Hopefully, with the mornings becoming warmer and lighter those 6am yoga classes don't feel so daunting right now; it's a great time of the year to put some sustainable morning rituals in place. We're very lucky at Wonder to have an amazing community full of interesting students... one such person is the gorogeus Emma, a naturopath at Claridge Naturopathics. Emma has been kind enough to give us some insights into how putting some extra time and effort into your morning is not only a great way to set up your day, but it also helps you to feel more energized. She outlines a series of small inclusions that are achievable and, over time, become habit forming.

Here are five simple steps to ensure you have an awesome start to your day.

Make a plan

Believe it or not, a successful morning routine often begins the night before with a plan. For example: book your yoga class, set your alarm, get your active wear out ready, or even prep something yummy for breakfast. Eliminate as many hurdles as possible by putting a little plan in place the night before to ensure a smooth morning routine.

Get up with the Sun

The days are getting longer and, with the sun rising earlier, now is the perfect time to improve your morning rituals. Don’t press snooze, but rather set your circadian rhythm up for the day and try rising with the sun. It may be difficult to begin with but—believe me—after a week or so your brain will quickly adjust (you may even be able to wake up naturally without an alarm). If you suffer with insomnia, setting your body clock to respond to cues of daylight and darkness often ensures that the right signals are received when the sun goes down too, making it easier to sleep at night.


Start the day with a glass of water, lemon juice in water or an herbal tea. Whilst sleeping at night you are literally fasting and the best way to break a fast is with hydration. If you exercise first thing, this is even more important. Swap out the coffee, as this is not hydrating at all (and is better as a reward later in the morning once you have eaten).

Eat Breakfast

This human ‘race’ is fast and it seems everyone is too busy for breakfast. Most people will consume a quick coffee to power up and by mid-morning are famished. This is such a naughty habit and really does set your stress hormones into overdrive. This can be detrimental to how you function daily, as well as to your overall long term health. Breakfast doesn’t mean getting up too much earlier; there are many quick and easy nutritious breakfast options. For example, bircher muesli or chia pudding are simple to prepare the night before. An egg literally takes only minutes to boil, so not having time shouldn’t be your excuse. If you are taking a multivitamin or supplements, most of these really do get absorbed much better with food. If you have children, they are learning by example so please don’t let them see you skipping breaky.

Exercise Your Body and Mind

One of the hardest things when beginning to incorporate exercise and relaxation into your daily routine is finding time. Sometimes if left to the end of the day it is easy to make an excuse, be too exhausted or simply run out of time. Making time for exercise, meditation or both, first thing in the morning, gets you ready physically and mentally for the day. Meditation could be as simple as taking some quiet breaths and focusing on an intention for the day. I personally have a fairly solid yoga routine most days which allows me to incorporate my exercise and meditation into my morning ritual in one fell swoop (and this mum loves multi-tasking when it comes to my daily checklist). Adding to that, having a membership keeps me accountable and forces me to fit exercise into my busy schedule. 


It’s as simple as that… just five easy steps! So go ahead, set your alarm just a smidge earlier tomorrow, and try adding one or some of my recommendations to your routine to start fulfilling a solid morning ritual. You truly will get more out of each and every day!

For further advice on naturopathics we can highly recommend getting in touch with Em at Claridges... natropathy and yoga are a great combination for reallly diving into wellness. Claridges is on West Fyans Street and you can make appointments by calling them on 03 52218220.