extensive spiritual practice early in the day, this is the answer!

On a typical day, my work consists mainly of writing. This can be blog post ideas, Lunchbox articles, or Instagram captions. If I have an article with a deadline, I’ll work on that first before moving on to other projects. I start by free-writing whatever comes through. Because of the clarity I tend to have in the mornings, I’m able to do this pretty non-judgmentally. Usually, I can crank out paragraphs at a time when I’m in this flowy state, and I surprise myself with how much I’m able to accomplish in a short amount of time!

This past month, my work consisted mainly of teaching, so instead of sitting down to write after meditation, I would look over my lesson plans for the day and hop on Zoom with my amazing team.

10:30: Go Macro bar & coffee. About an hour into working, I start to get pretty hungry. My recent breakfast of choice has been a Go Macro bar (holy WOWWW these are so freaking good!!! They're vegan, organic, clean, sustainably made… all the good stuff). I also like to indulge in a big cup of iced coffee for the joy of it!

While eating and sipping, I continue working for a while longer. As the morning clarity and bliss start to wear off a bit, I tend to transition to different tasks like responding to emails, scheduling Reiki healings or voice lessons, and posting anything that I want to put out on social media.

11:30/12: Move my body. After several hours of work and feeling satiated from my breakfast, I’m ready to get up and move a little. I use a combination of the Cycle Syncing method and my intuition to determine which form of movement will be best on any given day. Sometimes, it’s a low-impact workout like walking a lap around my apartment complex while catching up on a podcast or flowing through a quick Melissa Wood Health video. Other times, it’s high intensity interval training with my beloved SoulCycle instructors, Rachel and Allison!

Working out tends to shift my energy in such a beautiful way. I’ve consciously shifted my mindset from working out to achieve a number on a scale or a specific appearance to working out for the mental benefits and pure fun of it. I always feel like my perspective elevates and my worries have less power over me after I’ve shaken my body up a little!

From there, I’m ready to take on the day! This can mean diving into more work-related projects, going deeper into my spiritual practices like The Pathway with Lacy Phillips, or teaching voice and piano lessons.

I believe that the way move through our mornings sets the tone for the rest of the day. When we move with intention and consciously choose practices that make us feel energized, present, and grateful, we set ourselves up for success. We also deepen our connection to intuition by opting for practices that our bodies, minds, and hearts respond best to.

What works for me might be totally different from what works for you! I challenge you to try any variation on a morning routine based on what foods/beverages make you feel good, what type of movement (or rest) your body is asking you for, and what you hope to accomplish throughout the day.

Do you already have a morning routine?? Are you feeling inspired to implement one? Let me know!

Sending you all my love, xo.