Our hormones, our energy, your digestion. They rise and fall at predictable times. We have a rhythm. We have a sleep rhythm, we have a hormone rhythm, we have a menstrual cycle. Everything works in rhythms and cycles in our body. And so when you work with that rhythm, mornings stop feeling like a fight. It's not about doing more, It's just about doing things at the time. Your body is
actually designed for them. So our bodies thrive on routines and structure, and dysregulation causes disease in the body or disease in the body. I'm rather Wukiah and on my podcast A Really Good Cry, we embrace the messy and the beautiful, providing a space for raw, unfiltered conversations that celebrate vulnerability and allow you to tune in to learn, connect and find comfort together. Hey everyone, and welcome back
to this week's episode of A Really Good Cry. When we try to get really honest about our emotions, our health are healing, and all the habits that can change our lives, or at least we can try. You know, I really hope your day so far has been so wonderful and if it hasn't. I hope that this episode makes it a little bit better. I actually got a DM yesterday from someone asking me to do an episode on how to become a morning person. I have to admit I am one of those really annoying morning people.
I absolutely love my mornings. I'm that person who from the moment I open my eyes, I'm awake. I have gone from zero to one hundred in energy. There is no in between. I don't have the oh, let me just wake up, and no, I am like, eyes open, ready to roll into my day, and I'm very excited to do it. So yeah, I am one of those people that you probably really dislike if you're listening to this episode, because you're trying to become a morning person
and can't understand people like me. But you will because I am my best self in the morning. It is honestly my favorite time of day. And so when I read that message was created in my mind because I want everybody to feel how I feel in the morning. I want you all to have that incredible morning energy. I want you all to feel the brilliance of the
morning sun and the energy that comes with it. So it became my personal mission to help whoever struggles with being a morning person, even if it's just waking up a little bit earlier, not at the time I wake up, but just a little bit earlier, so that you get the joy that I have felt all these years for your mornings. And so what I thought i'd do is I'd share some of the things that I have done and that I now do that have helped me maintain
being a morning person. That really helped me to want to wake up in the morning and have that energy. And so I actually have to start off by showing up my mom here, shout out to my mama, because I got it from my mama. I really did. She is a huge part of why I am a morning person. And I can't say I appreciated it when I was younger. When I say she was a militant human. She was militant in discipline about our mornings. And she actually got that from her as she always speaks about how my
granddad would say you can't sleep. It will be in a different language in Gujhorati, but he would say you should not be sleeping once the sun is awake.
He did not.
Believe that you should be sleeping after the sun has risen. And the thing is, now that I've studied arada and understood nature and how these different things affect our body.
He was onto something, and so was my mom.
I did not appreciate it when I was younger, especially when I'd had a late night out and I'd hear her walking up the stairs to my room and I'd jump out of bed because I don't want her to know that I was still sleeping at like ten am. But I have to say it has definitely primed my body and my mind to help create this routine of early rising that I have come to truly deeply appreciate, and no amount of late night out or partying would ever ever be able to fulfill me the way that my mornings do.
So thanks Mama.
Always come to appreciate the things later in life that you absolutely despised when you were younger. So our body's actually designed to be mourning people if we're in sync with them. At night, our brain actually produces melotonin, which is the hormone that makes us feel sleepy, and in the morning melatonin naturally drops, and around thirty to forty five minutes after we wake up, our body gives us
what's called this cortisol awakening response. Now, cordo gets this bad reputation as the stress hormone, but in this context, it's actually a good thing. It is what makes us feel alert and already to roll into the day. So if we're consistent and regular with our sleep schedule, morning's actually become the time when our body is wired to
feel the most fresh, clear, and energized. I recommend that if you end up having a full night's sleep and you're still feeling tired in the morning, that could be a sign that there is something going on in the body. So whether it is a lack of deficiencies, it could be something as simple as that, or whether it's the quality or quantity of sleep you're getting. You might be getting the right amount, but are you getting as deep
sleep as you need to? And so you have to start thinking about your sleep hygiene in this too, because obviously I can tell you all these tips and tricks on how to be a morning person, but if fundamentally you're not getting the right amount of sleep, it can be really difficult to wake up feeling energized, and so really work on your sleep. I think sleep is one of the pillars of good health in every single science
and every single health system to exist. Sleep is a fundamental part of being able to have healthy immune system, to be able to wake up feeling energized, to be able to have motivation in the day, and so it's a really important area that we have to focus on to help get us better sleep. And just want to add that taking sleeping pills is not a way to do that. It can be a temporary solution, but even with things like melotonin, when you end up take you
actually don't get deep sleep. You get very surface level sleep. So that's why you can wake up in the morning after taking malatone in and you know you've slept through the night, but you still feel groggy in the morning.
I think it also suppresses this quartisole production in the body, which means that you don't get that zach in the morning to say hey is them to wake up and you feel fresh and clear and energize and stead you feel groggy and probably like you've drummed a lot because you're in that kind of in between phase most of the night. All that to say, try and sort your sleep schedule out. There are so many ways to do.
I've actually done an episode on sleep, and it might take a while if you've been irregular for a long period, but it is definitely possible. Our body loves a routine, it loves schedule, and it thrives off having a routine that is absolutely to the tea, like everything happening on time, and so it's just getting yourself back to that, you know,
Invading philosophy and in Arabada. So when I studied Arabada, I absolutely loved it because it started to make life make sense, like everything that I was doing in my day, everything I was it put into words, and it put into some sort of science. And in Vadic philosophy and in Aravada, it is said that this morning time is the most cleansing, most pure time of the day.
It's called Brhmamurath.
And I actually learned about it when I decided to go to the temple near me when I was living in the UK, when I first started getting into my spiritual practices. There is a beautiful prayer called Mangolaraiti that happens in Vedic temples, and I decided that for thirty days, I'm going to go and I'm going to do my meditation there In this time period.
It was starting at four thirty in the morning.
Anyway, that turned into a year of me doing it because I fell in love with meditating at that time of day. I don't do it like that anymore, but I learned about Brummamura then how purifying and how beautiful that time of day is through that process, And that's why monks wake up early in the morning to pray at that time because it is the most calming time
of day. It's usually about nineteen minutes before sunrise, and it says it's the most statific or mode of goodness time of day, meaning your mind is naturally more peaceful, more clear, more light and also creative.
During that time.
And it makes sense, right, there's less noise in the world, your nervous system is calmer, you haven't had many things that have come into your eyes or your ears or through your senses. You've had no time for anyone to annoy you, hopefully to irritate you, to basically break this new fresh opportunity that you have to see life in a different way. And so using this period, this time of when you first wake up to set the tone for the rest of your day.
What a blessing.
You get to be in control of that rather than waking up in a rush and going straight into your day where other people have time to affect it. So there's less heaviness and overstimulation during this time, which is why the yogis and the sages woke up during this time to meditate. Because the atmosphere around us supports this
deeper focus and connection. You also get the cooling energy and the calming energy from the moon that's still around before the sun rises, and the sun brings this go go go energy, and it fuels us to want to get up and do things, and so in Irarada also has this cycle, and it talks about the different energies that govern different times of the day. So this period
that we're talking about is the vatter time. It's the time where your body can wake up feel soothed, calm, but still feel very creative, and it's meant to be the best time for you to actually wake up. If you wake up after sunrise, sometimes you can end up feeling even grogier. Irada says that you're more likely to wake up in a kafa time. Kaffa is like this heavy, sluggish energy that is brought about when you wake up during this time period. That's why waking up later often
leaves you grogia. Now, when I share this episode on Instagram, I'll share the different times that are governed by these different modes, and it will be really interesting for you to see if you feel that way during the day depending on when you wake up. And so if you find that interesting, definitely go check out our Instagram page. I'll definitely share.
It on that Now.
I think one of the biggest mindset shifts is realizing that becoming a morning person is not about forcing yourself to be productive before sunrise. It's really about alignment. It's not about how much you can get done before sunrise. It's about aligning back to nature externally and our true nature internally. Actually, in our radio talks about how we are in we end up being out of alignment. As soon as our body is out of alignment with nature.
For example, you know when it's winter and the sun rises late, well, actually our body probably needs a little bit more sleep then, and so the sun rises a little bit later and the sun goes down earlier, which means we should be sleeping a little bit longer. Nature is telling us this. The animals do this, the animals going to hibernation during that time, whereas in summer the sun rises early, we have a little bit more energy.
The sun is giving to us so much. So as soon as we come out of alignment with nature is usually when we feel not at our best. And so every time you're confused about what your body should be doing, look out in nature and it will probably tell you that's what you should be doing. And you know, our bodies already have these natural rhythms, our hormones, our energy, your digestion. They rise and fall at predictable times. We have a rhythm, We have a sleep rhythm, we have
a hormone rhythm, we have a menstrual cycle. Everything works in rhythms and cycles in our body. And so when you work with that rhythm, mornings stop feeling like a fight. It's not about doing more, It's just about doing things at the time. Your body is actually designed for them. So our bodies thrive on routines and structure, and dysregulation causes disease in the body or disease in the body. And that's really what our REDA says. As soon as we come out of alignment or we become irregular. It
causes disease and disease in the body. So having anchors in the day that create regularity and routine is so important. Your body and your mind need to know and need to be trained to know what's coming when, so that it's not an anxiety of the unknown all the time. We are predictable people. We don't like things being a surprise. It's such an interesting thing because when I start become more discplined in my life, people saying, God, don't you
feel so restricted? Listen, people, that is the biggest myth from my experience. Having discipline in my life has created so much more freedom than I've ever had. Actually, I've been reading this book called Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday, and he says, discipline is not deprivation. It actually brings rewards and it's freedom because you are not being controlled
by your mind or your emotions or your senses. You are in control of what you do, and true greatness is being in control of yourself when everything else is out of control. That's what building a morning rhythm can do. It gives you calm ground to stand on. It allows you to build up your patience, your tolerance, whatever it is you are trying to build in the morning, whatever
it is you want for yourself. It gives you this time to be able to do that, so that when you go into this chaotic world, you have a little bubble around you that you've created to protect yourself from it. So let's talk about what's stopping you from having the best morning of your life. If you have a regular sleep wake cycle. We've spoken about this already, get it sorted. If your body never knows what to expect, how is it supposed to get into a routine that's not a cycle, is it?
No?
So here at ten things you can do to become the morning person.
You want to be.
Number One, Wake up every single day at the same time, despite what time you sleep, even if you go to bed later than usual. Try to wake up around the same time every single morning. That's how you train your body clock. If you are constantly irregular with the time you sleep and the time you wake up, you will never create a cycle, and so it will feel like punishment, But hopefully it will also make you go to bed
earlier and at the same time. By knowing that no matter what you are waking up at this time, regardless of what time you sleep, and so your body starts to create this clock and this cycle and learns when to release the right hormones to help you sleep, to help you wake up and give you energy. Honestly, the most successful people in the world keep their wake up
time within a thirty minute window, even on weekends. And to be honest, having done this for a really long time, I do not even need an alarm clock ninety percent of the year. Like my body will wake me up by five point thirty every single day, whether i want it to or not. Obviously, when I'm traveling that can change. When I'm on my period, maybe give or take half an hour if I'm not feeling well, But generally I can actually count on my body clock to wake me up.
I don't even need an alarm to wake me up because of how rhythmic my body has now become. Think of it like training a puppy. The more consistent you are, the quicker it will learn. And look, that might mean you have to make sleep your number one priority, which means you might have to leave places early or not watch that extra episode of I Don't Know Love Island. Look, discipline definitely takes sacrifice, but it's positive sacrifice. It doesn't have to be seen in a negative way. That's really
based on your own mindset. If you want to become a morning person and this is what it takes, then maybe sleep has to become your priority, and your late nights and going to parties, going to events and watching stuff may have to take a knock. But I think if you try to do this for three months even, you'll notice you won't even want to be staying up that late because your body will be so regular that it desires to be in bed by that time.
Next up.
No snooze button, Yeah, no second alarms, no third alarms, no fourth alarms, no snoozing. Every time you snooze, you get back into this fragmented sleep cycle, which leaves you groggier than if you just got up the first time.
I'm so sure you've had this sleep where you're not saying, Okay, I'm just going to sleep a little bit longer, And then you sleep a little bit longer and you wake up and you feel like absolute shit because your body's gone back into this awful sleep that you get into a deep sleep and then you have to wake up with your alarm, whereas if your body's already woken up, it's better to just jump out of bed and get
your day going. That little bit extra sleep is actually not going to make you feel how you think it will, and that's what you need to remind yourself. Unless you're getting a good two three hours more to fifteen minutes, twenty.
Minutes is not going to make a difference.
Now, if you're someone who really struggles to get yourself out of bed, you might want to keep your alarm or your phone across the room. It will force you to physically move to turn it off, and it will avoid you having new pressing snooze and maybe finding yourself back into bed.
It will force you to get up.
Even if you're going to crawl out of bed, at least you'll be out of it and then you can crawl yourself to the bathroom, brush your teeth, and get ready for the day. Now, this one may sound really crazy, but I'm telling you I've done it. I did it for years, and what a difference it made. I actually slept without curtains, I kept all my blinds up, and I really loved falling asleep under the moon, seeing the dark sky and then waking up to the sun rising
and it was such a so beautiful. Or you keep a little gap in if you don't want the full thing, keep a little gap to let sunlight in so that it can be less of a shock in the morning, but sat that you can see the sun coming in.
Through through your windows.
Or lastly, just open your curtains straight away, expose yourself to natural light as quickly as possible when you wake up. Light is actually one of the most powerful signals for your body. And when light hits your eyes in the morning, that's natural sunlight, not artificial lights in your room. It tells your brain to stop making melotonin that is your sleep hormone, and to start producing quartisole, which I mentioned earlier, which helps you to feel awake and refreshed.
In the morning.
And so if you sleep with your curtains open, the sunrise can actually wake you up. Actually becomes a really beautiful process. Or if that's not possible, open the curtains straight away, which is the next best thing. It's honestly like flipping your body's internal switch to on as soon as you wake up. When I was going through a period of struggling to wake up as early as I wanted to, instead of using a sound alarm, which are which would really annoy me.
I don't know how people wake up.
To do do do do? I? The thought of it would ruin my whole entire day. I cannot do it, and so I actually, instead of using a sound alarm, I end up using this thing called hatch, which I put next next to me, and it's in the shape of like a little moon, and it gives you like a thirty minute perod. You tell it when you want to wake up, and you can decide whether you want it to start gradually waking you up thirty minutes before,
fifteen minutes before whatever it is, but slowly. It's like the sunrise, and it plays really gentle music if you're on music. But I use just the sunlight part of it as the alarm, and it gradually shines like sun to help wake you up. And it was great. It really subtly woke me up, rather than it being a sudden sound that startles you out of your sleep. No one wants that an alarm feeling like you're being shouted at. Who wants to be a morning person if that's how they're welcomed into it.
No one so gently wake.
Yourself up with a lovely sound or some light that's coming in through your window, or if you get this light alarm, but definitely do not have aggressive alarm. You're not gonna want to wake up. If you have an aggressive alarm, next up, jump out of bed as soon as you wake up. No lazing about, no laying. It just keeps your mind in a sleepy, lazy state and you're more likely to nod off. And this one I did not realize how many people still nap during the day.
What No no naps. If you're truly exhausted, you can do a ten to fifteen minute power nap, it's fine, But.
Generally your body should not need to nap during the day.
If you're a grown adult and you don't have anything medically wrong with you, it is abnormal to need to nap during the day. So if that is an issue for you regularly, then I highly recommend getting that checked out. But generally avoid napping. And if you know you're going to nap in a specific place, like you know, sitting on the sofa in front of the TV, then don't put yourself there during the day. You do not want to steal time from your night's sleep. Protect your night
time sleep like it is sacred. And so usually if I even feel a little bit tired during the day, I just jump on the treadmill and I walk and it gives me energy. It gives me the focus that I need again, rather than taking a nap. Try to get out within thirty minutes of waking up, regardless of whether it's sunny, raining, whatever. Just connect back to nature.
Get outside even if it's cloudy. It's one of the best things you can do for your circadian rhythm is to let whatever natural light is there into your body, into your skin, into your bloodstream. Natural light, even on gloomy days, is one hundred times stronger than indoor light, and it helps to reset your body clock, boost your mood,
and helps you to sleep better that night. So get outside, even if it's for ten minutes while you're sipping on your morning tea, get outside and feel the sunshine on you. The secret you're waking up well is actually how you fall asleep, So make sure you've got a good sleep environment. Figure out what that looks like for you. What is your wind down routine that tells your body that it's
time to shift gears. Whether it's dimming the lights, drinking and calming tea, journaling, or even rubbing oil on your feet. That's one of my favorite ones. It just helps to soothe your body. It helps to soothe your whole nervous system just by rubbing a lit up of oil on the base of your feet. And your sleep environment matters too, it call is it dark?
Is it quiet?
I love sleeping in cooler of temperatures, so I always have my windows open or put my AC down to below seventy. But really important what your sleep hygiene is and your wind down routine. A big part of that is that spaces carry energy, so don't bring work or stimulating screens into that space, especially if you are struggling to sleep. You need to make sure that you separate your spaces as much as possible. And this next one I think is the most important. It's optimism and excitement
for life. For why you're waking up in the morning. I think that's so important, Like what is it that you're looking forward to? What is it that you're excited about? Being grateful for life, just waking up saying thank you so much that I'm alive. I'm going to use this day the best I possibly can. I'm going to do all the best things today to show that I'm grateful for this life that I have. I think that's so
important to like go to sleep. I have a prayer that I say I go to sleep and I'm like, oh, please let me wake up in the morning to do my meditation or to do all the things that I want to do to help serve the world in whichever way I want to whatever it is. Say prayer at night to set your intention for the morning, and then in the morning when you wake up, think about all the things that you are so grateful for that gives you this optimism and excitement for life, Because what are
you waking up for? That's what you need to figure out. What am I waking up for? It could be a small thing, it can be a big thing. It can be the delicious cup of coffee that you got waiting for you, or it can be a bigger purpose like God, I'm just so grateful for this body. I'm going to use it to my best ability to serve whoever I can and for it to be an instrument of God. And that can be such a beautiful way to start your morning. And look, that can also be fleeting, right,
Sometimes you don't have optimism. Sometimes we don't feel excited. Sometimes we wake up and we feel a little bit crappy, which is why the deeper layer to that is discipline, which is what we're trying to create. But you also need a motive to bring joy into the discipline, otherwise you're doing it mechanically without heart and this true desire to actually you do it. You need your reason to want to get up. Optimism and excitement for life makes
your morning so much easier. But because they can be fleeting, that's why these practices that we're building help to remind your body and mind why waking up matters, and so doing that prayer before that night before it primes your mind to remember and prepares your mind and your body that it is a good thing that I want to wake up in the morning, and I do want this for myself, and my morning is a gift that I'm
being given my grandma. Actually, when I went back to spend these last the last three months of her life with her, I have spent evenings, I've spent nights with her before, but I was sleeping with her every single night, and the most beautiful thing was at night she would pray and say rather sham, which is the way that she calls God. She says rather sham in Gauzuati, Please wake me up in the morning. Make sure I wake up in the morn for my prayers. That's what she
would say every single night. God, please wake me up for my prayers in the morning. That's what she was living for. She wanted to wake up, and she wanted to pray, and in the morning she would say, thank you so much God for waking me up. And I learned so much just from those two things. Too simple sentences, but just filled with gratitude and desperation to have the
morning that she wants in prayer. So, yeah, discipline will get you out of your bed, but purpose and this optimism for life is what's going to keep you out of bed. So ask yourself and try and really think deep, what is my true wife this morning? Without it, it will be too easy to drift back into your old habits, and so having this is really important. Another thing that can really help is having a consistent anchor habit, one thing that you do every single morning, No matter what,
and so you kind of schedule that in your mind. Right, It's like, you know that I have to wake up for this thing, whether it's cooking your breakfast or your lunch and prepping for it, whether it's journaling, whether it's breath work, whether it's writing your to do list. It's not about what the habit is. It's about the stability that it creates. And so having this anchor makes your morning a little bit more predictable and safe, even if it's just this one thing.
And then preparation.
One of the most underrated secrets to becoming a morning person is preparation. And I don't just mean laying out your clothes or setting your alarm. I mean preparing your mind, your body, and your environment. To think of preparation as giving yourself a head start. When you wake up with momentum already in your favor, mornings feel less like a mountain that you have to climb. It's basically like a
future self handoff. Every time you prepare the night before, whether that's setting out your workout clothes, soaking your o's, filling up your water bottle, you're kind of leaving your future self a gift.
That's how you should see it.
It's like it reduces the chances of you not getting up because your mind knows that you've already done prep work for it.
So then why would you not end up.
Waking up If I've already done all the preparation that's required for you to have a great morning. It's a way of saying, I've got you covered, and I'm investing in you, you now, future self. I know you're going to be able to wake up in the morning, and I'm telling you right now, I believe in you by doing this prep work. And another thing that can really
help is reducing your decision fatigue. Mornings can often feel hard, not because we're lazy, but because we wake up to fifty tiny decisions before we've even brushed our teeth, what to eat, what to do first. So preparation really removes those decisions, so you don't have to think about all the little things, but you can think about the intention and the mood with which that you want to have the morning, and so get rid of the micro decisions
by preparing beforehand. When you're preparing, that way, you're not leaving your mornings to chance. You're removing any friction possible, and you're setting your future self up to rise with ease instead of resistance. So the good thing about all of this is that you now know there is a formula. And if you've not been a morning person for your whole life, please do not expect this to work in
a couple of days or even a month. Sometimes regulating your body takes patience and a whole lot of dedication. So yeah, it might be as easy as you'd hoped, but please know that getting into a sleep schedule and becoming a morning person is so worth anything that you have to sacrifice or go through. It is a deep investment into your health and you will not regret it. I actually have a friend who really struggles with sleep but keeps giving up or giving into late nights out
on the weekend. And of course, if you've been unregulated your whole life, you really have to be prepared to be dedicated and commit to what it takes to get there. You most definitely can do it. It's just whether you are all in or not, and you're going to get out what you get into it. So the more you put into this, the more you will get out and the faster it will happen for you. So I really look forward to you all becoming morning people. We should start
a morning people movement. Let's do that morning people movement. I think I'm going to start that. Let's really I really hope that it's wonderful for you, and I'm sure the process to getting there might not be. But when you start getting the glimpses of feeling excited and happy about your mornings, I guarantee you all the effort that you put in will be forgotten and it will feel absolutely fabulous.
Sending your so much love.
I hope you have a wonderful week filled with lots of early mornings and.
Yeah, DM me message me.
I'd love to hear your experiences if you've tried this before, if it's failed, if you try this and it works, always nice to hear from you all. Take care and have a wonderful, wonderful week.