Category: Blog

You blink your eyes open; the gravity of the evening of sleep still weighing heavily on your eyelids. Your muscles are feeling stiff so you take a big stretch and roll over to take a look at the alarm clock. Upon doing so, you realize you’ve overslept and are running late. You pop out of bed and run to the bathroom to shower and get ready for your day. Things quickly jump to feeling rushed, chaotic, and stressful. This wasn’t the way you wanted to start your day; this isn’t the energy you want to carry with you into the rest of the day, and the day follows suit. You spend your entire day feeling on edge, stressed, and like you’re constantly running from one place to the next. You imagine how differently this day could have looked if you were able to start with your morning gratitude practice. 

Now imagine waking up with ample time. Your eyes open, you roll over, and jump out of bed, not from a place of being rushed, but rather with the excitement for the day ahead. You head downstairs to the place where your yoga mat is already rolled out and waiting for you. You take a few moments to sit in stillness and meditation then you begin your yoga practice. After making your way out of Savasana, you reach for your journal and spend a few moments writing on the abundance of gratitude you have in your life right now. From there, you get ready for the day. You go about your day from a place of gratitude, positivity, and you feel more joyful. You’ve once again proven to yourself that your morning gratitude practice truly makes all the difference. 

That day is possible. You have the ability to choose how you begin your day. Sure, sometimes we will oversleep, we will have the mornings and the days that don’t go our way, that start things off on the wrong foot, but that’s not and doesn’t have to be every day. Even if you don’t have time every morning for journaling, movement, and meditation, you can choose one, two, or a few practices that bring those feelings of gratitude to the forefront of your day and this 30-minutes Gratitude Morning Slow Flow practice is one way to do so. 

Morning Gratitude Yoga Practice

Looking to add some morning journaling? Start by working through these prompts:

• This morning I’m grateful for (list out 3-5 things)
• Today I want to feel (write out your intention and the positive feelings you want to guide your day)

Now close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Feel the feelings of gratitude fill you up. Sit in the knowing that today will be a good day and that you have the power to make this day the way that you want it to be. Take three more deep breaths and then blink your eyes open and carry this positive and grateful feeling with you into the rest of your day.

We all know that feeling of stress; it’s like the world is weighing down on your shoulders. Things feel heavy, overwhelming, and it’s hard to know how to get yourself out of it or feel like it will ever actually get better. Because we’ve all been there, we know that pushing those feelings down and pretending they don’t exist doesn’t actually solve the problem; you have to sit with and work through the feelings and sensations. This process can look many different ways but I love to turn to journaling when stressed out as one of the ways I work to do this. 

Journaling in many ways can be seen as a form of yoga. Not yoga asana (the postures), but Svādhyāya, one of the NiYamas within the 8 limbs of yoga. Svādhyāya translates to “Self-Study” and journaling is a form of self-study. It provides an opportunity for us to get to know ourselves better, learn more about our stressors, triggers, and what actually helps us move through the things which are weighing us down and holding us back.

If you haven’t tried journaling before, I know it can seem intimidating at first. Maybe when you think of journaling, you imagine a pre-teen girl with her glitter journal and feather pen sitting in her room writing in her diary about the boy who she likes and doesn’t like her back. If that’s you, I get it. For many years, I often felt the same way. I wasn’t sure how journaling could help you, aside from just writing out your feelings. I didn’t know that journaling can actually help you tap into your subconscious. But now that I know better, now that I’ve been journaling for several years, and now that I have tried a variety of journaling techniques, I know that journaling is actually one powerful practice. 

When you’re in that state of being completed stressed out, if you find yourself feeling like you’d try anything at this point to make it better, then I want to encourage you to reach for your journal (or just any piece of paper and pen will do!) and stay open to this process of journaling when stressed out and just see how it can help open you up. 

Journaling when stressed out

In this video, I’m going to dive in a bit more into journaling for when you’re stressed out and I’ll give you one journal prompt to get you started. If you want more journal prompts for when you’re stressed out, you can grab them HERE.

Before you dive into your journaling, I highly encourage you to spend a few moments meditating. This isn’t required, but it is encouraged as this will help you ground your energy, connect deeper with yourself, and tap into that subconscious mind quicker. A great meditation to try before grabbing your journal would be my 9-minute Meditation for Centering. Do this meditation, then go through the journal prompts for when you’re stressed out, and call out those stressors so you can start working through them.

Have you tried journaling when you’re stressed out? 

When was the last time your day tried to run away from you? You know what I’m talking about, right? When you log in to work, school, or whatever your to-do list has to wait for you that day, and next thing you know several hours have passed and you’ve barely looked up from your task at hand. You may have been productive but the stress is already starting to weigh on you. You need a break, as hard as it may be to get away, you know you need a break. It is on those days that I want you to reach for this mid-day break meditation. 

I wrote this meditation amid a season of complete burnout and fatigue. Every single day, I was waking up, getting in my movement while I could, logging onto my email for my full-time job, and barely even stopping to refill my water for the first half of my day. I’d take a short break to take my dog for a walk and while that was good for me too, I knew it mostly only happening for him. The breaks I was taking were still for others and not for my own mental health and re-set. 

Meditation has always been one of those things that help me return to myself pretty quickly. When we’re in the thick of it (whatever IT may be in your world right now), there’s not a lot of extra time which is why I kept this meditation nice and short. You only need six minutes to reset your mind, body, soul, and energy with this mid-day break meditation. I think you’ll find that six minutes is the perfect amount to come back home to yourself and trust that you will actually return your task list with far greater focus than if you kept trying to push through.

Mid-Day Break Meditation

Do you have a few more minutes to reset your energy? Here are a few more things you can incorporate into your break before heading back to your to-do list or email inbox:

Get outside

If you have time for a walk, that’s always great but if you’re not able to get out for a walk, just step outside and take a few long, slow, deep breaths outside in the fresh air. Especially during seasons when we have our homes closed up while running the furnace or air conditioning, breathing in the fresh air can feel so invigorating.

Drink water

Personally, I often find myself refilling my coffee cup when I really need to focus on the task at hand and often forget that drinking water can actually be what we need. You won’t see me poo-pooing a good cup of coffee, but don’t forget to incorporate some water into your rotation and watch it nourish your beautiful brain.

Take a nap

I feel like workplaces need to start incorporating nap time into our workdays. If you’ve ever found yourself feeling so exhausted that you just can’t focus, it can be so amazing to take a quick nap to reset. I’ll set an alarm on my phone for 20 minutes, lay down, close my eyes, and even if I only sleep for a few minutes, it always helps me feel so much better and more focused when I get up.

Eat nourishing foods

Along the same lines as drinking water, if you’re eating foods that are fried, processed, and sugary, that’s not going to help you out in the long run. Opt for the salad with healthy fats and protein at lunch instead of the greasy burger and fries which will leave you feeling mentally and physically weighed down. 

Move your body

I’m not talking about an intense workout, I’m talking just a little gentle movement to release some of the stagnant, stressed-out energy. This can look like a short walk outside or taking a few minutes for yoga or stretching. There is a short, eight-minute office yoga break class on my YouTube channel that’s another great way to reset your day.  

What are some of your favorite ways to get in your mid-day break?

There’s a quote from Louise Hay that says, “How you start your day is how you live your day. How you live your day is how you live your life.” This morning intention yoga flow was created exactly with that idea in mind. We’re going to start our day with a yoga flow to set our intentions; to feel good mentally, physically, and emotionally; to carry those positive, empowered, and strong feelings into the rest of our days. 

This full-body vinyasa flow class is the perfect way to start your day the way that you want to feel. We will build some energy and heat within the body as we flow through this 30-minute class. You know that I’m all about moving mindfully and with intention, which we’ll definitely still be incorporating into this class. 

Setting the Intention

Now, before we get to the class, I want you to take some time to think about the intention you want to set for the day ahead. Your intention is like a seed that you’re planting in your garden. If you want that plant to grow, you have to start by planting the seed; then you have to nurture, care for, and water the seed. Our practice today is the act of nurturing the seed. We’re showing our bodies, minds, and souls, that we know we’re worthy and deserving of this time to care for ourselves so the seeds can grow and flourish.

Examples of Morning Intentions

So what can these intentions look like? I’m all about journaling as I believe it truly allows us to tap into our subconscious level, to know what we truly desire, what may be holding us back, and how to work through it all. If you have the time, spend some time journaling and connecting with yourself on a truly deep level. You may (or may not) be surprised by what comes up for you and how this helps you to determine the intention you want to set. Remember, your intention is to plant the seed for how you want to feel and what you want to cultivate in your life. 

I will take the small steps that get me closer to my goals.

I accept myself as enough.

I will make time for fun and play in my day.

I choose gratitude over fear.

I forgive those who have hurt me.

I welcome abundance into my life.

I am love.

I choose courage and kindness.

I will drink plenty of water.

I will make someone smile today.

Morning Intention Yoga Flow

What is the intention you’re setting for your yoga practice today? 

How can you carry this intention off your yoga mat and into the rest of your day, week, month, and life?