I woke up before 4:30 this morning. It was so quiet in the house. Strangely it seemed easier for me to wake up at this hour than it has been to wake up at 4:50 the last two mornings. I slept right through my alarm on the previous mornings and didn’t get up until Carlos woke up around 6.

I went downstairs and completed day 8 of the meditation challenge. I’m enjoying this so much. I’ve never really been able to meditate without some kind of guidance. These are short meditations which is what I need right now. Maybe someday my meditation practice will grow into longer sessions without the need for a guide, but I needed to start with something more structured.

After meditating for about 10 minutes I did a short yoga class focused on the abdomen. It was challenging. I’ve been doing a 30 day yoga challenge also on Doyouyoga.com. Erin Motz is the instructor. I enjoy her method of teaching. I like the short classes that help me to focus on few poses. Again it’s just enough to keep yoga practice in my life without overwhelming me into trying to take on too much at a time when a new schedule, new routine and other life events wouldn’t be able to sustain the change.

This morning was very productive. I chopped vegetables in preparation for my favorite vegetarian chili I’ll be making later today. I have two of my favorite friends coming over for dinner tonight. (I’m not just saying this because they read the blog!) I’m really looking forward to a relaxing evening when we can finally catch up. I truly miss time with friends, but it’s often challenging to schedule get togethers because we all have different schedules and obligations.

One thing that I’ve been doing every morning for the last month is oil pulling. I haven’t talked about it here yet because I wasn’t sure how I really felt about it. It seems kind of new age, kooky and a little disgusting. I have been reading about it for a couple of years, but I just wasn’t ready to try it. I finally read enough about it to give it a try. I won’t tell you that miracles have happened as a result. I’m a pretty healthy person (knocking on wood), but my mouth certainly feels cleaner though that could also be in part to the fact that I follow up the oil pulling by brushing my teeth with baking soda. In a nutshell the idea is that the oil serves to clean out the harmful bacteria that forms in our mouth and reduce any fungal growth. There is also the idea that cleansing the mouth properly has detoxifying properties on the entire body. This could be a post on its own.

I have been using a teaspoon of coconut oil and I swish it in my mouth for about 20 minutes. Sometimes I do it while I meditate and do yoga, but today since I had so much extra time I did it after and I enjoyed that a lot more. When I’m done oil pulling I brush my teeth with baking soda as I mentioned and then I put a little baking soda in my palm with some water and I gently scrub my face. I’m telling you it is such a refreshing feeling. While I’m doing that I heat up water.

I try to sit down for 10-20 minutes in the morning to write while I sip on lemon water. I have always had a tendency to eat breakfast soon after waking. I’m a sweet breakfast person rather than savory, but I find this sets my sweet tooth on high alert for the rest of the day. By beginning my digestion slowly with lemon water I feel more in control of my eating.

This morning was great because I folded laundry before settling down to write. I got upstairs around 5:45 before Carlos woke up. I got back in bed to write. Soon I heard my favorite morning sound…two little feet landing on the ground in the next room. Carlos’ feet don’t pitter patter so much these days as they seem to grow faster than I can keep up with, but hearing him in the morning always brings a smile to my face. He almost always comes straight into my room to climb into bed for a morning snuggle. He’s 8 and I’m genuinely grateful that he still loves to snuggle, but I’m savoring these moments because I know I will soon have a pre-teen on my hand who might not be so keen to hug his mom. He says that won’t happen and I really hope he’s right.

For now I have a smiley, adorable Jedi laying next to me. He told me to say that. Star Wars is all the rage in our house and most mornings I’m not actually sure if I’m snuggling with Carlos or Yoda! His impersonation of Yoda is quite good though I do need to mute him after a little while. I do not allow light sabers in bed…I have to draw the line somewhere!

Well this post took an interesting turn. I really love starting the day off so productively and slowly. And now it’s time to get moving.

May the Force Be With You!