Having a morning routine & a bedtime routine has been really helpful for me.
Something I’ve discovered & incorporated into my morning routine during shelter-in-place, is breath work.
I do Wim Hof guided breathing (thank you Lauryn/TSC for suggesting this!), in the morning while I walk Mint—I like to be outdoors & moving while I do this. The guided breathing is 11 minutes, & has 3 rounds. It has a few 1-minute & 1.5 minute breath holds in it, so for those I do shorter breath holds since I’m walking, & I do more inhales & exhales.
Especially with a new habit, it’s rare I’ll do something every single day.
This has become like brushing my teeth—since the first day I did it (about 2 months ago) I’ve done it every morning & I think that’s because:
- It’s really effective—it makes me feel really good!
- It’s been easy for me to incorporate it into my morning routine. I’m already walking Minty in the morning, so I do it while I walk her. I coupled it with an existing habit, which helps!
I love starting my day this way. It’s been really healthy for me.
I was listening to Dr. Michael Gervais on TSC podcast & he was saying that when we take in a deep breath in the morning & do a long exhale we signal to our brain that we’re safe—& so we don’t need to feel anxious or on edge about finding all the areas for danger. “There’s no saber tooth or danger in this moment” he said. That makes a lot of sense to me & it’s been my experience with it.
If you’ve tried breath work before, leave a comment below & let us know how your experience has been with it. I’d love to hear!
Here’s what I did: I saved the link to the YouTube video in this reoccurring “HABITS” event I have on my phone as an all-day event (I shared a clip of it on IG, if you want to take a look), so I open that up when we step outside for our morning walk. I’m OBSESSED with it!
I hope you find this helpful. Let me know if you try it, how it works for you.
Chat soon!
<3,
Bita
[Obsessed with these pink running shoes! (& they’re on sale rn.)]
