Start Your Day Strong!
Creating a Morning Practice is one of the most fundamental tools for living a fulfilling and empowered life. Here is a deep dive into some of my philosophies around creating a potent Morning Practice. This is an excerpt from my book State of Being.
“Your best life is on the other side of your excuses.”
- Jason Vorie
Why do a Morning Practice?
Is it really worth it?
Does it make much of a difference in the quality of your day?
My answer is an absolutely massive YES!
For me, the likelihood of having an awesome day increases exponentially if I have done a solid Morning Practice directly after waking up. If I choose to skip out on it, then I will likely feel “slightly off” for most of the day, and run the risk of feeling very unfulfilled by the time I go to sleep.
Why do I call it a “Practice?” One definition of a Practice is “the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method, as opposed to theories relating to it.”
And that is the whole point - to put the ideas into motion and explore them with your whole BodyMindSpirit system.
I have been consciously cultivating a Morning Practice since 2011, and I have learned and grown a tremendous amount through my dedication to tuning my personal energy right after waking up (even if it’s after sleeping in). My Morning Practice has evolved and gone through many phases over the years, though certain key elements are almost always present.
One of the key messages I want to communicate is : Even if you don’t have a morning practice… you have a morning practice.
What I mean by that is : Even if you don’t put intention into the beginning of your day, whatever activities you engage in are setting the tone for the rest of your day.
For example, If you go directly on to your phone, you are likely going to get sucked into a reactive mode, before anchoring and centering yourself.
But if you choose to breathe some fresh air, do some stretches, and cultivate gratitude first thing after waking up, then you are building a solid foundation to having a wonderful and empowered day.
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A Morning Practice is an intentional practice that helps you get your BodyMind System ready to take on the day!
I recommend including these 4 Key Components :
1. Nourishing yourself with high-quality water. I prefer Reverse Osmosis + remineralized with Trace Minerals.
2. Doing some deep breathing, ideally outside to invigorate your BodyMind System with fresh oxygen.
3. Cultivating empowering thoughts through Affirmations, Prayer, and/or listening to inspiring music or audio content.
4. Integrating some type of movement to activate and circulate Life-Force energy in your BodyMind System.
In addition to these 4 Key Components, I invite you to add whichever other practices feel in alignment. I explore more ideas in this chapter and throughout this book.
MEASURING THE QUALITY OF YOUR DAY
For the sake of simplicity, I categorize the quality of a day into 3 distinct categories :
AWESOME
MEDIOCRE
CRAPPY
My system for distinguishing between these categories is that an Awesome day consists of me giving my best effort to first align myself with my core values, and focus my energy towards service to others.
If I do a strong Morning Practice, then my chance of having an AWESOME day is approximately 90%.
If I do a half-hearted Morning Practice, then my chance of having an AWESOME day is 33%, my chance of having a MEDIOCRE day is 33%, and my chance of having a CRAPPY day is 33%.
If I don’t do a Morning Practice, then my chance of having a CRAPPY day is approximately 70%.
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A MORNING PRACTICE BEGINS THE NIGHT BEFORE
One key to remember is that the potency of your Morning Practice truly begins the night before. Here are a few keys that I recommend exploring for the 3 hours before bedtime, which will help you to STACK THE ODDS IN YOUR FAVOR :
Refrain from eating for at least 3 hours before going to bed. This allows your body to mostly digest your food before falling asleep. Refraining from food 3-4 hrs before bed makes a HUGE positive impact on my mental clarity the following day, since the state of your stomach is directly reflected in your mental state. I recommend drinking nourishing herbal teas during those last few hours, which can also help to diminish cravings for snacks in those late hours.
Grounding your feet to Mother Earth is a great way to discharge any excess EMF’s that your BodyMind System has picked up during the day. Grounding is a great way to calm down your whole system as you prepare for rest and relaxation.
A Shower or Bath is a phenomenal way to cleanse off the energy of the day, and get a clear mind as you shift into rest mode.
Cleaning up - Isn’t it wonderful to wake up to a clean and organized space?! It helps get the day started on the right foot, and helps keep your life streamlined and optimized.
Professional Chef’s call it “mise en place,” which means “putting in place,” where they set everything up in its proper location in the kitchen, so that cooking a meal is efficient, optimized and smooth.
You can do the same thing, by cleaning up your space the night before. For example if you plan to make a smoothie in the morning, make sure the Blender is clean and ready for use. Also make sure you have the right ingredients for the Smoothie. Taking these simple steps stacks the odds in your favor and increases your ability to smoothly flow through your Morning Practice.
Write down a list of activities (and how long for each of them) in your bare minimum Morning Practice. Then write a list of your ideal Morning Practice (and how long for each activity).
OTHER KEY ELEMENTS OF A MORNING PRACTICE
When you have prepared yourself and your space for a good night of rest, then you will be ready to get up and do an Awesome Morning Practice. Here are some important things to explore as you develop a practice that works well for you :
Consciously connecting with the 5 basic Elements : Earth, Air, Fire, Water + Space / Ether / Love
WATER - Be mindful of the first liquids and foods you put into your BodyMind System and how they affect your State of Being throughout the day. Personally I recommend drinking at least 24 oz of Spring Water or filtered and mineralized water. I suggest adding Concentrace Trace Mineral Drops.
EARTH - Your physical body represents the Earth element, so I recommend doing some conscious movement, and for a double whammy, you can connect to the Earth by going barefoot out in nature. Activate the muscles of your body! - through any or some combination of walking, yoga, self-massage, the “S” Modality, and Strength Training.
AIR - Oxygenate all the cells of your body! Taking Deep Breaths outside is a great way to elevate your mood and mindset. Get the blood flowing! Many people go straight to coffee or caffeine, but don’t realize that breathwork and exercise are a much healthier way to get the brain’s engines running. The word “Inspire” literally means to breathe in, and I find that getting fresh air leads to a more inspired outlook throughout the day. The reverse is also true, lack of fresh air and deep breaths leads to feeling more pessimistic.
Air also represents the Mental arena, so I encourage you to consciously cultivate empowering thoughts by repeating mantras, listening / singing uplifting music.
FIRE - Connect to your “Why”, your Passion, the Fire in your Heart, your Mission, your Vision. Get HYPEDDDD !
SPACE / ETHER / LOVE - Various cultures honor this 5th element in different ways. It is generally described as the space which connects all things together. I recommend tuning into the Space between all the physical objects around you, and contemplate the quantum field of no-thing-ness, which births all things into existence. Also I encourage you to tune into the love in your heart, by feeling 5 things you are grateful for / have love for.
BE FIERCE WITH YOUR BOUNDARIES IN THE MORNING
Minimize Distractions - If you check emails, messages, and Social Media before anchoring into your body, you are likely to get slightly or massively dysregulated, which is not a good way to begin your day. I highly recommend resisting the urge to go on your phone before doing at least 20 minutes of an intentional Morning Practice.
Wake up earlier if necessary, which means go to bed earlier, so you get enough rest.
If you are a recovering People Pleaser, like me, you will likely feel obligated to respond to real or imagined messages, but unless it is an emergency, everything will likely be just fine if you finish your Morning Practice first.
A MILLION METAPHORS
I absolutely love metaphors for describing different aspects of life. When it comes to a Morning Practice, there are so many metaphors that help me to describe the MASSIVE BENEFITS. You may think that listing all of these is a bit over the top, but my hope is that you will find one or two metaphors that really CLICK with you, and utilize them as motivation every time you are on the fence about whether or not to do your Practice.
I considered writing a whole book about the Morning Practice, which I probably could have done, but I decided to just distill down the key ideas, and add them into this big ol magical book you are currently holding :)
Here are 10 Metaphors, many of which intertwine together, and I will go into more detail on down below :
Sharpening Your Ax
Building Momentum
Cleaning the Windshield
Appeasing the Spirit of Uncomfortability
Filling Up Your Cup
Becoming The Hollow Bone
Tuning Your Instrument
Overcoming Resistance + Negative Thoughts
Putting Your Roots Down Deep
Self-Actualization
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1. Sharpening Your Ax - “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.” - Abraham Lincoln
A solid Morning Practice helps my entire BodyMind System to feel SHARP. It even seems to sharpen all 5 of my senses. Colors seem brighter, I can feel things on a deeper level, food and drinks are more satisfying, and sound seems to have more subtleties to it… I believe this is because during a good Morning Practice we draw in more Life-Force Energy, which gets all of our sense organs running at full capacity, so we feel FULLY ALIVE.
After my practice, I usually feel energized and ready to take on the day. I can think clearly, I feel confident, and I have a pep in my step. I want you to feel the same! So, do your Morning Practice :)
2. Building Momentum - In the same way a Space Shuttle requires an extra rocket to make it into space, an airplane requires a long runway to become airborne, and a pro skateboarder requires a huge ramp to do all those cool tricks, I believe that we require a good Morning Practice to build enough momentum for an awesome day!
An especially potent strategy for this is to go to bed early, then wake up before the sun even rises. Many Spiritual Traditions know the magic of the “Ambrosial Hours” - the 2 hours before the sun crosses the horizon. If you get up and do an intentional Morning Practice during this time, I am quite confident you will feel like you have an extra edge during your day.
Personally, Once I get into a good flow, I can usually maintain that momentum throughout the day, but if I start out with no momentum by scrolling social media, I will often feel sluggish throughout the day. And that is why I do my best to start the day with a strong Morning Practice.
3. Cleaning The Windshield - Sometimes we get accustomed to a certain level of dirt / dust, whether it’s on the windows of our home, countertops, or windshield. But when we finally decide to clean it, we often say “WOAH, I didn’t realize how dirty it was before!”
This metaphor applies to the Morning Practice. You may not realize how much brain fog, body tension, or low-energy you normally have, until you start practicing a vigorous Morning Practice, which fully oxygenates your cells, gets fresh blood and energy flow to your brain, and activates the true power and flexibility of your body!
The ancient proverb states “As within, So without.” This means that our inner state reflects our outer reality, in quite a MIRROR-ACULOUS way.
This metaphor is also similar to the concept of deleting old stuff from your hard drive, or simply closing down 14 of the 18 tabs you have open on your computer. Once you get rid of what is extraneous, you have more processing power to focus on your core mission.
Doing a Morning Practice is part of “Energetic Hygiene.” Through practices like exercise, yoga, meditation, Earthing, you can clear out the next layer of any stagnant energies in your Aura / Energy field. One practice I enjoy is stomping my feet while exercising, and shifting any stagnancy out of my energy field, by anchoring a new vibration in my BodyMind System.
Also, getting your heart rate and breaking a solid sweat allows you to burn away stagnant energy that is stuck in your energy field.
A way to measure your Morning Practice is : When you are finished, how CLEAR do you feel mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually?
4. Appeasing The Spirit of Uncomfortability - I half-jokingly tell people that if you don’t appease the Spirit of Uncomfortability in the beginning of the day, then it will sneak up on you all throughout the day.
But if you intentionally do some things that are uncomfortable, like some deep stretches and massage tense areas, exercise at least to the point of sweating, and use your will power to cultivate empowering thoughts - even if you don’t feel like it… then your day will flow with more ease, and you will mysteriously have less uncomfortable experiences. Try it out and see if my theory is correct.
Your life will also transform when you can reprogram your BodyMind System to embrace and even love challenging activities. I challenge you to :
> Embrace and Love the work.
> Embrace and Love REPETITION.
> Embrace and Love the burn of working your muscles to their full potential.
> Embrace and Love the discomfort of doing what is hard, because you know the empowerment on the other side will be worth it.
5. Filling Up Your Cup - Similar to the Clean Windshield metaphor, so many of us have become accustomed to feeling somewhat depleted all the time, that we rarely, if ever - feel the experience of having a full, or overflowing cup. To me, an overflowing cup feels like I am bursting with life, and have this strong desire to give and serve others. How do I achieve this state of a Full Cup? … you guessed it - a Morning Practice!
Filling Up Your Cup could also be explained as strengthening your Biofield. What is a Biofield? It is “a large field of energy that surrounds and extends out from the body about 8 feet. No part of the energy system is visible to the human eye but the biofield can be felt with the hands, often through either pressure or temperature changes.” - Counseling.org
(The realm of Biofield Therapies is a burgeoning field of healing modalities that are making profound breakthroughs for thousands of people. I highly recommend looking into Biofield Tuning and other types of Energy Healing which work with the subtle energy within the BodyMind System and Biofield).
Here is a little exercise to help you get more clear on what activities Fill Your Cup, and what Depletes you :
5 activities that Fill Up Your Cup (leave you feeling more energized, nourished and revitalized)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
5 activities that often Deplete You (leave you feeling tired, burnt out, or unreciprocated)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
By filling up your cup you are affirming : YOU ARE WORTHY. YOU MATTER… by investing in yourself you prove to yourself and others that you are here on Earth for an important mission, and you’re doing your best to fulfill it.
6. Becoming The Hollow Bamboo - In order for us to be clear vessels for divine energy to gracefully flow through, various traditions teach of becoming like a piece of “Hollow Bamboo.” This is the process of getting out of our own way, and also filling up our own cup, so you can be of service to our community. Some Elders say “You must create emptiness within yourself, so that you can be filled up with Spirit.”
So, in order to achieve the goal of being community centered for most of the day, I believe the key is to begin by being self-centered and filling up your own cup.
This metaphor also connects me to the Hawaiian word “Kuleana” meaning Sacred Responsibility. If you have the potential to be of greater service to your community, then it is your sacred responsibility and duty to do that.
Are you doing your best to be available and fit on all levels, so that you can optimally serve your community?
7. Tuning Your Instrument - So far, the Human Brain is the most complex instrument we have found throughout the Universe. It performs millions of functions per second, and also serves as the mechanism for the mystery of consciousness to unfold through us.
IT IS AN IMMENSE HONOR TO BE GIFTED WITH A BODY! THIS IS YOUR LITTLE CORNER OF THIS VAST UNIVERSE. YOU GOTTA TAKE CARE OF IT, LOVE IT, AND PUT IT TO GOOD USE!
Having a solid Morning Practice allows me to tune the instrument of my BodyMind System, so that I can do my best to play divine music through my thoughts, words and actions.
Also, the mind is a bit like a radio antennae. It receives energetic frequencies that are floating around in your environment. Thus we must be very diligent with what thoughts we let run through our minds, and intentionally activate empowering and helpful thoughts.
Each morning, you are choosing which radio station you are receiving, by tuning your personal vibration / State of Being to a certain frequency.
By anchoring into your body, you are clearing out the static of other extraneous thoughts / radio stations. This way you can clearly hear / feel your INTUITION, and you have a clear sense of which decisions feel like a “Yes” and which ones feel like a “No” in your BodyMind System.
If you are cut off from your intuition, then you can easily be controlled by outside forces, and manipulated into behaviors that do not resonate with your soul.
8. Overcoming Resistance + Negative Thoughts - Every day we will inevitably come up against some degree of Resistance towards accomplishing our goals. It can come in many forms. Internally it can show up as laziness, sluggishness, brain fog, and many other uncomfortable states of being. Externally it can show up as conflicts with other people, traffic jams, electronic malfunctions, or countless other obstacles.
In Physics, Resistance is defined as “the opposition that a substance offers to the flow of electric current.”
Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art has popularized the concept of facing off with Resistance, in regards to creative projects. He says the first steps towards overcoming it are : EXPECT IT TO COME, BE READY FOR IT, and then TAKE ACTION TO MOVE THROUGH IT.
Our BodyMind Systems are electric in nature, and getting your blood pumping in the morning is a great way to decrease opposition to the flow of life-force electricity. Doing a strong Morning Practice will better prepare you for facing off with Resistance, and it will be easier to overcome.
Here is one way to look at it : Resistance is like a dense cloud surrounding you. If you burn most of it away through exercise and other elements of your Morning Routine, then the cloud will not be hovering over you for the rest of the day.
After 13+ years of doing a consistent Morning Practice, it continually blows my mind how doing my practice seems to have the miraculous result of Addictions / Vices / Distractions having less power over me. I know many people who report the same phenomenon and I’m confident that a Morning Practice can also empower you to be stronger than the vices, addictions, and distractions that sometimes pull at you.
If I don’t do a Morning Practice at all, sometimes it feels like I’m moving through SLUDGE just to walk across the room or complete a simple task like making a salad. But after I complete a good Morning Practice, most activities flow with a sense of ease. I also feel stronger, and more empowered and grounded in my body. From this state of inner empowerment, I get the sense externally that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!
This is the MIRRORACULOUS nature of reality. When our inner world is harmonious, our outer world feels more harmonious to move through.
The Moral of the Story is DO YOUR MORNING PRACTICE!
When fear / resistance / challenges come up, we often make it harder than it needs to be. So please ask yourself, “What would this look like if it were easy?”
Here is a little breakdown of what I have gathered in my journey of overcoming challenging situations. When it comes to a task that my mind is not exactly excited about :
--- 80% of the uncomfortability is in the Anticipation / Mental projection of the future.
--- 10% of the uncomfortability is in the first 5% of doing the actual task.
--- The last 10% occurs in the actual performing of the task, and often transforms into enjoyment, or at least neutral acceptance :)
The Mental Advisor “Molehill Monica” often makes situations harder than they need to be. She blows things out of proportion like a pro.
Also, “Problem Perceiver Patrick” is always attempting to view a situation as a problem, rather than a fun opportunity for growth. You can call upon “Solutionary Sarah” to flip the script and find a solution :)
And there you have it, a few more helpful tools / Superpowers to add to your toolbelt.
9. Putting Your Roots Down Deep
By doing your Morning Practice, you are metaphorically and energetically putting your roots deep underground. Thus…
You are not swayed as much by the winds and storms of life.
You are not triggered by little things as much. You are calmer and less reactive.
You are anchoring into and acclimating to a new part of the Universe each day!
10. Self - Actualization - Doing a strong Morning Practice can massively shift your State of Being into a much more EMPOWERED state, so that you feel an enhanced sense of what is possible in your day, week or month ahead. You will also feel more CAPABLE of accomplishing your goals.
The opposite is also often true : Doing no Morning Practice or even a mediocre one - may leave you feeling incapable of doing what you want to do, and feeling like you are only living up to a tiny fraction of your FULL POTENTIAL.
IS IT USEFUL?
This is a Superpower Question right here! Teal Swan ( The Spiritual Catalyst ) articulates this concept very beautifully. The gist is that we must consistently ask ourselves if what we are doing / thinking / believing is actually useful. Here are two other ways to ask the same question:
1. Is this belief / thought / action constructive and/or serving my greatest good?
2. Is this belief / thought / action Beneficial or Detrimental?
It is important to be aware of those sneaky Societally Conditioned Mental Advisors such as “Scarcity Samantha.” Samantha may try to sneak in and convince you that it’s useful to rush eating lunch so you have more time to do other things. In truth, rushing your lunch will probably create more chaos in your mind and especially your tummy, which will make it more difficult to accomplish other tasks.
The “Mental Advisors” concept is one example of the many tools I share in this book. It is key to remember that tools are sometimes useful and sometimes unnecessary or inappropriate for a specific task or phase of life. Regularly asking the question “Is it useful?” can help you to gain clarity on the most efficient techniques for transformation.
For example, I used to say a 30-second protection prayer that I learned in Kundalini Yoga every single time I would start my car. Even if I stopped to get gas or use a rest stop, I would repeat the prayer again before I continued driving. The prayer made me feel good and connected to my higher guidance.
Eventually, there reached a point where I felt like I was just “going through the motions” when I would say the prayer. I realized that I had internalized my sense of protection and connection, and that it was no longer necessary to say the prayer every time I got in my car. Again, the key question to ask is “Is this belief / thought / action actually useful?”
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, having a strong Morning Practice which helps to align and activate your Body/Mind/Spirit will lead to a more focused, productive, and enjoyable day.
Long-term transformation requires that you build new daily habits, and the future will ALWAYS come one day at a time. So why not work to make the beginning of your day the best that it can possibly be?
——- Congratulations if you read all the way through that. This article / chapter is essentially a book all on its own, though I compressed the key insights into this compilation above. If you have any questions or would like 1-on-1 support in sticking to your Morning Practice, feel free to reach out on Social Media or email me : KevinMayCoaching@gmail.com
