Morning Meditation
Morning meditation is a healthy way to begin your day. It’s easy to jump out bed and steamroll into the frenzy of the day on autopilot. Morning meditation can improve focus right from the moment you wake up and help prime you to keep your stress levels in check as the day unfolds. Meditation can reduce amygdala reactivity – which is our fight or flight response. It takes us out of automatic reactions and gives us agency over our responses – and that’s powerful!
Morning meditation also improves our mood. It's an immediate mood booster that can set the tone for the day ahead.
Research has shown that meditation can increase focus and boost productivity. You might not notice this at the beginning of your practice or think that five minutes a day will have that big an impact. Over time however, the results of a daily meditation practice will be noticeable through all facets of your life.
It’s normal to feel sleepy in the morning, so meditations for this time of day should keep you alert, engaged and set a foundation for calm awareness.
Mindfulness meditation, gratitude or loving kindness meditations and walking meditations are all great morning options.
Mindfulness mediation can focus on awareness of your breath and the sensations in your body in the space that you are in. This can improve your attention and focus outside the meditation practice and decrease symptoms of anxiety and stress responses.
Gratitude or lovingkindness meditations boost feelings of happiness, allowing you to derive and direct positive energy. You draw on the feelings of those things that you are grateful for; you send love and kindness to those who need it – including yourself. Think about those feelings you have when you love or are loved…these meditations tap into that.
Walking meditation is exactly what it sounds like. It allows us to move our bodies and bring awareness to the amazing minutiae of this activity. Our body movements, the environment, the connection of our feet with the ground. And of course it’s a bonus for those who are challenged to sit in stillness and don’t want to tradeoff between meditation and exercise.
