Does the term “morning self care routine” make you feel a little queasy? It’s one of those things that everyone talks about as a key to success but it can also be really hard to follow through. Instead of making things complicated, I designed a 10-minute morning self care routine.
A morning routine doesn’t need to be long or jam-packed with things. It’s all about setting an intention for your day with a bit more mindfulness.
This routine sets you up to do just a couple minutes of movement, checking in with yourself, and preparing for an epic day ahead. This is about taking care of yourself, first thing in the morning. It will set your energy for the rest of the day.
Set Your Mornings Up for Success
If you tend to run low on time in the morning, prep ahead the night before for any self care you may want to do in the morning. Even if it only saves you a few minutes, that might be precious time for you in the early hours of the day.
Ideas for prepping ahead:
- Place your journal and a pen ready in your favorite spot.
- Prep ahead whatever you need for your morning drink: pre-slice the lemon for your water, grind the coffee the night before, place out anything that will make things easier.
- Create a mental or written plan the night before for your morning stretch, meditation style, and/or affirmations.
Whatever you can do to make your self care seem easy and obvious, do that!
10-minute Morning Self Care Routine
While this takes me ten minutes, this may vary for you depending on what elements you choose to keep, eliminate, expand upon, etc. I find the biggest variant in timing is around making coffee – everyone has their own process.
This also works best when you can pull yourself up as soon as you start to wake up in the morning. Get going as soon as you feel awake.
Morning Stretch Routine
Take 1-2 minutes to stretch out your body in the morning. These can be done in bed and you don’t need to do anything purposeful here. If you simply stretch your hands over your head a few times, roll out your neck and shoulders, that’s great!
You don’t need to actually do specific things or yoga poses.
However, if you’re wanting to do some yoga moves, here are some of my favorites to do first thing in the morning:
- Cat and Cow Pose: From tabletop (hands and knees), make sure the shoulders are stacked above the hands and the hips are stacked on top of the knees. On the inhale, move into Cow Pose by arching the tailbone towards the ceiling, lifting the chest forward, and gazing upward with the head. On the exhale, move into Cat Pose by tucking the pelvis underneath, rounding through the spine by drawing the bellybutton upward, and roll the head downward. Repeat back and forth a few times.
- Puppy Pose: From table top (hands and knees), walk the hands towards the front of the mat while keeping your tailbone lifted towards the ceiling. Lower your chest and forehead to the floor, continuing to reach through the ceiling and arch your tailbone towards the sky.
- Extended Child’s Pose: From hands and knees, bring the big toes together and take the knees out as wide as the mat. Sit back onto the heels and walk the hands forward, bringing the forehead down onto the mat. Allow the belly to drop between the thighs and sink into the hips. Reach through the fingertips, but allow the shoulder blades to stay in place.
Morning Meditation Routine
I’m using the word “meditation” pretty loosely here. Rather than a formal meditation practice, I encourage just a 1-2 minutes of morning connection. Just allow yourself to pause and mindfully connect with yourself before the day begins.
Some ideas for quick connection:
- Focus on your breathing, just witness your inhale and exhale for a few rounds.
- Check in with how you’re feeling. Do a quick notice of how you’re feeling mentally, physically, and emotionally.
- Visualize an awesome day ahead. Quickly picture things going your way today.
Just a moment or two designed to tune in with a positive day ahead.
Morning Drink & Affirmations Routine
What do you drink every morning when you wake up? If I was less coffee obsessed, it would be a glass of lemon water… but I’m a coffee girl and happy to create my morning around my delicious habit.
For me, it takes a couple minutes to hand brew my coffee. You may take a couple moments to make your tea or fill your water glass.
This can be an active couple of minutes spent repeating your favorite affirmations out loud. Or give yourself a pep-talk about an awesome day ahead. If you can do this out loud – even better.
I also take this opportunity to take in superwomen pose for part of this process.
Once your drink is ready to go, I encourage you to mindfully enjoy your first few sips. This takes 10 seconds! Breathe in the scent and savor the first few sips with a sense of gratitude.
Morning Journal Routine
Journaling is my favorite thing I do every single morning and typically, I like to give at least 10-15 minutes to this process. However, I’m happy to spend only a minute or two when I’m in a hurry.
Even if you only write a couple sentences – that’s perfect! It started to create a habit.
I enjoy doing one or two super simple prompts when I’m in a hurry:
- What’s my intention today?
- What are three things I’m grateful for?
- What was the highlight of yesterday?
- What’s something I need to get off my chest this morning?
Keep it simple and easy!
My 10-Minute Morning Self Care Routine
I filmed myself running through this routine and posted it to my IGTV:
To try this at home, maybe start with the two things that excite you the most. Get yourself set up and ready to enjoy the self care routine with an easy plan the night before.
I’d love to know in the comments – what’s one thing you’re going to add to your morning self care routine?
Wishing you the best of luck!
