The Best Part of Waking Up: Morning Yoga

Have you been making it to the early classes on Awakened's schedule? If not, you might want to give them a try this week!

Reasons to Try Morning Yoga This Week

1. You'll feel amazing all day. Not just because yoga makes you feel amazing, but because the sense of accomplishment is a huge confidence boost that will last through your entire day. 
2. It's a lovely way to start the day. Rather than hitting the snooze three times, scarfing a bowl of cereal, and then grumbling as you sit in traffic, you can start your day slowly and peacefully. 
3. You don't have to stress about getting to class later in the day or worry about last-minute things interfering with your plans. It's easy to find excuses; we've all made plans to take a yoga class in the evening and then missed it because our day threw us a curveball. Going to the studio first thing means you don't have to worry about that. 
4. It's summer! The fact that the sun is coming up earlier these days makes it much easier to get yourself out of bed at 5:30 AM. 

Even if you know about all the great benefits of a morning class, it can still be hard to actually get there.

Ways to Get Yourself to Morning Yoga

• A morning session really starts the night before. Make sure to adjust your bedtime to account for getting up earlier than you usually do. 
• Even if you only plan to go to morning yoga once or twice a week, try getting up earlier a couple additional times each week. The more an early wake-up time becomes part of your routine, the easier it will be. (And it can take a few days or weeks to get into the morning habit, so don't give up!)
• Lay your clothes out the night before so you don't have to do very much in the morning. (I've also heard of morning exercisers who just sleep in their workout clothes so they can roll out of bed and go.)
• Don't hit the snooze; just get up and go. (If you want an alarm that eases you into waking, try the Sleep Cycle app.)
• Give yourself a little something to look forward to for after class. Something as small as getting an iced coffee from your favorite cafe on your way home can be really motivating. 

Awakened Yoga's Morning Schedule

Monday: Iyengar @ 6 AM
Wednesday: Iyengar @ 6 AM
Friday: Iyengar @ 6 AM
Saturday: Vinyasa @ 8:15 AM
Sunday: Vinyasa @ 8:30 AM

(PS I love Iyengar as a morning class -- the slower pace makes it a great option for the morning!)

Do you like morning yoga classes? Would you try a morning class a try this week? Let us know in the comments!

- Rachel

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net