The first tip comes from Michelle, the Travel Bug yogi, who suggests a little concoction of green stuff. Spirulina, wheatgrass, red maca and chlorella – whacked in a jar and blended up with some coconut milk in the mornings to give yourself a bit of a wake-up zing! I’m willing to give this a go – since as far as I can see it, it will either be the greatest thing ever to give me a winter energy boost – or I will start photosynthesising. I’ll keep you posted.
Erika (trainer for Yummy Mummy’s) has mentioned that the only way to keep yourself motivated to get moving in the morning is to wear your gym clothes to bed the night before. Actually there is some logic in this. I know my mother usually keeps her gym clothes RIGHT next to her bed, so that there is as little fuss (and excuses) as possible in the morning. This also minimises the ‘skin-toair-contact’ problem I was talking about earlier. Possibly will not work out too well if you are planning a morning swim-session, because I am not sure how cosy it would be to sleep in a wetsuit. It’s definitely not very romantic, unless you’re into latex.
Jos of Yoga with Jos has recommended picking a really good wake up tune. I’m fully on board with this! I am a huge stickler for a good tune and sometimes hearing a specific song can turn my mood around almost instantly. I spend a lot of time making cool playlists for my yoga classes because I really think it affects the pace, tone and flow of a class so much. I used to have Florence and the Machine, Never let me go to wake me up to – which was the song I walked down the aisle to and it always gives me goosebumps. But since I upgraded my phone I took most of my music off and have ended up back with the iPhone Alarm symphony. I’ve just changed it over to Snow Patrol, Just say Yes (also part of our wedding music). I guess, the “YES” factor, just seems fitting. Will see how it goes!
Yogi Jessica is next and she recommended no snoozing. When I first read this comment I was like, “WAHA. SNOOZE BUTTON. STORY OF MY LIFE.” This is by far my biggest downfall in the duel against the darkness. My alarm goes off and sometimes I’ve hit snooze and shut my eyes before I’ve even realised that my alarm has gone off. Sometimes I will literally push snooze several times before actually even waking up. Husband is a alarm-goes-off-wake-up kinda person (don’t you just hate that kind of gogetter?!) and I just don’t get HOW he does it. I can’t say that this particular method is going to be very successful for me, but I’ll give it a go. Maybe.
Another great suggestion from Elspeth, is to sleep with the curtains open. So far this is working a tiny bit, but the mornings are getting that much darker (and colder) these days that soon if I wait for the sun to wake me up, I’ll be getting up at 11am (which, might I add, is totally fine by me). Husband is a naturally early riser – and I often ask him to put the bedside lights on so that at least it feels like it’s light and “wake-up time”. Perhaps I should also get him to play some tropical beach tunes.