I’ve quite recently become a dreaded morning person.
I’ve never had huge issues with getting up in the morning but in the last few years the combination of living with a massively nocturnal Mr Smaggle and also living in Melbourne, a city that is very much of the night, I’ve found that early mornings have been few and far between for me.
In April I went on a yoga retreat to Bali and I can honestly say that the experience changed my life. One of the yogis that runs the retreat, Morgan, practices Ayurveda and she taught me this amazing morning cleansing ritual.
I’m a big believer in morning exercise but I’ll admit that before learning about morning cleansing, I’d usually stumble to boot camp, half asleep and wanting to punch my trainer. Spending 10 minutes at the beginning of the day, working through my cleansing ritual, totally sets my body up for the day and gives me the mental energy I need to make it through to the afternoon without main-lining coffee and Diet Coke. I know it sounds all kooky and weird but just hear me out. They’re game changers.
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1. Tongue Scraping
Tongue scraping is a little bit gross to begin with but after a while you get used to it. You use a flat, stainless steel implement that’s shaped into a U. Then you simply place the scraper as far back on your tongue as is comfortable and scrape the coating off, rinse and repeat 5 to 7 times, then brush your teeth. Tongue scraping improves your breath, gets rid of bacteria that formed overnight on your tongue, improves your ability to taste your food and gets rid of that dead rat taste that you get when you first wake up in the morning. I would’ve included a picture of the actual act but it’s a bit confronting so if you’re curious click here… but don’t say I didn’t warn you. I got my tongue scraper from Dr Tung’s.
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2. Neti Potting
Next up I do a quick neti pot nose cleanse. I get 1/2 a teaspoon of natural salt flakes and dissolve it in the neti pot with boiling water and then top it up with cool filtered water. This is super important. YOU MUST NOT USE TAP WATER IN A NETI POT. I did some research when I got back from my detox and apparently people have died from using tap water to neti pot with because tap water has different bacteria in it that can, in rare cases, cause fatal infections when you pour it in your nose… so don’t be doing any of that.
I have a Brita filter jug that I use but you can also use filtered bottled water. If my filter is running low I just use boiled jug water that I’ve allowed to cool. Once you’ve mixed up your neti pot, you basically lean forward, tilt your head to one side and pour the water through one nostril and out the other. Here’s a YouTube tutorial on how to do and it’s made by someone with way less shame than me. I LOVE to neti pot but I don’t really want an audience while I do it. I got my neti pot here and you probably won’t find them much cheaper in Australia.
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3. Dry Body Brushing
I get naked and give myself a good scrub in circular motions towards my heart. It’s so tingly and delicious, it just wakes up your whole body and makes you feel fizzy and alive. Here’s a guide to body brushing but it’s fairly self explanatory. Don’t do it where it hurts and go in circular motions towards your heart. Easy peasy. I use a Cactus Brush from The Body Shop but have a cruise around online because there are heaps of different types of brushes. I like the long handle on this one because it allows me to scratch my back like a boss.
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4. Meditating
To finish off my cleansing process, I do a 5 minutes head clearing meditation. It makes such a huge difference to my day to get my head in the game and truly be present for a few moments. One of my readers recommended Buddify 2 to me and I love it. It’s a great little app that has short meditations for different times when you need it. I just choose which one I need and dip in for a quick meditation before my morning workout.
I started by doing this ritual just on weekdays but I find that I rely on it now so I just naturally do it every day, including weekends. Coupled with a Berocca and some vegemite on toast, it also does WONDERS for a hangover, just quietly.