The Morning Routine

The Morning Routine

It was 21 years ago when I pulled my back the last time. I was washing our new and very lively dog, when he yanked the leash with all his 70 pounds just as I was bending over, resulting in excruciating pain in my lower back and the inability to stand up. One quick yank on the cold muscles was enough to slow me down for a week and make me think over the reasons why it happened. As soon as I took the fault off the dog, I realized that I was too stiff. Especially for a 35-year-old! I was exercising regularly, even teaching T’ai Chi and QiGong at the time, yet I was still too tight at that moment. That’s when it dawned on me: even though I always stretched before exercising, those were mainly later in the morning or early evening. I never really stretched until just before them. That morning I didn’t have a class, thus I wasn’t stretched. From then on, stretching became my regular morning routine.
The routine had to be quick and effective. I didn’t want to spend the whole morning on it, just maybe 10 minutes. “Anyone can take 10 minutes of their day for a healthy habit,” I thought. Eventually, the exercises just lined up by themselves. I have drawn some of the routine from my T’ai Chi classes, some from old army days, and some even from my high school years. Eventually, I added a shortened Yoga move to make it complete.

The routine is quite natural, starting from the top of the head and working its way down, so it is easy to remember what comes next. This dynamic stretching exercise does several things at once: Every joint and vertebra gets moved with every muscle involved – warmed and stretched through rhythmical and gentle moves. The heart rate elevates slightly, the blood flow increases – even to the capillaries; the joints get lubricated; the digestive system gets a massage, the kidneys as well; and most of all, your energy is forced to move and circulate more, especially during the swinging exercise. Your posture and balance will also thank you for these.

I can’t guarantee that you will go injury-free for the rest of your days, but whatever surprises may come your way, your muscles, as well as your entire body, will be ready!

“Thank you so much for the session and for sending the link l.  I tried your morning routine and it’s fantastic. I absolutely love the way I feel after doing it. I’m definitely going to do it every morning too.”

Join me every morning for only 10 minutes and feel better for the day: HERE…