Five Ways to Release Stress Before Getting Out of Bed
Yesterday, after spending all day in the car, I had the privilege of waking up without an alarm.
It was lovely. The sun was providing a warm glow in my bedroom. The promise of an unstructured day after a stressful week of work felt luxurious. I let my mind wander into the possibilities of the day and brought my attention into my body, letting it unwind and release. I started to think about writing this blog and felt my mind flow with words and the warmth of connecting with others. I wondered what time it was.
And then I did a bad thing.
I reached over and tapped my phone to check the time. Immediately, I saw the notifications and emails and it was like the blanket being ripped off. My mind started gleefully running towards things I didn’t even care about, all because of that little tech miracle on my nightstand. I felt my creativity creeping away to hide behind a rock. And so, I did something seemingly so simple, but in reality, so hard.
I said “no thank you” to my phone
I don’t know why that is so hard, but it is. I decided that I’m going to start thinking of this as a mindfulness practice. Rather than imposing strict discipline practices that take energy (“No phones for an hour after you wake up!”) whenever I think of it, I’ll gently say “no thank you” to my phone and see what happens. So, today, I noticed the pull of emails and headlines, recognized the empty feeling of my creativity ebbing away, and set the phone aside for a bit. It felt good.
I released my arms
I’m a side sleeper, so often my arms curl into me during the night. And so, I allowed my arms to release out from my body. I let them be buoyant and float along with the natural movement of my breath
I breathed into my back
One of the things I love to do is feel movement in my back with the breath. Often, when we think of taking a deep breath, we fill our lungs in the front of our body and compress the back. I like to envision my lungs filling into my back, noticing the movement of my shoulder blades and ribcage, allowing my arms to come forward and out with each inhale.
I “walked” my pelvis
Sitting in the car all day compressed my sacrum. So, I took my pelvis for a little stroll while lying down. I moved it up and down, side to side, forward and backward - allowing flexibility and openness in my lower spine.
I allowed my inner smile
I won’t judge you if you want to grin like a Cheshire cat and stretch all your facial muscles nice and wide, but today, I just needed a little inner smile - a slight raising of the cheek bones, a light in the eyes, a softening of the throat and jaw. It was just what I needed to release out of bed and write to you this morning.
Cheers!
