Waking up
I don't know about you, but I don't like my alarm much when it goes off in the morning. It's not its fault - I have the rather excellent piano intro from Moscow Art Trio's 'His 33 Years In the Village of Karacharovo' as my alarm sound, it always makes me smile. I hear that some people out there are full of vim and vigour first thing in the morning - I am just not one of them. Here is a practice that helps me to get things rolling in the space of time between the f@#king alarm going off and when I have to get up…
First thing, just lie there breathing for a little bit. It's early, sleep is hard work, it takes time to recover. Feel for any particular areas of tension where maybe the body was squished during the night, maybe you did too many (or not enough) pushups the day before, maybe you just slept funny (or maybe you stayed up too late because of unmentionable extra-curricular activities).

Remembering to continue breathing, start to move just a little bit, bring some ease and relaxation to any of those tight areas you just noticed. After a minute or two, you can move on to something that resembles stretching. You know that first big yawn of the day? That's there to give you some impetus to move, and breathe, and relax. Have a nice big yawn, get some air down into the parts of the lungs that are still asleep. Stretch out the arms, maybe wriggle the hips around a little to ease into the lower back, maybe roll the ankles around a bit… Keep breathing… 

Most of us like to rub the sleep out of the eyes and this is a good thing to do about now. In fact, the same idea applies to the rest of the body, too - particularly any areas that are still a bit tight or sore after the breathing and moving. Give the face and head some attention, remembering there is skin under where your hair is. it's particularly good to also play with the ears a bit - pinch them, rub them, pull on them, wiggle them around some… If you can reach, it's great to wake up the skin all over the body by doing the same all over - rub, tap, pinch or just touch in some way all of the skin you can get your hands on.

(Especially if you're not alone?)

Now that even the skin is awake, it's good to get ready to get up. Russian health practice teaches that the accumulated stress of years of 'cold starts' damages the body and this can be avoided if you take the time to wake up as described above before you get up. The last and possibly most important step is very simple, and very effective. I often ask my patients to use this practice when they get up after an acupuncture or bodywork treatment, because it helps with the adaptive stress of going back to the 'real world' after being nice and relaxed.

Breathe comfortably and naturally, then hold one of these normal, natural breaths and hold it for as long as you can -no gulping for extra air, no need to take a huge breath, no need even to look at a clock or anything like that. Just a normal breath, and keep hold of it. No need to even count - in fact, it's better not to try and 'break a record' or compete for time - just take one breath and keep it until you're actually done with it.

You may notice that you feel like you want to move, or pull in some extra air - or even, let some out. Or give up altogether - remember, character is revealed when no-one is watching. The 'uncomfortable' phase of this one held breath is the important part. The uncomfortable phase here is the part that changes the body and psyche the most, and the longer you can enjoy one held breath, the more positive change you get out of it.  If you feel a panicky or truly unpleasant sensation, or the world starts turning black from the bottom up, smile and move more slowly. Of all the ways to cheat here, the least bad is to let a little air out.  If you do manage to pass out, you'll start breathing again when you're unconscious - and you're already lying down…

When you need to, let go of that breath and take a few more to get back to easy, natural breaths. Then-

Get up. Remember to lead the movement with the breath. The breath should start slightly before the movement, and the movement should finish a little before the breath does.

Now you're awake…
And standing up… Go eat something and get ready for the day.

As always, don't hurt yourself -  if you have some kind of lung or heart trouble that means you shouldn't hold your breath - Don't. Remember to relax and smile…



Tim..