While meditation is traditionally an unwinding ritual to help you sleep better, an energising routine might help to start your day right. It allows you to drop into a flow state, which helps you tackle tasks and adapt to change, while boosting creativity, happiness and attentiveness. It also gives the chance to wake up and prepare, giving you the space to focus before diving into your to-do list.
In fact, research shows that meditation actually shrinks the amygdala (which is the area of the brain that fires up the stress response), while thickening the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is involved in thinking and behavioural skills. Convinced? We spoke to four wellness experts about their favourite AM meditation or yoga routines to start their day off on the right foot.
If you have 2 minutes, practise inversions
According to Tara Menezes, a yoga expert, forward folds and inversions help to energise and wake up the body. “Some asanas are Adhomukhasana (downward facing dog), Sarvangasana (shoulder stand) and Sirsasana (head stand). When’re upside down, oxygen-rich blood flows to the brain. More blood means more oxygen, which betters brain function.
If you have 5 minutes, try the kechari mudra
Dr Shailendra Chaubey, medical director at Vedary, shares a quick yogic trick to follow every morning. “Sit comfortably. Feel your presence. Roll your tongue back, touch the tip to the upper palate. Gently close the eyes. Stay present for five minutes by focusing on the third eye or the area in the middle of the forehead and observing your breathwork, as you inhale and exhale.” How does this help? “Meditating in this pose, helps us concentrate all our energies on two main master glands—the pituitary and pineal glands, which further activates optimum functioning of the system from within,” he explains.
If you have 10 minutes, attempt dancing it out
“Shaking is a primal instinct in animals which happens to ward off excessive tension, stress or fear inside the body. Humans are super animals but they are conditioned to remain static, stoic or in their analytical heads all the time. Start the day by shaking your body,” states Sumisha Shankar, a meditative dance healer. “Find a spot of sunlight or face an open window where the morning sky can be seen. Tuck in the tail bone slightly, keep the knees softly bended, and keep hip width distance between the feet, shoulders relaxed, hands to your side hanging without tension. Very gradually start shaking. Open your arms and let the fingers shake—try to move them as if depicting a drizzle. This energises the tip of the nerve endings, strengthening neuromuscular coordination,” she says.
If you have 15 minutes, add in a guided meditation session to your routine
Start your day with 10-15 minutes of guided meditation session, suggests Dr Manoj Kutteri, wellness director at Atmantan. “Before you start, adjust your posture so that your back and neck are aligned. After observing couple of deep breaths, start visualising the body parts one by one with breathing and then relax those muscles. Scan the entire body part by part. After the body is relaxed then focus on the breathing,” he says. “Direct your inner focus at the tip of your nostrils, observe the coolness of the inhaled air and also the slight warm sensation of the air that you exhale,” he says. “Visualise that each exhalation takes away all negativities from your mind such as fear, anxiety, and guilt.”
The article was first published in Vogue
