From Chaos to Calm: The Benefits of Yoga in Your Morning Routine.
9 Reasons Why Morning Yoga is Beneficial for You
We’ve always known that exercise is beneficial, but simply knowing this isn’t always enough to form a habit. While creating a habit can feel overwhelming, breaking one is often surprisingly easy.
The key to habit formation lies in commitment, planning, and motivation. It all begins with intention—digging deep to understand why you are pursuing this habit in the first place. This intention is complemented by the rewarding feeling you experience after your practice.
“Bookending” your day is one of my favourite ways to incorporate self-care into my routine. This method has supported me for the past two decades while working a 9-to-5 job, and it has formed the structure of the Big Love Online Yoga Schedule for the last four years.
Starting small and reconnecting to myself
About eight years ago, I started practising mindfulness daily because I needed something to focus my mind and help ease my anxiety. In our fast-paced modern lives, it’s all too easy to become distracted and disconnected from the present moment. Every morning, I would drag myself out of bed to sit on my yoga mat and breathe for five minutes. I focused on diaphragmatic breathing, using a breath count of 4:4 (inhaling through the nose for four counts, then exhaling through the nose or mouth for four counts) to help regulate my body before a hectic day at work.
After a couple of weeks, the “drag” of getting out of bed transformed into a more encouraging "roll" as my practice became familiar. Gradually, I lengthened my practice to include yoga and journaling, and the benefits became increasingly apparent.
How you get out of bed in the morning often sets the tone for your entire day.
If your morning starts in a rush, you’ll likely feel as though you’re playing catch-up the rest of the day. Taking just a few minutes in the morning for yourself can help regulate your nervous system, allowing you to carry the benefits with you throughout your day.
Equally important is how you end your day. The transition from work to home can often feel jarring and stressful, depending on your commute. “Bookending” the workday creates space for a pause and allows you to switch gears smoothly. Whether it’s hitting the gym after work or practising yoga with me online from home, perhaps listening to a podcast or reading a book, or even taking a stroll instead of scrolling through social media—these adjustments to your existing habits will provide crucial downtime for your senses.
In this blog, I want to highlight the benefits of morning movement, particularly yoga. Let’s explore the emotional and embodied benefits we can experience from a morning on the yoga mat…
The emotional and embodied benefits of a morning yoga practice:
There’s a sense of pride and accomplishment that we rarely stop to appreciate in our busy lives.
We start the day feeling balanced and “in-sync” with ourselves.
An amplified awareness of our unique needs emerges, and our minds feel focused and energised.
There’s a gratifying feeling from knowing you started your day with valuable time for yourself, ahead of navigating the demands of others.
Now, let’s delve deeper into the science behind these benefits, understanding why they make us feel a certain way…
“I love my Wednesday mornings although it seems early it helps me get the day started in style. The class is slightly faster-paced and challenges me, and I always feel so much better and more productive in my work throughout the day!”
9 reasons why morning yoga is beneficial for your well-being:
By understanding these benefits and incorporating morning yoga into your routine, you can significantly enhance your overall well-being!
1. Lower Cortisol Levels
Cortisol is an essential hormone released by the body, and while it helps improve mood, it can also contribute to stress. Our bodies are designed to cope with stress, but this ability often needs to be rediscovered. Yoga naturally lowers cortisol levels, which is especially helpful if you’re feeling stressed or anxious.
2. Increase Endorphin Levels
Endorphins are neurotransmitters released during exercise that block pain and enhance feelings of pleasure.
3. Enhance Dopamine Release
Dopamine is responsible for feelings of pleasure and regulates various bodily processes, including mood, attention, and learning. Yoga enhances dopamine release through mindful stretches and breathing techniques.
4. Develop Resilience to Stress
“Eustress,” the positive form of stress, can improve health, motivation, and emotional well-being. Yoga is particularly effective for alleviating anxiety and helping us manage everyday stressors.
5. Support Healthy Hormone Release and Nervous System Regulation
Yoga positively influences the nervous and endocrine systems, impacting the release of feel-good hormones and increasing awareness of our body’s needs.
6. Support Healthy Metabolic Function
Morning movement, especially activities that get your blood pumping, helps kick-start your metabolism and energises your day.
7. Increase energy levels
It’s almost impossible not to feel more energised after doing yoga in the morning. People who practise with me on Wednesday or Friday morning have said they feel more focused and have their “most productive days at work.”
8. Encourage a growth mindset
Yoga is a form of mindfulness and helps to cultivate self-awareness, interception and creative and aspirational thoughts. A regular yoga practice naturally leads to a more health-focused mindset which supports healthier choices in your life.
9. Elevate your mood
Those all-important, high-vibrating emotions of gratitude and joy set you up for a more productive and positive day.
“Absolutely loved it. Perfect start to the day and helped my body stretch and wake up.”
Body-mindful yoga is the style of movement I share. It’s a blend of somatic and restorative yoga and vinyasa flow. By moving through slow mindful movements you become more aware of how you feel as you move. Helping reconnect to your body, regulate your nervous system, and improve your sleep, emotional resilience, strength, confidence and flexibility.
Introducing our live-streamed morning yoga sessions…
Wednesdays “Ground + Go Flow” - 7 AM, GMT
A mindful mid-week boost for your nervous system. Blending mindfulness and breathwork with somatic yoga this playful session will energise you and elevate your mood. Except to feel strong, grounded and uplifted.
Fridays "Feel-Good Flow” - 7:30 AM, GMT
An uplifting + playful vinyasa-style flow to awaken your whole body. Vinyasa-style yoga strengthens and tones as you regulate your nervous system. Blended with grounding breathwork to shift your energy and focus your mind after a busy week.
Want to know best thing about joining our online studio from home?
You can simply roll out of bed and let yourself be naturally guided into wakefulness (and PJ’s are welcome!) — Perfect for the darker mornings to come.
All movements, breathwork and somatic practices are rooted in an awareness of mental and emotional health and blended with mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques. No class is ever the same although practices and poses will become more familiar with time. Join us from your living room, kitchen or the mat-shaped space by your bed! Newbies, beginners, and regular yogis are welcome.
Check out the full schedule here and book your first class for FREE with code NOVFLOW!
I hope to see you on the mat soon.
Big love,
Becki