warm up to wake up

It amazes me to think that as a child during the summer I would wake up, be driven to Elite Gymnastics in Waldorf, MD, an hour away from Columbia where I grew up, and proceed to bend, flex, arch and curl in extreme ways as part of the warm-up that bodies go through when training in gymnastics – and then spend another 6 hours practicing skills.

Or even that not that long ago I would wake up at 5:30 am and get my run on throughout the neighborhood, pounding the pavement in an effort to get my 5K under 20 minutes. Which I did, thank you very much. :).

Fast forward to the present where I now wake up, sit on the edge of my bed, and yawn and stretch and take deep breaths focusing on my day. Then I get up, visit the bathroom, visit the kitchen to start the hot water as I drink a big glass of lemon water, maybe yawn some more, clean up the dishes from last night in the sink, open the studio, eventually drink my tea, and then head back to the studio to lay on the roller or do some arch and curl on the Gyrotonic tower or footwork on the Reformer.

When I take time to be gentle to my body, listen to her and then move, I'm better to myself, I'm better to everyone else, and I'm truly ready to focus on my clients and the rest of my day. When I have a break I head for a walk or do a more full bodymind workout, but only after I've had a chance to wake up, inside and out. ​

​Don't get me wrong - I work hard. I still ride my bike all over town. I run up and down stairs. And I make myself feel the work on the Tower and the Reformer. But only when my body feels ready. Some days it never feels ready, and so I may just lay on the roller, or on my back and breathe. That's just as important as feeling the burn or the sweat.

In honor of this newfound calm, peace, and balance - and listen, it's a practice that I will continue to practice more successfully on some days than others - I created the Warm-Up-Wake-Up Workout, a gentle series of exercises that warms up the abbies, hips, our coordination and balance and gets the spinal fluid moving, working mostly in neutral spine – gentle enough to do when we wake up and calming enough to do before bed. Today, let's savor the subtleties of waking up with mindful movement.