At the New Year I discovered a lovely blog called FIMBY, and this post that planted the seed for a morning routine (which I wrote about here).
A few weeks later, on a random Tuesday, I got up 30 minutes early, rolled out my yoga mat and began.
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I am cultivating a morning practice of yoga and meditation, which I do early before my people are up. It is a fragile little practice, irregular and still a bit awkward, but its full of potential.
It looks like this: I get up at about 5:00am, and I drink a glass of water. I crawl onto my yoga mat – in the dark – and curl into child’s pose. Breathing in and out, deeper and deeper, I bring my breath into my sleepy body and start to wake up. Focusing my attention on my stiff back and shoulders, I gently open them up with my breath, and begin to move.
I move my body with my breath and try to focus on just that. No work worries. No wardrobe selection. No anticipation that the whole thing could end in a moment with the cries of a little one who also tends to be an early riser.
After about 20 minutes (I’m not timing it, it just seems to naturally go that way), I reach for a string of beads that I made some months ago in a class on prayer beads. There is a “home” bead, and then four other larger “prayer” beads that are each separated by five small “breath” beads.
I work my way around the string, starting at the home bead, allowing my body and heart to settle in to the meditation. Then I take a slow deep breath for each breath bead, and I land on a prayer bead. The shapes and sizes of the beads help me know the way.
At each prayer bead I let my heart tell me who or what to pray for. Often the four beads are for each person in my family, ending with myself. I pray for their health, for their confidence, for their joy to last all of their lives. For myself I pray for courage, wisdom, focus. Some days my prayers are for friends or other acquaintances who I know need support. Sometimes it’s simply a list of gratitude.
When I have prayed my way back to my home bead. I take one last moment of stillness before putting them away and beginning my day.
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Establishing this ritual has a profound effect on the rest of my day. I am less quick to judge and more ready to see blessings – even in stressful situations. I find more patience with my boys and am more accepting of everything they are and what they do. I am a happier, less stressed person.
This practice is part of my effort to reset my default to joyful. And like I said, it is a fragile new habit that needs much care. Some days I choose to snooze through my alarm instead, or I wake to find myself in the bed of a little person, well past my morning quiet time.
But even on days that I don’t make it to my mat, I can ride on the benefits of the previous day’s meditation. I invite you to give it a try.
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BTW, much of this post is taken from my application for the 2012 Mama Makeover contest. My finalist interview is tomorrow night!
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