5 Meditation Activities to Practice Mindfulness in the Morning
Does your morning routine feel rushed, stressful, or maybe even…non-existent? Then you could benefit from adding mindfulness activities to your daily morning habits and establish a plan to practice mindfulness in the morning.
Mindfulness is a useful tool to help quiet your mind, manage your stress, and learn to be present in a given moment.
Engaging in morning mindfulness exercises can go a long way in helping you achieve a healthy, rested mind that will leave you prepared to tackle your busy day ahead.
No morning routine yet? Click here for a self care morning routine.
This post is going to give you 5 meditation activities you can use to practice mindfulness in the morning.
Benefits you can see from practicing mindfulness in the morning:
- Build awareness
- Feel more present in a given moment
- Reduce stress
- Identify and address anxious thoughts
- Build inner peace
How to get started with creating a routine for mindfulness in the morning:
- Start small: Choose one or two of these exercises to incorporate into your morning routine and then work your way towards doing more.
- Build habits: Make mindfulness a habit and be as consistent as you can to see the great benefits that mindfulness can have on your life.
- Be forgiving: You may find that it’s hard to consistently add one of these exercises to your morning every day. Forgive yourself if you miss a day here and there.
- Be patient: Mindfulness can have great benefits in your life, but with any health change it takes time to see significant results. Be patient and don’t get discouraged if you aren’t feeling the full benefits when you first get started.
1. Meditation session
The simplest way to incorporate meditation activities into your mindfulness morning routine is to simply set aside a few minutes for a meditation session.
The morning can be a good time to meditate because you will be rested and won’t feel tired and tempted to fall asleep.
New to meditation? Here’s how to get started.
Find a quiet place where you won’t be distracted. This might be in your bedroom or maybe find a quiet place outside to get some fresh air.
Sit down (this can be on the floor, on a chair, etc.) and be sure your body is upright so that you can breathe easily.
Don’t sit up so straight that you’re uncomfortable. The goal here is to eliminate anything about your position that may distract you during the mindfulness practice.
Once you’re comfortable, set a timer for five minutes. Make sure your alarm is a calming sound that will gently alert you that the time is up.
Close your eyes or lower them to focus on a single point to avoid distraction.
Turn your focus towards your breathing. Breathe in and out slowly.
Pay attention to how it feels to breathe in, feeling the air move through your lungs. Then, focus on how it feels to exhale, the air releasing from your body.
Do this repeatedly until your timer goes off.
Want a guided meditation? Try using a guided meditation app.
Click here to read about five of the most popular guided meditation apps.
2. Mindfulness as you get ready
You can also practice mindfulness in the morning by incorporating mindfulness into a task that is already part of your morning routine, such as brushing your teeth or applying makeup.
To do this, totally focus on the task at hand and what you are doing.
Focus on the body movements, the taste, the touch, the sight, the smell, the sound, etc.
Using the brushing your teeth example, focus on the movement of your arm, the way the toothpaste tastes, and the feeling of the toothbrush in your hand and the bristles on your teeth.
Notice your reflection in the bathroom mirror, the smell of the toothpaste, and the sounds you hear, such as an electric toothbrush buzzing.
The best part of adding mindfulness into tasks that are already a part of your morning routine is that it doesn’t add any extra time to your day!
3. Mindful eating
Mindful eating is a technique in which you maintain in-the-moment awareness of the food and drink you are consuming. It’s also an easy way to add mindfulness in the morning.
You can easily accomplish this mindfulness exercise while you eat breakfast in the morning – so again, this doesn’t add any extra time to your morning!
To practice mindful eating, sit down to eat in a quiet room with little distraction. Remember too put away your phone or put it on silent.
Eat slowly and pay attention to how the food tastes, smells, and feels in your mouth. Chew your food well before swallowing.
Notice your emotions and feelings as you eat. Try not to judge whether or not the food is “good”, just pay attention to how it feels to eat it.
Listen to your body as you eat, and stop as soon as you begin to feel full.
For more details on mindful eating, read more here.
4. Mindful stretching
Stretching is both beneficial for your muscles and is a great opportunity to incorporate into a mindfulness morning routine.
Stretching in the morning is a great way to prepare your body for the day.
Pick a few different stretches to use for this mindfulness practice. These stretches can change each day based on how your body feels, or you can pick a few that you like to stick to every day.
For ideas, read this post on 7 stretches for lower back pain.
Hold each stretch for a couple of minutes, noticing how your body feels as you complete each movement.
If you’re using a prop like a yoga band or a yoga mat, notice how it feels against your skin. Feel how your hands feel against the floor, your body, or whatever else they touch as your stretch.
Observe how your breath changes as you transition into different stretches and as you hold each stretch.
5. Practice gratitude
Gratitude is a great mindfulness tool to reflect on your life and be intentional as you start your day.
List out three things you are grateful for each morning. These things might be small like your morning coffee, your dog, your family, etc. But be mindful and intentional with the items you choose.
Use the free Self Care Seeker daily planner to record what you are grateful for, as well as organize daily to-do list, manage self care, and more.
Fill out the form below to download your free daily planner now. As a bonus you will also get a monthly journal, weekly self care schedule, and a stress management checklist.
Those are the 5 meditation activities to incorporate mindfulness in the morning.
Adding mindfulness activities into your morning routine can be really beneficial to your health and wellness. And most of these exercises add little to no time to your morning.
Comment below and tell me what your daily mindfulness morning routine is.
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