Sunday, November 14, 2010

4 am Yoga Practice

Today was an amazingly beautiful fall day. It was crisp yet warm in the sun. I am a nature girl. i love being in nature, breathing in the fresh air and feeling the sun on my skin (for at least 30 minutes a day to get my D3 of course).

I've had a home yoga practice for a long time. Since having mason and owen i get up before they wake to practice and have my quiet time. some mornings i make my green juice first other mornings i do my yoga practice first. lately i've been almost jumping out of bed to get on the mat at 4am- yes 4am. some mornings i'll even wake automatically at 3:30 and i just get up and go right to the mat. I've even increased my morning practice time to 2 hours most mornings- it all depends on how late the boys sleep. I will do a morning practice even if i 'm going to a yoga class that day. My morning practice consists of breathing, sun salutations, vinyasa flow sequences and body rolling. if you have never tried body rolling with either balls or a foam roller you have got to experience it. it is essential for me to open up various parts of my body such as the pecs, psoas (a hip flexor muscle), piriformis (a hip muscles), IT-band, quads and more. I use it therapeutically with all my clients and patients. The combination of breathing, yoga, body rolling and mindfulness in the morning helps me to get my body and mind prepared for the day.
so when i hear those little feet pop out of bed or a little cry from owen i'm ready to be a mom and live my yoga throughout the day.

every morning i set intentions for the day. today it was to be present and breathe in everything i do and to go with the flow. i've had a very busy last two weeks between work, clients and workshops and i was looking forward to spending a day with my two boys just being present and going with the flow. when i set intentions in the morning i repeat these intentions throughout the day.


The day was perfect!!
i woke at 4 for my yoga practice
boys woke around 6ish
we relaxed, made smoothies and got ready for the day with classical music playing in the background (i'm a big believer in the healing of music so i suggest you experiment with how music makes you feel)
we went to the market to stock up on all our greens and produce and food for the week. i love shopping with the boys. mason is such a helper now. he opens the bags for me while i put all my greens in.
we stopped back at the house to unload, get a snack of apples and almond butter for the boys and blended cantaloupe for me.
we then played soccer and ran around in the back yard. sooooo much fun!!
owen took a nap and mason and i went to the park to play more. he found 2 little friends and they played liked they were best friends forever. i love this about kids. they make friends so easily and just have fun playing. i loved just watching them in action. i stood in the sun just taking in the rays.
next it was time to go home and make dinner. we ate, took baths and relaxed together as a family.
SOOO simple and perfect. it was the exact type of day that i needed.

i challenge everyone to experiment with doing a morning yoga practice and setting an intention for the day.

namate, kelly

1 comment:

Elle Bieling said...

Not too many people understand the power of body rolling to open you up and release pent-up emotions. I have been using it in this manner, in addition to Yoga, for many years now. It is good to see a fellow believer.
I, too, do my best when I rise early - mostly about 5 am, since I don't have kids - and do my body-mind exercises first! Sets the tone for the whole day.
Namaste, to you!